‘Once Upon A Time’ Recap: Things are Getting Interesting

by Brittany Houlihan

 

This week’s episode of OUAT was all about strong women kicking ass! WOOO!

We start in the Enchanted Forest, where we left off at the end of Season 1. Snow, Charming, Red, and company are trying to defeat King George and his army. (As a reminder: George is Charming’s not-biological father.) The guy named Leviathan is actually Lancelot from the Round Table, but we find out he has been cast off and is now working for King George. Lancelot (so handsome!) captures Snow under George’s orders.

King George then poisons an unsuspecting Snow with sterility-inducing water. George’s own wife once had the same condition; he wants Snow and Charming to suffer like he did. Lancelot then refuses to serve cruel George any longer.

(P.S. I absolutely LOVE what Snow is wearing in this scene.)

 

Lancelot

Charming goes to visit his mother, but when he gets there he’s met by George’s soldiers. Charming defeats every one of them, but not before one of them shoots Charming’s mother with a poisoned arrow. The only way to keep her from dying is a healthy dose of magical water from a nearby lake. However, the water is all dried up and Lancelot is only able to find a swallow’s worth. It looks as though Ruth drinks the water, but she does not get any better.

Lancelot is able to perform the marriage (of course he is), and as mushy as it was, I was SO happy that Snow and Charming are finally married. (Every time the romantic theme comes on, I can’t help but get all mushy, too.) Charming’s mom dies at the end of the ceremony, and Snow realizes shortly after that her own curse is lifted. It turns out that Ruth put Snow’s needs first and only pretended to drink the water; Lancelot slipped it to Snow as part of the wedding ceremony. She finds out she’s going to have a baby girl: Emma.

 

The wedding ceremony


In the present-day non-magical land, Emma and Mary Margaret/Snow are still in the pit with Cora. Emma tries to give Cora a chance, but Mary Margaret knows Cora is the worst of the worst, even more so than Regina.  

Soon, Mary Margaret and Emma are released to meet the leader, who turns out to be Lancelot. Lancelot (with Mulan’s help) gets them to the portal in Snow’s old house. This portal is the one Geppetto originally made to send Emma through.  While on their travels, Emma accidentally awakens a troll and Mary Margaret saves her life.

Lancelot shows up at Snow’s house and offers his help.  However, he makes the mistake of referring to Henry by his name, which Emma and Snow never told him. They soon realize it has not been Lancelot the entire time (in the non-magical world), but…wait for it…CORA. 

CORA. REALLY?!?!? I was like, wait, hold up, I knew the episode had to have some dramatic fight in it! Cora reveals herself and it is soon clear that she wants the portal to get back to her daughter and Henry as well. During the fight, Emma sets the portal on fire to keep Cora from exiting through it. Soon it is nothing but ash, and Cora leaves–with a final word of warning that she’ll be back.

Mary Margaret and Emma have a nice (but a little too over-sentimental for my taste) conversation. Emma says she didn’t understand why Mary Margaret chose to leave her for so long, but then realized Mary Margaret was only doing it because she had to (just like Emma did it to Henry because she had to).  Emma says she isn’t used to being put first, and Mary Margaret says she better get used to it. (aww, vomit). They hug and leave.

 

Wardrobe ablaze


Storybrooke isn’t as exciting in this episode as it has been. Though Henry wants to help David/Charming find his mother and Mary Margaret, David insists that Henry stays in school (to stay safe). Henry decides to cut school and do a little more investigating on his own.  He goes to Jefferson/the Mad Hatter to find out more, but instead ends up talking to Jefferson about reconnecting with his daughter.

(Side note: This theme of almost every single character needing to reconnect with their parent/child is getting annoyingly repetitive. OUAT creators, I’m begging you–PLEASE come up with some new ideas.)

Jefferson takes Henry’s advice and reconnects with his daughter.  Henry has a strong desire to go to the magical world, fight dragons and other beings, and most importantly, find his mom and grandma. David decides it’s time to start having some fun with Henry and teaches him swordplay with wooden swords.

 

 

Henry and David have a sword fight!


And just when I thought it would end on a semi-happy note, we find out that the modern day King George (District Attorney Spencer) has traveled to Storybrooke and is closely watching Henry and David. SIGH. Until next week!


Images via ABC.com

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