Posted by Dustin on 10.01.2012 at 8:42 pm

“Once Upon A Time” is the show I was most looking forward to returning this year, and the season premier did not disappoint. In fact I love the new direction they’ve spun things in. I’m actually going to re-watch the show at some point, because I know I missed some details, and I have a few questions about other things. The season picked up right where it left off, with the curse broken, the characters remembering, and Gold bringing back magic! However things did not go as expected for anyone . . .

The characters remembered who they all were, and recognized one another . . . for the most part. However they wondered why they were still in Storybrook? Dr. Whale began organizing a riot to lynch Regina. Emma and her reunited parents realized they had to stop this. Something was very wrong, and Regina may be the only one who could answer things. Oh and how funny was it when Mary/Snow talked about her one night stand with Whale and caught David/Charming off guard. I loved when she said “Please, we were cursed!”

As the mob went for Regina, Regina seemed shocked that she couldn’t zap them into nothingness with her magic. Where was it? As the Blue Fairy began to tell people, magic in this world works very different than it did where they were from.

Charming/David at one point cornered Whale and asked him who he was? It seems even though Whale remembered his identity, nobody knew who he was . . . at least in this human form maybe? We know some haven’t reverted back. Jimminy Cricket is still a human, as is the Blue Fairy. So who is Whale and what does he really look like? I believe Whale made some comment about how Charming “wasn’t his Prince . . . . ” I suspect Whale may be a villain from the other side? Maybe he was one of those creatures in Regina’s council?

Gold unleashed magic, but as everyone else, learned it didn’t work quiet as expected. He wanted to get rid of Regina after he learned what she had done to Belle, and used a talisman from his shop to do so. The talisman was attached to some wraith creature, and he used it to sick the wraith on Regina!

Meanwhile we then began to see a similar storyline play out in the Fairytale Land. Prince Phillip, with his side kick Mulan, were searching for Sleeping Beauty. Phillip woke her up, but then it seemed he woke up a wraith as well. Beauty seemed to have a very similar talisman as Gold had . . . There was only one way to appease the wraith, so Phillip sacrificed himself to it instead of letting it take Sleeping Beauty . . . . Prince Phillip then fell into a deep sleep, and Mulan told Beauty that at some point they’d come back for him and rescue him. Here came the twist! Unlike last season, this wasn’t “the past” it was “the present!” Mulan informed Beauty that most of their land was ripped away by the Queen’s curse while Beauty slept. This small corner was spared, and she and Phillip had searched for her once they were able to. Just like on the other side, everyone was frozen for 20some years until very recently when something started time moving again. However it was not safe for them to be out and about, they had to return to a hiding spot many of them are hiding out in . . . .

Back in Storybrook, a wraith was on the loose in our world and after Regina. She knew of a possible way to banish it, using the Hatter’s hat to open a portal to their old world . . . or what wasn’t left. She said it would be banishing it into oblivion basically. Emma recognized it as Jefferson’s hat, but Regina asked who Jefferson was? I was confused here, Regina knows damn well who he is. What was she playing at? However as magic was unpredictable, she couldn’t get the hat to work! However when Emma touched it along with Regina . . . it sparked to life. I don’t think Emma realized this, but Regina sure did. Now Regina has even more of a reason to hate Emma, she seems to have magic! They did send the wraith to the other world, but Snow/Mary and Emma got sucked through the portal as well!

Back in Fairytale Land, things were now making sense. Mary/Snow, Emma and the Wraith went through and ended up in the portion of the land that was spared, and Phillip sacrificed himself to the wraith to spare Beauty. By the end of the episode, Mulan and Beauty found Mary/Snow and Emma unconscious and Mulan was pissed! She believed these people were responsible for bringing the Wraith and taking away Phillip. Oh dear! It seems they haven’t yet recognized Snow as she looks so different.

Back in Storybrook, Regina seemed to gain her powers back (did she really lose them? Was she faking? This was were I got confused . . . she got them back after Emma and Mary/Snow got sucked in . . . was that her plan?). After Snow and Emma were gone, she turned on David/Charming. She was about to finally do away with him via magic when Henry showed up and stopped her. Henry told her that she really was the Evil Queen, and he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. He went off with David/Charming, who is his grandpa, and they vowed to get Mary/Snow and Emma back somehow.

Elsewhere, Belle ran off on Gold, after telling him off for what he had done. She realized he hadn’t changed at all, he was still the same ruthless man after power.

Some questions I have and hope to get answers to sooner rather than later . . .
Where is August? I hope he’s not still a wooden dummy!
Where is Jefferson? Last we saw him I think he disappeared? Is he is our land, or back over there?
Who else might have magic and may not realize it? Henry perhaps? He is Emma’s kid.
Will Henry’s dad come into play? Is THAT who we saw in the mysterious intro clip that seemed to be set in New York City? Or could that be Gold’s missing son? Or a bigger twist . . . is he both?