Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.1, "Broken"

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

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2.1, "Broken"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Synopsis

Seems a flighty delivery service.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The episode opens near Central Park in New York City, following a scruffy-looking man as he returns to his apartment. After he loses his cell phone through an open window, he receives a message via pigeon, one summoning him to Storybrooke.

Elsewhere, two riders track across hot scrubland in some haste, making for an onion-domed castle and breaching it. Therein, one of the riders comes across a sleeping woman; the other joins him as he makes to kiss her, and they plot to withhold knowledge from the sleeper. The first rider kisses her, sending a telltale wave through the area, marking the breaking of a curse, and the sleeper--Aurora-- wakes happy to see who kissed her--Phillip. The other rider looks aside, and they move to find safety from "new dangers."

The effects of Gold's working move through Storybrooke, and Charming and Snow White proceed to investigate events. Happy reunions with people whose memories have been restored ensue, and Emma begins to integrate raggedly into the community. The complicated family relationships revealed begin to be subjects of discussion, as do the continued effects of the curse and the renewed presence of magic in the area. Complications are noted, as well.

Gold and Belle confer, Belle reporting her confinement to him. Gold's rage begins to build, and Belle tries to dissuade him from revenge on Regina. He promises not to kill Regina--and Emma stalks off, followed by her parents and their companions, to confront him about events. They are interrupted by a mob moving on Regina in revenge; Emma and the rest move to interdict the mob.

Ooh. Shiny.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Back at the onion-domed palace, the second rider investigates the area, mistrusting the quiet. The mistrust is soon justified by the sudden emergence of a spectral figure that attacks briefly and is repelled. It leaves a peculiar token behind as it flees.

Gold and Belle return to Gold's shop, Gold seeing about finding her some decent clothing and delving into his stores for the same token that had been dropped at the onion-domed palace.

Meanwhile, the angry mob breaks upon Regina's home. She meets them angrily and haughtily, thinking her powers have been restored. When it is shown that her magic has not returned, the mob surges forward, only to be interdicted by Emma and the others. Regina is taken into custody, noting that the Enchanted Forest is gone, and Emma and the others make for Gold. He slips into the prison and confronts Regina while they pursue him, noting Belle's release and pressing the token into her hand, marking her for its owner.

Back at the onion-domed palace, Phillip pockets the token, and the second rider, Mulan, notes the nature of the spectral figure--a wraith. Phillip praises Mulan's assistance to him in the past, and Mulan explicates the peril the wraith poses. She pushes them to press on, and Phillip notices that he has been marked by the wraith's token.

Gold performs a working to summon the wraith into the world of Storybrooke, and Regina starts awake, seeing the mark upon her as the wraith enters the world. Emma sends Henry off with Ruby, and Mary Margaret presses Emma to talk. She reluctantly agrees, and Emma notes her reservations and hesitancy about the reunion after decades of separation.

Mulan, Aurora, and Phillip make camp for the night. Aurora notes her hesitancy about sleep and marks the strangeness of Phillip's behavior. He goes off to gather firewood, knowing he is doomed.

Emma, Snow White, and Charming confront Gold. He evades their answers as Storybooke is shaken by the attack of the wraith. Gold reminds Emma that she remains indebted to him, smirking as she and the others go to handle the wraith. Belle emerges and rebukes Gold for his exact-words promises and stalks off in anger.

Mulan attempts to get a fire started as the wraith approaches, and the absence of Phillip is noted. Mulan realizes that Phillip, marked for death, is diverting the wraith, and she goes to assist him, leaving Aurora behind.

Much dark. So glow. Wow.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The wraith makes an attempt on the imprisoned Regina. Emma, Snow White, and Charming intervene, driving the creature off with difficulty and saving Regina. Regina notes the difficulty of stopping the wraith and the certainty of her own demise. Emma notes being bound by a promise to Henry, and council for how to address the issue is taken. They purpose to send the wraith to a place where it cannot harm others, using Jefferson's hat; the absent Enchanted Forest is selected as its destination as the wraith attacks again.

Aurora catches up to Mulan, who rebukes her for her inadequacy. Aurora notes Mulan's love for Phillip, which she denies, and the wraith proceeds against him as against Regina. She attempts to work the hat, initially to no avail, and Phillip attempts to provoke the wraith as Aurora and Mulan approach. He attempts to send them off, but Mulan offers to take the mark and draw it off. He refuses, and the wraith takes him, returning to its token. Emma's encouragement enables Regina to work the hat, and it draws in the wraith--along with Emma and Snow White. 

Back at the onion-domed palace, Aurora and Mulan tend to the body of Phillip, taking stock of what they will do. Mulan surrenders the wraith's token to Aurora. In Storybrooke, Charming weeps at the loss of his wife and daughter, railing at Regina--whose powers seem to have returned. Henry's arrival stops her from killing Charming, but he turns away from her, charging her with retrieving Emma and Snow White as he leaves with Charming.

Belle returns to Gold as he sits at his spinning wheel. They talk tenderly together, and Gold makes to send her away; she refuses. Charming and Henry return to Snow White and Emma's apartment, considering their losses; Charming avers that he will find them. Aurora mourns her lost love, and she and Mulan make to leave the onion-domed palace; Mulan notes the changes to the area that have transpired in the wake of Regina's curse. Emma and Snow White emerge unconscious into their presence, having followed the wraith back into the world of the Enchanted Forest.

Discussion

There's a lot going on in the episode...

I mean, really, you don't get these with premodern equipment.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

I note once again the peculiarly regular paths in place in the Enchanted Forest's world. Once. Again. I don't know why, but it grates on me more this time than  previously. Perhaps it is because it's clear that the show is filming on other locations than British Columbia; it wouldn't have been too hard to find a stretch of land that had either less clearly marked paths or none at all, something that would have seemed more in line with the (typically amalgamated) neo/medievalist milieu in which the series still purports to work.

More right than most would note, I think.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

I note once again, too, the architecture in place in the episode. In this case, the onion-domed palace attracts attention. It is clearly modeled on Islamic architecture, even to my untrained eye, and while the series does have problems with Orientalism such as Said describes, the present example frustrates it somewhat. The palace is described (and depicted, really) as being that which Aurora has more or less by right, which would normally fix it as a decidedly European thing. (Indeed, Kavita Mudan Finn opines on the source material, pointing out the problematic neomedievalism of it, among others.) While some might seek to argue that the assignment of such a construction to such a character is "woke" "social justice" pandering (and they would be in the wrong who argue such, as 1) it's all fiction and 2) justice ought damned well to be sought), they would be in error. After all, as Finn notes, there is an antecedent or parallel to the version from which Disney pulls in some versions of the Arabian Nights. Too, Europe in the Middle Ages had ample contact with Islamic cultures, both in the Crusades and more peacefully; as is typical, the truth--even in the mediated forms of its attestation in commentaries of the time--is more nuanced and complicated than is often recognized.

Disney typically--again, as Finn attests, among others--flattens things and compresses them. There are reasons, of course, and some of them are actually decent ones. Here, though, at least, it seems to be moving against that tendency towards a more authentic and nuanced depiction, and that is a welcome thing to see.