Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.17, "Hat Trick"

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

I suppose there ought to be a content warning on this one.

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1.17, "Hat Trick"

Written by Vladimir Cvetko and David H. Goodman
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Synopsis

Buck up, man!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After a recapitulation of the series' premise and the title card, the episode begins with Mary Margaret making good her escape from imprisonment. She runs off into the woods as Henry reads, conferring with Emma when she arrives with Gold. Mary Margaret's escape is revealed, and Emma moves to pursue the fugitive, driving off through the fog and coming upon a heretofore unknown inhabitant of Storybrooke, Jefferson, whom she gives a ride.

In the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson's counterpart, Jefferson, flees through the forest, only to be found by his daughter, Grace, as they play together. They are interrupted by the arrival of the queen; Grace is bidden hide as her father confronts the queen, finding that she has work for him and his magic. Regina offers to compensate him richly for his work, and he refuses.

Emma delivers Jefferson to his strangely lavish home, walking him back in and accepting his hospitality--to her peril; he drugs her tea and takes her captive, restraining her.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, Grace longs for toys that Jefferson cannot afford. Therein, the Queen presses upon Jefferson.

Seems he'll bar none.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Storybrooke, Emma rouses to find herself captured and bound. She assesses her surroundings and situation and begins to effect her escape. She finds that she has been under observation, stunning her, and she reconnoiters Jefferson's home, finding him sharpening a large pair of shears.

In the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson tends to Grace. Seeing her amid their straitened circumstances bids him reconsider the queen's offer, despite Grace's protestations.

In Storybrooke, Emma sneaks through Jefferson's house, stumbling onto the restrained Mary Margaret. As she makes to free her, Mary Margaret reports the events surrounding her escape from jail, and the two attempt to stalk out of the house--to no avail. Jefferson forces Emma to retie Mary Margaret, and he takes her off.

In the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson reports to the queen, securing a promise for her support of Grace. It being given, Jefferson produces a magical hat, the which he spins to generate a magical portal. They enter it, and Jefferson presses on Emma in Storybrooke, speaking to her of the same kinds of things Henry discusses. She disbelieves his assertions of magic, claiming he is insane.

Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore are just off camera.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Within said hat is a room of many doors. One such leads to Wonderland, which Jefferson hates.

In Storybrooke, Jefferson presses Emma to make a magic hat. She reiterates her disagreement with his fundamental worldview; he retorts with a philosophical screed that she continues to reject even as he presses it further.

Jefferson and the queen press through Wonderland, coming into possession of a strange box and attracting attention from locals as they do. The box is revealed to contain the queen's father, whom she restores to full size. They abandon Jefferson, and he is apprehended and taken before the Queen of Hearts. There, he is arraigned, interrogated, and beheaded.

In Storybrooke, Jefferson reveals the loss of his daughter. He notes that his seeming insanity derives from his simultaneous perception of two realities; he remembers the worlds of Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest. Emma takes advantage of the situation, and a fracas ensues; Mary Margaret dispatches their abductor--who vanishes.

Curiouser and curiouser...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the wake of it, Mary Margaret and Emma take stock of their situation. Emma presses Mary Margaret to face her trial rather than trying to run; she accepts it, and Emma conducts her to her cell, where she awaits arraignment. And Emma reports events to Henry, checking his book for information about one of his classmates' counterparts and revealing Jefferson's ongoing efforts to reclaim his daughter.

Discussion

I'm struck, among others, by the cheerful anachronism inherent in amalgamating so many different milieux as the series does; the fairy tales which Disney, filtering Perrault and others, presents hail from different times and places and depict the same, yet the present series, as well as the "traditional" treatments from which the series borrows, compresses them together. (Kavita Mudan Finn has much to say on the matter, as witness this and others. Her work is well worth reading.) Admittedly, it's hardly a unique occurrence, as I've commented once or twice and as Shiloh Carroll has commented more powerfully; the neo/medieval makes much of anachronism, conflating premodern periods to sometimes dubious effect. It's not a surprise to see the series do it again, although perhaps it is one with my delayed work on this rewatch--for which I apologize--that I am struck by it again.

Admittedly, if there is a period apt for amalgamating with the medieval in an Anglophone context, it is the Victorian. The era's own medievalist tendencies are amply attested, of course; that they are is, in fact, part of the problem that faces medieval studies yet, as the Victorian project, aimed in so many cases explicitly at justifying white supremacy, forms an understanding of the medieval all too often used by execrable people in support of reprehensible ideologies. There is much yet to do to push back against such; too few apply themselves thereto, and more of us should.