Once Upon a Time last week revealed to us that David and Mary still have feelings for each other, and when a pregnancy test shows that they can be together, they kiss. In Story Time, Snow drank a potion to forget everything about Prince James… including his name. Did you miss last week? Check out my recap of ‘Once Upon a Time: 7:15am’.
Story Time
Sidney from Real Time is the Genie of Agrabah in Story Time. This genie happens to be very aggravated and doesn’t to be a genie at all. As luck would have it, The King comes and rubs his lamp. He tells the Genie he has everything that he desires, and only wants happiness for those who enter his kingdom. He can tell the Genie is unhappy, so he uses his first wish to set the Genie free. He then uses his second wish to give the Genie his final wish. The Genie tells him that he has seen 1,001 wishes, all of them ended badly. He puts the lamp in his pocket, vowing to never use that final wish. The King asks him what he will do with is new freedom. The Genie tells him he will do something that his masters never allowed him to do, he will find True Love. The King takes him to meet his family, introducing him to Snow and his wife Regina, also known as the Evil Queen. He is instantly taken with her.
There is a celebration in the palace that night, where the King tells all about how Snow reminds him so much of her mother, who truly was the fairest in the land. Genie, along with the crowd, applauds this, but when he looks back at the Queen she looks very saddened by this, walking away out of the room. He follows her into the courtyard, where she tells him she didn’t feel much like celebrating. He compliments her tree, which she tells him is from her childhood. Queen tells Genie they are one and the same, “neither of us can leave the palace, and neither of us truly belong.” She knows that she will never replace the King’s first wife. Genie then hands her the mirror, and asks that she see herself as he sees her. Queen asks him how he sees her. Genie tells the Queen he sees her as the fairest in all the land.
The next day, Genie is summoned to the King’s chambers. There, the King has a book open on his lap, which he tells Genie he has reason to believe that his wife’s heart belongs to another man. The book on his lap is the Queen’s diary. He says he realizes that the Queen is unhappy with her life, knowing that she will never replace his first wife. He tells the Genie “love makes people do foolish things.” Putting his trust in the Genie, the King asks him to find the man who has stolen his wifes heart.
That evening, Genie cuts an apple from the tree, presumably waiting for the Queen. He is surprised when her father appears, carrying a box. Henry (the original Henry is her father, not the Henry from Real Time) tells Genie that the Queen has been locked in her chambers, but because he is her father the guards do not trust him. He begs Genie to bring her the box, within it carries the only thing that can free her from her wretched life.
Not long after, Genie goes to see the Queen, carrying the box Henry gave her. She thanks him, and opens the case. Inside is a viper, one Genie is familiar with because it came from his homeland of Agrabah. They both are aware that the viper can kill anything with a single bite. The Queen goes to put her hand in the box, but Genie stops her. “What if the King didn’t live?”
Genie then goes to the King’s chambers with the box. He stands at the foot of the bed, and whispers “Forgive me” as he unleashes the viper onto the King. The King is awakened by the movement in his bed, to which the Genie goes to hold his hand. As the viper bites the King in the neck, turning his skin black, Genie confesses his love for the Queen. As he turns to walk away, King grabs his hand to tell him, “You were right at the river. I should have never made that wish.” They were his dying words.
Bursting into the Queens chamber, he announces their freedom. The Queen sits calmly at her table, telling him that they found the viper. Because it was from his country of Agrabah, he is to be executed for murdering the King. Genie then realizes that she wanted the murder to be traced back to him. Queen tells him that she never loved him, that now she is free of the King. Genie tells her, “I wish to be with you always!”, but when she denies him, he pulls out the lamp. He still has the final wish, which he uses to again say that he will be with her always. He is then put into the very mirror he gave her. The Queen smiles, “Looks like you got your wish. You will be with me. Forever.”
Real Time
Henry rides his bike past Emma, who is waiting for him. She chases after him, to realize that the storm has made the castle unsafe. It is broken and falling apart. Henry jumps off his bike and charges underneath it, ignoring Emma’s protests. There is where he has buried the book in a red case. He explains to Emma that he buried it there because it was the one place Regina didn’t know about. Not surprisingly, Regina comes up behind them. She scolds Henry because he has an appointment with Archie, then scolds Emma for taking Henry to such a dangerous place. She reminds Emma that she’s the sheriff now, which means taking better care of the people of Storybrooke.
Later, Emma vents to Mary, but Mary leaves quickly when David texts her. Sidney wanders over to Emma’s table, drunk. He tells Emma that he can grant her wish. He is writing an expose on Regina. Emma doubts him, because he is in Regina’s pocket, but he explains that Regina ruined his life. She got him fired, humiliated with the sheriff scandal, and he wants revenge. He gives Emma his card, telling her to call him when she changes her mind.
That afternoon, Regina tears down Henry’s castle while Emma watches. They bicker, which is pretty normal at this point. Regina tells Emma she’s wrong for thinking she’s a villain. She only wants what is best for her son. As Regina walks away, Emma calls Sidney. “I want everyone to know who she really is.”
While Emma deals with Regina, Mary has met up with David at the Toll Bridge. He scolds her for being late, which surprises Mary. He takes her to a special picnic in a secret spot for them, thus ensuring their adultery. They kiss, Mary saying “We have to figure out what we’re doing.” David tells her, “We will. Tomorrow.” Mary, still being kissed, is easily wooed saying “Okay, tomorrow.”
Under the bridge, Emma meets with Sidney. He tells her that $50,000 is missing from the budget. He tells her that he is looking for the crack in the mirror. He wants Emma to use her former bail bondsman skills to break into Regina’s life, hack her computers, listen to her phone calls, something to find out what Regina is doing. Emma refuses, stating that she is the sheriff and she wants to do this right. Sidney looks at her, and asks her very seriously “Are you prepared for her wrath?” Curiously, Emma asks how he even fell into her pocket. “I used to think she was a different person.”
Going through public record, Sidney finds that the transfer records for the $50,000 is missing. He continues to urge Emma to go about this the ways of the bail bondsman, which she continues to tell him no. So when he asks what they should do next, Emma tells him they are going to go talk to Regina themselves. Not long after they are in Regina’s office, confronting her about the missing papers. She tells them that she must have checked them out, as is her right as a public officer. Also that they must have burned in the fire that Mr. Gold had planted to make Emma look like a hero. Emma approaches Regina’s desk, just staring at her long and hard. She tells Sidney that its time to go, leaving Regina to wonder why she did that. The viewers then see the bug that Emma planted under Regina’s desk.
Sidney listens to the planted bug, which doesn’t sound like much is going on. He tells Emma there was an interesting phone call earlier, playing back the tape. They find out Regina is meeting someone in the woods. They decide to tail her there, but as they are about to slow down to take a corner, the brakes fail, causing them to crash into a tree. Sidney inspects the brakes, saying that they were tampered with. Emma starts out on foot, stating that she wants to know what is so secretive that it almost got her killed, but they are stopped by Mr. Gold. He informs them that Regina has bought his land. He warns them, “Be careful. Emotional entanglements can lead us down very dangerous paths.”
Emma and Sidney then break into Regina’s office. Emma hacks her computer, printing files that weren’t on public record. While going through everything, she finds a key ring set with a lot of very old skeleton keys and wonders aloud what they are for. Regina comes in with the alarm going off, asking what the two of them are doing there. Emma covers, saying she was in the neighborhood when the alarm went off and she was acting as sheriff. She covers for Sidney as well, stating that he saw the break in. Regina tells her that her services are not wanted or needed, so they leave.
In the diner, The Stranger talks to Henry. He asks Henry what he is writing, which he replies that he’s writing stories. Henry asks the Stranger why he’s so interested in Storybrooke, why he is here. The Stranger just replies that he’s doing stuff. Back in Sidney’s office, Emma looks exasperated as she says that they stooped to Regina’s level. Sidney tells her about Regina, that “she destroys what people love.” He shows her pictures of herself and Henry in the castle. He explains that Regina forced him to follow them. She knew about the castle weeks before she ever approached them.
That day, Emma and Sidney go to the Town Hall Meeting. Before it even begins, Emma approaches the council, showing them the evidence that Regina stole funds to build a lavish home for herself in the woods. Emma reinforces the fact that she wants to show the people of Storybrooke who Regina really is. Regina calmly replies, stating that all she wanted was to build a playground for her son and the children of Storybrooke. She shows them her own details, a castle built that the children could play on. Emma and Sidney look embarrassed, as Mr. Gold looks knowingly on.
After the meeting, Emma and Sidney are approached by Mr. Gold. He again offers his help to Emma, but she again refuses. He replies with “Ah, well one can wish”, implying that he knows who Sidney was. Regina then pulls Emma aside, telling her she has to stay away from Henry. She uses the law on her side, saying that Emma has screwed herself out of seeing him, that no judge would say no to her at this point. Later on, Emma sits in her car while Henry uses the walkie-talkie from the new castle. She explains to him that they can’t see each other for a little while, that they need to be apart. She does promise to find his book though. We are then cut to a scene where the red box that holds the book is broken open, and the Stranger holds the book in his hands.
Back at the diner, Emma sees Sidney, where they have a drink at their loss. Sidney tells her, “There are a lot more skeletons in Regina’s closet.” Which Emma replies, “We won’t get fooled again.”
Sidney stares in the mirror as Regina approaches him from behind. They go and sit on the couch, which we find out Sidney has been recording his time with Emma. Regina smiles, saying that now that Emma trusts him, they can really have some fun. The episode ends with her hand on his leg, smiling, saying “I don’t know what I’d do without you Sidney.”
This episode was interesting. Mainly because we see how deep Regina’s manipulation really goes, especially in Story Time. I can’t say I wasn’t that surprised with Real Time this week, that Sidney was in Regina’s pocket the whole time, but I honestly was surprised with how it twisted in the Story. While I’m excited to be left of the edge of my seat again, I just hope that the writers don’t do the same that they did with Lost, where they actually do get lost and lose their edge to the story.
With that being said, I really hope we find out soon why Snow is hated so much by the Queen. I want to know what exactly did she do to bring such evil out in a person. There is no new Once Upon a Time next week due to the Superbowl, and the following week looks to be an episode about Beauty and the Beast. It should be interesting how the next few weeks play out.
What did you think of this weeks episode? Are you left wondering what will happen next, or are you worried that they are writing themselves into a corner?
