Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.13, "Tiny"

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

---

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.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.12, "In the Name of the Brother"

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

---

2.12, "In the Name of the Brother"

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Milan Cheylov

Synopsis

Following a recapitulation of series events, some from the first season, the episode begins with aid rushing to the scene of Belle's injury and the car crash from the previous episode. Gold works magic on the amnesiac Belle, to her muted shock, and Emma finds the injured Hook in the road. She and David restrain Gold from killing him as paramedics arrive and attend to the driver who has crashed; the realization that "the world just came to Storybrooke" breaks upon them.

After the title card, the episode picks up in the hospital, where Whale drunkenly ignores a summons to treatment. He reflects on a Christmas with his family, during which his brother is lauded and he, as Victor Frankenstein, is presented with a purchased commission. He demurs, to his father's annoyance, and they argue about his work and its importance as, in Storybrooke, the injured driver, Hook, and Belle are brought in for medical attention. Whale belatedly arrives and takes charge of affairs despite his intoxication, still recalling the insult from his father.

Excusable, perhaps, in context, but still creepy as hell.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Gold looks on as Belle begins to convalesce, making his own attempt at true love's kiss to restore her memories. It fails, and Belle wakes screaming at the assault. Emma watches as Hook regains consciousness, and she roughly questions him about Cora's whereabouts; she learns little from the exchange. She shortly after joins David, Mary Margaret, Ruby, and Leroy as they try to unlock the driver's phone; Emma notes that, based on evidence from the vehicle, the driver is named Greg Mendel,* and evidence from the phone suggests Mendel's utter normalcy. The implications are discussed and steps to take considered, and Whale reports a poor prognosis for Mendel. Gold notes more implications of Mendel's presence as he makes his way out of the hospital, and the ethics--and Whale's intoxication--are considered. A call to Mendel's phone interrupts the discussion.

Elsewhere, Frankenstein works to dismantle his apparatus, where Rumpelstiltskin confers with him. He offers substantial funds to study his methods, which agreement Frankenstein accepts.

In Storybrooke, Gold considers his own next steps until Cora interrupts him. She extends a "peace offering" that will allow him to find Baelfire--in exchange for his noninterference between her and Regina. Gold accepts the agreement.

Brotherly affection...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

David confronts Whale, who continues to reflect on his experiences elsewhere. His brother comes upon him in the process of grave-robbing. Others do, as well, and they open fire, wounding Frankenstein's brother. He flees from the hospital in Storybrooke, and Ruby leads a tracking party to find Whale--whose identity as Frankenstein is voiced. And in his native world, Frankenstein begins to subject his fatally injured brother to his revivification process. It does not succeed, and Frankenstein's father arrives to confront him about his activities, upbraiding him and disowning him.

In Storybrooke, Cora stalks through Regina's home in search of her daughter and her whereabouts. She adopts Henry's guise to gain entrance to her inner sanctum.

Rumpelstiltskin confers with Frankenstein again, offering him access to materials for his work in exchange for a performance.

Cora presses her case with Regina, finding little traction with her daughter. Whale, meanwhile, considers suicide, only to be intercepted by Ruby. And in his native realm, Frankenstein exults in the seeming success of his experiments, reporting them to their father and bringing his revived brother in. Their father rails against the result, again berating Frankenstein and provoking a fatal attack from the revived brother. Whale discusses his situation with Ruby, who notes her own sordid history and the need to press ahead despite their shared disreputable pasts. She also pushes him to tend to Mendel, and Cora presses on Regina further. 

The doctor will see you now...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Whale returns to the hospital, ready to work on Mendel. Frankenstein follows his revived brother, finding him contemplating his existence and the violence of it; he refuses to put his brother out of his misery, leaving him imprisoned. Mendel is successfully treated, and Emma makes to confer with him. Gold tries to reawaken Belle's memories, failing again. Mendel reports having been texting while driving, allaying Emma's concerns. Gold begins to search out Baelfire using Cora's gift. Henry muses on the implications of Frankenstein's presence in Storybrooke, and Gold arrives to claim the favor Emma owes him, enlisting her help to find Baelfire and threatening all present. Mendel, still hospitalized, calls his outside contact, reporting his injuries and the presence of magic in Storybrooke.

Discussion

Given the focus on Frankenstein in the present episode, there's not a lot of overtly neo/medieval/ist material with which to work--and certainly not much new. There may be a bit of a backhanded gesture towards the compression / conflation / amalgamation of the pre-modern--with a relatively tight definition of "modern" at work, perhaps going back only to the First World War--that typifies so much popular conception of the past in Henry's almost-throwaway line about the curse bringing in figures from outside the usual fairy tale expectation, but that's tenuous at best. Similarly, there is a bit of a medievalist holdover in the purchase of Frankenstein's commission; although it is more commonly and strongly associated with later times, purchase of rank is noted by Douglas W. Allen as having some roots in the medieval. Again, though, it's a thin thread from which to weave a tapestry.

*While not medieval/ist, the clear nod to another Greg(or) Mendel does merit some attention.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.11, "The Outsider"

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

---

2.11, "The Outsider"

Written by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg
Directed by David Solomon

Synopsis

Eschewing a recap, the episode starts with a car approaching the edge of Storybrooke at night, stopping before crossing the town's boundary. It is Gold, forcing Smee to cross said line for his role in Belle's abduction and testing a potion he has brewed. It is efficacious, allowing memory to be retained across the boundary of the town. Gold dismisses Smee in favor of planning a journey.

It's not usually what people mean by "getting stoned."
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card, the episode turns to funeral proceedings for Hopper, presumed dead by the town. Hopper himself remains imprisoned in the hold of the Jolly Roger, under interrogation by Hook, who plies him for information about Gold's weaknesses.

Gold reports the success of his potion to Belle, explicating the mechanics of his magic to her. He purposes to leave Storybrooke in search of his son, Baelfire, apologizing to her for leaving her behind.

Don't feed it after midnight, and don't get it wet...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The episode shifts to the Enchanted Forest, where a drinking Belle overhears tavern boasting and a call for a party to hunt a yaoguai. Dreamy joins her, thanking her for advice previously given and encouraging her to join the party. She demurs, but Dreamy persists, and she follows the hunting party--with a gift of fairy dust from the dwarf.

