Once Upon a Time: Into the Deep Review!

    Well, well, well. Once Upon a Time is finally back after it's two week break for...just two episodes before the MAJOR winter break which we will be Snow-less all December until January! Ugh. This episode was okay. It did deliver in action and twists which isn't this why we watch Once? Maybe it's for the romance of Snow and Charming? Maybe it's for the connection between Emma and Henry? Maybe it's for the love of Rumpy and Belle? We get a tiny bit of all these in this episode but it still felt a little lacking to me. Maybe that is because there are SO many people involved in this series to actually involve so many in one episode we lose too much oh I don't know...emotional connection? An episode like this proves that you really have to watch Season 1 to really grasp the concept. Oh well newbies go watch Season 1 It is sooo well worth the watch because it is gooood! Let's truly begin.

FAIRY-TALE LAND PRESENT

     Hook and Cora are reunited and talk of betrayal and such which is the surprising focal point of this episode by the end. Cora raises an army of dead village people. No, not to start a truly awesome chorus of Zombie Macho Man or YMCA but for the task of stopping Snow, Emma, Mulan, and Aurora. Can someone please remind me of where those girls were going in the beginning because I've forgotten during the break. lol! Sorry, this is what happening when I only watch it one time before making a review. My bad.

    Anyway, Emma shows Aurora a picture of Henry and asks if he is the boy that she saw in her dreams pf the sleeper's netherworld. Of course they're one of the same. A little more talking and they finally figure out they have their own human walkie-talkie. Emma's like well girl you are useful for something after all and not just an extra mouth to feed. GET YOUR BUTT BACK TO SLEEP! *Bam* Well, she doesn't knock her out because that would've been too awesome and as awesome as Emma is, she's not that awesome yet. Aurora goes to sleep and dreams and finds Henry there.

STORYBROOKE

     Meanwhile, Gold and Belle are having a lovely, little date at Granny's Diner when Queenie Regina comes in and destroys all! Buwahhha! Well, nooo. Not true. That would've been old Regina. She only destroys the moment between the two. She starts talking about a lot of things that so obviously Rumpy has not gotten around to informing Belle about. Which would probably mean just about anything from his evil past but this time it's about stopping Cora. A few more embarrassing moments in front of Belle and that's all of RumBelle this time. Belle is never seen again in this episode.
     Back at Emma's and Snow's apartment Regina gives Henry a blanket from his bedroom. Trying to be the good little mommy. How much longer can she pull this off? Henry tells David that he wants to be a hero himself for once so we get one more adventure with Henry before the big dudes have to come in a ruin it for him. Rumpy magically lulls Henry to sleep with a story about when Snow and Charming captured him by using a cursed quill. Well, we learn the quill wasn't the magic it was the ink inside it. It came from a special squid that lives in a place that only Rumpy himself  and mermaids can venture. Hmmm. So now we are talking about mermaids and squids. Does that mean Ariel and Captain Nemo will be coming to our screens soon? Rumpy tells Henry that this ink can be found in the cell that Rumpy was held in and that's how Cora will be trapped I assume. Of course we are talking about Rumpy so we really don't know if this is his agenda or not.

     Henry is back in dream netherworld and tries to tell Aurora but cannot do so before she is whisked away by a tornado because Mulan was waking her up? More Wizard of Oz reference? Henry wakes and is badly burned again which Rumpy heals.

FAIRYTALE LAND PRESENT

     Aurora is pulled out of the dream netherworld because the group are being attacked by the zombie village people! After a few little action scenes Aurora is taken to Cora.  Eventually a decision is made to put Snow under instead. Some crazy explanation about how Snow can return to this netherworld because she's been there before even though it's been years. Okay, we'll believe you. Snow asks Mulan to make some more poppy dust like what she used on the giant. Mulan says we have to travel to find some more because there isn't any where they're at. Does that mean by the end of this episode they're in the land of OZ? Remember the field of poppies Dorthy and gang fall asleep in? Please Once Upon a Time go to OZ already!!! You've hinted at it enough! It's time to go there!!!
     Later Aurora is a captive of Cora's and she tries to win the princess over to her side by saying her prince Phillip is still alive but only in another realm. Aurora won't listen to her crap. Later we see Hook setting her free. He tells her because he wants Emma to trust him. Cora betrayed him and he wants Emma to know he is not going to betray them if he gets what he wants.

