by Tracy Ladd:
Once Upon a Time Recap: “The Price of Gold”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday November 13, 2011
Season 1 Episode 4
When I was a kid and wanted something really bad I used to always say “I’d do anything….” and my mom would would always counter with “Don’t say that. You wouldn’t do anything, you’d do almost anything.” She also used to tell me to be careful what I wished for because you never know what will happen. Superstitious? Yes. But her voice still rings in my head even as an adult and I couldn’t help but think those same thoughts in the latest episode of Once Upon a Time.
This episode, The Price of Gold, focuses mainly on Cinderella in both Fairy Tale Land and her counterpart in Storybrooke. We start in FTL as the evil step sisters and step mother are headed to the ball and Cinderella is left to clean up the mess. The tale goes according to how it’s supposed to and her fairy godmother shows up to turn her into the belle of the ball just like the story says. Things take a turn however when Rumpelstiltskin shows up and zaps the fairy godmother to oblivion leaving only the wand while also leaving Cinderella panicking at the thought of not being able to break out of her horrible life. Rumpelstiltskin picks up the wand, telling Cinderella that it’s pure evil and all magic comes with a price. His reverse psychology works because she’s desperate (and he knows this) so of course she makes a deal with him. A fabulous life in exchange for…..something. She signs the contract without even a glance at what it contains and is transformed into the Cinderella that we all know and love down to the glass slippers.
In Storybrooke, Emma walks Henry to his bus stop and they have a chat about Operation Cobra. Henry thinks that they need code names. It’s the typical kid thing to do of course. After he boards the bus and heads off to school, the Sheriff pulls up to talk to Emma. The two banter back and forth with her asking him if he’s going to arrest her again and he replies that he wants her to come work for him. Wait…..what? He wants her to be his deputy and after asking what Regina will say, he tells her that it’s his department. It’s this part that makes me think he’s not under Regina’s control, but we’ll see how that all shakes out. She takes his card and tells him that she’ll think about it.
Emma then heads to the diner to have her cup of coco with cinnamon when Regina shows up and seats herself at Emma’s table. Regina tells her that she’s not worried about her anymore because she looked into Emma’s past and noticed a pattern. Emma never settles down anywhere long enough to plant some roots so Regina is convinced that her stay in Storybrooke is short lived. Regina tells her to make a clean break with Henry because she doesn’t want him to get hurt, then without another thought, she gets up and leaves.
After spilling her cup of coco all over her only shirt, Ruby directs her to the laundry room where she find a very pregnant 19-year old girl named Ashley (Cinderella) crying because she’s super preggers and can’t do anything right and no one thinks that she can raise a child. The dad is MIA and she doesn’t have anyone or anything. It’s all very woe-is-me. Emma tells her to forget about what other people think. She tells Ashley that she’s responsible for herself and if she wants to change her life, then she’s got to get out there and do it and prove all the nay-sayers wrong. It’s all very girl power and whatnot. Of course Emma is a kindred spirit to Ashley since she went through the same thing.
Ashley takes Emma’s advice and breaks in to Mr. Gold’s place of business. When he catches her she tells him that she’s changing her life and pepper sprays him in the face, forcing him to stumble, where he knocks his head on a table and proceeds to pass out. Ashley grabs his keys to get into his safe to retrieve whatever he has of hers.
Next we see Regina who is primping in a mirror and talking to Henry, telling him that she doesn’t care for these Saturday morning counsel meetings but she has to go. She tells him to stay inside, do his homework and under no circumstances is he to leave the house. Of course he doesn’t listen to her and the minute she leaves, Henry takes off.
Over at Mary Margret’s place, Emma is going through her worldly possessions which are contained in a couple of boxes. Mary answers a knock at the door and finds Mr. Gold on the other side. He’s there to talk to Emma and asks her for help in finding someone who has taken something precious from him. Turns out it’s Ashley. Emma says that she’ll help, but she’s doing it for Ashley. As Mr. Gold leaves, Henry shows up saying his mom is gone all day so he thought they could hang out. She tells him no, but he finagles his way into her car and tags along anyway.
