Once Upon A Time Review, Episode 2

Once Upon a Time

Season 2, Episode 2 (We Are Both)

This episode was great! It was a little disappointing by the fact that it was almost solely about what was going on in Storybrooke and not the Enchanted Forest. My favorite characters are Emma and Mary Margaret, so I would have liked to have seen more of them. Anyway, this was good.

Barbara Hershey as Cora

It was interesting to see David/Charming find his way without Mary Margaret/Snow White. He had to make the decisions for the town and even admits that he was the brawn while Snow was the brains and the voice. We finally find out what happens to the inhabitants of Storybrooke if they try to leave now that the curse is broken: their Storybrooke personalities become their only personality. This was found out at the beginning of the episode when the Grumpy/Leroy and the rest of the dwarves go to the line to prove themselves to Prince Charming. David, in the mean time, is trying to figure out what he can do to help the town.

David is not only running around trying to save the town, but he is trying to find a way to save Snow White and Emma. He is flying (not literally) around town trying to figure out who the destroyed hat belongs to.

Lara Parilla as Regina/The Evil Queen.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina/The Evil Queen, is still trying to escape her mother, Cora. She finds out from her father that Cora didn’t always have magic and that some man helped her get it. Regina steals her mother’s book of spells and summons the man who gave her the book: Rumplestiltskin, although she mispronounces his name. He even becomes offended when she asks what he is. Rumple tells her that he knows all about her and even held her when she was a baby. He gives her a mirror and tells her that that’s the only way to be free of her mother. She pushes her mother in and the mirror breaks. Later she admits to Rumple that she loved the power, but doesn’t want to turn into her mother. He says that’s up to her.

In Storybrooke, her story with Henry resembles the story with her mother. Regina is trying to push magic onto Henry while he resists. She realizes that even though she has her magic back this isn’t the way and lets him leave. Regina then tells Henry that she will give up magic for him and try to woo him back.

We get to see August/Pinocchio for a few short minutes (he’s now a wooden boy once more). Gepetto/Marco has flyers up trying to look for him and near the end of the episode Henry tells Marco where to find August, but he’s no longer at Granny’s. I wonder if he is trying to find Marco or if he’s trying to get out of town. Only time will tell.

The episode ends with my two favorites, Mary Margaret and Emma, on the shorts of lake being dragged behind Mulan and Aurora. Mary Margaret tries to free them, but only ends up unconscious as Mulan uses a slingshot against her. They are thrown into a dungeon and the show ends with Cora being alive and offering to help.

The dwarves as the find out what
happens when you try to leave  Storybrooke.

I am intrigued by this episode because there are so many ways it can from here. It looks like Regina is going to try and redeem herself. Things can only get more interesting at this point. So many questions and there are just too many to list. The most important one is: How is Snow White going to react to Cora being alive when The Evil Queen told her that she was dead?

666 Park Avenue, Episode 1

666 Park Avenue

Season 1, Episode 1 (Pilot)

The first thing you see is Terry O’ Quinn (Lost) as he is sitting and watching a symphony. He seems to be enjoying himself, but with this actor you never know what to expect. One of the violinists seems to be in a lot of pain as his fingers begin to bleed as he plays. In the next scene the violinist is running through the halls of a very old, but very nice looking apartment building. As he enters the lobby it’s full, but as he tries to leave it’s empty. The lobby phone rings and he answers it. It’s O’ Quinn and he tells the violinist that his time is up and he needs to pay. The violinist begs for just one more year, but the man on the phone says no. He tries to make a break for it, only to be pulled back in through a small hole in the door that disappears.

The camera pans to show that while the building is 999 Park Avenue, if you flip it, it’s 666 Park Avenue. This doesn’t doesn’t bode well for anyone who lives there.

The next day (so it seems) a young couple are coming in for a job interview. While they don’t initially get the job, the woman gets them the job.

You get to meet a few of the tenants.

It’s very intriguing and obviously it starts off a little slow, but I’m hoping it will pick up. The show stars Terry O’ Quinn as Gavin Doran (The Devil?), Vanessa Williams as Olivia Doran, David Annable as Henry Martin, Rachael Taylor as Jane Van Veen, Robert Buckley as Brian Leonard, Mercedes Masohn as Louise Leonard, Samantha Logan as Nona Clark, and Helena Mattsson as Alexis Blume.

You only learn a little about each of the above inhabitants of The Drake. Brian is a playwright and he lives with his very successful fashion photographer wife, Louise. Louise hires the object of her husband’s affection in Alexis. What we know of her is that she lives directly across the street from the Leonards and seems to be very taken with Brian.

Nona is a kleptomaniac that seemingly sees things when she obtains an object.

I believe that the show will pick up and I’m going to stick around to see what happens.

