TV: Once Upon A Time (ep. 18)

Once Upon A Time threw us some twists and turns at the end of last week's episode. Why did Mr. Gold leave Mary Margaret the key to get out of the cell? Why is he working with Mayor Regina? Is Emma starting to believe in Henry's book after meeting Jefferson, the mad hatter? This week's episode is entitled "Stable Boy".

In the land of Fairytales, we finally get to find out why Regina hates Snow White so, and how that factors into Regina's relationship with her mother Cora.

In Storybrooke, Mary Margaret's must face District Attorney Albert Spencer while Emma looks at the investigation from another angle.

Let's get to the episode breakdown, shall we?


Once upon a time, there was a miller's daughter named Cora who made many sacrifices and deals in life to gain the use of powerful magic. She always wanted better for her daughter Regina. The young woman, however, did not care for the finer things and instead was in love with the stable boy Daniel. She often had to sneak away for covert kisses and conversation.

One day, a runaway horse and a child in danger caused Regina to act. She saved the young girl from death, a girl named Snow White. It turns out that Snow was the daughter of King Leopold, who offered to make Regina his new Queen in thanks. Cora gladly accepted on behalf of her daughter.

Regina ran to Daniel, to ask him to marry her instead and run away with her. Snow White overheard them. Regina talks to the girl about true love and asks her to keep a secret. Snow promises to try. But the child blurts out to Cora about Regina and Daniel out of fear that Regina will lose her mother as Snow has. Her intentions were innocent after all.

Cora confronts the young lovers and appears to be willing to let them be. However, she imparts a piece of wisdom on Daniel: that parents often have to do what is best for their child. And then she reaches in, pulls out his heart and crushes it to dust. Daniel dies. Cora tells her daughter that love is weakness, an illusion. In life, only real power counts.

So, Regina is resigned to marry Leopold. She, Cora and Henry will move to the castle. Snow lets it slip to Regina that she talked to Cora, but Regina holds back her anger. Instead, she bottles it and saves it for a later time. Regina then suspects Cora manipulated the events all along, including having Snow's horse spooked.

So now we know why Regina hates Snow. Soon we will hopefully see how Regina gained her mother's powers.

In Storybrooke, we start with a flashback. The conversation between Regina and Mr. Gold is shown. He asks Regina for a favor: if she can get the battery charges dropped against him, he will help her with her Mary Margaret problem. The two strike a deal.

Gold convinces Mary Margaret to have a pre-trial interview with the District Attorney. At that time, Sidney shows up with a vase (I knew right away why - which Emma learns later). The DA manages to get M-M so upset that she admits that she wanted Catherine out of the way.

While looking at Henry's book, Emma is approached by August. He suggests that she needs a change in perspective on the case. The two head off to the scene of the crime - the toll bridge. Oddly, August starts feeling some pain near the site. Emma digs and finds a broken shovel shard. They work with Henry to slip into Regina's garage to find a shovel that is the perfect match.

The next morning, Emma arrives with a search warrant. When Regina opens up the garage, the broken shovel has been replaced by a whole one. Who tipped Regina off? Emma accuses August as he was the only one who knew about it. He is offended by this.

Regina goes to see Mary Margaret once more at the jail. She is enjoying her revenge. Mary Margaret is so sorry and breaks down, asking what she ever did. Regina tells her that she deserves what is coming to her. Later, with the ring Daniel gave her, Regina says "we got her, Daniel".

Emma is angry and smashes the vace. That uncovers the bug that Sidney planted. Emma realizes she was trusting the wrong parties all along. She apologizes to August. Just then, they hear a scream. It is Ruby. She says "she is in the alley". There they all find a very alive Catherine!

For me, the Fairytale side was very predictable. I had pieced together most of this story already but it was nice to see Regina before evil overtook her. The Storybrooke side was definitely intriguing as the plot is moving in high gear towards the season finale (which is episode 22).