Cruella De Vil on Once Upon a Time

From The Mary Sue the tidbit that former Vampire Slayer (Dracula series) Victoria Smurfit will be playing the Dalmation wannabe wearing monster: Cruella De Vil. 

I think Jiminy Cricket owns the only dog we've seen, and it is a Dalmation if I recall correctly. Run, little dog, run!

Once Upon a Time: The Miller's Daughter

Rumpelstiltskin

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he got into a conversation with the king, and to make an impression on him he said, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold." The king said to the miller, "That is an art that I really like. If your daughter is as skillful as you say, then bring her to my castle tomorrow, and I will put her to the test." When the girl was brought to him he led her into a room that was entirely filled with straw. Giving her a spinning wheel and a reel, he said, "Get to work now. Spin all night, and if by morning you have not spun this straw into gold, then you will have to die." Then he himself locked the room, and she was there all alone. The poor miller's daughter sat there, and for her life she did not know what to do. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold. She became more and more afraid, and finally began to cry.


Then suddenly the door opened. A little man stepped inside and said, "Good evening, Mistress Miller, why are you crying so?" "Oh," answered the girl, "I am supposed to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it." The little man said, "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" "My necklace," said the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat down before the spinning wheel, and whir, whir, whir, three times pulled, and the spool was full. Then he put another one on, and whir, whir, whir, three times pulled, and the second one was full as well. So it went until morning, and then all the straw was spun, and all the spools were filled with gold.


At sunrise the king came, and when he saw the gold he was surprised and happy, but his heart became even more greedy for gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to another room filled with straw. It was even larger, and he ordered her to spin it in one night, if she valued her life. The girl did not know what to do, and she cried. Once again the door opened, and the little man appeared. He said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?" "The ring from my finger," answered the girl. The little man took the ring, and began once again to whir with the spinning wheel. By morning he had spun all the straw into glistening gold.


The king was happy beyond measure when he saw it, but he still did not have his fill of gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to a still larger room filled with straw, and said, "Tonight you must spin this too. If you succeed you shall become my wife." He thought, "Even if she is only a miller's daughter, I will not find a richer wife in all the world." When the girl was alone the little man returned for a third time. He said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw this time?" "I have nothing more that I could give you," answered the girl. "Then promise me, after you are queen, your first child." "Who knows what will happen," thought the miller's daughter, and not knowing what else to do, she promised the little man what he demanded. In return the little man once again spun the straw into gold.


When in the morning the king came and found everything just as he desired, he married her, and the beautiful miller's daughter became queen. A year later she brought a beautiful child to the world. She thought no more about the little man, but suddenly he appeared in her room and said, "Now give me that which you promised." The queen took fright and offered the little man all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child, but the little man said, "No. Something living is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world." Then the queen began lamenting and crying so much that the little man took pity on her and said, "I will give you three days' time. If by then you know my name, then you shall keep your child."


The queen spent the entire night thinking of all the names she had ever heard. Then she sent a messenger into the country to inquire far and wide what other names there were. When the little man returned the next day she began with Kaspar, Melchior, Balzer, and said in order all the names she knew. After each one the little man said, "That is not my name." The second day she sent inquiries into the neighborhood as to what names people had. She recited the most unusual and most curious names to the little man: "Is your name perhaps Beastrib? Or Muttoncalf? Or Legstring?" But he always answered, "That is not my name." On the third day the messenger returned and said, "I have not been able to find a single new name, but when I was approaching a high mountain in the corner of the woods, there where the fox and the hare say good-night, I saw a little house. A fire was burning in front of the house, and an altogether comical little man was jumping around the fire, hopping on one leg and calling out:

Today I'll bake; tomorrow I'll brew,
Then I'll fetch the queen's new child,
It is good that no one knows,
Rumpelstiltskin is my name.

You can imagine how happy the queen was when she heard that name. Soon afterward the little man came in and asked, "Now, Madame Queen, what is my name?" She first asked, "Is your name Kunz?" "No." "Is your name Heinz?" "No." "Is your name perhaps Rumpelstiltskin?" "The devil told you that! The devil told you that!" shouted the little man, and with anger he stomped his right foot so hard into the ground that he fell in up to his waist. Then with both hands he took hold of his left foot and ripped himself up the middle in two.