Scandal, Episode 2

Scandal

Season 2, Episode 2 (The Other Woman)

Fitz and Olivia are carrying on a strange affair. While they aren’t actually sleeping together he stays in the Oval Office late every night so that they can talk on the phone. Cyrus seems to have no idea what is going on and neither does Mellie, the First Lady.

Olivia, after a conversation with Fitz, picks up her ringing phone again. She jumps out of bed and rushes to the office. There she speaks to her people and they are on the run to find a missing minister.

They find him in a hotel room, dead, on top of a young woman handcuffed beneath him. It turns out that the woman is his mistress and has been such for fifteen years. They even have a child together. Olivia and company try to get her to sign a non disclosure agreement but she refuses. Olivia goes to see her and get her to sign. The minute she sees the Minister’s son she goes to his wife and tells her the mistress’s demands. 6 million dollars or she goes public with not only the affair, but the fact that she has a son.

They argue over the terms and finally agree. That is until the morning of the funeral when the mistress still hasn’t signed the non disclosure agreement.

Olivia knows what she wants. They go to the church where, at first, his wife refuses her. Olivia convinces her and there is a semi sweet moment at the end of the funeral where the Minister’s wife, his mistress, and his son walk out behind the casket.

Cyrus’s husband is furious with him, because he had to quit his job so that he could raise their child. The problem is they don’t have one. Cyrus promised they could adopt, but then reneged. Before the episode fades to black, Cyrus tells his husband that while he would love to have child with him, he just doesn’t have the energy. He already has a child and he’s the President of the United States. He needs to feed him and keep a watchful eye on him. He just doesn’t have the energy. Then he gets into bed and turns his back on his husband. In his rebuttal (see what I did there?) to what Cyrus has to say, his husband crawls onto the bed and tells him that while the conversation isn’t over he is incredibly turned on and wants to fool around. Cyrus breaks into a smile and says that he does too.

While on the way back from the funeral of the minister, Fitz and Mellie, have a moment. She tells him that it’s his turn to forgive her because she’s forgiven him. Mellie admits that she may have changed, but deep inside she’s still the woman he fell in love with so many years ago. He takes her in his arms and tells her that he forgives her.

Quinn? Well whatever she knows, if revealed, could bring down the entire government! Olivia is playing a dangerous game and who knows who she’ll lose in the process.

Questions? Where did Quinn work that puts her with that much power? Does Fitz know about Quinn? Does Cyrus know?

The episode was okay, but not the best. I think the show is still trying to find its footing. I did like the back and forth between Olivia, the mistress, and the wife. It was definitely entertaining and I’ll be tuning in next week to see what else we can learn about Quinn and the rest of the crew.

Grey's Anatomy, Episode 2

Grey’s Anatomy

Season 9, Episode 2 (Remember the Time)

So they finally (in the second episode) revealed how they all rescued and how they reacted to being back with their family and friends. Sloan did live for a time as he told his girlfriend that he didn’t love her, but that he loved Lexie (RIP). The look on his girlfriends face almost made me hurt for her. How could she not have picked up on it every time that Lexie and Mark were in the same room? Apparently Mark was unstable for a time and kept having to be shocked back to life and had a thing the docs called a ‘surge.’ It’s something that terminally ill patients have right before they die. They know that their time is almost over and then rebound for a short time. I cried when Webber called his rebound and then have to watch him deteriorate into what we saw during the first episode of the season.

The show is broken up into sections. It shows Meredith being rescued and how she reacts to being in the hospital. She seemingly forgets that Lexie is gone and then about Derek. Once Bailey and Webber bring in Zola she calms down.

Cristina doesn’t take well to being back at home. She is restrained and not talking. Before the episode ends she reveals that as everyone slept, she stayed awake. She fought the animals for Lexie’s body. Kept the bugs away from Arizona’s leg; she kept Sloan alive. Cristina even mentions having to drink her own urine because they’d run out of water.

Arizona begs them not to take her leg because she wants to see what Callie wants to do. They wait to see how her body reacts to the antibiotics, but as Callie is repairing Derek’s hand Alex rushes in and tells her that Arizona is dying. Callie makes the heartbreaking decision to remove her wife’s leg.

Derek, at first, is told that he’ll only get back 80% use of his arm. He said he doesn’t mind teaching. Callie tells him that she can fix him and he says okay, as long as she does the surgery.

Meredith seems to be the better adjusted of the survivors; while Cristina seems to be the worst. She even takes to running off to Minnesota before she knows how Mark is doing.

Kepner tries to talk to Jackson, but he has to get Mark and Callie’s daughter and he doesn’t make their rendezvous at Joe’s. Kepner gets on a plane and heads home.

The episode ends with Meredith telling Cristina that while being in Seattle hasn’t been the easiest thing: her mother dying, Derek getting shot, her sister dying, and the plane crash. It did bring her the love of her life, her best friend; introduce her to her sister, and her daughter. That’s what she chooses to focus on and that’s why she stayed in Seattle instead of going to Boston.