STORYBROOKE

     The adults decide it isn't safe for Henry to travel back to the dream netherworld but Rumpy objects. See what I did there. Hehe. Of course until the love vibe between Charming and Snow begins and somehow David just KNOWS Snow is going over instead of Aurora. Is it me or are the writers taking too many liberties with this episode? Well, we are talking about fairy tales so what else is new. Off to create another sleeping potion for Charming. This gives Regina and Henry some time together. The conversation sort of goes like someone with a drinking habit going into rehab for their child. "I've only had a couple of set-backs son but I promise after this NEVER AGAIN!" Oh we shall see Queenie...we shall see.
     We get to see Rumpy's big spinning wheel from "Skin Deep" again and this time it is used to place the sleeping potion Charming will take onto its needle. Sleeping Beauty...yeah we get it. Hey, Belle is also a Beauty. Will we see Belle pricking herself one day on the same needle? With how Belle's relationship with Gold is right now I don't think his kiss would wake her. I'm sure it has to be pure, doubtless love that wakes a person. Belle isn't so sure right now. Oh well, need to stop this. Too much of a RumBelle fan.
     David assures Henry that faith in each other will conquer all and everything will be just fine. Just before he pricks his finger he asks Gold if he can be sure he'll go to this place immediately. Rumpy isn't so sure because this is the first time Charming has gone under. Henry gives Charming his necklace and says it will protect him from the flames. *prick* Charming is down. Charming finds himself carrying a nice torch walking around in a room of mirrors. He uses Henry's charm to find out that the fire room is just below him. Takes off the charm. More of David's stupidity, cracks open the wall, falls through to the other room and breaks the necklace! Good one Charming. The two find one another and more sappy romance after Charming tells Snow about Rumpy's cell. He leaps over the flames to Snow but they cannot touch thank goodness. Snow starts to wake up and disappear but not fast enough for me. Ugh. Then we get this sappy Christmas themed Once commercial where Charming is saying let it snow, let it snow and Snow says, "Charming." Oh, will the cheese ever end?!

FAIRYTALE LAND PAST

     Mulan blows the poppy dust in Snow's face and Snow is out but later she wakes up after her adventure with her lover boy and the compass is gone and so is Mulan. They catch up with Mulan but she won't give the compass back. Later Aurora shows up to a surprised Emma. Aurora tells them that Hook let her escape and says he wants Emma to trust him and that he may care for her. We soon find out that Hook is betraying them because he had took out Aurora's heart and had given it to Cora who now has control over everything Aurora does and says.

Next time's scenes seem quite confusing. More well action and who is working for whom? We shall see next week and then the rest of December we'll be waiting for our next gift of an episode coming in January. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and until the next review tootles! :)

Once Upon a Time: Child of the Moon Review!

     Its time once again for Ruby Red to shine on Once Upon a Time. We have an annoying step-father coming back to annoy their step-son, making a vicious animal into a little dog that will come at their beck and call (well, at least the good side has one thing up their sleeve), dream walkie-talkies, Rumpy's soft spot for children, and a possible foretelling of things to come! We have a few things to talk about so lets begin.

