TV: Once Upon A Time (season 2, ep. 1)

Back in May, we left Storybrooke, Maine, in a state where the curse was broken and magic was returning to the land.

Last night, season 2 picked up right where season 1 left off with an episode entitled "Broken".


Since the format for this season is slight different - instead of parallel tales from Fairytale land's past and Storybrooke's present, we get more concurrency - I'll change up the reviews a bit. Instead, let's just go with the cool moments, shall we?

Reunions: kudos to the writers for starting right where things left off. No jump ahead. No lost exchanges. We see Belle and Gold right at the well. We see David and Mary-Margaret on the street. We see the family reunion with Emma and Henry's perfectly jarring "grandpa?". Nice.

There is also the matter of a town of totally ticked off folks. It seems most of them are out for Regina's blood, and rightfully so. But Henry makes Emma promise to help Regina, as she was his adopted mother after all. So, Emma locks up Regina for her own good.

Interesting exchange: just who is Dr. Whale anyway? We've all been asking, and David voices the question. We do not get an answer...yet.

Regina explains that the curse destroyed the old land, and it did. Except we see that Mulan and Phillip have been searching for his beloved Aurora. They find the sleeping beauty but also some evil in the form of a soul-sucking wraith. Phillip is marked by their curse.

It turns out Gold knows about these wraiths too and marks Regina for death. The wraith comes for her at the jail, and the now braver Mary-Margaret/Snow is able to scare it off. It turns out you can't kill what is already dead so they have to dispose of it another way. Regina still has Jefferson's hat. They set a trap to send the wraith back to the former cursed land.

The battle of the wraith in Storybrooke the second time parallels that of Phillip facing the one in Fairytale land. He loses his soul to it. David buys the ladies enough time for Regina and Emma, the later who has magic after all, to activate the hat. The wraith is sucked in but it pulls Emma along too. Mary-Margaret dives in, not about to lose her daughter again.

Regina finds she still has some magic and tries to kill David, but Henry arrives and distracts her. He will not see Regina again until she helps rescue the others from the other land. David takes Henry with him for safety.

Mulan tells Aurora that while she slept, the Evil Queen's curse hit the land. Only a safe corner was left untouched. When Emma showed up in Storybrooke the first time, those left in Fairytale land also woke up. That allowed Mulan and Phillip to continue their search. The land has been devastated though so they must get back to safety. Just then, the pair discover the unconscious Emma and Mary-Margaret.

This proves to be an interesting turn of events for season 2. Now we will have two story lines going - one of Emma and Mary-Margaret in the lost land and one of the Storybrooke folks trying to find a way to save them. How long will they run split? Who will crossover and when? And will Regina and Gold continue their war anew with the newly-crafted magic in the real world?

Things are definitely going to be interesting this season. I am looking forward to it.