All of of the previews for this week's episode flashed ONE WILL DIE!  I wanted Cora to be the one to go naturally since she has caused so much heartbreak and havok.  Who knew she was truly heartless on purpose?  Removing her own heart so she would be able to stay with boring Prince Henry to gain power, that's dicey. She and Rumple really were a good evil pairing.

 

 

 

 

  As someone pointed out in comments someplace, Rumple's sparkle makeup seemed to be rubbed off from his nose.  Pretty careless.  I suppose all that impassioned smooching with young Cora...



The dynamics between Cora and Regina were excellent as always.  I had a moment at the end where Cora actually loved Regina and Regina had what she had never had and I wished Cora could live.   I wonder if Regina will take out her own heart in tribute to Cora and so that she can get revenge against Snow for using the Candle of Death on Cora without emotion.  If she does that she will not be torn about Henry and she can focus on the fine details.  Where could she hide her heart now that everyone in town seems to visit her vault freely?



Nice scenes where Rumple calls Belle and tells her about herself through his eyes.  And a bit of making up with Baelfire.  I liked Rumple saying he is full of love.  I think it is true and that rather than cowardice is what has tripped him up and yet redeemed him over time.



Snow has used Dark Magic.  Magic always comes with a price.  What might happen to her besides a devastated conscience?



Emma used her magic to protect, finally.  So interesting Rumple told her to use feelings about who she needed to love and protect to reach her inner magic.  He had young Cora reaching into the bottomless depths of her anger instead.




Last tidbits...Eva as a young woman was a total wretch, tripping Cora out of simple malice.  And she seemed so beautiful and noble last week.  (sniff)  Eva set the ball in motion, didn't she.  Too sad.  At least she was determined her own daughter wouldn't be a brat. And I am not certain that Cora and Rumple did not "seal the deal" the night before the wedding to Prince Henry thus making Regina his daughter.  But...Regina has the dark hair of Henry so perhaps not.

---

Once Upon a Time: Broken

The season premiere did not disappoint!  It opens with a man walking a city street who I thought at first must be Bale, but on closer inspection it looks like Jefferson.  There is a Hatter poster of some kind on his apartment wall so, not Bale, I say.

He is obviously leading a miserable existence and its raining and he can't get his window closed.  A dove stops by with a postcard that has a picture Storybrook and the message "Broken" on it.

Storybrook isn't actually broken, but it is working a bit differently than might be expected since magic has returned.

Doctor Whale, who remains enigmatic and unidentified as a fairy tale character leads a mob against Regina.  She has a moment where she tries to use magic to blast them with her returned powers only to find that they are not back after all.  The crowd presses in.

Charming, Snow, Henry and Emma arrive just in the nick of time to break things up.  Interestingly Henry shows he has feelings for Regina after all as he begs the crowd not to harm her.

Doctor Whale and Charming go head to head and Whale defiantly tells Charming you're not my Prince.  Where did this rapscallion come from anyway?

Gold slides around his promise to Belle not to kill Regina by sending a soul sucking wraith after her.  The wraith is pretty crummy looking but he is bent on getting to Regina.  She is put in jail to protect her from the mobs and the wraith.

Regina has a plan to send him through Jefferson's hat to another place.  She claims fairy is gone so it will send him into a void or she isn't sure what.  Regina desperately turns the hat as the wraith approaches trying to infuse it with magic so they can lure the wraith in. 

It is not until Emma kneels by her side and touches the hat that it spins and opens and the wraith can be drawn in.  Emma is sucked in too.  Snow, unwilling to lose her daughter after just regaining her jumps in after.  The Prince tries to follow but the portal has closed, leaving him with Regina and Henry.

He takes Henry's hand and leads him back to Snow's apartment where they gaze sadly at a picture of Emma and Snow.

Meantime in fairy, there is a small bit of the land left and Sleeping Beauty is found and wakened by her prince.  He is accompanied by Mulan (!).   Somehow the prince is also marked by the wraith so the reunion of the Prince and Aurora is cut short by the attack of the wraith. 

This leaves Mulan and Aurora who both loved the prince as it turns out.  The wraith is contained in an amulet.  Among the rubble of the battle Mulan pushes some debris aside revealing what she says is the source of the wraith:  Emma and Snow.


