Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.12, "Skin Deep"

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

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1.12, "Skin Deep"

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Milan Cheylov

Synopsis

Perhaps it ought to be called the Kingdom of Generica...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card and absent a restatement of the series' premise, the episode opens with peril facing the Enchanted Forest and discussion in a noble's court of that peril. Rumpelstiltskin arrives with an offer of a deal to secure the safety of the town--for the price of Belle as a servant in his estate. The deal is refused by the noble but accepted by Belle, who agrees in the the interest of her community and leaves her father and fiancee.

In Storybrooke, Gold confronts the florist French, alter-ego of Belle's father, repossessing his van as a penalty for defaulting on a loan. Regina confronts him, but Gold evades the confrontation. Emma meets Mary Margaret at Granny's, where she and David are "not together." Ashley reports in, conferring with them, and Ruby invites the three out for drinks and revelry. Emma is summoned back to work and reports to Gold's home, where he has found it broken into and robbed.

Nice digs.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rumpelstiltskin brings Belle to his estate, where he effectively imprisons her, giggling. Her servitude to him begins, with him taunting her amid her initially inept work.

Emma presses Gold about the robbery, and he reluctantly notes that French was the likely perpetrator. Emma moves to investigate amid oblique threats to French from Gold.

Belle's servitude continues, and she asks Rumpelstiltskin about his spinning. He teases her, and she laughs, the two softening towards one another.

Emma retrieves Gold's stolen property. He complains that French remains at large and begins his own ominous pursuit.

It's in the eyes, really.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Belle continues to press Rumpelstiltskin about himself. They continue to soften towards one another, and Rumpelstiltskin notes the loss of his son. He begins to grow suspicious of her, and Belle's fiancee comes to challenge Rumpelstiltskin; he is turned into a rose, which the captor gifts to the captive before pressing Belle about her reasoning. She explicates, noting the circumstances of her betrothal along the way and musing on love. He offers her a deal, letting her go out on an errand in exchange for relating his story.

The revelry ensues, and Ruby acts the virago, leaving Ashley and Mary Margaret to confer about their respective love lives. David tries to navigate his own relationship, and he and Gold confer over purchases about love--as Gold abducts French, taking him to his cabin in the woods and forcing him in at gunpoint.

This seems ominous.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Belle is going about her errand when the Evil Queen happens on her. They walk together a while, the queen pressing her about her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin. She notes that true love's kiss will break a curse, clearly intuiting who her captor is. Belle makes to act on that knowledge, returning to Rumpelstiltskin to hear about his son and confer again with him about love. They kiss, and Belle lets slip that she has been informed of his weakness by Regina, and he sours against Belle, imprisoning her again.

Gold proceeds to torture French, reflecting Rumpelstiltskin's rage over Belle. Emma stops him as Rumpelstiltskin stops himself.

Ashley and Mary Margaret continue to confer, arriving at a mutual understanding. Sean arrives on his break to give Ashley flowers and propose marriage; she accepts, to the applause of onlookers. Mary Margaret arrives at a decision and meets David. He gives her a gift, awkwardly and backhandedly, ruining the moment, and Mary Margaret sends him home to his wife. He agrees, reluctantly, and they part once again.

Emma confronts Gold about his overreaction to French, arresting him for the assault. Belle languishes in Rumpelstiltskin's cell until he arrives and sends her away. She rebukes him for his choice to reject her love, calling him a coward; he rejects the insult, claiming that power matters more to him than love. She departs.

Ominous, ominous, ominous...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina arrives at the jail and sends Emma and Henry away. They confer, and Gold tries to strike a deal; the price is his name. He admits to being Rumpelstiltskin, to remembering. They reaffirm their antipathy.

In the Enchanted Forest, the queen confronts Rumpelstiltskin, seeking to strike a deal. He rebukes her, and she mocks him. She also notes Belle is outcast, turned out by her father and provoked to suicide. He doubts, but not fully. And, as it happens, Belle is imprisoned in the Storybrooke hospital...

