Not really crazy about this latest episode, either.

Best part was the investigation into what happened to Kathryn. Still bugs me that Emma can't tell Sidney's a double-agent.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

So, we're picking up steam again.

I completely misjudged Regina's motive. Instead of framing Charming for Kathryn's death, she's framed Snow.

It was also a nice twist on the traditional Red Riding Hood story. Glad to see Red and Granny fleshed out more.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

Well, after a slump of mediocre episodes, we're back on track and the story is picking up again. I'm interested to see how the story moves.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

I'm curious how Snow's fingerprints got on the box. Either Regina magicked them or Snow touched the box before her exile.

If the former, it again demonstrates how well Regina's adjusted to the real world and how she's using forensics to her advantage.

If the latter, then Snow has no memory of touching it and no defense.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

Well, we know how Snow's fingerprints got on the box, it's her jewelry box, that Regina took from her apartment and planted the knife with the ring of keys.

And in the story book world, Rumpelstiltskin has bottled true love, so the hairs from Snow paid off. I wonder how they'll work out.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

I've been following this show. I like it.

It should be entertaining to watch Mr. Gold double-cross Regina without ever actually breaking his word. At least, that's what I predict will be happening. I'm also predicting that once that happens Regina will play Belle as a bargaining chip to get him to do her bidding at which point he'll call in his favor with Emma.

Should also be fun to watch Emma transition into believing in the curse/magic.

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Children of the Ancients
I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate the phone by 90 degrees and try again.

So, now we finally know what Snow did to earn her Regina's undying wrath. Not what I was expecting ,but well played. It's easy to see how her mother taught her the ropes.

Also, Emma is finally cottoned on to Sidney's double agent status. The question is, will she go after him immediately or feed him misinformation?

And Kathryn's still alive...that throws a spanner in Regina's plans and the murder charge, doesn't it?

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

I don't think Emma will do the smart thing and feed misinformation. Though now that Kathryn has been found, the charges will be have to be dropped. Of course, the question is, where did the heart come from? Wasn't it confirmed to be Kathryn's?

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

It's a 50/50 chance. Ideally, Emma should realize that Regina has known every move of their game from the start and use that to her advantage. But I agree that if Emma lets her emotions get to her, then she will probably go after the ex-reporter. If anyone could convince her to take a more long-term route with Sindey, it would be either Gold or Booth.

On the subject of Booth, based on last night's preview, I've got a new theory to his identity:



On a side note, I am curious to know what happened to Cora. Was it stated earlier in the season whether she was dead by the time Regina activated the Curse?



Yes, DNA matched it to Kathryn. It's possible that Regina magically produced the heart.

But if so, why bring Kathryn back now when the trial is about to destroy her old enemy? Or is Gold's doing?

Again, this is the problem with a cerebral antagonist like Regina; you need to take into account the possibility that there are plans within plans. That, or I'm giving her too much credit.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

With Mr. Gold, I'd say you would be right about plans within plans. Regina doesn't seem that clever. Her arrogance and grandstanding, to Emma usually, have stopped her more often than not. Her big Achilles heel has always been her love of bragging to whoever she's up against.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

That's a more accurate assessment. Regina's clever, but not in Gold's league.

Still, it begs one question: If Emma hadn't come to town, would she still have tried something like this to make Mary's life hell?

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

Probably not, she enjoyed things being static for almost 30 years. With Mary forever alone and David in a coma. It was only when Emma came to town that the status quo started getting shook up, things started changing(the first being the clock moving), and Regina as queen of the town in all but name.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

Agreed.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

somehow I was thinking you were talking about the Sergio Leone douology where I would say that once upon a time in the west is the better half. Also I need to get my copy of my nam is nobody back from that cook...

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

One thing I don't understand is why Mr. Gold had to cut a deal with Regina at all.
Can't he basically give her orders by saying 'please'?

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Children of the Ancients
I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate the phone by 90 degrees and try again.

Another episode this week, and now we know where the curse originally came from.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

And we also have a major continuity error: if all magic ceases to function in this world, then how does Queenie's magical heart-deposit-box room still work? She killed the Huntsman with magic, by crushing his magically extracted and magically stored heart.

At the very least we have some exceptions to the whole "this world has no magic" line.

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"You were doing OK until you started to think."
-ICANT, creationist from evcforum.net

I'm assuming Regina found some kind of loophole or way of overcoming that. Our world may just have a different kind of magic, which is what she's drawing on.

I also think this is why Gold used the 'please' order as part of the deal, to conceal his inability to draw upon his old magic from Regina. Probably wrong, but you never know.

Anyway, I liked seeing Gold's backstory fleshed out even more. Now we know why he developed the curse and why he was in the state he was when Belle was brought in.

Regina's attempts at damage control -- ie sacrificing Sidney - were laughable. Gold played her and she's losing control of the gaming board.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

Other measures of magic have been demonstrated:
1. No one can leave the town
2. Until Emma showed up time in the town was at a standstill

I think all magic not directly connected to Emma (the hatter claimed she had magic before his disappearance) has to come from the curse. Therefore Regina is the sole person able to "control" the curse as its originator and so retains some magical abilities.

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Children of the Ancients
I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate the phone by 90 degrees and try again.

Well, we know who August is now.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner

Once again, things now fall into a different order.

The Blue Fairy was right. If Snow had come through as Emma's guardian, things would have turned out differently. No one counted on Gepetto's refusal to play ball -- or that without a suitable protector, Emma would be too emotionally damaged.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

I'm not so sure Snow would've made a "suitable" protector in this world either.

I mean, the only two professions she's ever known are being royalty and being a thief. Only of those would work in America; add to that she'd be telling her child that they're actually fairytale characters from a parallel universe and it'd only take one run-in with the law before CPS steps in and we get back to square one as far as Emma is concerned.

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Children of the Ancients
I'm sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary. Please rotate the phone by 90 degrees and try again.

Fair enough.

But I think Snow at least would have had an easier time about it then a 7-year old boy.

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

Oh, Regina really should have taken Emma's deal...

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"A vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification; he can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely... a legend, Mr. Wayne."

-- Ducard, Batman Begins --

So, who is Henry's true love?

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed,or numbered. I am a free man. My life is my own" Number 6
The Prisoner