Sending Snow and Emma off to fairy is a good plot twist.  Emma is still having trouble identifying with all of these crazy people.  She can't understand what their existence was like, she can't imagine the power of magic and the battles between good and evil that could take place that might make two parents desperate enough to send their child off to an unknown fate.   It looks like she is going to learn.

Instead of the battle for Henry between two mothers that dominated the first season, we have Henry in the custody of Charming, his grandfather.   He can get some grounding in what life should be like in a magical world.  Since he is of this world, I'm guessing that Henry will have his own magic and Charming can steer him in a decent use of that magic.

I'm glad Belle came back to Gold at the last, because we know Beauty loves her Beast despite his flaws and frightening ways and she can help redeem him.

Once Upon a Time: An Apple Red As Blood

At last she thought of something.   She went into her most secret room -- no one else was allowed inside -- and she made a poisoned apple.  From the outside it was beautiful, and anyone who saw it would want it. But anyone who might eat a little piece of it would die. Coloring her face, she disguised herself as an old peddler woman, so that no one would recognize her, traveled to the dwarves house and knocked on the door.


Snow White put her head out of the window, and said, "I must not let anyone in; the seven dwarves have forbidden me to do so."


"That is all right with me," answered the peddler woman. "I'll easily get rid of my apples. Here, I'll give you one of them."


"No," said Snow White, "I cannot accept anything from strangers."


"Are you afraid of poison?" asked the old woman. "Look, I'll cut the apple in two. You eat half and I shall eat half."

Now the apple had been so artfully made that only the one half was poisoned. Snow White longed for the beautiful apple, and when she saw that the peddler woman was eating part of it she could no longer resist, and she stuck her hand out and took the poisoned half. She barely had a bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead.

In Fairy Tale Land, Snow White mounts a rescue mission to get Charming out of King George's castle.  The dwarves, Red, Granny and an absolute host of multicolored fairies assault the ramparts, make their way in to the courtyard and into the dungeons.
 
Unfortunately, the Evil Queen has already bought the Prince  from George and stolen him away to her own castle. Snow sees only a mirror projection of him before the image of the Queen appears and demands that if Snow wishes to save the Prince she must make a deal, meeting the Queen "where it all began".
 
The Queen meets Snow on a hillside near the old stables from "Stableboy" where a grave marks Daniel's resting place.  Sneeringly, the Queen tells Snow Daniel died because of her.  Snow was not aware he was dead, thinking he had run away.  The Queen doesn't give any details but puts all the blame on Snow.  She also tells Snow that in order for Charming to live, she must sacrifice herself by eating an apple which will bring a waking sleep to Snow, forcing her to be aware but seemingly dead asleep to others.  Snow makes the sacrifice and with one bite drops to the ground.
 
 

 
In Storybrooke, Henry makes the car swerve just at the Storybrooke sign, insisting that Emma must stay and save everyone from the curse.  Emma still only wants to save Henry, but she gives up on taking him from town. 
 
She decides to leave town by herself after talking with Jiminy Cricket (that useless bit of conscience!).  It must be the Storybrooke Curse, but his advice is always wrong and terrible, yet everyone comes to him.  Ack.
 
 

 
Henry desperately talks to August asking him to help convince Emma to save everyone.  August tells him he tried and failed, showing him his advancing wooden state...which Henry can see because he believes in the Curse.
 
In yet another of her bad clueless moves, Emma stops at Regina's to say she is leaving town for Henry's sake but she wants visitation rights and blah blah.   Regina has been preparing for Emma however and has a nice big Apple Tart ready from the oven.   It is made from the original Poisoned Apple snared in a last bit of magic by the Mad Hatter who has been hanging around Storybrooke rather than off suffering in Wonderland as we were led to believe.  (Very stinky bit of storytelling sleight of hand...). 
 
Emma returns to Mary Margaret's apartment to get the rest of her things before leaving town. Mary Margaret gives Emma a great mom style lecture about family and being hurt that Emma wasn't saying goodbye and having backslid to being the Emma who originally came to town. Go mama go!
 
Regina visits Gold and gloats that she has found a way to keep Emma from breaking the Curse and yet keep her out of the way.  Gold guesses it is the Sleeping Curse but warns her magic always has a price (without his Rumplestiltskin voice).
 
