by Tracy Ladd:
Once Upon a Time Recap: “Welcome to Storybrooke”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday March 17, 2013
Season 2 Episode 17
Well this was a first. Part of this week’s episode was devoted to flashbacks, but this time they didn’t take place in Fairytale Land, or in the normal part of the world, like Emma’s flashback episode. This time we get to see the beginnings of Storybrooke right after the curse swept them all away from their enchanted land. This episode had me pretty jazzed for a few reasons. First and foremost, John Pyper-Ferguson made a guest appearance. I really dig him and if your familiar with the BSG universe, you know who he is. Second was the myriad of emotions that Lana Parilla conveyed as Regina. Say what you will about the Evil Queen, but it can’t be disputed that the actor behind the character crushes it every week and brings so much to the role. This week she deserves nothing short of an extended slow clap for her efforts. The third reason was that our beloved Jamie Dornan reappeared at Sheriff Graham. His appearance made me realize just how much I miss his character and makes me wonder where the story would have gone if he had stuck around a bit longer. I would have liked to have seen that. I’m not picky, so I’ll take what I can get of him because only a select few can pull off the leather and vest look and make it look sexy. Aside from Sheriff Graham, I’m talking about Dyson from Lost Girl. But that’s a topic that deserves its own very detailed post complete with pictures…but I digress.
The second half of the season has been much better than the first. Even though both characters irritated me, I’m still wondering if they’ll ever get back to the grand adventures of Mulan and Aurora. It’s more of a passing interest really, and nothing I’m too concerned about. I’m sure they’ll get back to that thread in due time. I’d much rather concentrate on what’s happening in Storybrooke especially now that Cora’s dead and Regina is all evil and cross again. But enough of all that, let’s get to the latest episode.
Storybrooke (1983)
We kick off this week with Curt Flynn and his son Owen, camping in the woods. Curt bonds with Owen and gives him a braided key chain when a sudden storm strikes….but it doesn’t look like a normal storm. They take cover in their tent and emerge the next morning to see the forest torn to shreds and a tree laying on top of their car. As they hike their way back to civilization, they look at the valley below and see….Storybrooke. But wait, that wasn’t there yesterday. Curt decides to hike into town to get help and once on the main street, he and Owen are greeted by Sheriff Graham. Ahhhh….so good to see him again.
Meanwhile, Regina wakes up in her giant plush bed and throws open the curtains to look upon her new town. She looks quite happy and rather pleased with herself as she walks down the street and sees everyone going about their daily routine. Seems that only she knows that just a short time ago, they were all in Fairytale Land.
Regina walks in to Granny’s diner to see Curt and Owen having breakfast. She takes Graham aside and asks who they are and he tells her that they hiked in and are waiting on repairs to their truck. Regina doesn’t like strangers and wants them gone. She arranges with the mechanic to get their truck fixed sooner, and the next time she enters the diner and finds them there having lunch, she tells them so. She also reads Owen the riot act for sitting in her seat. Curt and Owen get up to leave, but Owen stops and gives Regina the braided key chain and thanks her for letting him sit in her seat. Now she feels a tad guilty…as she should.
After running into Mary Margaret a few times and noting that Mary Margaret shrinks away from her, Regina takes her to see David in the hospital. Mary Margaret doesn’t recognize him and asks who he is. Regina seems quite pleased with this new development but her happiness is short-lived. It’s like Groundhog Day in Storybrooke and every day Regina walks down the street watching the others do the exact same thing and she realizes that this isn’t what she wanted at all. Regina goes to see Gold and demands that he fix the curse because she isn’t happy. He has no idea what she’s talking about and it seems the curse affected him as well. Regina calls Curt and invites him and Owen to dinner at her house, which oddly does seem to make her happy.
Owen is a bit of an ass over dinner but Regina tries to get in his good graces by telling him he can help her make some apple turnovers and sends him to pick out some good apples. While he’s in the kitchen, Curt tells her that his wife died six months prior and things have been kind of rough for Owen. Regina decides to bond with Owen and once the turnovers are in the oven she does just that. Curt walks into the kitchen and she asks them to stay in Storybrooke, which Owen wants, but Curt tells him that they can’t and that their home is in New Jersey.
