This week the episode is entitled "The Stranger". In the land of Fairytales, we learn details about Geppetto and how he wants to save his son Pinocchio along with Snow White's daughter.
In Storybrooke, August promises to help Emma defeat Regina and gain custody of Henry while Regina schemes to seduce David.
Let's get to the episode breakdown, shall we?
Once upon a time in the land of Fairytales, Geppetto and Pinocchio are trying to escape Monstro the Whale. The living puppet gives the old man the only lifepreserver to survive; he is wood and float. When they wash up on shore, Geppetto is alive but finds Pinocchio without life. The Blue Fairy appears and makes him a real boy. She warns him that as long as he remains brave, true and unselfish that he will continue to be a real boy.
Some time later, the Blue Fairy comes to Geppetto to ask his help to save Snow White's soon-to-be-born child from the Evil Queen's curse. To save his boy as well, the wood worker agrees. The Fairy shows him the last enchanted tree which is large enough to make a bureau to transport two - Snow and the Prince before their child is born. Geppetto bargains and says his boy must get one of the spots, to avoid being turned back to wood. Jiminy Cricket tells the old man that this is wrong, but Geppetto will not hear it from the one who doomed his own parents so long ago. Geppetto says either his boy gets saved too or no one does.
The Blue Fairy later tells the assembled team at the palace that only one can be saved, lying for Geppetto as he asked. He will make the bureau then.
Snow goes into labor, and the Blue Fairy tells Geppetto that things have changed. Snow must go with the child. After she leaves, Geppetto tells his boy that he will need to protect the savior in the new world and make her believe the truth when she is twenty eight years old. He puts the boy in bureau, closes it and when he reopens it again Pinocchio has been sent to the other world.
The boy arrives via the tree into our world. A plane crosses overhead and startles him. He tries to go back to the tree but is thrown back. Then, another magic burst appears and a baby is there. The boy picks up the child and remembers what his father told him he needed to do.
In a foster home, an older boy has taken some money so he and others can leave town on the bus. He offers young "August" a chance to go. Though he knows he should stay and care for baby Emma, he is told that they can't care for an infant. He leaves Emma behind.
In Storybrooke, August offers to show Emma how to beat Regina. She passes as Henry has called her. Emma meets him at the diner where Henry informs her that a new story is in the book - one about Pinocchio.
August calls Mr. Gold and says "we need to meet - it's about Emma. There is a problem." Then August reveals that his leg has started to turn back to wood.
Regina confronts Mary-Margaret at the school, but the teacher forgives the Mayor for trying to frame her. Regina then talks to Henry and suggests it is time for him to change classes. The boy tells his adopted mother that good will triumph over evil, that she will be defeated.
When August reaches the pawn shop, Gold is talking to Marco, an old wood-worker (Geppetto in this world). When he leaves, Gold points out that he knows who August truly is. August says he can make Emma believe if only Gold nudges her his way. When Emma comes to the lawyer for help on the custody case, Gold rejects her. This sends Emma to see August - she is ready to see the big picture.
Regina has car trouble, and David happens along. He offers her a ride home; she offers to make him dinner as repayment. He declines but Regina finds a note (blank) on the table. She lies to David about its contents, tricking him to stay after all to console her. After dinner, Regina tells David the "story" how she found him unconscious that one rainy night on the road. She then goes in for a kiss, but he rebuffs her. He only wants them to be friends. When he leaves, she smashes her hallway mirror in anger.
August takes Emma to the out of town to tell her his story. They end up at a diner, the diner where Emma was found as a child. He reveals to her that he was the seven year old who found her on the side of the road twenty eight years ago. He then takes her to the woods, to the tree that transported them both. Emma thinks he is crazy until he reveals details about her baby blanket - something no stranger should know. He tells her that he lied about finding her at the diner to protect her.
He then tells her that his is Pinocchio to which she says explains all of his lying. He stumbles when trying to follow her. When she asks what is wrong, he shows her his leg that is turning to wood. But Emma only sees flesh. Her denial is preventing her from seeing the truth.
August tells her that she must break the curse and save everyone. Emma breaks down saying she only wants to save Henry. She can't handle saving the whole town, and if they expect her to then they are all screwed.
August goes to see Marco, tells him how to fix the clock. The old man says he has no son but wishes he did. August offers to be his assistant as he wants to try to fix things.
Emma goes to Henry in the middle of the night and asks him if he wants her to be his mother full-time. Of course, that is what he wants. She says then that they need to leave Storybrooke and drives them towards the town limits.
Wow - lots of plot threads come together, tying perfectly into the series premiere. All the pieces fit in to the puzzle, but August/Pinocchio has failed in his mission. Will Henry be able to make Emma believe when all others have failed? Will Regina have the final victory after all?
Two more episodes left in the season. Buckle up - they should be good!
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