Thursday , March 28 2024
The Stranger is revealed on this week's Once Upon a Time.

TV Review: Once Upon a Time – “The Stranger”

Raise your hand if you guessed that August (Eion Bailey), Storybrooke’s motorbike riding stranger, is actually Pinocchio. That is but one mystery revealed in this week’s episode of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, “The Stranger.” But just what is his role in the grand scheme of things?

Photo Courtesy ABC Medianet

So often, it seems, Once Upon a Time touches on the relationship between parents and children. What will parents do to protect the life of their child? Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) seems to have manipulated the entire curse into his quest to find his son Baelfire (Dylan Schmid); the undoing of the curse is dependent upon Emma’s (Jennifer Morrison) instinctive love for her son Henry (Jared Gilmore). And this week we learn that August’s role in the story—and the curse’s undoing—has to do with Geppetto’s (Tony Amendola) actions to protect Pinocchio. Protecting Emma and ultimately breaking the curse is the only way for Pinocchio and Geppetto to reunite. And then there is the question as to whether Regina loves Henry or sees him merely as a possession? Is it even possible for the borderline psychopathic Regina to love—anyone?

The old woodworker agrees to create the magical wardrobe into which Emma will be placed only on the condition that his son, who might be turned back into wood by the curse, is allowed to join Emma in the wardrobe and escape into the Land Without Magic. Pinocchio is told to protect the precious Emma, but finds he is unable to fulfill Geppetto’s request.

And it is not until years later—when Emma finally reaches the age of 28 years—that August remembers what he’s really supposed to be doing, which is finishing their story. By then, Henry had been born, but with Emma far away, all would have been lost in Storybrooke. I wonder if the reason Mr. Gold procured Henry for Regina (Lana Parrilla) several years earlier had been as a contingency to ensure Emma’s travel to Storybrooke. Perhaps he hadn’t known of Geppetto’s actions—or that Pinocchio had traveled with Emma through the portal.

Now August needs desperately to put it all to rights—for his own sake, and to fulfill the promise made both to his father and the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy). But he is thwarted by Emma’s increasing desire to win back Henry from the evil, manipulative Mayor Regina Mills. It will be impossible to make her understand her destiny while she is so distracted.

With Emma convinced that Regina is to blame for framing Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), she is more determined than ever to take back her son. She calls upon Mr. Gold to represent her in her efforts to regain legal custody of Henry, but August has gotten to him earlier. Asking him to intervene and not let her get distracted in fulfilling her destiny as Fairy Tale Land’s savior, Gold refuses to help, subtly sending her off into the August’s waiting hands.

August is less interested in helping Emma and Henry reunite than he is in convincing Emma that they are all part of a fairy tale originating in another place and another time. Except, she’s not buying.

Part of the reason Emma is reluctant to believe is that she doesn’t want to believe. She has no interest in being anyone’s savior—except maybe Henry’s. She’s has no desire for the type of responsibility that role would place on her shoulders. So her instinct is to run away, as she likely has so many times before in her difficult life—run from responsibility, run from her destiny. She was probably so effective as a bail-bondswoman before she came to Storybrooke because she’s not very different from the people she pursued. And here she is, once again, preparing to run. But this time, she plans on taking her son with her, kidnapped and sneaking away in the night. I doubt she’ll get very far, don’t you?

It’s appropriate that the Storybrooke version of Pinocchio is a writer—at weaver of stories. After all, Pinocchio told stories—lied—to Geppetto; he created fantasies and fabrications, exactly what a storyteller does.

I really like the uneasy alliance that seems to be forging between August and Mr. Gold. Gold understands August’s importance in the story; it is his destiny, after all, to convince Emma of her role in breaking the Evil Queen’s curse. And Gold has a personal stake in putting things back the way they were. He has not found Baelfire in Storybrooke; yes, he has been transported to a “land without magic” but is it this land? All this time and he’s not found his son. He must go back to Fairy Tale Land to find his happy (or at least happier) ending. As must they all.

I wonder too if Gold is curious about how much August knows—and how he found out. Has August come across Baelfire in his travels? Or were they friends back in Fairy Tale Land?

It is an interesting little dig that Gold delivers to August, making certain that his father is in the shop when he arrives. August had cruelly fooled Gold into believing he was Baelfire—only to break that fantasy quickly. Now Gold shows August his real father—but August cannot let him know of their true connection. It’s an equally cruel act—but not undeserved.

I had wondered after last week’s episode why August, if he’s not Baelfire, had reacted so emotionally to Gold’s words of remorse and regret. He seems deeply touched by the emotion of the non-reunion. But I get it now.

Of course August had been thinking of his exile from his own father—and the remorse he feels for having let him down. Gold’s emotions—his sincerity and vulnerability in that instant—really resonates with August’s own feelings for his father. It was, for me this week, another “aha” moment.

And then there’s the queen…er…Regina. With Mary Margaret exonerated for Kathryn’s non-death, she has to find another way to keep true love apart. What to do? What to do? What better way than to seduce David (Josh Dallas) and charm the pants off Prince Charming. But for all her own shallow charms and smarmy damsel-in-distress act, Regina can’t win David from his true love—not for all the sycophantic mirrors in Storybrooke! So it’s back to the drawing board for her. She really is a black widow spider, isn’t she?

So what is to come next? There are only two episodes remaining to this season and many loose ends to tie up. And like a good novel, the end of this season is something I both anticipate and lament.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays, 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

About Barbara Barnett

A Jewish mother and (young 🙃) grandmother, Barbara Barnett is an author and professional Hazzan (Cantor). A member of the Conservative Movement's Cantors Assembly and the Jewish Renewal movement's clergy association OHALAH, the clergy association of the Jewish Renewal movement. In her other life, she is a critically acclaimed fantasy/science fiction author as well as the author of a non-fiction exploration of the TV series House, M.D. and contributor to the book Spiritual Pregnancy. She Publisher/Executive Editor of Blogcritics, (blogcritics.org).

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