ONCE UPON A TIME, There was a Harlot and a Drunk…

Episode 1.14 “Dreamy”

OK. After Hollywood’s little self-congratulatory party last week, Once Upon a Time is back this week with the tale of how Grumpy got his name, and it’s a long think-piece on one’s place in society. And this week, everything pretty much connects to that theme.

[photos: ABC/Chris Helcermanas-Benge]   [screen caps: ABC.com]

Our lead characters this week: Mary Margaret, who’s trying to get help selling Miners Day candles for the nuns, and Leroy, who’s really got nothing to live for until he bumps into a nun.

Except no one wants to help, and Mary Margaret is sure it’s because of the whole messy business with David and Kathryn. Emma gives her a pep talk, but girl time is interrupted by Sheriff time, as Emma gets called out to the town border to inspect Kathryn’s abandoned car.

Sidney – still working for Regina but pretending to be Emma’s ally – shows up to take pictures, thinking maybe his old employer will take him back if he gets a really good story. Sidney’s still trying to get back into his usual place as the town crier, while staying in his place as Regina’s Thrall.

(Speaking of that, as Emma reminds David, she’s got this superpower ability to know when someone’s lying to her, so why can’t she see through Sidney’s deception?)

This is probably the tightest cross-over of details in the show so far. Leroy’s first sight of Astrid – after she’s dropped glitter all over him – parallels the way Nova (Astrid’s fairy persona) dropped fairy dust onto Dreamy’s egg.

Yes. Dreamy. When he hatched (dwarves hatch from eggs, they’re all male, they don’t fall in love, and they love their work), he and his seven brothers all got dolled up in miner gear and get their axes. And the axes give them their names: Dopey, Doc, Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy, Happy, Stealthy (remember him?) and Dreamy.

The meeting between grumpy Leroy and Sister Astrid (the fairies have all translated over into nuns) gives us the next major discussion along the episode’s theme: knowing one’s place. Leroy talks about wanting to sail, but knowing he’s just going to be in “custodial services” for the rest of his life. Astrid tells him he can do whatever he wants, as long as he can dream it.

When she said it, I knew she was quoting it back to him, and I was right. Dreamy says it to Nova later in the show – which is earlier in the timeline…

Och, my head.

So, Dreamy is Dreamy because the fairy dust contaminated his egg before he hatched, so he’s now susceptible to the same human failings as anyone – being able to fall in love, want more out of life than just digging in the mine forever, and needing to get away from it all from time to time. In Nova, he finds a kindred spirit, because she’s frustrated at the slow progress she’s making toward being a full-fledged fairy godmother.

And in Storybrooke, Nova/Astrid is a frustrated nun who is constantly making little mistakes that pile up into big disasters. Like ordering not 12 tanks of helium, but 12 dozen, thus burning up the nuns’ money and jeopardizing their lease with Mr. Gold, who would like nothing more than to throw them all out.

Naturally, Leroy is inspired to come to her rescue, volunteering to help Mary Margaret sell candles, no matter what. Even going as far as promising Astrid that he’ll sell all of them this year. No matter what. Which, of course, causes Mary Margaret to freak out a little. But Leroy’s got a plan, see. And when sales go nowhere at the Miners Day fair, he packs them up and takes Mary Margaret door to door.

Which leads to this guy with the carrot. Now, is this foreshadowing? We know Roger Daltrey is going to be the voice of the caterpillar in the upcoming Alice in Wonderland episode, so is this our first glimpse of the White Rabbit?

So, Leroy won’t be giving Willy Loman any competition, but he still has to figure out a plan for the candles, especially since – in a fit of infatuationary stupidity – he told Astrid that he’d sold them all. Yipe! says Mary Margaret, until she realizes Leroy’s smitten, thus leading to a contender for Line of the Week: “Could you possibly pick anyone more unavailable?”

He gets a little more sympathy from his brothers over in Fairy Tale Land, even though he feels like Doc should check out his weird un-dwarvish feelings. Bossy then gets the other contender for Line of the Week: “You want to trust a dwarf that got his medical degree from a pickaxe?”

Into the mix drops Belle, and it seems from her mood and word choices, this is after she got kicked out or Rumpelstiltskin’s house. She’s convinced Dreamy is in love, and the only way to feel better is to be with the woman he loves. So after the first date on Firefly Hill, where Dreamy talks about getting a boat, they make a plan to run away together.

The boat looks great in FTL, but not in Storybrooke, where Leroy is trying to sell it to Gold for the nuns. Gold reveals a very telling bit: he can’t stand the nuns. And of course, knowing what we know (SPOILER: that Gold remembers who he really is), this is interesting. Remember, Rumpelstiltskin killed Cinderella’s fairy godmother, so there’s definitely some bad blood between them.

I’m waiting for a battle scene between Rumpelstiltskin and the busty Blue Fairy.

Blue Fairy, speaking of, tells Dreamy that he has to let go of his dream, because it would ruin Nova’s life as a fairy (and really, is that a bad thing? She’s not a very good fairy…). So Dreamy pulls a Snow White and breaks Nova’s heart. So when he goes back to the mines, his pickaxe doesn’t work anymore. The new one gives him his new name: Grumpy.

This fleshes out what Grumpy told Snow White when they met in jail. Because we all know that love leads to misery, right? That’s always the back-story behind the mean grump who really has a heart of gold. He just caught a bad break, right?

Anyhoo…

Storybrooke: In the diner, Mary Margaret and Leroy commiserate about their bad breaks, until Leroy decides to do something about it.(Side note: I don’t think I’ve ever been in a diner that sells hard liquor.) Leroy takes matters – and a pickaxe (wink, wink) into his own hands and smashes the transformer.

Now, everyone has to buy candles. Because Leroy – master salesman that he is – has just created a need. This need can then be satisfied with their product. And Leroy saves the day and is Astrid’s hero.

So, all is well, except for the fact that Mary Margaret still is somewhat of a pariah in the community, even though Granny warms up to her. Don’t think that’s just a throwaway bit in the scene. Everything has a reason for being in this show. Given that we’re going into the Red Riding Hood story next week, this may have some significance.

And on top of that, David may not have been as truthful as Super-lie-detector Woman may have thought. Sidney produces Kathryn’s phone records (courtesy of his “contact” at the phone company – Regina) and lo and behold, turns out David and Kathryn talked on the phone about an hour before she disappeared.

Now, again… Emma has a super-power that gives her the ability to know when people are lying to her. So, either David was lying (which he wasn’t) or Sidney is lying (which he is). Either way, Emma’s ability is either on the fritz or there’s some way Sidney’s deception is being cleverly disguised.

We’ll have to see how it shakes out. Next week: Red and White – the bad girls of the hood…

[Official Show Site at ABC]     [Previous recap: “What Happened to Frederick”]