STORYBROOKE
     Tow truck man from previous episodes now has an actual fairy tale counterpart. Of course he does. Everyone in this town has one. Why though did they have to pick on Gus-Gus?! He was the most popular, cutest mouse from Cinderella and here he is resorted to the disposable character. Gus wants to date Ruby. A wolf with a mouse. Sounds more like a wolf dinner to me. Belle saves Ruby by helping to turn him down. These girls are too much alike in the looks department. With their dark hair they look like sisters. Yes Ruby, you should chill out with Belle in her creepy library that has a steam punk elevator leading to a dungeon basement which leads to the mines. Maybe the wolf would have been safe there during all this drama. Couldn't say as much for the dwarfs though. Werewolf dwarfs! That could be interesting!

      Ruby's first time of the month since the curse was broken is coming (you know what I mean) and she's afraid she'll turn into the wolf and kill someone. So Granny locks her in their freezer...I think that's the freezer. Granny's Diner Today's Special : Pop-cycle Wolf! Ruby seems to have other plans than being Granny's appetizer though. It appears she turned into the wolf and broke out overnight! Werewolf loose in Storybrooke! No, we won't be seeing a horrific scene like in An American Werewolf in London. Darn it! Just a dead Gus-Gus who's been cut in half with his legs tossed in a dumpster. Poor actress who plays Ruby has to complain and cry again thinking she's the one who did it. Don't know why but her crying gets on my nerves. Sorry it just does. Ruby wants to turn herself in and King George wants her dead!

     Speaking of King George he's vowing now to shame Charming and disgrace him in the eyes of the town. This Ruby thing seems like the best opportunity. When he gathers a mob of townsfolk outside the police station he gets quite a shock that Ruby has been moved! Take that Georgie Porgie! Charming has brought her back to Belle's library for safe keeping until Georgie's crap is over. Doesn't take long for Ruby to believe she should sacrifice herself as punishment for killing Gus though. She chains Belle up and leaves the library to face her fate. By the time Charming hears, the crowd has cornered her in her wolf form near some dumpsters. Charming has her cloak and sweet talks the wolf telling Ruby she can control her actions. Of course Charming isn't torn to shreds because the writers don't want that. We now have a wild puppy dog we can call on anytime we want just like in Fairy tale land again, and Ruby can run wild and free in the forest! Good doggie! Go for your walk! I still want some story between Ruby and Rumples! Can you see Rumples being attacked by Ruby?! That's just what we all need. A werewolf Dark One!

      Speaking of Rumples, Henry is continuing to have bad dreams of the burning, red room and this time he wakes up with a burn on his hand just in time for Regina (who's babysitting) to see it and panick. She calls Rumples who comes over with his bag of tricks and gives Henry a vial on a chain for him to wear. I love how the conversation between these three transpires. Rumples turns all his vicious remarks onto Regina. Blaming her for all of this mess in the first place. He's quite sweet to Henry. Dare I say Henry reminds him of Bae? He also says Henry will not have a price to pay when Queenie objects to his gift. He claims it's "on him." What does that mean? Will he take any problems that come with this magic or will Henry have to pay whether Rumpy wants him too or not. Judging from next times scenes oh yeah Henry gonna pay! Another thing. Rumpy says Henry can control this netherworld with the necklace and to control what you fear causes you to not fear it anymore. Will Henry end up controlling Rumples one day or someone else with the dagger? Will Rumples have to be stabbed to truly end it all? Remember if the dagger is used whoever uses it will become the next Dark One. Imagine what troubles could come with a Dark One Henry!

     Now with the reveal that Georgie killed Gus and burned Jefferson's hat there has to be another way to help Emma and Snow. The dwarfs found diamonds for fairy dust but without the hat how will they ever get the girls back? Well, it looks like Henry has sort of answered that question. With his Rumpyfied necklace he can control the flames in his dream and communicate with the mysterious girl with him. She turns out to be Aurora who quickly wakes up and lets Emma and Snow know she's just talked to Henry! So last year Emma and Henry had walkie talkies and this year its dream walkie talkies. Is that the only way to contact fairy tale world? We'll have to wait and see.

