ONCE UPON A TIME Regina Pretended to be the Savior
Episode 502 “The Price”
In this episode there were a ball in Camelot, a new love interest, and a savior/evil alignment switcheroo.
In the Enchanted Forest, our team of intrepid heroes was taken by King Arthur to Camelot where they were given a hero’s welcome. When asked, Arthur revealed that he knew exactly where Merlin was. He took them to a tree. (No, I’m not going to make a comment about his wooden performance.) It would require the savior to free him from the tree. Before Emma could introduce herself as the savior, Regina, who was holding Emma’s dagger, silenced Emma and claimed to be the savior. She later explained that it was to protect Emma from having to use dark magic. So the dilemma becomes how Regina can free Merlin from the tree.
A ball was going to be held in honor of the savior and the new guests. Sir Percival gave Regina a necklace with a purple medallion to wear. It allowed her to be spied on like a magic body cam. She told Snow and David that she wouldn’t attend the ball … because she couldn’t dance. So David started to teach her to dance, sadly without a Footloose-style montage.
At the ball, Henry found a new love interest named Violet. After all, relationships are pretty much obligatory on this show. Henry and the Seven Dwarves were being left out. After bragging about saving everyone when they were trapped in an alternate universe, Henry won Violet over by introducing her to the glories of techno pop via an MP3 player. So Henry has found someone. Now we’re just waiting on seven brides for seven dwarves.
Regina was dancing with Robin when Percival cut in. He revealed that he knew that she was the Evil Queen. She had killed his family and the people in his village when he was a child before smiling at him. He then pulled a sword to kill her. Robin scuffled with him and was critically wounded before David killed Percival. And a place opened up at the Round Table.
Regina’s magic couldn’t save Robin since the sword was enchanted specifically to kill her. So she turned to Emma, which wasn’t looked at too highly, you know, with the whole dark magic thing. Before Emma could work her (literal) magic, she was visited by “imaginary friend” Rumpelstiltskin. He explained that there was a price to pay, and Regina, being the one requesting the magic, would have to be the one to pay it. Normally, I would say that using a ghost “guide” is a rather cheap way of getting to points through exposition. But in this case, it’s being handled well so far, and it permits using more of Robert Carlyle in a brilliant role. So it can slide. She healed Robin, and fake Rumpel revealed her skin changing to more like the Dark One.
The group revealed to Arthur that Regina is actually the Evil Queen. Arthur said that what Percival did was inexcusable and Camelot is a place of second chances. Plus, he thought Regina’s magic saved Robin, proving that she is really the savior. Then at the Round Table, Arthur took Percival’s shield off his position. Guinevere walked in and said she didn’t trust our intrepid heroes. Arthur was a bit more trusting. Besides, he wanted them to defeat the Dark One in order to get the blade and complete Excalibur.
Back in Storybrooke, the dwarves went to the city line, with a stone-statue Bashful tied to the vehicle’s roof, to see if it was safe to leave since they were afraid of Emma. Despite warnings from Regina, David, and Snow, Dopey was picked to cross the line to see if it was safe. Shortly after stepping over the line, he turned into a tree in the middle of the road. (I can’t comment about wooden dialogue since Dopey doesn’t talk).
As Mr. Gold continued to lie in a coma, Killian asked Belle why true love’s kiss didn’t work on him. She said it did at first, but the darkness and love of power eventually took control. Then came the best line of the episode. “It’s far easier to hate a Dark One than it is to love one.” Belle’s a true philosopher.
Henry called Emma to the docks Beetlejuice-style by saying her name three times. As Henry was apologizing for failing her in Camelot and being reassured that it was everyone else that failed her, Regina walked in for a confrontation. Henry calling her out to talk seemed a little bit forced in order to get Emma and Regina to face each other. So Emma was keeping secrets and wiped everyone’s memories so they wouldn’t know how they had wronged her. The curse would take a savior to break it. Emma didn’t think Regina had it in her to do it. Then she said that a problem was coming to Storybrooke that only a savior can solve. While I like the idea of Emma and Regina switching character roles, the imitation of action is a bit over the top. It’s just a copy of the mind-wipe-curse from season one.
Leroy and Happy were walking in the middle of the street carrying pickaxes. Yes, carrying pickaxes. We get it. They’re dwarves. They work in mines. There was really no purpose to it since they were talking about getting tacos as plant food for Dopey. Then some medieval knights rode up to them on horses. After a near confrontation, King Arthur revealed himself asking where they were and how they got there. Regina, David, and Emma told him that they lied and Emma was the Dark One. Arthur wasn’t too thrilled about that. Robin said there were more people from Camelot in the woods and they went to round them all up.
A modern camp site was set up for all the new visitors. Then it was revealed that Arthur didn’t have Excalibur. David said that if it’s there, they would find it. Then a fury showed up (some big, black, demon fairy sort of thing which Belle identified in a book later), grabbed Robin, and then flew off with him. Regina’s attempt to fight it failed. Miserably.
Belle revealed that a fury only shows up when the price is a life and someone would have to take Robin’s place to save him. Regina ended up offering her life for his. While the fury was draining Regina, Snow, David, Leroy, and Arthur joined her in a nice tribute to Guardians of the Galaxy, sans the dance-off. I’m guessing it was too much for the fury. Or maybe it was the unity that fended it off. But whatever the reason, the fury flew away and a boat that showed up on the water to carry a soul to the other side retreated into the night. They’re probably not going to explain why that worked. But it worked. Snow described it as a “lucky guess”.
Emma teleported Killian to what is apparently now her house. Inside, he noticed a door with a big, black lock on it. When true love’s kiss (in true pirate seduction form) didn’t break the Dark One spell on Emma, she wouldn’t give him answers as to why or what happened in Camelot. So he walked out. It’s good to see there aren’t any easy solutions for this one. And it was an interesting way of showing it.
It ended in Granny’s Diner with our intrepid heroes resolved to freeing Emma from the darkness, Regina undoing Bashful’s statue curse, and Henry once again winning over Violet with the same techno pop song, but this time played on a jukebox. Emma got a visit from imaginary Rumpelstiltskin, who explained that the problem with Dark Ones is their attachment to others, both family and friends (read that: “love”), and those who never gave up on them always held them back. They went through that strange door with the big, black lock and went into a basement/dungeon/cave sort of place where Excalibur was in a stone. She couldn’t pull it out. She would have to pay a price.
Generally a good episode, but with a few annoying parts creeping their way in. At least there weren’t any throwaway references like last week. Perhaps Merida will show up again in the future. I’m not holding my breath though. Thankfully, such an event wasn’t in this episode.