As Emma is ready to leave, Henry comes to see her a last time and begs her to stay and believe in him, if not in the Curse.  He hugs her tightly and notices the tart.  "Where did you get that?" he asks.  Regina!  Henry tells her it is poisoned and she shouldn't eat it.  Again she does not believe and in desperation Henry takes a bite, dropping to the floor in the deep deadly sleep meant for Emma.
 
 

Brave Henry!  What a smart kid, full of faith in fairy tales, and Good winning the battle over Evil.   I think Henry is the heart of the story, his ethics, his love, his determination are what Emma needs to emulate if she is to save everyone.

Once Upon a Time: The Stranger

Pinocchio turns out to have been the seven year old that found baby Emma, having come through the wardrobe portal just moments before her.  (Doh I did think Baelfire was too old.) It turns out that Gepetto forced the Blue Fairy to lie about how many could travel through.  The number was in fact two.  He insisted Pinocchio be one of them.

I liked having my question answered about August and his returning to wooden form, it was indeed triggered by Emma deciding to stay in Storybrooke for Henry.  August's description of his land where everything is pleasure...Tsk.

I thought that Baelfire was going to be in the cafe as a sort of last resort bit of convincing for Emma, but no. All August succeeded in doing was to make Emma feel desperate to get away from the burden of saving everyone.

I do think the older boy at the orphanage with the wad of cash was Baelfire (like I'm letting him slip away so easily).  All that money from making deals no doubt, just like his dear old dad.

Interesting Emma could not see August's wooden leg.  It must be because she truly doesn't believe. 

I thought the telling of Pinoccio's story was sweet.  It is just too hard that Geptetto should be asked to let anything happen to his boy.  I understand the deal he made. 

It was far too much to ask of a small child to go through a portal to a foreign land alone, and to bear the burden of watching over a baby and making sure she meets her fate.  Still, when he left poor innocent baby Emma there alone with those cruel people I'm going noooooo.

Nothing but sadness has been brought by the curse, even for Regina who is not loved anywhere by anyone.  I wonder if she is regretting having done it at all.  Interesting ploy trying to gather David to herself.  Maybe Charming is waking up to himself.  He backed right on out of there, didn't he.

I am vindicated, August did change the story and Henry did notice!  Aha.

My husband and I are agreed that August/Pinocchio has achieved redemption because Gepetto told him he tried to make things right and that is all that could be asked.  And he's going to work for his dad for free just to be near him again.  Now that is nice.

And Emma decides to take things into her own hands and drives off with Henry.  That will be a fine mess.

Henry I Am Your Father...

After last night I am convinced Baelfire is Henry's father

Also, I think Baelfire is the seven year old who found baby Emma.  I think he kept returning to the place where he entered this world in hopes that his father would appear, but voila, there was a baby instead.  I'm certain he watched over her as best as he could over the years.  We shall see how much he has been working behind the scenes.  Has he been a force for good as he was in faerie, or has this world corrupted him?

Once Upon a Time: The Return

They really fooled me!  I apparently have a giant soft spot for Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold because I really wanted him to be reunited with his boy.  Instead, he was tricked by August into revealing the location of his Dark One Knife and August tried to use it to control Mr. Gold.  Major bummer. But only on behalf of Mr. Gold.

There has been something a bit off about August, a bit slimy, and I have had a hard time liking him even though he seemed to be helping Emma.  Ah, well.

Another opportunity for Robert Carlyle to do some really wonderful acting.

Still, Baelfire must have ended up in this world, right?  So who is he? Have we met him or will we?  Because he came here before the curse as Emma did, he would be immune to having to stay in Storybrooke.  I'm wondering if Baelfire is who August was talking to on the phone, saying we have to move our plan up, we're running out of time.  It would explain why August knows so much.

The next theory that has been floated out there then is that August is Pinocchio, and perhaps the tremors we're seeing in his legs are him turning back to wood in this non-magical world.  He would be highly motivated to have Emma break the curse if it would save him by sending him back to fairy tale land.

The Blue Fairy is head of the convent, right?  Now we know why Gold hates fairies.  As I was watching I was recalling Rumplestiltskin killing Cinderella's Fairy Godmother...why kill her?  She must have done something as well.  Silly fairies.

So "The Return" was not the return of Baelfire, but Kathryn's return.  She was in an accident, drugged, kept in a dark basement.  She was most gracious to everyone.  Hopefully nothing more bad will happen to her.

I feel for Sidney, still as in love with the Queen as ever.  What a terrible fate he has suffered for his true love.