Alex has put off going to John Hopkins to keep Peds on track for Arizona. When he appears at her room, she thinks that it should have been him and tells him so. She isn’t grateful to him, but he still stays to help her. He is there for her as her body begins to die, but I doubt she will be grateful to him once she finds out that he’s the one who cut off her leg.

This episode answered some questions, but I do wonder if the animals got all of Lexie. I know it’s morbid, but was there enough for a funeral? Will the other members of the Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital get a chance to say their final goodbyes? Will they even show it?

I also have to wonder how in the world Meredith when from being such a happy go lucky person to the person we see in the opening episode who ends up with the nickname Medusa?

There is so much that they haven’t said yet, of course, it’s only the second episode of the season. Shonda Rhimes has promised an unforgettable season this year and I certainly hopes she delivers. I won’t stop watching, I’ve put in too much time with this show. Every time I try to pull away they show a promo for something that pulls me back in.

I will remain a fan until long after the show is over. Like any good fan.

Latest TV Thoughts

Latest TV Thoughts

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Sons of Anarchy (Season 5, Episode 3)– Now this isn’t normally a show that I would watch, but thanks to a co-worker I’ve come to enjoy the show; I’ve gotten involved in the storylines and each week I will be recording it. That being said, WTF FX?! You kill off Jax’s best friend? WHY? I cried when I learned who the death would be. If there was anyone other than Jax that didn’t need to be in SAMCRO it was Opie. Then the way they killed him off, doing what he does best and protecting the club and his best friend; it was heart wrenching and as difficult to watch and Gemma’s rape in season 2. To take that beating shows what kind of man Opie truly was. He took what the club said seriously, what Jax said seriously, and gave his life. My only question is what is Jax going to do to the man that caused it all: Tig. He has always been one to jump to conclusions and has caused a lot of problems. Remember when he killed Opie’s wife because he thought that Opie had ratted them out to the ATF?

Grey’s Anatomy (Season 9, Episode 1) – In all my years of watching Grey’s Anatomy this was the worst (best) season opener. I can’t believe that not only did they kill off Lexie, but they killed her true love, Mark Sloan. PLUS they hacked off Arizona’s leg. That must have been especially hard for Callie to deal with since she was the one that did it. I can’t imagine what Callie has to deal with. First she loses her ex-husband and nearly dies in a car accident; then she loses her best friend and the father of her baby all while dealing with the guilt and necessity of having to chop off her wife’s leg. Callie has been through a lot! I also can’t believe that Meredith has to deal with losing Mark and Lexie with her best friend thousands of miles away. They do seem to be coping for the most part. It’s difficult to see how the crash is affecting them and Derek. Will he be able to keep doing surgery? Or will he end up being a stay at home daddy to the adorable Zola?

Private Practice (Season 6, Episode 1) – It starts different from all the rest of the seasons. This season opener begins with each person and their different stories. The writers separately tell you about each character and their lives at that point in time (with each story interconnecting) first is Violet and how she’s dealing with her husband, Pete, having to go to trial for killing a patient. Then there’s Addison and her new boyfriend, Jake. Cooper and Charlotte. Sheldon, and so on. in Violet’s story you learn that Pete doesn’t show up for his court appearance and has a warrant issued for his arrest. By the end of the episode you learn that Pete had a heart attack while taking a walk in the canyons of Los Angeles. Sam is dating a nurse and happy. You learn that not only did Charlotte’s IUD fail, but it failed BIG TIME when we learn she’s carrying triplets! That’s not mentioning the fact she has to have her IUD removed because she’s pregnant. It should have caused a miscarriage and she’s not happy. Cooper is OVER the moon at the news. The thing the got me was the way they killed off Pete. Not even any screen time. Now it’s the countdown for Addison and little Henry to bid Ocean Side Wellness adieu.

Once Upon a Time – I’ve been watching the previews and I have to say that I’m still excited to see what happens next! I don’t think I’ve been this intrigued by a television shows second season since Lost. There are so many Fairytale characters that we could meet in both Fairytale Land and Storybrooke. I’ve heard so many wonderfully delicious spoilers about the first episode that it makes it even worse, but at least the first episode is only a few days away and not a month away.

Scandal – I haven’t watched it yet, so I’ll wait to comment more on this, but I still want to know who Quinn is. Hopefully that happens in the first episode of the season.

Once Upon A Time Review

Once Upon A Time Review

Season 2, Episode 1: Broken

When I first started watching the episode, I didn't think it was OUAT at all. It started in the modern world. A young man was bustling through a city, Boston or New York, and ended up in his apartment with a dove leaving a note that said one word: Broken. It was on postcard from Storybrooke, featuring the clock tower.