FAIRY TALE PAST

     Snow is still on the run and at the moment she's with Ruby. Ruby's cloak gets a hole in it so she tells Snow to leave for a while. She's afraid she'll turn into the wolf and kill Snow. While she's gone Ruby runs into a Taylor Lautner wannabe and meets a pact of wolves in a sunken castle. We've just turned into Twilight! YUCK!!! Okay, bad taste in my mouth. Edward tastes like chicken. Okay, sorry. This Harry Potter fan is not a fan of Twilight. Moving on. Ruby meets the lead wolf which turns out to be another Mommy Dearest! How many Mommy Dearests do we need on this show?! She does do one good thing for Ruby. She teaches her how to control the wolf and remember what she does while being the wolf. Snow comes in later to ruin everything. Regina's guards kill Taylor wannabe and Mommie Dearest Wolf blames Snow. Snow you are such a trouble maker. Ruby has to make a choice to save Snow or let her mom kill her. Wow, hard choice. Ruby saves Snow because she doesn't want to be a killer even though she kills her mom by saving Snow. Ruby believes Snow to be her family.

    Next time scenes has some interesting moments. One in particular has Cora with what seems to be her own heart glowing. Gave me the idea of what if Cora has had someone else's heart ever since Regina was a little girl. What if someone crushed her heart and it was replaced with someone else's just like what happened with Daniel. Maybe or maybe not. Cora's story needs to be told one day. I know that for sure. Will we sympathize with her or not will be the question afterwards. FINALLY, Henry will have a chance to be a hero! Go Henry! BOOOO! Have to wait two weeks to see how it all turns out!

Once Upon a Time: Tallahassee Review!

     This episode wasn't really one of the best episodes but it did have some very good parts all the same. We finally learn who New York Mystery man is...well  sort of, some chemistry between blondie and the hooked one, what's in the darn box AGAIN, what's up with those dreams, another possible Wizard of Oz reference, and will Emma ever learn to trust again? Can't say this episode didn't move the plot along because yes it did but it also dragged in places to me. I watched it twice to see if a second viewing would make me feel any different but no. Still had that same feeling. Oh, and one more thing. A   LOST character makes a big, BIG, entrance. Coming from a person who didn't watch LOST, I kinda liked him. :) On we go.

FAIRYTALE PRESENT

     It begins with the Hook and the four (Snow, Emma, Aurora, and Mulan) walking to the beanstalk. Hook tells Emma the story about Jack and the Beanstalk is not at all what she was told. He also goes into a story about how all these humans including Jack killed the giants for their beans or something. Saying that the giants were evil somewhere in that mess. Only two people can climb the beanstalk to get the compass that Cora needs as well as them to get to Storybrooke. The giants enchanted the beanstalk. Emma is the one that will go with Hook and she tells Mulan if she's not back within 10 hours to cut down the beanstalk even if Snow protests. Mulan gives Emma some poppy dust or something to knock out the giant. Another possible reference to the Wizard of Oz. Why don't we just go there people! Hook is untied by Snow. Hook is ever so the flirt. He calls the women "lovelies" once and later even mentions rum and how it's a "bloody waste of it". What are the writer's doing? He's a pirate we get it but he's not Jack Sparrow. All pirates now have to have the same personality I see. COME ON! Hook gives Emma an enchanted cuff (the one Cora was suppose to use) and these girls are still going along with this! Ugh! Hook and Emma chemistry begins! Last episode I wanted to see some Aurora action with Hook but now I can see something between him and Emma. Hook also mentions while they're climbing that he "likes a challenge." Well, he'll get one with Emma much more than Aurora. Trouble is Emma may already be taken. We'll we soon see a triangle in the future? The two reach the top and I must say this is the worst CGI I've seen on the show. Did not like how much they relied on  all the giant's place being special effects. I must be forgiving though because I'm sure it's hard to make things look so much bigger than you are. Can't forgive them for that beanstalk though and that was a prop. So even their props aren't so great.
      After the giant (played by LOST's Jorge Garcia) is knocked out they trample through his stuff. Poor guy. Only giant left and those blasted humans are writhing though his stuff like it's a flea market. The two chit chat for while, fall into each others arms (must admit slightly hot), and by the time they get somewhere the poppy dust has worn off, rocks fall on Hook, and Emma is in the palms of the giant. Blah, blah, blah. Emma tries to talk to the giant but he doesn't care. She resorts to biting him and soon she has captured him with one of his own traps. She's about to jab him with a dead Jack's sword (so this is suppose to tell us Neal Cassidy is not Jack, not convinced) when the giant tells her she's heard the story all wrong. The humans are the bad guys in the Jack and Beanstalk story. He's hated human's ever since because he's the last of the giants. The giant gives her the compass and Emma doesn't kill him. The giant gets free but doesn't hurt Emma. He lets her go. She asks for one more favor and lets Hook out of his rocky trap only to chain his arm to a rock. Hook acts hurt that she still can't trust him after all he's done. She leaves him there.