David in Storybrooke was as noxious and clueless as ever.  Could they make him any less appealing?

Luckily Snow/Mary Margaret gets stronger by the episode.

Only three more episodes to the finale.  Lots of possible twists.

Once Upon a Time: Skin Deep

What a fun Valentine's Day episode from our Twisted Fairy Folk. They manage to cram so much into an episode and yet end with some cliff hanger that makes you wish it were next week so you can get more of the story.

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. It has both Belle and the Beast looking beyond what can be seen on the surface to reveal the person who can be loved below. There is love and sacrifice and ultimate redemption.

I was not pleased to see that the Once episode would feature Rumplestiltskin as the Beast (and not just because they are over-using his character which they are). I wasn't sure Emilie de Ravin would be able to be sweet, smart, loving Belle. She was smart and funny and quite wonderful.

Somehow, they pulled it off and added layers to both the Fairy Tale and Storybrook storylines. Mr Gold/Rumple managed to be both sympathetic and exceedingly villainous.

Speaking of Villainous, the Queen/Regina has reached a new low as a hissingly Evil character. Her ability to snare people when they're weak and turn them and use them for her vile plans...she is something of a mirror of Rumple and his ability to see "Desperate Souls".

Rumple makes deals and advises gleefully that magic has it's price with his Desperate Souls, and he often lets them know deals can be broken. He doesn't seem to gain anything immediately from his victims though he laughs wildly when the deals sour. He doesn't gain puppets as the Queen does (well except for the poor couple from the Jiminy Cricket episode).

Romance Storybrook style:

I liked the girls night out segment with Ashley/Cinderella getting a shot at her Happily Ever After with her Prince. Even if their happiness is temporary it seems like a bit of a crack in the Curse to have this interlude.

Mary Margaret is growing and changing from the simpering schoolmarm to a woman who is taking her future in her own hands. I think that Emma and Red and Ashley and even Henry are looking to her for support and advice and that is helping her to find her Inner Snow White.

David is a long way from finding his Inner Prince Charming. The waffling between Kathryn and Mary Margaret on his part is making him look weak and mindless and stupid. I don't buy that he feels sorry for Kathryn because she is so nice and he theoretically has obligations to her. We know he has no obligations to her, and when he fell in love with someone else, even though it be his True Love, he needed to pack up and get the heck out. We all would have some respect for him if he had done that, rather than appearing to be a weak, slimy, cheating pig. I don't know how they will redeem "David".

I hope Belle gets released from her prison and that she comes out swinging. I don't believe her being alive to Gold/Rumple's knowledge would ruin any plotlines, I think it would just further complicate everything because Belle would certainly not rush to the Beast after all she has been through.

We have to wonder in fact how and why Gold looks and sounds sooo different in Storybrook than he does in Fairy Tale Land. He must have had some interesting clauses in his deal with the Evil Queen.

A final thought: I would like our Operation Cobra participants Emma and Henry to have stopped in a doorway on the way out of the jail to overhear the Gold/Regina conversation. Plots inside of plots!

Once Upon a Time Premier

Once Upon a Time has an entire modern day town enchanted and full of unknowing fairy tale characters. The only people who know this secret are a boy named Henry, the wicked witch mayor of the town, and a doubting bail bondsman named Emma Swan.

The story wends back and forth between the modern day and fairy tale world, showing how things got to be so incredibly odd.

Standout characters are Emma, a tough girl who gave up a baby ten years ago; Snow White, a tragic but flawed princess; The Wicked Witch, who is scarier in her modern day politician's guise than in full witch regalia; and the nasty little character of Rumpelstiltskin, who is glowingly evil in the fairy tale past and in the modern day world.

In the opening, Henry shows up at Emma's door and asks her to come home to Storybrook with him. She obliges reluctantly but after a few rounds with Ms Witch, she decides to stay one week as Henry asks, just to see what things are really like in town.

In the fairy tale world, we see the wicked witch threatening a curse on all, which comes to fruition just as Emma is born to Snow White and Prince Charming.

Next week promises to show just what Snow White did to deserve such hatred from the witch.

The real stories behind the fairy tales will be told as the series plays out.

The weaving of old and new promises to be an interesting way of advancing the story. I am already rooting for Emma to be victorious in "the final battle". She's an underdog with a heroine just beneath the surface.