Sheriff Swan, keeping the peace

The scene shifts to Fairytale Land. We’re then introduced to Prince Phillip (Julian Morris) as he arrives to wake up Princess Aurora (Sarah Bolger) with True Loves kiss. The castle is in ruins and we learn that toAurora only a year has passed. Aurora then meets Phillip’s traveling companion, a female warrior by the name of Mulan (Jamie Chung). A shadow creature that Mulan says is a Wraith leaps from the floor of the ruined castle and as its talisman drops that as long as they have not been marked, the Wraith will leave them alone. Phillip looks to his hand and it shows the mark. Later, he leaves both Mulan and Aurora, to save them from the Wraith. They watch as his soul is sucked away and he dies in front of them

Snow White, saying the Queen is to be left alone

In Storybrooke, Mary Margaret and David are still in the middle of the street as the purple mist dissipates. As they resolve to figure out the cause, Ruby and Granny approach them as old friends reunite in the present. They are quickly followed by Grumpy and the rest of the dwarves. Soon after Emma walks up, still shocked that her best friend is really her mother. Mary Margaret reveals her indiscretion with Dr. Whale to David. Both Snow and Charming are overwhelmed as they tearfully hug their long lost daughter and grandson

Grumpy believes that Reginais the one who sent the mist back, which as the Blue Fairy arrives they learn is magic. Emma tells the crowd that it was not Regina, but Mr. Gold. As they look over their shoulders, Archie runs up saying that Dr. Whale has started a lynch mob and they are after Regina.

Prince Charming asking Dr. Whale who he really is.

On Regina’s front steps, we learn that she does not yet have her magic. The Charmings lock her up in the jail to protect her from the crowd and to protect them from her. Once they leave, Mr. Gold walks into the room and marks Regina with the talisman of the Wraith. It attacks Regina, but is run off by Snow White and her family. They run to Regina’s office to banish him to Fairytale land. Regina thinks it will kill it as Fairytale Land no longer exists. Unfortunately, Regina is trying to use Jefferson’s hat and Emma realizes what it is and what it can do. The hat won’t work until Emma touches Regina’s shoulder. They banish the Wraith, but it grabs ahold of Emma’s leg, pulling her into the vortex. Mary Margaret refuses to lose her daughter again and jumps in after her.

After they are gone, David goes after Regina. She retaliates just as Henry walks in. He realizes that his mother and grandmother are not in the room and demands to know where they are. The Evil Queen tells him that she’s sorry, but they are gone. Henry does not believe her. He tells her that until she brings them back, he does not want to see her. She asks where he will go. David says that Henry will stay with him. Later, at Emma and Mary Margaret’s apartment, David tells Henry that they will see them again. Henry asks him how and David responds because he will always find them.

The last scene of the episode takes place in Fairytale Land and with Mulan telling Aurora what Regina had done. Mulan hears a noise, which is confirmed by Aurora. They look to the hole the Wraith left. Underneath the rubble are Mary Margaret and Emma. Mulan blames them for the Wraith attack.

Grandfather and Grandson, finally together.

I have to say I LOVED this episode! It left you crying and laughing all at the same time. I cried when Emma and her parents reunited. I laughed at Henry’s reaction to truly being right. I laughed when Snow White (Mary Margaret play by Ginnifer Goodwin) tried to tell Emma that she wanted to talk and that she ended up revealing she had a one night stand with Dr. Whale. She brushed it off. David’s reaction was classic. I laughed when the Evil Queen tried to use her powers, but they didn't work. I cried when Rumplestiltskin broke his promise to Belle, but smiled when she returned to give him another shot. I cried when Prince Phillip died. I cried when Emma was pulled into the vortex and cried when her mother went in after her.

This was an excellent episode and I like how they opened up with such a modern scene. I enjoyed how there were some questions answered, but so many more remained. I was glad that they took care of the Charming reunion right away. I’m sure that Emma still has some resentment, but knowing how relatable her mother is to her that they can work things out. They seem to have a connection that goes, not only deeper than mother and daughter, but deeper than best friends. They’re going to need each other if the hope to survive inFairytale Land.

I’m looking forward to more of this season and the introduction of so many new characters. Sure they will be secondary characters, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see them often. Look at Ruby and Granny. They were in much of the first season.

More questions need to be answered.

1.   Who is Henry’s father? Is he the man we saw at the beginning of the episode?

2.   How will Snow White and Emma get back to Storybrooke?

3.   Who is Dr. Whale? We know that the names are usually related to their fairytale counterpart.

4.   How is August doing? Is the key to returning Emma and Snow White?

5.   Where is Baelfire? Could he be the man we saw in the beginning of the episode?

6.   How will Belle deal with being out of the cell?

7.   Will Sydney Glass a.k.a. the Magic Mirror/Genie be around?

NOTE: All photos courtesy of ABC.com.