Discussion

I note the early ejaculation by Belle's father: "Oh, my gods!" Earlier in the series (such as here), there had been heavy implications that the Enchanted Forest is vaguely medievalist Christian. Certainly, the officiant at the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming looks very much like a medieval bishop. And while the note has been made that the presumed Christianity of the Enchanted Forest is just that, presumed rather than overt, it remains...present; there are enough references to things (Arthuriana, in particular) that are overtly and explicitly Christian that the references carry through. For a noble to ejaculate polytheistically in that milieu, then, is striking. Admittedly, there was another medievalist property attracting attention at the time, about which no few comments--such as these--have been made, and it's possible therefore that the comment was set thus as a nod to that property, which does admit of several faiths and polytheism. Perhaps it goes to the point that many have made, in this webspace and elsewhere, that neo/medievalist properties influence popular understandings--but that would probably be something better addressed by media studies, in which I am not conversant.

I note, too, that the action in Storybrooke centers on Valentine's Day. For the presumed primary audience of the series, of course, the day is associated with romantic (and usually sexual) love, although the linkage is problematic even within the episode. The association of Valentine with love, especially the often-adulterous courtly love at which David and Mary Margaret are playing, gets going in earnest in the high middle ages; it's certainly amply attested in documentation from the time. So that much comes out as authentic, at least, even if it might not resonate with the prevailing audience of a primetime broadcast...but it doesn't have to do so to be present.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.11, "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree"

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

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1.11, "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree"

Written by Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss
Directed by Bryan Spencer

Synopsis

A relief...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card, a reprise of the series' premise being again skipped, the episode opens with Emma meeting with Henry at the playground he favors--and at which he has hidden his book; he is concerned that a recent storm has damaged things. Regina soon arrives, searching for her adoptive son and chides Emma--something about which she grouses to Mary Margaret later on. A text from David interrupts, summoning Mary Margaret away; Sidney, the newspaperman, slides in as she leaves, making an offer to Emma of information on Regina.

Robin Williams, he ain't.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Sidney's alter-ego languishes in captivity, a genie in a lamp pulled from a lake. He is released by a crowned man and gives a spiel about the wishes he can grant and their limits. The figure refuses to wish, and the genie discourses on his situation, only to be freed from his servitude and granted a final wish; he holds it, praised for his wisdom as he begins to search for love. The crowned figure takes him along with him to his home--the palace it happens he shares with Regina and his daughter, Snow White. He is welcomed warmly, and his attention follows the queen.

In Storybrooke, Henry's playground is demolished at Regina's insistence, and Henry's book has gone missing. Emma chides Regina for her actions and is dismissed; she decides to accept Sidney's offer. Mary Margaret meets David in the woods, where he has prepared a picnic meal for their illicit assignation, and Emma meets Sidney clandestinely. He notes that Regina has been embezzling funds and asks for aid in ferreting out more details about her.

Naughty, naughty.
Image take from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Snow White's father's birthday is celebrated; he praises his daughter, and Regina is disturbed, which the genie marks. He moves to comfort her, and an illicit attachment of their own begins to develop.

Emma and Sidney review records, finding a gap in them. Mary Margaret returns home, and Sidney undertakes to conduct clandestine acts, supported by Mary Margaret; Emma demurs for a time, but ultimately confronts Regina about it--and plants a listening device in her office.

In the Enchanted Forest, the king confronts the genie about Regina's affections. He opines about his wife's feelings and tasks the genie with finding the object of her affections; the genie accepts the task.

Emma and Sidney, acting on illicitly gained information, pursue Regina during to a clandestine cash handoff; the brakes on their car fail, though, and they crash. Hampered but uninjured, they find the brakes tampered with; Emma presses ahead, finding that the payment was being made to Gold. He notes the payment was for land, his land, and warns them against acting further.

The genie confers with Regina's father, who notes that she is captive. He asks the genie to take a parcel to Regina, citing his affection for her as reason.

Purely platonic...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Emma and Sidney ransack Regina's office, being confronted by Regina. Emma offers to help, only to be turned down, and the genie delivers the package as requested. It turns out to contain a deadly snake, which Regina tacitly encourages the genie to deliver to the king's chambers.

Henry confers with the visitor about the material he recalls from his book. Henry challenges the visitor about his motives, receiving a glib answer and sincere encouragement. Sidney and Emma review the information purloined from Regina, Emma coming to doubt their work; Sidney reveals more information, noting his complicity, and the information is presented in an open town hall meeting--only to be revealed as plans for a new playground, undermining the attempt to thwart Regina's power.

