Once Upon a Time: The Cricket Game Review!

     Okay, we are finally back from the holiday break with some villianous newbies in town, some Regina pity, Pongo's cute screen time, a few slow bits, new magic for Emma that I'm sure will turn up again in the not so distant future, and a so-so relief twist. Well, for me at least. Shall we proceed?

     Oh, there's no doubt about it! We must start with pirate hottie Hook on his ship overlooking Storybrooke. Cora and Hook have finally made it to the docks after waiting a whole month on the water just staring at the town. Hook wants to split up but Cora has other plans. She infoms Hook that this place has magic and it won't be as easy as jabbing his hook into Rumples. Anyway, we've seen that before in the past. Hope Hook had better plans than that! The two are interupted by some fisherman or something. What fairytale character was he suppose to be? If anyone knows please let me know. He gets to experience Cora placing an invisable spell on Hook's ship and then is changed into a fish for being so friendly. How sweet Cora. Least she didn't kill him. Well, she would have if Hook hadn't pushed him into the water. Was this somehow an example of how these two truly are? If it is maybe there's some hope left for Hook...maybe.
      Show comes on with Pongo in the background this time! Yay! Are we going to have 101 Dalmations story begin here? Will Pongo's journey to love and puppies truely be upon us? I have always wanted our Cricket friend to meet the girl who would have the female dog. Can't remember her name. Is it Perdita or something? Cricket needs a girlfriend! Will we see Cruella De Vil? Is Cruella De Vil Regina's real mother? Did Rumples take her away from Cruella and give her to Cora? Wait, will Cora be Cruella De Vil in this story? Sorry about that. My mind tends to wonder about these things. Wouldn't it be awesome though to have a Disney story play out in Storybrooke? 101 Dalmations would work great there! Okay, I'll really stop! lol!
     More Snow and Charming love. This time in bed and Emma and Henry has to see it. Not too traumatizing for Emma. Not really. Not really traumatizing for Henry either. Isn't it better for Henry to see his married grandparents in bed together than to see Regina in bed with the flavor of the month? My bad. Maybe she only had an affair with the huntsman but still! Regina tried to keep it a secret but Henry is a smart kid. I think he knew.

     Back in the fairytale land past it is a little before Snow and Charming's wedding and Queenie is dressed again in a much too awesome outfit. Red Sonja much Regina! I actually love the outfit this time. Don't get me wrong. She is informed that Snow and Charming defeated King George and the kingdom is now theirs. Later the two capture Regina with the help of the Blue Fairy's dust.

        

    Back in Storybrooke, the town has a party to celebrate Snow and Emma's return but when Regina enters, Grumpy gets grumpy. Emma says she invited her. Go Emma! She has a talk with her family about it. She tells ma and pa that if it weren't for Regina they wouldn't be here and she invited her for Henry's sake. Emma wants to give Regina a chance. After this episode we now know what all those knowing looks were between Charming and Snow. They've been through this situation before and it did not turn out so pretty. They still agree to let Emma handle the situation this time. Guess the girl has to learn on her own. Later Regina is handing out her food and Grumpy asks if the secret ingredient is poison. How cruel Grumps but we understand. Regina says it's pepper. As the party continues Regina is left alone while her food is eaten by Grumpy and everyone is talking to everyone else but her. Great way to bring her in and help her on the road to redemption people! Later a lonely Regina leaves with Emma following. Regina thanks her for inviting her and Emma says she did it for Henry. When Regina asks if Henry can come over to her place sometime Emma doesn't think that's a good idea. Time for Regina to revert back to her old ways because that answer sounded too much like a no! Poor girl that's all she knows now and it's going to be hard to tear her away from that. Emma seems to know that sort of and starts to walk away. Regina apologizes though. Wow, this girl is working hard for Henry! Things continue to go downhill though when Emma tells her that Archie suggested she should invite her and that Regina had been visiting him. Not what Regina wanted to hear. Hook and Cora are secretly watching Regina and we learn Cora wants to break Regina again but she's not quite there yet.
     Later, Regina argues with Archie about him letting Emma know about her visits to him. Red interupts them and an emotionally compromised Regina spits out her venom of rudness to her to leave them alone. Anyone else out there know someone in real life like this? I sure do!
     Again we are back in the fairytale past and Charming wants to kill the queen.
     Back in Storybrooke, Red watches as Regina visits Dr. Hopper at his house. Pongo knows somthing is up when Regina enters the apartment. Too bad Archie doesn't listen because Regina proceeds to choke him or something! What?!  Aww. No Pongo story but at least he's trying to help his master! Good boy! Too bad Regina placed a spell on him though. We are shown that Cora was disguised as her daughter so she can frame her. Boooo! More pain for Regina! Ugh.
    