Back in FTL, Cinderella has gotten all she wants. The prince, the wedding, the ball, the fireworks. All of it. Snow and James are there too and Snow tells her that she’s very proud of her for changing her life. Later on, Thomas walks into their chamber to find her packing. She comes clean about the deal with Rumpelstiltskin and says that she has to leave because she pregnant and the deal she made with him was for her firstborn. He tells her not to worry, that they will make a new deal and everything will be ok.
Back in Storybrooke, Emma talks to Ruby about Ashley. Ruby tells her that her boyfriend left her the minute he found out she was pregnant and that she lives with her step mother and two step sisters. Henry picked up on this fact immediately, but Emma was in work mode and in no mood to hear about it.
Emma heads to talk to Sean, Ashley’s ex, who lives with his not-so-nice father, but nothing comes of the visit with the exception of frustration and irritation. We do find out however that the dude’s dad is kind of an ass. Emma heads back to talk to Ruby and gets it out of her that Ruby gave Ashley her car so that she could head to Boston for a fresh start. Henry says that no one can leave town and when they try something bad always happens. They find the car just inside the city limits and Ashley is in the grass with the baby fast approaching.
In FTL, Thomas and James have joined forces and they take her down to the dungeon where Rumpelstiltskin will be held. Their plan is to tell him Cinderella is pregnant with twins and a new deal is in order. When he signs the contract with a quill that has been hexed by the blue fairy, he’ll be frozen, then imprisoned. It all goes according to plan, but Rumpelstiltskin tells her again, all magic comes with a price. The quill does the trick and they load him up to haul him away. Cinderella suffers from some baby related pain and her hubby runs off to get her some water. The pain passes and she goes to find him but he’s gone. The only evidence is his sash that was left by the well. Cinderella runs to the coach that holds Rumpelstiltskin and demands he tell her where Thomas is. He tells her that he tried to warn her, and until that baby is in his possession, she will never see Thomas again.
Emma gets Ashley to the hospital in time for her to deliver the baby and of course, Mr. Gold is there. Emma has words with him about his “merchandise” being a baby and he tells her that Ashley made a deal. He doesn’t want to contact the police because then the baby would end up in the system and Emma knows all too well what that’s like. Emma tells him that a deal like that wouldn’t hold up in court. Mr. Gold then considers another option so that Ashley can keep the baby. He tells Emma that she will owe him a favor. She accepts, and tells Ashley that she can keep the baby. Ashley tells her that she named the baby Alexandra (this was the name that Thomas suggested in FTL) the Sean shows up and apologizes for leaving her and all seems well.
It turns out that Regina wasn’t actually at a city counsel meeting at all as we see her zipping up her dress telling whoever she’s with that she has to bounce because she told Henry she’d be home by 5pm. We don’t get to see who she’s talking too but whoever it is, she tells him that his socks are under the bed.
While on the drive to get Henry home before Regina gets there, Emma tells him that her code name should be Pumpkin. He doesn’t like it and tells her that she’s not ready to hear the name he’s picked out for her yet. Henry gets home just in time and Regina is none the wiser, but she does yell at him for leaving a shoe on the staircase.
Emma decides to take the job the Sheriff offered her and calls the number on the card he gave her. And we finally get his name! It’s Graham!! Anyway, she tells Graham that she’ll take the job. Flash to Graham, looking all a mess and shirtless who seems relieved that Emma accepted, yet uneasy because he’s the guy who Regina was with all afternoon….and he finds his socks under the bed.
So…..what is Graham’s story? Something tells me that Regina is going to be pissed when she finds out that A) Emma plans to stay and B) she’s going to be Graham’s deputy.
I loved the key chain that Emma was holding when she called Graham too. It was a star just like on a Sheriff’s uniform. Nice touch.
OUaT isn’t on next week, but will be back the following week for more fairy tale goodness. There mid-season finale airs on December 11th and there’s all sorts of stuff coming up. A character death (I don’t know who) and hookup perhaps? I’ll leave you with this photo.
DarkMedia contributor Tracy Ladd has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she’s back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks.
You can find her on Facebook, on Twitter @ReelGoddess, and on her website The Reel Goddess.
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