In the Enchanted Forest, the genie delivers the poisonous serpent to the king's chambers, where it kills him as the genie watches, attending his death and confessing his complicity and apologizing. 

Oh, ho, ho!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina confronts Emma, rebuking her. Emma is obliged to keep distance from Henry for some time, but engages in a search for his lost book--which is in the visitor's possession. Emma and Sidney confer about their failure, affirming their alliance.

The genie reports the king's death to Regina, only to learn that he is suspected of the king's death and is to be executed for his perfidy. Regina dismisses him with disdain. He refuses to flee, and enacts his final wish: to remain with Regina. He is trapped in her mirror as a result--much as Sidney is trapped in Regina's service even still.

Discussion

I probably should've read Said more closely than I did and more recently than I have, but it's still clear to me that the episode is reveling in Orientalist tropes that really ought not to be reinvoked--especially in the political climate contemporary to the series. (They don't do much better in the context of the current composition and publication, given events in Afghanistan.) The attire of the genie and the illicit lustfulness associated with him, among others, are both fetishizations, exoticisms, a reduction of what could have been a compelling character down to stereotypes--which is problematic enough on its own, and more so when applied to a person of color and one with a putatively Middle Eastern background. (I have to question the accuracy of the depiction in more general terms; I am not an expert in such matters, so I cannot go into much detail, but I also cannot shake the feeling that it's wrong.) It seems to me to be the kind of thing that was going on in depictions of Middle Eastern people during the Crusades and in many, many presentations of that time and those conflicts more recently. And that is problematic for reasons I should not have to rehearse...

As a reminder, please consider submitting work to the coming roundtable at #Kzoo2020, Twenty-First Century Neo/Medievalisms;
information is here.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.10, "7:15 AM"

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

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1.10, "7:15 AM"

Written by Daniel T. Thomsen, Edward Kitsis, and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Synopsis

Convincing.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After a recap of the series's premise and the title card, the episode opens with rain coming into Storybrooke as Henry confronts the stranger who arrived at the end of the previous episode. Regina sees the two converse and calls Henry back as the stranger gives a cryptic warning and speeds away. Elsewhere in town, Emma and Mary Margaret make ready for their day as the storm comes in; the latter is hurried, having overslept--for a meeting with David, about which she lies to Emma. It goes somewhat awkwardly, and David leaves to go to work; Emma arrives to confront her about it and her infatuation.

Not creepy at all, guy.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Snow White hunts. She is interrupted by the arrival of Red Riding Hood, who brings supplies and reports on current affairs--James and Abigail are to wed, and Snow White frets about her longing for him. They confer about how to address Snow White's concern, Red reluctantly; she directs her to Rumpelstiltskin, and Snow White proceeds thither. They arrive at a deal for his assistance with her difficulty.

Mary Margaret runs into Kathryn while shopping and learns from the encounter that she and David are working on having a child together. Regina, looking on, urges discretion.

In the Enchanted Forest, James ponders his impending nuptials and the state of his kingdom. The king pushes him about his infatuation, urging him to set aside his feelings in favor of the good of the kingdom. After, James sends a message to Snow White.

Walking in the woods outside Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is distracted by a bird call; investigating, she finds a bird trapped and takes it to the animal shelter where David works. The bird is well, and Mary Margaret makes to return it to its flock; David offers to help and is rebuffed. And as the storm comes in, Emma tries to prepare for it as Regina asks about the stranger in town; she directs the sheriff to investigate him due to his interest in Henry, and Emma agrees.

Smooth.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Mary Margaret drives out into the incoming storm, and Snow White considers her "cure" from Rumpelstiltskin when James's message arrives. She reads it and is moved to question her choices. Mary Margaret finds a roadblock and proceeds on foot as the weather worsens, and Snow White makes for the impending nuptials, infiltrating easily and being detained just as easily. Another prisoner presents himself: the dwarf Grumpy. He notes a lack of egress as she struggles to find her escape; he notes his own lovesick struggles, and another dwarf, Stealthy, arrives to release Grumpy, and they reluctantly take her with them.

