Monday, March 12, 2012

TV: Once Upon A Time (ep. 15)

While the rest of the shows typically take March off after February sweeps, Once Upon A Time was back again this week with an all-new episode. This week's episode is entitled "Red Handed".

In the land of Fairytales, it finally time for us to learn the backstory of Red Riding Hood. This young woman yearns to get away from her grandmother to find her own true love, but that goal is blocked by the bloodthirsty wolf who is threatening her village.

In Storybrooke, Ruby is tired of being stuck working at the diner for Granny. Sheriff Emma tries to help her out by making Ruby her assistant. Meanwhile, David is questioned about Kathyrn's disappearance.

Let's get to the episode breakdown, shall we? **warning: some big plot twists this week so if you plan to watch it, do so before you read the following**


Once upon a time in Fairytale land, there was a young woman named Red Riding Hood who lived with her overprotective Granny. Red had to sneakily meet up with the blacksmith's son Peter just to flirt). However, it was the time of the full moons and the townsmen were preparing a hunting party to go after a wolf who had been killing their sheep. Red wanted to go but Granny forbids it. They bolt their doors, Granny stays up all night with her crossbow, and sends Red to bed. She reminds her to always were her cloak as red repels wolves.

The next morning, Red discovers their chickens are fine but someone is hiding in the coop. It is Snow White who refuses to share her name out of concern (she is being hunted herself and does not trust Red). She says her name is Margaret...no...Mary (nice nod to Storybrooke there). The two go to the well for water only to find it full of blood and carnage of the hunting party. The wolf is serious business.

At the town meeting, Granny explains as a girl how her father and brothers were killed by a wolf and how she was bit by it. She knows how dangerous this can be. Snow sees the looks between Red and Peter, and later suggests to Red that Granny might be using this wolf business to keep the young lovers apart. Red decides they must kill the wolf, so that she and Peter can be together.

The two gals track the wolf only to find the tracks morph from beast to boot. The wolf is something that can change form. And the tracks lead back to the cottage and Red's window. The gals suspect it is Peter. Red goes to him, tells him what she suspects and offers to tie him up to get through the night. As a blacksmith's son, he suggests chains instead.

Granny is upset to find Snow hiding in Red's bed, disguised with Red's cloak. When she explains that Red is trying to help Peter, Granny panics. "That poor boy!" It turns out Granny kept the truth from Red - that the wolf bite changed Granny, and the curse passed from her to her daughter and then down to Red too. Granny got the red cloak from a wizard; its magic prevents the change but Red is too stubborn to always wear it. Granny and Snow find Peter dead and subdue Red, restoring her to human form again. Snow takes Red away to hide her.

(Thus, we now know how the two young women met and why they help one another. And I like the red herring of Peter - "Peter and the Wolf".)

In Storybrooke, Emma questions David at the precinct. He is worried about Kathyrn. Emma lets him go but suggests he retain a lawyer just in case.

Ruby is talking with August at the diner when Granny tells her to stop flirting. She wants her grand-daughter to work Saturday nights and take on more responsibility. They fight. Ruby quits.

Emma talks with Mary-Margaret about David being a suspect. They run across Dr. Whale offering Ruby a ride. When he leaves, Mary-Margaret suggests Ruby come stay with them for a few days. Later, Mary-Margaret is out in the woods when she runs across David. He is acting strangely, semi-responsive and blurts out "I'm looking..." twice before taking off.

Henry tries to help Ruby find work. He suggests a delivery job - you know, with a basket (nice RRH nod there). Ruby starts answering the non-emergency calls and is good at it. Emma offers her a job as a receptionist/go-fer/assistant. Ruby is eager to take it and offers to go pick up lunch. She tries to flaunt her new job in Granny's face; Granny seems unphased.

Emma asks Ruby to help her track David in the woods. Surprisingly, Ruby has excellent hearing (of course she does - she's a wolf after all!). They find him unconscious with no memory of how he got there. He remembers nothing after talking with the sheriff the night before. Emma takes him to Dr. Whale who suspects it was related to David's post-coma condition. Regina shows up (she is still his emergency contact after all) and demands to know what is going on (yeah, like she doesn't already know!).

Emma calls Ruby and has her go investigate down by the Toll Bridge. She tells the unsure girl to trust her intincts. Ruby lifts a board, starts digging and finds a box. She opens it and freaks out.

Ruby gives the box to Emma and returns to Granny's. She says she has had her adventure and is done with that. She wants to come back. Granny tells her that she loves her and that she only wanted her to take on more responsibility so she would be ready to run the business as her own when Granny retired. Ruby wants to do something that makes her happy; police work that could ruin people's lives does not make her happy.

Emma goes to see David and Mary-Margaret. It turns out the box contained a human heart. They are running tests now to see if it matches Kathyrn's DNA. (We all know it will - that was one of Regina's heart-boxes after all - she has had Kathyrn under her thrall all along!) The fingerprints inside the box, though, belong to Mary-Margaret.

Bam! Now that's how to get us all excited again, show writers. Well played. Loved this episode and all the twists and turns.

I cannot wait for next week.

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