In Storybrooke, Belle works to restore the public library in advance of its reopening. Hook confronts her there, Belle recalling his earlier attempt at kidnapping her and fleeing. She escapes into the formerly hidden elevator and calls Gold, though the call is hindered by concerns of construction.

Puppy!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, the party Belle accompanies mocks her for her reading as they press ahead. After she notes the location of the yaoguai, she is cast aside in scorn--soon revealing that she had lied to the others and proceeds to the actual reported location of the creature. Approaching it nervously, she inadvertently wakes it and is obliged to flee, saved only narrowly by a conveniently present Mulan. They confer briefly, Mulan displeased at Belle's interference in her work.

Gold arrives at the library, comforting Belle. Henry contemplates, and Emma tries to offer comfort. She and her parents confer, and Grumpy asks about returning to the Enchanted Forest in the wake of Regina's depredations and against the dangers of discovery by the outside world. Others join the latter concern. Gold purposes to punish Hook, Belle trying to dissuade him. Gold glosses his history with Hook, and he finds that his shop has been ransacked in his absence, the shawl Gold enchanted to allow himself to leave Storybrooke stolen. Gold rages and goes to pursue Hook; he gives Belle a gun to protect herself from Hook.

The hunting party catches up to Belle, assailing her for having misled them. Mulan again intervenes on Belle's behalf, and melee ensues. Mulan defeats the others handily, taking Belle into her company to resume the hunt for the yaoguai. In Storybroke, Belle makes to restore the library, finding a strange knot that she then researches, discovering that Hook has arrived in Storybrooke by ship. Elsewhere in town, Gold confronts Smee, trying to extract Hook's whereabouts from him. Belle goes to the waterfront, finding the hidden Jolly Roger and boarding the ship. Once aboard, she stalks the decks and compartments, finding Hopper, to her surprise. She frees him, sending him for help as she stands to confront Hook. She searches out Gold's shawl, only to be taken by Hook.

Belle and Mulan pursue the yaoguai until an injury halts Mulan. Mulan persuades Belle to slay the creature in her place. Hook adds to Gold's account of his wife's death, to Belle's disbelief. She retrieves the shawl and attempts to flee, Gold arriving to confront Hook. Belle lures the yaoguai into town and subdues it via water, finding it pitiable and itself the victim of enchantment. Applying the fairy dust received from Dreamy, Belle reveals the creature to be the transmogrified Phillip. He thanks her for her aid, and they gather in the injured Mulan. And in Storybrooke, Belle successfully dissuades Gold from killing Hook.

Don't call it a comeback...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following an earlier conversation, Mary Margaret and David look for a new home in town. They discuss the current status of the Enchanted Forest, Mary Margaret pressing for a peaceful existence and uncovering a strain in their relationship. Hopper reappears, to Emma's surprise and Henry's delight, reporting events. Emma realizes her error regarding Regina and the debt she owes. Gold prepares to leave Storybrooke in search of his son, while Belle introduces Phillip to Mulan and determines to return to Rumpelstiltskin--only to be confronted by Regina, who imprisons her. Hook shoots Belle as Gold makes to leave, thrusting her across the town line. An incoming driver interrupts the budding confrontation, running Hook down in the road and crashing.

Discussion

Superficial similarities of name between the yaoguai and Gizmo's species aside, the yaoguai does call to mind the Questing Beast from Arthurian legend, itself an iteration of a common pattern stretching back through antiquity and likely beyond. Apart from anachronism of setting and costumery--the hats on display belong to diverse times and places, among others--and sounding very much like the beginning of a game of Dungeons & Dragons or a similar game (itself markedly neomedievalist and a focus for neomedievalism), the depredations of the beast and its pursuit are common elements, easily placed, and as easily displaced, Mulan standing in for Pellinore and others (but it's not exactly unusual for figures to be amalgamated, especially in a context that evokes the Arthurian, however obliquely). The defeat of the creature by water and the restoration of it from a sickly form, however, call back more strongly to the Questing Beast than its many parallels and antecedents, even if the latter is itself from a medievalist, rather than a medieval, bit of Arthuriana.

But that speaks to something about the medieval. Again and again, the works that have come down refigured and reconfigured themselves; again and again, they continue to do so, adapting themselves against the expectations and needs of their changing audiences. It was true of Arthruian legend throughout the medieval, through the early modern and onward; it is still true in the many works that make use of the medieval. It falls to us who continue to look at such works to search them for the truths they can reveal and to work against their misuse by the too many who would try to find in them justification for misguided hatreds that deserve all opprobrium.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.10, "The Cricket Game"

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

---

2.10, "The Cricket Game"

Written by David H. Goodman and Robert Hull
Directed by Dean White

Synopsis

Hook stands in the rigging of his ship, looking upon Storybrooke at night before escorting Cora to the dockside. He seeks to head off to confront Rumpelstiltskin, but she notes that the return of magic to the area will complicate his search for revenge. A passer-by happens along, only to be turned into a fish by Cora's magic. They confer about how to proceed, determining to reconnoiter before acting.

Well, it is Disney...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card, David and Mary Margaret are interrupted as they begin to be intimate. Emma and Henry excuse themselves, and David offers a wry quip.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina looks out over a village as it is ransacked and put to the torch. She receives reports that George has been defeated, Snow White and Prince Charming taking his kingdom for their own. The defeat puts her into an uncomfortable strategic position, and she sets out to hunt Snow White herself. It does not take her long to find her stepdaughter, only to find herself captured.

She does have a point, here.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Storybrooke, a celebration of Emma and Mary Margaret's return commences at Granny's. Regina joins belatedly, Emma having invited her. It causes some tension, but Emma notes that Regina deserves the same chance to change she received, and Henry expresses appreciation that his adoptive mother attends. Even so, Regina spends most of the celebration alone and seeks to make a quiet exit. Emma  tries to persuade her to remain, and Regina pleads to see her son more. Another tense exchange follows, and the two reach an uneasy détente as Regina leaves the celebration. She is observed, however, as Hook and Cora look over the town, plotting their next moves.