Naughty, naughty.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Mary Margaret proceeds on her intended errand as the weather continues to worsen. She falls down a hill and into peril, from which she is rescued by David. Rescued, Mary Margaret returns to her errand despite David's pleas; worsening weather obliges them to flee--and Snow White diverges from the dwarves to pursue her own agenda as they attempt their escape. Stealthy is slain, and Snow White intervenes, securing his freedom at the cost of her own. The storm drives David and Mary Margaret into a nearby cabin, where they confess their illicit love--and David is surprised that Kathryn thinks she may be pregnant.

Emma encounters the stranger, confronting him. His answers to her are evasive, taunting--until she agrees to let him buy her a drink, and he reveals himself to be a writer, carrying a typewriter.

The storm clears, and Mary Margaret resumes her errand, David pleading with her. She releases the bird, which rejoins its flock in the clearing sky, and she abjures David again despite their mutual confession. In the Enchanted Forest, the king presses Snow White to abjure James, whom he admits is not his son; she does so, breaking his heart to save him and the kingdom.

Naughty, naughty, indeed.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

David and Kathryn confer about their relationship. She notes a desire to mend their relationship, and David agrees to work to that end. He also deliberately misses his usual pattern--and Snow White, aching from her actions with James, rejoins the dwarves, relating her tale as they take her in and dissuade her from taking her "cure" for the moment. Mary Margaret, too, breaks her pattern, Emma offering comfort; James rides in search of Snow White, Red noting that she has departed, and he avers that he will find her--although she has taken her "cure," while David and Mary Margaret still encounter each other...and Regina looks on...

Discussion

It is of some interest that the recap came again in the present episode. I have to wonder if it is due to some out-of-order production. I do not wonder about the effect, though; it takes the series back to its neo/medievalist underpinnings, for reasons discussed with the previous episode.

Here's your pseudo-European neomedievalist fantasy...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

It is of more interest that Snow White is shown hunting turkey in the episode. As I've noted once or twice, and as many who read this kind of thing will know, turkey legs are mainstays of faire food; they are commonplaces at mockups of the medieval and early modern, and so are associated strongly with the English / European Middle Ages in the minds of many in the United States--despite being entirely alien to them. The bird is North American, and the fairy tales from which the series takes its indirect inspiration--because they are filtered through Disney--hail from the European continent for the most part. The presence of the turkey is thus incongruous; yes, I know, it's a fantasy world, and the flora and fauna can be what they want to be--but not including a bird is easier than including it, and getting the context right's not that hard, dammit.

Except that Disney knows its audiences well; it has to to get as much of their money from them as it does. And it doubtlessly knows that most of its audiences will not think about where turkeys originate or that it's an oddity to have them pop up in a pseudo-medieval-European setting. Even if they might, well, you can get smoked turkey legs at Renaissance fairs, so maybe they were over there then...it's an issue of the inauthentic matching audience expectations, something others have spoken to at greater length and with greater eloquence and insight than I can summon. The mistake makes sense in that context, even if it rankles for me.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.9, "True North"

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

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1.9, "True North"

Written by David H. Goodman and Liz Tigelaar
Directed by Dean White

Synopsis

Following the title card, the episode opens with Henry reading comic books. A girl, Eva, asks him about it and confers briefly with him; her brother, Nicholas, joins them, and they invite him to hang out with them. They are stopped as they try to leave the store, Eva and Nicholas having exploited Henry to shoplift.

That's not a cutting remark at all...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, a woodcutter plies his trade. Eva's alter-ego Gretel asks him, her father, about helping; he puts her and her brother, Hansel, to work gathering kindling. He also gives them a compass to help them be safe. They spend long in the woods, during which time, their father abandons them, and they are nearly run down by soldiers upon the roads, accompanying the evil queen. She regards them harshly.

In Storybrooke, Regina takes Henry away from the scene of the shoplifting. Emma arrives to take Eva and Nicholas into custody, and they plead in a scene that mirrors their counterparts in the Enchanted Forest; they try to flee from Regina, to no avail, as she captures the wayward children. She enlists them in a task in exchange for finding their father. Emma drops the pair at their home, accepting their story for the moment; they flee as soon as she is out of sight, absconding to the basement of a ramshackle home where they appear to be squatting and where they are caught by Emma--to whom they announce they are orphans.

