Once Upon a Time premieres next Sunday with “Broken.” Presumably referring to the now-broken curse, which Emma shattered in the season one finale, “Broken” will begin to unravel the effects of the curse being lifted—and also begin to explore the consequences of Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) bringing magic to Storybrooke. As the curse broke, Fairy Tale Land characters began to awaken to their true selves. Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) found her Charming (Josh Dallas), Belle (Emilie de Ravin) remembered Rumple and that she loved him. All of the characters seemed to be coming out of a dream state.
But with a last remaining vial of “the most powerful magic” bottled, retrieved from the belly of Maleficent’s (Kristin Bauer) dragon, Mr. Gold brings into the real world powerful magic, and the entire town of Storybrooke is engulfed in a purple haze (apologies to Jimi Hendrix), and only Gold and a wickedly grinning Regina seemed pleased.
The season finale leaves many threads dangling and new possibilities (and dangers) waiting in the wings. So let’s take a look at where things stand for the residents of Storybrooke as the season opens.
Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) has fulfilled her destiny and lifted the Evil Queen’s (Lana Parrilla) curse. With town likely turned against Regina (also Parrilla), including her adopted son Henry (Jared Gilmore), Emma is likely to pick up full time Mom duties along with her role as sheriff. But Emma also has some fairly heavy emotional issues to deal with. As Ginnifer Goodwin told me at Comic-Con in July, Emma is going to be trying to cope with the understanding that her best friend Mary Margaret (Goodwin) is also her mother Snow White—and they are the same age!
Unlike the other Storybrooke residents, Emma is a product of this world (more or less), will she come to accept that she really isn’t, and is in fact a being from an entirely different world? I could see her spending significant time on Archie’s (Raphael Sbarge, who also plays Jiminy Cricket) couch. In fact, I can see Archie doing quite a lot of business as these conflicted (literally) characters try to cope with their new fantastical reality!
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
Article comments
1 - Betsy
Great summation, Barbara. Gold's quest for power/magic has been for one reason and one reason only - to find his son. If he wanted power, he could have just stayed in FTL. I do believe that Gold's love for Belle is his greatest strength. I think he will try his level best to not go out and kill Regina, lol, but Belle is also human and no saint. I'm sure she wants some sort of revenge - she just doesn't want the man she loves to go down Regina's path. Her being around him, just loving him and him loving her, must have an effect on him. Love truly is the most powerful magic in the world and I dearly hope Belle will play a part in trying to find Bae. After all, they are to eventually be a family, so why not start now.
I will say that I never ever thought Maurice imprisoned Belle....I thought it was fairly clear that the Queen was lying, lying to destroy Rumple internally, to make him hate himself even more than he already did. I think it was her cruelest thing yet - beyond anything she's done and that's saying a lot.
2 - barbara barnett
I totally agree with you, that the imprisonment of Belle was not only cruel to Belle, it was cruel (perhaps moreso) to Rumple. It probably destroyed him completely (perhaps even more than his loss of Baelfire), sending him further into darkness.
3 - Nancy
I would watch this for Pinnochio and the Mad Hatter alone. Supposedly, this season will also unveil the true identity of Doctor Whale. Could he be connected to the whale from Pinnochio's legend?
4 - barbara barnett
Nancy--could very well be! I am curiouser and curiouser (to quote Alice) about him.
5 - Sharon
Another fine point about Rumple I thought was clever is how he also had no memory of FTL until he met Emma. What a good idea not to remember until Emma arrives. As Rumple constructed the curse, I think he gave himself a break for 28 years!
6 - Jane E
I just can't wait for next Sunday and want to be surprised!
7 - Betsy
Barbara, I think he'd had time to accomodate himself to Bae's loss.....plus he knew Bae was alive out there, somewhere. Belle's "death" completely unhinged Rumple until he just let go and became the insane imp we saw in the pilot. I have always thought he purposely wanted to forget for those 28 years because he could no longer live with the pain and crushing guilt he felt over Belle's death. He was willing to forgo memories of the good times together, how good she made him feel, because he couldn't get past the anguish. How tragic...but understandable. He had to find someway to cope and forgetting was the easiest way. Imagine all his memories of her flooding him at once upon hearing Emma's name? I have no idea how Gold didn't go insane just trying to handle them.
His beating of Mo was wrenching. That man went insane - he completely lost his grip on reality. It wasn't because he lost a cup - it was because he lost Belle all over again, something he couldn't deal with. He cradled that cup upon it's return - then held it firmly in his hands - as if it was Belle he was holding. From his POV, it WAS Belle. Without it, I do not think he ever would have recovered
8 - Lily
I found the sorcerer/sorceress folk song you mention really meaningful. We watched the first season on Netflix, so had a sense for the way the story unfolded. We were at first impressed by the strong female characters. Then, something happened, and men started to take over from the women.
Compare Regina with Rumple. Rumple is the more powerful magician, and he determines the arc and cliffhanger of the first season, not Regina. Add to it the fact that (imo) Carlyle is a far better actor than Parrillo, and we have replaced a promising female villain with a fascinating male villain.
Emma, the hero, remains cold and distant throughout the season, only becoming a "believer" in a split second in the penultimate episode. She is utterly passive throughout the series, influences nothing, and her role as a savior turns out to be a good mother who loves her son. This does not bode well for the second season, as I fear she is on the verge of turning into a mommy who juggles a job and parenting while dealing with her own new-found parents...and this was NOT how the season started.
Snow White story is, sadly, one of the most repetitive arcs I have ever had the mispleasure to see in a series. Yes, she loves Charming. Yes, they'll be separated. Yes, true love will conquer all. Yes, we know how it'll turn out, so can we PLEASE move on?
Compare Emma and Snow White with Mad Hatter and Augustine, or with Rumple. Again, the well written characters are male, not female. When a character takes over in interest in a series, they have taken over the series.
I see a Lost situation developing, with women turning into love interests (Penny, Juliet, Sun) while men (Linus, Locke, Desmond) determine the story arc and carry through the philosophical bent of the writers.
ngl it's disappointing, but I will watch second season.