OUAT 6.3 The Other Shoe

• I am so excited for this Cinderella story. I always want to know what the minor characters who only got one episode in seasons 1 & 2 are up to and now we get another Cinderella story that looks to be all sorts of crazy and I am so ready for it!

  

  "I'm back for my 3rd appearance in 6 seasons!" Ashley

The A Story- Crazy Cinderella

• Ashley, aka Cinderella pops up in Granny’s diner, where all the untold stories are hanging out to see if she can “help out” but she’s really looking for his sister, with the worse name than Cinderella, Clorinda. It’s awful, it’s like one writer really wanted to name her Cloris but another was dead set on Lina, so a third one came up with a perfect solution: Clorinda! Honestly, half way through the episode, much like Emma and Hook couldn’t remember her name, in my note taking, I forgot her name too and referred to her as Clorox.

  

  From L to R: Clorox, the other one, the evil stepmother and Ella

   So, a flashback reveals all of the parts of the Cinderella story we did not get back in season 1. The evil stepsisters, stepmother and Ella all invited to the ball, at the evil stepmother’s command, Clorox burns Ella’s mother’s dress, and since it is covered with cinders, hence the name, but then we get to the good, never before seen stuff. At the ball, Cinderella accidentally bumps into Snow White, who immediately plays matchmaker and insists Cinderella dance with the prince. Said prince falls for her, notices her glass slippers (which somehow do not break while she wears them), but then skirts away to give Clorox a rose. This upsets CInderella who leaves the ball well before midnight and loses her glass slipper. Later, Clorox returns and tells Cinderella she is actually marrying the footman who delivered the invite to the ball and plans to run away with him. She apologizes for being awful and leaves. The evil stepmother confronts Cinderella about the missing Clorox and threatens to break the glass slipper unless Cinderella tells her where Clorox is meeting the footman. Cinderella complies and the evil stepmother shatters the slipper anyway, then locks Cinderella in the attic so the prince cannot find her. But the prince has Tracker Snow White on his side who arrives shortly after Cinderella was locked up; a well dressed mouse slides underneath the door and good thing Snow can speak mouse and they find Cinderella, and she accepts the Prince’s proposal. Now, the story doesn’t end here, as Cinderella must try to stop her evil stepmother from ruining Clorox’s life. She fails to and they evil stepmother skirts Clorox away to the land of untold stories. Now in Storybrook, everyone fears Ashley is going to kill Clorox since she has arrived, but Ashley is really trying to protect her from the evil stepmother. All of this ends with the stepmother holding the shotgun up to Cinderella, and the newly reunited couple of Clorox and the footman. The evil stepmother ends up stabbing Cinderella, even though she could have put up a fight,

  

  "Why is no one fighting me back?" - the evil stepmother

  then she is healed by Emma’s magic and they can once again live happily ever after. Oh yeah, Emma had a thing where she wants to have babies with Hook.

  

  "I used magic to steal Ashley's shoe, LOL" -Emma

The B Story- Regina can’t Regina

• The show actually began with Regina taking Lasagna to Hyde to bribe him to help her, but the evil queen had already given steak. Sad Regina is sad. Then she goes to Jekyll to see if he can create a solution, but he can’t. Sad Regina is sad. Then, she goes to Zelena, to warn her about her evil other half, but Zelena actually likes the Evil Queen better. Sad Regina is sad. And finally, Snow comes up with a solution to help Jekyll help Regina, so she took them all to her ex boyfriend’s garage/laboratory and Dr. Wells aka Dr. Frankenstein was there! Scared Regina is scared!

  

  The Face you make when Snow tells you she wants to teach again!

The C Story- Charming's Daddy Issues

• Charming visited the one person in town who actually knows what’s going on at all times: Gold. Gold gave him info about his father’s death, but he had to make a deal first. This deal was very easy- he had to take a mix-tape to Belle. So, Charming did, then discovered his father was murdered before his cart accident. Someone had stabbed him and he wants to know who! Snow thinks he should just forget about it, because she is awful. He encourages her in everything and she’s like “forget your family, I’m all the family you need now!” Charming says he will, but doesn’t. Oh, and Belle’s mix-tape was Rumple singing karaoke to some lullaby. Feels?

  

  "He should have sent an Itunes gift card," Belle said in her awkward accent.

  The End!

*****Extra Tidbits*****

• This was  a nice episode to remind us that Emma does have one friend outside of her family.
• Hook mentioned he and Belle were now roomies. #Book
• Snow wants to teach again and she also wants Dr, Jekyll and Dr. Frankenstein to be teachers at her hypothetical high school. I want a spinoff called Storybrook High where this happens. Can Zelena teach about the foreign land of Oz?

  

  This is Snow White's Ex!

• The Charmings Life: Defeat & Repeat. Where is their baby?
• Why is Grumpy in therapy? (also, LOL that no one cared Dopey was no longer a tree!)

  

  "Whoops, walked in a room with 2 extras!" -Emma

• The Evil Queen also claims to be Henry’s mom, so does Henry have 3 moms now?

  

  Mom #3

• Next Week, we get the untold story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where I guess Jekyll's really going to be worse. In 2 Weeks we get Aladdin aka an hour fest of the phrase “a whole new world!” Could we get untold story of Aurora and Phillip and how he miraculously came back from death to impregnate sleeping beauty? That’s the story I want and I want Mulan to be a part of it!

The Other Shoe


I guess since this was a Cinderella episode and since Cinderella's story partly revolves around a shoe, someone decided that shoe shots were appropriate throughout. 

                                         

And look, Cinderella's wicked stepmother was gracious enough to buy her a pair of toms.

So Ashley, better known in the enchanted forest as Cinderella, was the distraction for this week's episode. She spent most of the episode running around with a hunting rifle for reasons that are unknown to me. But before she went traipsing about the town with her gun, she was at Granny's with the Swans. It turns out Cinderella runs the daycare in town and she wanted to talk to Emma about offering her services to the new babies in town. 

By the way, why are there more new people strolling into Granny's every single day? How big was that ship? We've seen it in clips and it doesn't look like it would hold that many people. Unless there is some sort of extension charm that's been put on that ship like the one Hermione Granger uses on her handbag, I can't figure out where all these people are coming from. