Once Upon a Time- The Stable Boy

One of us just this weekend finished a huge school project that has lasted since January and will also have no exams until May. This means that April should be a strong blogging month around here. We know you guys want a Once Upon a Time recap, because someone almost always requests one and they get high ratings/numbers. So that's what we will give you first!

What Happened- In the Enchanted Forest, Regina is a young woman with rich parents. Her ambitious mother, Cora, has magic and is played by Barbara Hershey. Regina is in love with her father’s stable boy, Daniel. When King Leopold and his daughter Snow White are travelling through their town, Cora casts a spell on Snow’s horse, causing it to run away and lose control. Regina saves Snow’s life as she passes. Leopold is touched and proposes to Regina. Cora tells the king, “Yes.”

Regina runs to Daniel and tells him that they have to run away together. They kiss and Snow sees it. Regina runs after a distraught Snow, who wanted Regina to be her new mother. Regina explains that she is in love with Daniel and Snow understands. Snow promises that she will keep Regina’s secret. Cora senses that Snow has information and manipulates the child into telling her about Regina and Daniel’s plan. Snow’s intentions were good, but they result in Cora killing Daniel by ripping his heart out and squeezing it until it is dust. Regina finds out that Snow broke her word.

In Storybrooke, King George is D.A. and he interviews Mary before the trial. He antagonizes Mary until she admits that she wanted Kathryn gone. Emma and August find a piece of a shovel at the crime scene. They break into Regina’s garage and find a broken shovel. The shard fits. Emma then gets a warrant, but someone tipped off Regina. Regina bought a new shovel. Emma confronts August, and he seems hurt that Emma suspected him of betrayal. Later, Emma finds a bug in her office. She apologizes to August and he quickly forgives her. Just then, Ruby screams. August and Emma run toward the scene and find Kathryn looking confused and dirty, but totally alive.

Comments- Finally, we know why Regina hates Snow. Yeah, it’s crazy to blame a child that young when your evil mother should be the object of your vengeance. But whatever. One of the themes of this show is that “evil is not born, but made.” We disagree with that (we noted previously that we think it is a combination of both born and made), but we agree with the show that one of the ways evil is made is through grudges.

The overriding lesson of this show is that revenge is not sweet. Regina is still miserable and she is a far cry from the kind, passionate young woman she was. We didn’t mention the scene where Regina confronts Mary in her cell, because it wasn’t really important plot-wise. However, it was a great scene that showed just how much Regina has lost it.

We are annoyed that Emma doesn’t know Sidney isn’t on her side. Between that, trusting Gold, and not knowing that August was trustworthy, we are forced to believe that she made up her “superpower” for Henry’s benefit. Emma is not a human lie detector and never has been. Parts of us suspect that the show decided to drop that talent and pretend it never brought it up. It’s like the show has realized that if Emma can’t be fooled, that ruins many potential plot points.

We are happy that August didn’t decide to be mad at Emma for the next couple of episodes. That would have been needless meandering on the show’s part. We like him better now that he forgave Emma right away for her suspicions. He’s not as hot as Sheriff Graham, who we will always miss, but he’s a better substitute than most. Due to August’s aversion to lying and shin splints attack at the troll bridge, many people are starting to think that August is Pinocchio. We don’t know if we are digging that. One of us isn’t a huge Pinocchio fan. At all.

Bailee Madison, the young girl who played 12-year-old Snow White, was perfect. Leeard thinks she is adorable and has seen her in other stuff. Ern saw her in Brothers with Natalie Portman and was blown away by Bailee’s acting skills. She cried and spoke like a real kid the entire time, and Ern forgot she was acting. Ern thinks she is right up there with Haley Joel Osment circa The Sixth Sense as far as child actors go. In this, Bailee didn’t feel as authentic as she did in Brothers, but it was because she was imitating Ginnifer Goodwin’s line delivery and mannerisms, rather than acting from the heart.

But how impressive is that?!! The best example of Bailee imitating Goodwin is the scene where Cora tricks her into breaking her word. This kid did the best impression of Goodwin we’ve ever seen. And she looked just like her. Perfect casting, brilliant kid. The show didn’t give her much to work with either. Those lines seemed designed to make her sound dumb and wooden, and they forced her to change emotion at the drop of the hat. Remember the scene where Regina told Snow that she loved Daniel? She went from distraught in one line to elated in the next.

Barbara Hershey is making a career as the worst mom ever. She can do both! As seen by Beaches, she can be a good and terrible mom. This was the best episode centered around Regina yet. It kind of made us like Regina a little more. Not much more, since we will never forget that she killed Graham. We loved the line where Emma told Henry that she left the code book at home. It’s so cute to see the mother and son doing operation cobra together, even if Emma has no use for the secret words Henry makes up. We are glad Kathryn is back. We had just started to like her. Everything in Storybrooke moved along swiftly. We feel like we are finally making plot progress there. This was yet another good episode.

Episode grade: A-