    
     Pongo runs to the diner barking like mad in front of Henry and Emma. Red comes out and tells them something's wrong because she can understand dogs. Wolf thing. Okay, she can understand dogs but she doesn't know what he's saying I guess because later they need Pongo as a witness and Red is not around then. Hmmm. Pongo leads them back to Dr. Hopper and the two find Archie and he is dead! Nooo! No future 101 Dalmation story for Archie and Pongo! Booo!
    In fairytale past a captured Regina talks with her father. Blah, blah. Act like she's redeemed idea begins.
     In Storybooke, Emma and Charming have brought Regina in for questioning. They tell her Archie is dead and she is genuinely surprised but we only know that. Snow watches behind the glass. Later, the three talk about what to do with her. Emma believes Regina did not kill Archie and wants to let her go and see what she does.
    In fairytale land past a kind of pointless execution scene takes place while Rumples watches. Regina expresses her regret she didn't kill Snow. Snow stops the excution or should I say Blue Fairy stops the arrows for her? Later that night Snow has a talk with Rumples who gives her the idea to test Regina. She does just that the next day and Regina fails stabbing Snow with the knife Snow brought with her to protect herself. It was an enchanted knife and a trick to see if Regina could redeem herself. She failed and now Snow and Regina are protected from her magic in this world because Rumples helped them out. Snow and Charming banash her. It turns out Rumples was helping Regina because he tells her she can't hurt them in their world but she could in another world, giving her the idea of THE CURSE. Regina leaves for Snow and Charming's wedding.
     Meanwhile in Storybrooke, the Snow family visit Rumples and Belle who are planning a picnic I think. Rumples shows Emma how she can use her magic to find out what happened to Archie. He takes a dreamcatcher and strokes Pongo with it. Now it holds Pongo's memories. She holds it and wills the memory of the murder. They now believe Regina is the guilty one. Possible spoiler ahead. Now we know why Rumples will need Emma to go with him to find Bae! I'm sure he will want Emma to use this to find his son! A dream catcher was shown earlier in Cassidy's apartment!

     Determined to charge Regina, the Snow family go over to Regina's place and confront her. They try to capture her with fairy dust but it doesn't work this time. We should take note at how she catches the fairy dust and just throws it down at Snow and Charming's feet. She could have done a lot more damage if she truly wanted to. Of course with Emma goading her like this and whenever it has to do with her son Regina is going to feel threatened. Of course she's going to resort back to the only thing she's used to. That is magic which is exactly what Cora wants and exactly what she promised Henry she wouldn't do. Why are these writers making us feel so much for Regina? This is so confusing! Emma tells her she's going to tell Henry that she killed Archie and later Regina uses magic to push her down and escapes by disappearing in a puff of smoke. Possible spoiler: I can see it already. Cora is going to try to get Regina to trust her. Make her believe no one cares for her but Cora. Ugh! I will be sooo angry if that happens! Cora will take her heart and Regina will be a puppet...or Cora will kill her! Goodbye Regina! Ugh! D:
     Later that day, Emma worries about telling Henry what has happened. As she does this Regina is parked in a car nearbye watching it all in the rearview mirror. She's balling her eyes out! WHY MUST YOU TORTURE US?!
    In a semi-shocking twist we learn Hook and Cora have Archie hostage so he can tell them everything they need to know. Cora killed someone else, placed him in Archie's apartment, and made him look like Archie. Too complicated. They should have kept Archie dead. Too much like last year with the is she or isn't she dead Katherine!

     There were some good parts in this episode but also some very slow parts as well. I sort of feel like they're repeating last year's storyline in a way, but with Archie alive my hope for a 101 Dalmation story taking place in Storybrooke seems possible once again. So that makes me happy. We need a better combination of action and drama this season and hopefully that will be coming real soon. Still waiting for that Hook and Rumples confrontation they're teasing us with but Hook better not kill him just when he seems to be finding his way out of Storybrooke to find Bae! Rumples is smart. He can get himself out of this mess I'm sure. Until next time...tootles! :)