Emma and Mary Margaret confer about Eva and Nicholas; their situation is glossed. Emma notes the problems of putting them into foster care, speaking from painful experience, and they arrive at the idea of finding the children's father. Emma proceeds to investigate their father, finding that the documentation on the children is absent, pulled by Regina; Regina notes having contacted social services to take the children--to separate homes--and directs Emma to take them thence.

Tasteful.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina takes Hansel and Gretel deeper into the woods. There, she sends them to the home of the Blind Witch to retrieve an item for her; she cannot enter, though the children can, and she sends them in to steal it from her. She also notes the perils of the house itself, bidding the children eat nothing.

At her office, Emma reviews documents. Henry arrives and notes Eva's and Nicholas's storybook identities. He also affirms that their father is in town, owing to the unique nature of Storybrooke. Henry also asks about his father; Emma offers some glossed answers about their meeting and relationship--and his brave death. Their conversation gives Emma an idea about how to proceed in her search for the children's father; she acts on it, trying to get from the children an item from their father as a means to find him. Eva produces one, the compass, and Emma proceeds.

Sweet. Seemingly.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Gretel and Hansel approach the Blind Witch's home, sneaking into it and finding it a cornucopia of confectionery. They find the item they are meant to recover, and Gretel retrieves it, but Hansel eats of the offerings, and they are found out and captured in anticipation of being eaten.

Emma calls in at Gold's shop, asking him about the compass. He assesses it and notes knowing the former owner; he provides the information for a price--tolerance. The name is given, and Emma continues on her way--even though the record Gold reports working from is blank. She finds the father, the auto mechanic, and he denies being the father; Emma presses him about them, and he nearly relents after being confronted with the compass. Nearly. Emma reports the problem to Mary Margaret--and notes her lie to Henry regarding his father. Regina confronts Emma, reminder her to take the children to Boston and foster care.

Hot.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Hansel and Gretel are confronted by the pedophagic Blind Witch. As she prepares to cook Hansel, Gretel lays out plans to effect their escape and begins to enact them. They extricate themselves and return to Regina, delivering the retrieved item. The queen exults in the retrieval, and she offers to take the children into her own household; they refuse in favor of their father, and she performs a working on them.

In Storybrooke, Emma makes to take the children to foster care. Henry tries to interdict them, and Emma affirms she has to do her job, driving off. They do not get far before the car stalls out, and Emma calls a mechanic.

The evil queen summons Hansel and Gretel's father, whom she had imprisoned and whom she interrogates. His answers do not satisfy, and she has him released--to another place, far away from his children, who have themselves been sent far away.

Wow, that's not portentous at all...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

As the mechanic approaches, Eva's compass begins to point to him. He is confronted with the physical reality of the children, and Emma pleads with him to take them. He is moved strangely, and he agrees to take in Eva and Nicholas. Emma reports the happy event to Mary Margaret, musing on finding her own parents--and noting Henry's conceit that Mary Margaret is her mother, Snow White. And Henry meets with Emma as she reviews her own adoption file again; he commends her for her intervention with Eva and Nicholas as another visitor arrives in Storybrooke, looking for a place to stay....

Discussion

Notably, the series's premise is not restated at the beginning of the episode. It seems that the audience's habituation is expected at this point--sensibly enough, since two months of initial broadcast have passed to this point, the series premiering episodes weekly. It does mark a difference from the fairy tale and medieval/ist antecedents of the series, however; how many fairy tales open with "Once upon a time" said openly? How many Arthurian tales start with history and context (such as SGGK opening with "Siþen the sege and the assault watz sesed at Troye / The borȝ brittened and brent to brondes and askes" or Malory with "Hit befelle in the dayes of the noble Utherpendragon, whan he was king of Englonde and so regned)? It's a small enough thing, to be sure, but it does mark some shift in audience expectations, and that's worth considering; I'd be interested in hearing from those more up on media studies than I.

Similarly, someone more up on historical depictions of witches than I might have something to say about the Blind Witch. Disney has certainly made some adjustments, to my eye; I don't recall the witch in the Hansel and Gretel story being blind, for example, but that may just be the edition of the stories my father read to me from. In either event, she does not align to depictions of the anthropophagus or the Blemmyes with which they are sometimes conflated--although that can be explained easily enough by the constraints of medium. Still, it seems...strangely shaped, although I am not entirely certain how; others who are, please comment--I look forward to the discussion!