Regina confronts Hopper near the docks the next morning, rebuking him (rightly) for reporting her attendance in his clinic (unethically). He pleads having tried to help her, only earning more rebuke until a jogging Ruby happens by and intervenes. Regina stalks off in justified anger, and, in the Enchanted Forest, a conference regarding how to handle the captured queen is conducted. Charming arrives at the idea of executing Regina and dismisses the conference; Snow White privately voices concerns about the proposed course of action.

Late, Ruby sees Regina approach Hopper's office. In his office, Hopper is killed, and the seeming Regina who committed the crime is revealed to be Cora. The next day, Emma and Henry confer about events in the Enchanted Forest before Emma is advised of something wrong with Hopper. She moves to investigate, she and Ruby finding the body. Investigation proceeds along the expected line. In the Enchanted Forest, the imprisoned Regina receives a visit from her father. He apologizes for not doing more to aid her. In Storybrooke, Regina is questioned about the killing; in the Forest, she is led to her execution and offers a rebuke to her executioners. Snow White interdicts the execution, and Regina is returned to incarceration, smirking. In Storybrooke, Emma notes her certainty that Regina did not murder Hopper and presses to investigate further.

It is a compelling argument.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Snow White and Charming confer about the fate of Regina. Snow White contemplates the matter further until Rumpelstiltskin interrupts her reverie. They discuss Regina's fate, as well, and Rumpelstiltskin offers Snow White an opportunity to salve her conscience. She reluctantly accepts it--and the investigation in Storybrooke proceeds. Gold comes under questioning but produces evidence that he was not at the scene of the crime--and that Regina appears to have been so. Emma goes to apprehend Regina, and plans are made to effect the capture.

In the Enchanted Forest, Snow White confers with the captive Regina, offering her a chance to repent. It does not go well for her, and Regina is banished from the kingdom. In Storybrooke, Emma confronts Regina, noting Henry's looming disappointment. The attempt to take her into custody fails, but Regina flees. Emma frets about how to tell Henry, and she and her parents confer about how to be parents. She breaks the news of Regina's perfidy to Henry as Regina looks on in sorrow, and the evil queen resumes her castle in the Enchanted Forest, where Rumpelstiltskin visits her. He plies his machinations on her, successfully, and process towards the curse begins again.

Meanwhile, Cora and Hook confer about their own progress. She notes having captured Hopper for use against Gold; the seeming Hopper who had died was a random member of the community. Plans proceed...

Discussion

A couple of points come up. The first: In the episode, Snow White brings up her interdicted attempt to assassinate Regina as a counterpoint to Charming's proposal to execute the captured queen. Charming replies with the distinction between the extralegal assassination attempt and the "judicial" nature of the pending execution--no trial is proposed, but Regina's depredations and command of others committing such are known, so that it is manifestly clear she is guilty of what might now be termed war crimes or crimes against humanity. The distinction between justified and unjustified killings, the concern for what circumstances make lethal force an appropriate response, and processes by which to enact judicial killings are all attested in the medieval documentary record. Abundantly. Repeatedly. Across nations and centuries. As with many things, it's hardly unique to the medieval, but it is a consideration among the medieval--and with as much nuance as is present now, which is to say a fair bit more than the series displays (or really can, admittedly). Although the proposed death by firing squad is...off, severally.

The second point: The living situation that Mary Margaret, David, Emma, and Henry share occasions some interest. In Storybrooke in the series, Emma is initially offered space in Mary Margaret's home as a kindness, neither woman realizing their relationship at that point. Once memories are recovered, David presumably begins to move in; when he takes Henry in, it is to that same apartment. As such, the place becomes a multi-generational household (with some adjustments, certainly, since Emma and her parents are relatively close in physical age), something that the presumed primary audience of the series will find somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. Even with the need for so many to move back in--myself and my family included for a time among that "many"--sharing space was a...fraught issue in the minds of many of the mainstream audience, with the putative "go it alone" / "do it on your own" attitude that prevailed. (It's still present, of course, although current concerns make it less emphatic in many places. Pandemics will do that.) And yet, for many, it's a common situation--both now and in the medieval from which the series draws (halting, not always helpful, not always considered or correct) inspiration.

While it was often the case that members of the ruling classes would have their own bedchambers--to the extent of kings and queens commonly sleeping separately--it was more frequent that families would share lodgings, and simple ones. As a number of sources--this, this, and others--point out, living arrangements were far more often communal than not, and for far longer. This includes the medieval, as loosely as it may be defined, and it extends not only to sleeping, but to other activities that often benefit from having bedding available. While the arrangements may seem strange or "wrong" to those steeped in the Puritan-derived, unexamined-Victorian-influenced mainstream culture of the United States, they are, ultimately, more representative of the medieval from which the series draws (sometimes badly) and of humanity as a whole.

An Update for #Kzoo2022

𝔖o it seems a sneak preview of the conference schedule for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies is up, here. To follow up on earlier comments about the conference, it looks like the Society will be doing the following:

• Business Meeting, Monday, 9 May 2022, 7pm Eastern Daylight Time
• Roundtable: Twenty-First-Century Neo/Medievalisms, Thursday, 12 May 2022, 5pm Eastern Daylight Time
  

We hope you'll be able to join us for one or both events. At the former, there are three primary points of business to conduct:

• The determination of what panels, if any, will be proposed for the 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies;
  
• The election of a Social Media Officer, 2022-2025; and
• The election of a Vice-President (USA), 2022-2025.

The last elections for those offices was conducted at the 2019 AGM. Duties for the offices are noted in the Society Constitution. Nominations, including self-nominations, may be sent to talesaftertolkien@gmail.com. 

Other business will be entertained as it is brought to the Society's attention. If there are points you'd like to consider at the meeting, please let us know! And, again, we hope to see you virtually at the 'zoo!

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.9, "Queen of Hearts"

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

---

2.9, "Queen of Hearts"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Synopsis

Hey, we're back here again!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following a recapitulation of previous events in the series, the episode begins with a hooded figure ascending a metal tower. Upon being challenged by the guards, the hooded figure attacks, revealing himself as Hook and defeating opposition handily. Hook proceeds to where Belle is incarcerated, and he makes to release her in the effort to hinder Rumpelstiltskin. She offers no information, and Hook abandons her back to her imprisonment. Regina interdicts his killing Belle and commissions him to ensure Cora does reach the "land without magic."

Following the title card, the episode pivots to Regina and Gold keeping vigil over David. They confer about the likelihood of success against Cora--which Gold views as unlikely. He urges preventative measures against Cora's arrival be taken. Gold's methods risk Snow White and Emma, which Regina views as unacceptable.

I'm jealous of the pen-hand, actually.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Emma, Snow White, Mulan, and Aurora reach the cell where Rumpelstiltskin had been imprisoned, looking for the squid ink they will need to interdict Cora. Aurora uncovers a scroll bearing an unsettling message.

Henry reads to his grandfather from his book. Regina goes to confer with him, asking Henry to watch David while she and Gold make ready to enable Snow White and Emma to return. Smiling, Henry agrees, and Regina joins Gold in the tunnels beneath the town to collect magic via a wand stolen from an unmourned dead fairy.

In her castle, Regina enchants Hook's hook to take a single heart, charging him to retrieve Cora, aided by the guard he killed on the way to Belle--who will be the second body he needs to effect travel via Jefferson's hat. Regina dispatches him to Wonderland, where he is soon captured and brought before Cora. Hook attacks, finding that Cora has removed her own heart--and begins to take his, pressing him for information. He reports the errand Regina has sent him on, and she begins to interrogate him.

In Rumpelstiltskin's cell, Emma contemplates the scroll as her companions find there is no ink to be used. Aurora triggers the cell door, closing it as Cora and Hook emerge and take the compass. They move off to enact their plans, and Emma pleads unsuccessfully for Hook to hold back from it.

Ruby reports to the mines, where Leroy has marked the missing magic. Henry continues reading to his grandfather until Ruby and the dwarves interrupt, asking him about Regina and Gold's whereabouts. He joins the search for them as Emma works to free herself and her companions from captivity. They confer about their prospects, Snow White offering hope as she can as Emma doubts herself. Cora and Hook proceed to an enchanted lake, there to acquire the power they need to effect magical travel.

Should help, yeah.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Wonderland, Cora commissions Hook to work against Regina by taking her to where she can rip out her daughter's heart. Hook delivers a seemingly dead Cora to Regina in the Enchanted Forest, who is unable to attack at her daughter's protestations of love. When Hook returns to Cora, she arranges to protect both of them from the coming curse, working a magical shield to protect a small area. The shield is efficacious, allowing Cora and Hook to proceed with their machinations.

Regina and Gold proceed to where Gold expects the arrival of Cora: the well outside town, a clear analog to the enchanted lake. Meanwhile, Emma, Snow White, Mulan, and Aurora continue to consider their situation, realizing belatedly that the ink remains--in the writing on the scroll. Snow White uses it to secure their escape, although Aurora remains behind, noting her condition makes her a risk to the others. Mulan vows to restore her heart and secures Aurora. Hook and Cora enact their ritual to travel between realms, opening a portal to Storybrooke. Regina and Gold note the opening portal and begin their own working, thinking to interdict Cora. Snow White, Emma, and Mulan arrive to interdict the pirate and Regina's mother. Mulan retrieves the heart and returns to Aurora, leaving her sword with Snow White. Emma defeats Hook.

Henry and company arrive to confront Regina and Gold. Regina tries to explain her reasoning to Henry, who does not accept the argument. Cora makes to take Snow White's heart, hindered by Emma, whose heart is somehow protected and who reflexively works magic against Cora. The way clear, Emma and Snow White proceed through the portal, where Henry rages against Regina as Gold looks on. His pleas win through to Regina, and she disables the barrier Gold has placed on the portal. Emma and Snow White emerge unharmed, to Gold's surprise and Henry's relief. Henry reports Regina's aid, and Emma thanks her, noting Cora's nature. Mary Margaret rushes to rouse David, her kiss restoring him. Gold returns to his shop, and Emma confers with him about the message he had left and his machinations. He acknowledges the limits of his powers, and she begins to realize her own.

Elsewhere, Mulan restores Aurora's heart to her; the two proceed to work for Phillip's restoration. Cora and Hook take stock of their situation and resume their machinations. Henry embraces Regina, though he goes with Emma instead of with her. Gold mocks her abandonment, and a new threat approaches from the sea, Hook and Cora sailing into Storybrooke.

Discussion

Given how many times I've commented about the architecture on display in the series, it shouldn't be a surprise that I do so again--this time to note the extravagant use of metal in a pseudo-medieval construction. The seemingly iron-plated tower of the opening sequence...the mind boggles, really. And, yes, it is the case that magic might circumvent a number of material concerns, the juxtaposition of constructions, particularly in such a one-off fashion as in the opening sequence...jars.

Surprisingly for a primetime mainstream broadcast program, the present episode does offer an interesting meditation on fate. Part of Emma's distress in the series to the present point--and it is not resolved in the present episode, to be certain--is her difficulty in accepting her role, one to which she is conceived and born, one for which she might well be called fated. The revelation of as much of Gold's machinations as emerge in the present episode and earlier ones does seem to point toward a deterministic universe within the series. So, too, does the conviction, repeatedly stressed, that good will win out over evil. That fate ever goes as it must--"Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel" as the scop sings--seems to be taken as a given by many of the characters.

But.

The present episode, as well as some others before (like this one), point to the idea that a person can, in fact, change, returning from what seems a fated end, if they advance bravely--that is, without certainty of reward. Regina works, with difficulty, to do right and have faith despite her fears, and she is not rewarded (yet, although there may well be a penitential strain at work in her storyline). Emma struggles with faith and hope, yet still moves forward, albeit with encouragement. And she shows in herself that the machinations that enmesh her--the workings that might be called fated--are not complete. While the idea of fate is far from new to the medieval mind--the Morai Clothos, Lachesis, and Atropos might like to have a word, among others--it was an idea current among them. So, too, was the idea that fate will sometimes preserve the noble one who faces it bravely--"Wyrd oft nereð / unfægne eorl, þonne his ellen deah," as the scop sings it. And, as a later writer remarks, it is said of one of the greatest kings that he changed his destiny, in the end.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.8, "Into the Deep"

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

---

2.8, "Into the Deep"

Written by Kalinda Vazquez and Daniel T. Thomsen
Directed by Ron Underwood

Synopsis

After a recapitulation of relevant events, the episode opens with Hook descending the beanstalk, where Cora meets him. He reports his loss of the compass to her, but he reaffirms his commitment to their agreement. She rejects the affirmation and leaves him behind, returning to her collection of disembodied hearts and rekindling one to which several others respond. Those she had most recently slain rise at her command and shamble forward to do her bidding.

Beats a milk carton...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Emma presses Aurora about her dream-vision, finding that her Henry is in the sleeping-curse vision. Snow White puzzles out that the shared experience of the sleeping curse is what brings Aurora and Henry into contact, and an argument about full disclosure briefly ensues. Snow White notes that there is hope of return to Storybrooke--via communication through Henry with Rumpelstiltskin. Attempts to effect that communication ensue, and Henry reports the initial contacts via Aurora--and the coming need to best Cora.

Belle and Gold confer over lunch until interrupted by Regina. Conversation between Regina and Gold immediately grows strained as she reports the imminent return of Cora and the need to interdict it.

Work to coordinate interdiction and recovery efforts proceeds. Mulan notes that Aurora is showing the effects of the dream-realm upon her and objects to Aurora's participation, with the objection overruled. Regina and David look on as Gold attempts to work through Henry, narrating a means to subdue Cora via harvested squid ink secreted in his old jail cell. Henry attempts to pass on the message, although environmental conditions prevent its transmission; an attack demands Aurora be roused prematurely, the wights Cora sent assailing her, Mulan, Emma, and Snow White. In the melee, Mulan flees with Aurora, although they are soon separated; Snow White and Emma follow. Henry wakes and reports his failure, his own burns coming to attention.

In a hole in the ground...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Aurora finds herself Cora's captive. Cora notes her intention to use Aurora as bait for Snow White and Emma and chides Aurora for her desire to move ahead from the loss of Phillip. She also offers to resurrect the departed, occasioning only an angry outburst from Aurora. Cora casts her aside and sends a crow to inform Snow White, Emma, and Mulan of her demands. Mulan rages, and Snow White offers to travel to the dream-realm to retrieve information, and work to redeem Aurora from Cora proceeds.

Henry, Gold, Regina, and David confer about how to proceed. David recalls his wife having been under a sleeping curse and volunteers to go under one himself to effect his wife and daughter's redemption. Meanwhile, Hook redeems Aurora from captivity, citing his opposition to Cora after her refusal to take him with her. He sends her off with a message for Emma affirming that his deal with her remains in place, if she will accept it.

You're so vain, you prob'ly think this comment's about you...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

As Snow White, Emma, and Mulan proceed along their plans, Emma resolving to assign blame to Regina for events, she works on crafting a sleeping-curse draught for David. Henry asks her about her methods and her use of magic; he commends her use of it for helping people and her resolve. He also reasserts his desire to help, Regina refusing him and citing his grandparents' tendency to find one another. Gold explains the risks and procedures to David, and the sleeping-draught is completed and administered. Snow White and David enter the dream-realm together after some travail, and the needed information is relayed. That done, they are parted in sorrow, Snow White waking as Charming remains under the effects of the curse.

Henry, Regina, and Gold look on as David lingers under the curse. Snow rouses, however, reporting events in a frenzy. Emma calms and comforts her, but they realize that Mulan has stolen the compass and fled. She proceeds to where Cora had imprisoned Aurora--and Cora finds Hook has released Aurora. He notes having a gift for her, which she seems to appreciate. Aurora reaches Mulan, Snow, and Emma, and she reports events--under the influence of Cora, who holds her heart, Hook's gift. Efforts by all concerned proceed.

Discussion

The present episode, as several others working with the aftereffects of sleeping curses, works with the trope of the dream-vision to some extent. It's a point that has come up before, both in the present series and in others (here and here, for example), so it's not surprising that it manifests again--or that it would be reworked from its medieval antecedents. As in earlier cases, there is something of the deus ex machina at work in the present episode's rendering, but that's hardly uncommon for neo/medieval/ist works. So much seems to be the same as earlier treatments, though, so it's not something I can really add to at present; it's there, again, but it's there in the same way it's been there elsewhere...

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.7, "Child of the Moon"

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

---

2.7, "Child of the Moon"

Written by Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss
Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Synopsis

There's one way to get a break...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following a recapitulation of earlier events, the episode begins with the dwarves at work in the mines under Storybrooke. They reach the end of their workday, but Leroy resists leaving work, inadvertently opening a new tunnel in his dudgeon. David rushes to the scene, along with Henry and the Mother Superior, and they find that the found tunnel contains the diamonds that can be processed into the fairy dust they need for magic to function. Hope returns that Emma and Mary Margaret can be returned. Celebration ensues, and Ruby tends to the restaurant until she is met by a local with whom she had been enamored before the curse was broken. He asks to get to know her better, and she demurs out of concern for her lycanthropy. Meanwhile, Henry voices his concerns about nightmares, David offering comfort until he is confronted by George. A tense exchange follows, as do preparations for restraining Ruby.

Peter Jackson oughta sue somebody...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ruby recalls escapades with Snow White in the Enchanted Forest, the pair fleeing in the night to evade Regina's forces. Her hood is damaged, and Ruby, as Red, frets about the implications, sending Snow White away out of concern for her safety. She remains struck by Snow White's kindness--and she is observed as she departs from her friend.

Granny returns to the restaurant the next morning to find that Ruby has escaped restraint--evidently as the wolf. To add to matters, in the night, Henry had again suffered a nightmare of a flaming room, seeing another figure within it; he is roused from the dream by Regina, present because David is answering an emergency call. She notes a burn on his hand--as David and Granny find Ruby asleep in the woods. She has no recollection of events and panics that she has caused harm; David tries to comfort her until he is summoned away.

In a hole in the ground there lived a...pack of wolves?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, Red wakes to find her cloak still functioning. It is soon stolen from her, and she pursues the thief through the woods. The thief, Quinn, confesses being a werewolf and presses her about her experiences and attempting to recruit her into the local lycanthropic community, living hidden in the forest in what "used to be the grand hall of a castle, until it sunk underground." She is struck by the organization of the community and is introduced to the local leader, Anita--her mother.

David conducts Granny and Ruby back to town. Along the way, he stops off to address a reported illegal parking job--where the three find the dismembered corpse of the local who had expressed interest in Ruby before. David refuses to accept that Ruby is culpable, but she calls for her own incarceration against the threat of a relapse.

Regina consults with Gold about Henry's injury. Gold notes that the nightmare is a side-effect of the sleeping curse--and that the scene of the nightmare is a spiritual realm that stands between the living and dead worlds. Henry has been traveling there, and Gold offers some assistance to Henry: a talisman that will allow him to control his presence in that realm. Curiously, Gold attaches no price to his aid.

Red and Anita confer, Anita noting that Granny had stolen Red from her and explicating the nature of their shared lycanthropy. She notes, too, that embracing her lupine nature is required for controlling it, and she offers to teach her how to do it. Red begins to study the technique--but Ruby is jailed, as she requested. George intrudes, demanding the surrender of Ruby to the mob. David refuses.

Red exults in her lupine exploits, prompted by Anita and the others. She wakes at peace among them--unlike in Storybrooke, where George incites a mob against Ruby and David. They break into the jail, only to find Ruby's cell empty, David having taken her to the library and restraining her. David tries to find proof of Ruby's innocence.

Snow White makes to rejoin Red and is captured by the other lycanthropes. Red intercedes, and Snow White is spared. She tries to take Red off, but Red seeks to remain among the other lycanthropes. Surprised, Snow accepts the decision and readies to part in amity from her friend--only to be interrupted by an attack that, while handily defeated, kills Quinn.

Belle remains with Ruby, trying to comfort her. Ruby restrains Belle and departs to face the mob in an act of atonement. Meanwhile, David and Granny stalk through the town to search out the actual killer. They find Ruby's hood and a bloody axe--in George's car. Ruby's howl summons them.

Well, there's your problem...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the wake of Quinn's death, Anita determines that Snow White is to blame and must be made to pay for his death. Snow White is restrained in favor of being eaten after the moonrise. Red refuses to participate, and Anita moves to execute her prisoner. A brief melee ensues, leaving Anita impaled. Red sorrows over the accidental matricide.

In Storybrooke, the mob George has gathered pursues the transformed Ruby. David and Granny arrive in time to intervene, saving Ruby and revealing George's perfidy. George flees, Ruby and David pursuing him. They find him on the beach with a fire burning, into which he casts Jefferson's hat. Hope for the return of Mary Margaret and Emma dims.

Red and Snow White reconcile and continue on their quest. Ruby considers David as he considers Henry and the loss of a means of inter-realm travel, offering comfort before she returns to her wolf form. Mary Margaret and Emma consider their return to Storybrooke, and Aurora dreams of terror--until Henry offers comfort and she wakes to report what she has found.

Discussion

The present episode clearly follows up on "Red Handed" from the first season, and I find it echoing or resonating with Hobb's presentation in the Realm of the Elderlings novel of the Wit (associated with lycanthropy, as I've noted) as a metaphor for homosexuality (discussed here and following). Both cases concern themselves with is an inborn quality that meets with a lack of understanding and anger, prompting sometimes-violent, sometimes-armed oppression that leads those with that quality to suppress it to the extent they can among the broader community. Both also see focal characters mentored by scarred, stern foster-parents to enact that suppression. Both also serve as uniting forces of hidden / sequestered communities that dwell in hiding in the forests, bringing in wayward members that happen their way. Certainly, there are more parallels to explicate. Just as certainly, enough time passed between the first mention of the Wit and the presumable drafting of the present episode's script that the writing staff could be familiar with it, although I'm not aware of any direct connection and am not accusing the writers of cribbing--any more than any writer ever really does. An adage about ideas under the sun comes to mind...because, again, the lycanthropy serves as a (somewhat frustrated) metaphor for homosexuality.

The episode does not frustrate the metaphor quite as much, however, in that it falls into the same problem with its stand-in for homosexuality that it does with many, many other minority groups: it reinforces stereotypes, rather than rejecting them. Hobb's Old Blood are presented with nuance and sympathy, and while there are evil people among them, they are themselves a minority within that minority. In the present episode, the werewolves are, overall, evil, with Red the token "good one," and only that because she was raised outside the community. Indeed, the episode seems to be working in the racial-essentialist paradigm that pervades fantasy literature and the RPGs that emerge from it (if less now than previously). And while that paradigm is prevalent in medieval literatures and cultures (though less than is often assumed), and some might argue that "it's how it was, so you have to show it," other arguments--including many of those linked above--rightly point out that there's a limit to how "realistic" a work that includes overt magic and such creatures as dragons and lycanthropes can be. (And, again, things were far more complex and nuanced than is often admitted by the people who want to argue "That's how it is." Funny, that.)

If it's alright to bring in magic, it's alright to move away from harmful tropes, as well.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.6, "Tallahassee"

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

---

2.6, "Tallahassee"

Written by Christine Boylan and Jane Espenson
Directed by David Barrett

Synopsis

After a recapitulation of events, the episode begins with Emma, Snow White, Mulan, Aurora, and Hook approaching the beanstalk that rises into the clouds. Emma questions the beans, Hook noting their history of misuse and a genocidal war against the giants who had cultivated and misused them. Hook also notes that one giant, the worst of them, remains and who must be addressed if the compass they need to get to Storybrooke is to be attained. Doubts are rightly raised about Hook's allegiances, and arrangements for the climb--which will only be done by Hook and one other--begin to be made.

Now that's a familiar face...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the "real" world eleven years previously, Emma breaks into a yellow Volkswagon Beetle, stealing it. She is not alone, a man sitting up in the back seat behind her with the keys. As she drives, they confer, the man naming himself Neal Cassidy and propositioning her. They are pulled over by police, and Neal successfully bluffs his way out of trouble. As they recompose themselves from the near-arrest, Emma realizes Neal has also stolen the car.

At the beanstalk, the decision is made that Emma will ascend with Hook. Mulan offers Emma a powerful soporific and agrees to cut down the beanstalk if she is not back within ten hours of beginning her climb. Hook's hook is restored to him, and the ascent begins. It proceeds apace, Hook chatting amiably along the way, noting his history in Neverland and identifying her as having been abandoned and provoking Emma's reflection on her past.

In that past, she and Neal continue their criminal life together, conducting petty larcenies and fleeing shamefully. Neal suggests that they settle down and establish a more normal life together in Tallahassee. Emma voices some doubts but agrees.

Been there, done that.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

At the beanstalk, Mulan marks out time, and the three--she, Snow White, and Aurora--set up for watches. Snow White and Aurora take the first watch, conferring about their shared experience of sleeping curses. Nightmares are noted as a side-effect of such suffering, and Snow White offers to watch over Aurora against their return.

Emma and Hook reach the top of the beanstalk, entering into a ruined palatial landscape. Hook tends a wound on Emma's hand and notes the plan for retrieving the compass--which is simple enough, and amended by Emma, who stumbles into Hook's revenge plot.

In the past, Emma and Neal confer again, Neal noting that he is wanted on federal charges. He explains the theft, noting the location of the stolen merchandise to Emma and saying that he has to leave the country--alone. Emma rejects being separated from him, arguing him into her plan to stay with him amid their mutual admission of love for each other.

Atop the beanstalk, Emma and Hook bait the remaining giant into attacking them. They succeed, and Emma is able to deploy the powder she received from Mulan to put the giant to sleep. That done, they proceed towards the giant's treasures. Meanwhile, Mulan checks the time, and Snow White wakes Aurora from her nightmare, the setting of which is described--along with the presence of another within it. Snow White offers such comfort as she can, while Mulan considers what she may have to do.

There's another familiar face...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the past, Emma makes to retrieve the stolen merchandise about which Neal had told her, successfully gathering it back in. She delivers it and herself back to Neal, who makes off to fence the goods--save for one watch, which he clasps on Emma's wrist as he gives her directions for how to proceed. Neal is followed and apprehended--by August, who begins to enlist him in his plans for Emma. Neal is convinced to go along with the plan after seeing what August carries, and he abandons Emma to capture by the police. Months later, Neal meets with August again, conferring with him about Emma. Neal tasks August with delivering some small support to Emma and with summoning him if Emma succeeds in her task.

Atop the beanstalk, the search for the compass continues, hastened by the giant having reawakened. Emma and Hook attempt to take cover against the giant's angry entrance. The giant makes to crush Emma, and she flees again, successfully restraining him and retrieving the compass. She lets him live, the last of his kind, and he lets her escape--but not Hook, whom she restrains against the risk that she has misjudged him. Meanwhile, Mulan begins to fulfill Emma's charge to her, beginning to cut down the beanstalk and provoking an attack that is stopped only by Emma's return with the compass. The four head out.

In the past, Emma receives the keys to the Volkswagon and the news of her pregnancy. In Storybrooke, Henry wakes screaming from a nightmare, and David attends to him as he had been described as doing for Snow White before. The nightmare Henry describes echoes that Aurora had described to Snow White...

Discussion

Feels like Otranto...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

I find myself once again struck by the architecture on display, the present episode making substantial use of Gothic tropes in its presentation of the giants' domain. I'd very nearly lay money that the writers or illustrators had recently read Walpole, honestly--but that would itself be an example of a somewhat distributed neomedievalism, with Walpole's novel and the genre it inspires both making much of the crumbling walls and towers of centuries past. That the present episode deploys such tropes--though it does not fully engage with them, using them more as window-dressing than in any structural way--reinforces the prevailing neomedievalism at work in the series. It also suggests. that mainstream presentations of the same (and how much more mainstream can a thing be than a Disney-produced primetime broadcast serial?) are necessarily shallow--which is not much of a surprise, really.

It is tempting, given the persistent misuse of neo/medieval/ist tropes and figurations, to decry popular audiences as "not getting it." It's easy enough to do, certainly, even from so far "inside" academe as I remain, and I find that I have to work to avoid doing it. But that's work that needs doing no less than the work of getting things right or the work of creating a more just and equitable world. With shallow presentations being the norm, and people constrained by material conditions, it is not to be wondered at that prevailing understandings are cursory even when they do align with fact--though, given rampant compression of ideas, that's not so often as can be hoped.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.5, "The Doctor"

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

---

2.5, "The Doctor"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Paul Edwards

Synopsis

Well, that'll ruin your day.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After a recapitulation of series events, the episode begins with Snow, Emma, Mulan, and Aurora returning from the ruins of Snow's castle, conferring about Lancelot's end and Cora's escape. Reaching the campground whence they had come, they find it ravaged, its inhabitants slain and buildings ruined. It is clear that the ruination is Cora's doing, and a single survivor is found--Hook, whom the four do not know.

Following the title card, Whale confronts David in Storybrooke, which does not go well for him. Whale asks after David's intentions, and David notes his work to return to the Enchanted Forest. Whale inquires about other lands, piquing David's interest. Regina meets with Hopper, conferring about magic until interrupted by Whale and his demand to be returned to his own land. Hopper chases Whale out, and he asks Regina about who was brought over by the curse.

Washed up? All wet? Poured out?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina recalls training in magic under Rumpelstiltskin, practicing by immobilizing a black unicorn. She balks at removing its heart, citing the animal's innocence. Rumpelstiltskin removes the animal's strangely-human heart himself, opining on the process and its implications. He presses her to kill the beast by crushing the heart in her hands; she refuses again, and he chides her for her hesitation before asking what holds her back. Regina muses on her slain beloved, preserved by enchantment--as she reports to Hopper. He notes that her retention of the dead holds her back from her stated intent of healing and redemption, and she departs in annoyance, driving out into the rain and seeing her late beloved standing on the side of the street in the downpour--briefly.