     Mulan is about to cut down the beanstalk with Snow protesting when Emma falls down the beanstalk. Hmmm. She tells the ladies Hook is going to be about 10 hours behind them. They leave and will Hook be really angry at Emma the next time we see him? I can't wait to see what we saw in the advertisements for this season. Will that truly be Hook grabbing a hook from Mr. Gold's shop? It never showed he face of course. Was that more than the reason to hide who would be playing him? Hmmm.

EMMA'S PAST

    We are following an eleven years younger Emma to a familiar yellow Bug. She breaks into it only to discover a man (Mystery NYC man) is in the back seat. They get stopped by a cop and she discovers she's stolen a car that was already stolen by mystery man. He says his name is Neal Cassidy and he's also a thief. They decide to go into the biz together and become a modern day Bonnie and Clyde. Later, they both want to quit the biz and settle down. They choose Tallahassee, FL as the place to do just that. Only problem is Neal wants to steal some watches but got himself into some hot water in the process of going through with it. Emma agrees to get the watches from the place he left them. Sometime later, Neal is being chased by someone who turns out to be...August Booth! I'm sure everyone watching screamed August when they first saw him. Been awhile since we've seen him. I think he treats Emma pretty dirty here. He convinces Neal to leave Emma and let her get caught by showing him something in a box he has. Last year it held a typewriter. What was it this time? I'm guessing maybe...Rumpy's dagger?! Can't explain how Booth would have that then but if Neal is Bae that dagger would certainly sober him up to the truth. Emma of course is caught and thrown in prison for eleven months. August meets with Neal one more time and Neal gives him the keys to his yellow beetle and some money to give to Emma. Booth does give Emma the car but noooo money in sight! How cruel August. She could have used that money to take care of Henry because of course Emma finds out she's pregnant by the end of it all! That as probably August's plan too. To have Emma give up Henry. Ugh.

     THE STRANGE DREAM!

      We had another mystery introduced to us during this episode. Snow seems to be mothering Aurora a  lot more than her own independent daughter this season and so it's no surprise she'd be there for Aurora when she wakes up from a bad dream about red, doorless rooms with burning curtains, and someone in the corner. The strange part is that Henry has the same dream in Storybrooke! Now, there is one connection these two people have. Both have taken a sleeping potion. Snow has too and I wonder if she  had strange prophetic dreams after she was awaken by Charming? I'm sure these dreams have something to do with Cora or the Queen of Hearts. Maybe they're one of the same. Are Aurora and Henry looking at each other in their dreams? Is there a gap between Storybrooke and Fairy Tale world in the future where you can look into one another's world?

     Next time's scenes seems to be about Ruby and her "changes" in Storybrooke. I would love to see more interaction between Ruby and Mr. Gold. We haven't seen them interact that much. I'm sure there is a story there to be told. Until then tootles! Thanks for being patient as always. :)