The next day, Regina tells the mechanic to take more time on the truck, but he tells her that Curt already picked it up. Regina tells Graham’s heart to stop Curt and arrest him, but is caught doing so by Curt himself, who came by to thank her for the hospitality and to say goodbye. She tries to tell him it’s not what he thinks, but Graham rushes in to arrest him. Fisticuffs ensue and Curt knocks the box with Graham’s heart off the desk, which immobilizes him briefly. Curt runs out and jumps in his truck with Owen and speeds off. Graham and Regina are hot on his heels and we’ve got a bona fide high-speed chase on the streets of Storybrooke.
Just before the city limit, Graham cuts them off. Curt tells Owen to run into the woods and call his Uncle, but Owen doesn’t want to go. Curt sends him on his way and is taken into custody by Graham. Regina tries to get Owen to come with her and tells him that she just wanted them all to be happy, but he tells her “not like this”. Stunned, she lets him go and he crosses the town line.
Later on, Owen comes back with the police, but they can’t find any town named Storybrooke. He stands at the city limit and vows to find his father. Regina watches from the other side with tears in her eyes.
Storybrooke (present day)
Regina cries over her mother’s coffin when Gold shows up to pay his respects as well. She blames him for tricking her into killing her own mother, but he tells her that desperate times call for desperate measures. Gold tries to convince Regina to give up her quest for vengeance, but she tells him “never.” He then tells her that even after all they’ve been though, she still will never learn that she can’t have everything and if she does seek revenge, she’ll lose Henry forever. Poor Henry….he’s like the pawn in everyone’s game. Regina tears apart her mother’s things and finds a locket and a scroll that contains a spell.
Gold realizes what Regina’s plan is and stops by Mary Margaret’s place and tells David, Henry and Emma that Regina is gunning for Mary Margaret and to be on the look out. David tells Gold that MM saved his life and now Gold owes her one and he needs to find a way to stop Regina. MM is overcome with guilt and regret and has taken to her bed and won’t move or talk to anyone. Gold begrudgingly agrees to help. It’s Henry’s turn to be appalled at everyone’s behavior and tells them all that magic needs to be gone from their town because it’s making good people do bad things. Hey…the kid has a point.
Emma takes Henry to see Neal at the diner and Neal asks him to go back to New York with him. Emma checks back with Neal and Neal tells her that Henry agreed to go. Emma asks where he went and Neal tells her that Henry went to the bathroom, but Emma notices his backpack is gone too. She tells Neal that Henry is his son after all and Neal says that Henry is running.
The gang puts Ruby’s sniffer to work and she tracks Henry to the mines. He’s not there but David notices that Henry must have come for the dynamite. There’s only one place he knows to go…the well. Henry hauls ass through the woods and runs right in to Greg Mendell, who’s out “hiking”. Looks more like he’s gathering intel if you ask me. Henry tells him he’s trying to earn and merit badge and goes on his way.
Henry makes it to the well and goes to light the dynamite when Regina shows up. She tells him to stop and that the only thing he’ll succeed at will be hurting himself. He begs her to not cast the spell over him and she tells him that they can be happy. Emma, Neal and David show up and just as it seems there’s going to be a fight, Henry steps in the middle of all of them and begs them to stop. He tells them that magic is ruining everything. Regina tells Henry that she just wants them to be happy, but he tells her “not like this”. That seemed to do the trick and Regina incinerates the parchment scroll that contained the spell.
Later on, Regina answers a knock on her door to find Mary Margaret. MM tells Regina that they’ve been fighting for way too long and she begs Regina to just kill her. Regina rips out Mary Margaret’s heart and notices that because of what MM did to Cora, it blackened her heart. This little morsel excites Regina and she puts Mary Margret’s heart back, telling her that she’s going to end up torturing herself while Regina just watches.
Meanwhile, Greg Mendell watches and snaps pictures from afar and once in his car, he plays with the braided key chain and once again vows to find his father.
So that’s who the stranger is then. He’s Owen. But where is Curt? I bet he’s locked up where Regina had Belle prior to the curse being broken. I think Mary Margaret is going to have to do battle with her dark side now that she has one and no one else is going to know what to do. I also am curious about what’s going to happen with Hook. Is he still locked up in that closet in New York? I think next week is when we get to see August again so fingers crossed we’ll get some answers about where he hobbled off to.
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.
Comments are closed.