Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.13, "Tiny"

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

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2.13, "Tiny"

Written by Christine Boylan and Kalinda Vazquez
Directed by Guy Ferland

Synopsis

Following a recapitulation of series events, the episode begins with Gold retrieving Emma to discharge the favor she owes him. Gold rails against Henry accompanying them, but relents. They make for Logan International Airport, during which trip Gold again tests the effectiveness of his passage charm. The magic being efficacious, Gold purposes to find his son.

Not bad for someone who got hit by a car.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card, the episode continues with David taking up law enforcement duties. He and Mary Margaret are surprised to find Regina outside their door, about to knock; they acknowledge their error in accusing her of Hopper's death and apologize to her for it. Regina asks to see Henry and is informed that he has departed with Emma and Gold. The exchange is tense and bodes ill, and pursuit of Cora resumes with the assistance of Hook. He leads them aboard the cloaked Jolly Roger, which he praises before noting the presence of Cora's belongings under a tarp on deck. It is revealed to be the shrunken form of the giant Emma and Hook had encountered.

Said giant, named Anton and called Tiny, sits to table with his family in the past. The patriarch proposes a toast and presses Anton about his infatuation with humanity. Anton defends it and is rebuked for his attitude, a history of conquest on humanity's part cited as the reason for the giants' withdrawal from commerce with them. Anton asks after the purpose of continued magic bean cultivation, the patriarch noting that the labor itself offers more value than the product of that labor. Anton flees and looks down at the human world, descending the beanstalk into it.

Under threat, Hook turns over the keys to Anton's restraints, Mary Margaret loosing him. Hook escapes, and Anton rails at David, assailing him and fleeing with a promise of vengeance. Elsewhere in Storybrooke, Ruby approaches the amnesiac Belle, trying to prompt her memory and reintroducing herself, bringing gifts. Belle presses Ruby for information about magic, growing upset and finding herself sedated. Gregor hobbles in, asking questions, and is treated coldly by Ruby as she leaves. And at Granny's, David realizes that Anton's anger is not for him, but for his late twin brother--who, in the past, is interrupted mid-assignation by George, who rebukes him for his indolence and tasks him with intercepting Anton--and moves to intercept Anton in Storybrooke.

Peek-a-boo!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Anton looks in on a tavern. He is greeted outside by David's brother and the subject of his dalliance--Jacquelyn "Jack"--and offered a magical aid to adjust his size to permit him access to human-sized buildings, which he accepts.

In Boston, Emma, Henry, and Gold go through airport security. The experience is frightening and insulting for Gold, who is unfamiliar with the post-9/11 world, and Emma helps him through it. Henry rushes off in delight, leaving a shaken Gold behind.

In Storybrooke, Hook summons Cora and is answered by Regina, who confronts him about his failure to kill Cora at her behest. He reports the "escape" of Anton and the giant's clear animus against Charming. Meanwhile, Anton stalks through the town, his progress mirroring that of his past self in the Enchanted Forest. He talks with the prince and Jack, who make much of him, and Jack notes the financial peril of George's kingdom. Jack notes that beans would be an acceptable medium of exchange, and Anton offers to help.

This contrasts with Anton's reaction to Regina's approach in Storybrooke, him warding her away. She offers to help him get revenge on Charming, providing him a magical aid to return him to his native size. He accepts and ingests it, swiftly towering over the town.

Gold paces the airport nervously, stalking off to the restroom, where he considers himself in the mirror briefly before acting out. Testing his magic, he finds it ineffective, and Henry summons him to begin the boarding process.

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the past, Anton returns home and plunders his family's treasures. The giant patriarch confronts him, and Anton purposes to leave to the human world. The patriarch attempts to dissuade him, and an alarm  sounds that heralds the humans' approach. In Storybrooke, Anton rampages through the town, sending crowds screaming as David and Mary Margaret confront him. David attempts to explain the situation, Mary Margaret joining him. The explanation does not satisfy, and Anton resumes his rampage as he recalls Charming's brother and Jack infiltrating the giants' realm--coming to demand the beans the giants are set to harvest. Melee ensues.

In Storybrooke, David offers himself up to Anton, Mary Margaret snatching him away just as the size-change ends and Anton assumes a shrunken state. In the giants' realm, battle continues, the giants getting the worst of the exchange. Anton is bidden raze the bean-fields--while in Storybrooke, he is extricated from the situation in which he finds himself, the efforts led by David. But in the giants' realm, Anton is left the last of his kind as Jack is slain and David's brother flees with ill-gotten gains. The genesis of a new bean-crop is given Anton--and he asks about farming in Storybrooke, presenting that genesis. But he knows that Cora's machinations are the cause of his presence, and he expresses concerns that are set aside as the dwarves welcome him to work with them, and they begin to till a field.

In the hospital, Gregor confers with the amnesiac Belle. He broaches the topic of magic with her, affirming what she saw of it. David and Mary Margaret confer about possibilities. Gold continues to fret as his flight leaves for New York City...

Discussion

Of note is the giant patriarch's attitude toward labor--namely that it is more valuable in itself than are what it yields. The attitude is one that reflects the origin of the series in the United States, with its Puritan-derived emphasis on work as necessity--"hard work is its own reward," after all, and there is still much talk of "dream jobs" and of careers as vital parts of good lives well lived. There is still a nominal valuation and valediction of the working class, an underlying assumption that those who labor are more morally upright than those who do not--whatever the circumstances may be--and that having an occupation is something for which a person ought well to be grateful--whatever the job may be; how many times have people been told "You should feel lucky to have a job," after all?

Yet this is largely at odds with medieval attitudes toward work. Generally, work was seen as penitential, punitive, a continuing mark of the loss of the Scriptural paradise by the putative first parents of humanity. While it was regarded as necessary, it was not regarded as particularly valuable in itself; work in the world is of the world, and the world is something to be left behind in the prevailing conceptions of medieval Europe. Nor is it work that allows the world to be left behind, but a profession of belief and humility.

At odds, indeed.