Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.4, "The Price of Gold"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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1.4, "The Price of Gold"

Written by David H. Goodman
Directed by David Solomon

Synopsis

You can see where this is going, I think.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After a recap of the series premise and the title card, the episode opens with three extravagantly dressed young women taking a carriage while another, in rags, cleans. As she does, her fairy godmother appears, introducing herself to Cinderella and offering her a chance at a better life--until she is destroyed and her wand taken by Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstitlskin tells Cinderella that he has actually helped preserve her from harm; she pleads to be taken away from her current life, and he strikes a deal with her--for her future good. That done, he sends her along the traditional Cinderella story.

In Storybrooke, Emma and Henry walk down the main street and consider their situation. After Henry goes on his way, the sheriff confronts Emma, thanking her for her assistance and offering her a job as a deputy. She demurs, though he reiterates his invitation with seeming romantic intent. Later, Regina confronts Emma again, noting her lack of connection to the community; Emma ends up spilling cocoa on herself and makes use of a local laundry, where she encounters Cinderella's alter-ego--again working in cleaning. She is pregnant, soon due, and afraid; Emma works to encourage her.

I channeled my inner Hank Hill...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Mr. Gold, Rumpelstiltskin's alter-ego, closes up his shop and goes out; in his wake, Cinderella's alter-ego, Ashley, breaks into his shop, searching through curiosities and knickknacks for money. Gold confronts her, and she sprays him with pepper spray; he falls, knocking himself out, and she steals a trinket form his unconscious body.

Regina makes ready to attend a council meeting, bidding Henry remain home while she is away. He, of course, steals away at the earliest opportunity to where Emma is unpacking her meager belongings at Mary Margaret's home. He is preceded, however, by Mr. Gold who offers to engage her services to retrieve Ashley and his trinket. She reluctantly agrees as Henry arrives; Gold departs, and Henry voices confusion about Gold. Henry tries to tag along with Emma as she searches for Ashley; she cannot deter him.

...are held for charity, and some for fancy dress...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, Cinderella's story continues to unfold along the Disney model. She and her prince confer about their nuptials, and they greet Snow White and Prince Charming in advance of a fancy dance. Rumpelstiltskin confronts her about their deal, demanding his price in the form of her firstborn. She packs to flee, and her husband confronts her; she notes her pregnancy and the coming price to be paid, confessing her folly. Her husband avows his love for her, offering another bargain.

Emma pursues leads regarding Ashley, starting with her boyfriend--her child's father, Sean Herman, who is reported to have left her upon learning of her pregnancy. Emma moves on to confront the boyfriend, who lives with his father; the father is the cause of the breakup, having paid Ashley to give up her child--to Gold. Emma presses on, continuing to pursue Ashley--who is heading for Boston, and Emma moves to intercept. Henry notes the inability of people to leave the town, and pursuit intensifies.

Not the most dangerous game, but hardly safe...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Cinderella and her husband join Charming and a dwarf in surveying a cell being prepared for Rumpelstiltskin and a plan to subdue him. Cinderella demurs, but her husband offers to pay the required price. The plan proceeds--as does Emma's pursuit, which finds Ashley's car wrecked just inside the Storybrooke city limits, and Ashley in labor. They rush her to medical attention, Emma expounding on maternal responsibility along the way. Rumpelstiltskin arrives to confer with Cinderella about amending their deal; he resists the machinations of which she is aware, but he seems unable to resist making a new deal, falling victim to the plan and being imprisoned.

At the hospital, Henry confers with Emma about the ability to leave Storybrooke until Gold arrives. Cinderella's husband again reaffirms his love and rushes off to retrieve water for her. He is taken, and Emma rages. Similarly, in Storybrooke, Gold presses for the child, confronting Emma about adopting children. Emma successfully dissuades him from taking the child at the price of a favor to be determined later. Mother and child are well, and Emma rushes Henry home to beat Regina home from her assignation. And Sean arrives at the hospital despite his father's admonitions, trying to be part of their lives again, while Emma accepts the sheriff's job offer.

Discussion

I've commented in this webspace about anachronism and compression of the medieval in neo/medievalist works, certainly, and it seems to be at work again in the present episode and elsewhere. Disney's presentations of fairy tales tend to fall into doing such things already, let alone with the milieu-shifting at work in the series, so it's not a surprise to see them happening once again. Even unsurprising, though, it is annoying to see so much pre-twentieth-century material conflated together, as if time and cultures prior to 1900 are a unitary mishmash of idealized feudalistic romance, Regency pageantry, and Victorian conceit.

I don't know why I should've expected any different, of course. I've already noted that the series is problematic in the ways it, early on, reinforces prevailing stereotypes (something reiterated in the present episode with Regina's clandestine assignation); it's not less so in reinforcing lazy thinking to its broad audience, rather than using its platform to at least try to get things "right" (acknowledging both that concerns of addressing the audience limit what can be done and that "right" is a damned slippery term, in the present context and many others). While overt lecturing would scarcely be appropriate, getting details of setting and costume at least aligned to a consistent time-frame wouldn't be so hard to do. It's not as if there is or has been any shortage of people who do study such things and would be happy to consult (for appropriate fees) on them.