David drives Henry out to a horse paddock, Henry noting a lack of sleep. David introduces Henry to a horse, beginning with upkeep and maintenance.* David leaves Henry to the work, and Regina returns to her mausoleum, where the casket that had held her beloved stands empty.

Attended by Regina, Rumpelstiltskin works at his spinning. She asks if she can begin her study, and he quizzes her about her motivations. She asks if the dead can be resurrected; Rumpelstiltskin notes that "Dead is dead." Jefferson intrudes, delivering a crystal ball and reporting that access to Rumpelstiltskin's goal is unavailable. After, he dismisses Regina, citing her folly as a waste of his time. Jefferson, however, makes an offer of transport to another realm where she may be able to find a way to bring back the dead. He offers to deliver that way in exchange for a writ of free passage across her kingdom.

Snow and Mulan discuss the surviving Hook, Mulan reporting his alias in the now-ruined camp. Emma doubts him, citing earlier deceit from Cora. She asks after events, and Hook reports cowardice--which Emma disbelieves. Plans to depart are noted, and Emma presses forcefully for confession from Hook.

It's not too hard to piece this together...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina stalks through the Storybrooke hospital in the night, searching for Whale. In the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson begins to take Regina on a similar search, seeking out the "wizard" who can bring back the dead. Jefferson notes the differences between worlds that will be in play and introducing her to Whale's alter-ego. They discuss the resurrection of Daniel, Whale's alter-ego noting that his procedure is experimental and requires a strong heart--such as are found in the Enchanted Forest. Regina's reticence to take hearts is noted, and she is told that only her doing so will allow Daniel to return. And in the hospital, Regina finds Whale maimed on the floor, having worked his procedure on Daniel to his own harm.

Regina takes Jefferson and Whale's alter-ego to Cora's estate, where a chamber of hearts awaits. Taking them inside, she offers the alter-ego his choice of hearts. He picks one. And in Storybrooke, David reports to the hospital, asking about events. Regina reports Daniel's return at Whale's hand, and she purposes to go to Daniel; David refuses to allow her to go alone, and the two proceed to the stables--where Henry is tending his horse. The animals there grow agitated at Daniel's approach, and the erstwhile stable boy advances on Henry.

Snow, Emma, Mulan, and Aurora tie Hook up, Emma summoning an ogre to prompt his confession. It is, at that point, forthcoming. He notes his own espionage mission and Cora's intent to travel to Storybrooke. He bargains for his life, ultimately successfully.

Daniel attacks Henry as David and Regina arrive. Henry flees, and Regina tries to reason with Daniel. She pleads with David for the chance and recalls an earlier attempt to effect Daniel's resurrection. It fails, the purloined heart being insufficient to the task. The resurrected Daniel attacks Regina until dissuaded; he begs for death against the pain of his artificially renewed existence. In tears, she accedes to his demand, dismissing the spell that had preserved his body.

No symbolism here, nope.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Snow, Emma, Mulan, and Aurora follow Hook into what they understand to be a trap. They are presented with a towering beanstalk, at the top of which lives a giant. No other options available, they proceed thence. Similarly, Regina pushes ahead, and in the Enchanted Forest, she kills Rumpelstiltskin's new apprentice, resuming her place in his tutelage. In Storybrooke, she seeks counsel with Hopper. And Whale's alter-ego, Jefferson, and Rumpelstiltskin confer about what they have conspired to do with Regina, the alter-ego and Rumpelstiltskin debating about the value of magic as Whale calls in at Gold's. There, Gold reattaches Whale's arm after grilling him about his actions and his earlier disbelief. And Whale--Victor Frankenstein-recalls another failed attempt to effect a resurrection...

Discussion

It occurs to me as I watch the present episode again that Lancelot is changed from his late medieval iterations. In Malory, at least, Lancelot dies...poorly. At the end of Le Morte d'Arthur (21.19 and following), Lancelot goes to the widowed Guenever and seeks to return to an amorous relationship with her, only to be refused (rightly) on the grounds of now wanting to resume a love that led to ruin; Lancelot pines to death. While it might well be argued that being killed--likely murdered--by a heart-ripping witch isn't a good death, either, it is more in line with the popular image of Lancelot as a fighter (or a paladin in D&D terms) than is the death in Malory.

I've often thought about the prevailing disregard for or disinterest in the end of Malory's work and Lancelot's death within it. I quip about it, I admit, although I should note that Lancelot manages to die in a state of grace in Malory, and he is mourned by many of his erstwhile comrades; it is not a bad death, really, by the standards of the work's context of composition or initial reception. It becomes a bad death only in an anachronistic view of knights as warriors of faith, rather than as warriors of faith, of combat as the only worthy end of life (with "end" meaning both "conclusion" and "method" here), of what is ultimately toxicity. Thinking on it, I wonder why it should not be appropriate for Lancelot to mourn the loss of love--a loss that he accepts; when Guenever rebuffs him in the cloister, he (largely) accepts it and goes away. It's imperfect, of course--Lancelot is, even in the end, flawed--but it is far, far better than it might be. It is far, far better than is usually recognized or acknowledged, and I have to wonder what it says about prevailing popular culture that it is so often elided.

It occurs to me, too, that Regina's work with the unicorn in the episode is...somewhat loaded. Disney's writers are aware of the association between unicorns and virginity, as noted here, and there's little reason to expect that the writers on the present series are ignorant of something that is made a significant point in another series. At the same time, Regina is long-established in the series as being not only sexually active, but illicitly so, conducting clandestine affairs that reek of abuse and openly attempting seduction. (There is some implication, too, that she was physically intimate with her beloved stable boy, although that remains implication, and "the old loue was not so" [Malory 18.25]) Assuming that Regina was virginal as she begins her studies with Rumpelstiltskin, the presence of the black unicorn marks a particular point in her character progression; she is clearly engaging with evil as evil--Rumpelstiltskin's presence marking it no less than the unicorn's color, the show engaging in both Manichean allegory and physiognomic fallacy--but has not gone over yet. If she is not, however, the symbolism becomes more fraught, and in ways that likely exceed what present discussion will bear... 

*As a Texan, and one connected with a long-time ranching family, I find myself pleased that the first lesson Henry gets about riding is taking care of the horse. There are some things the series gets right.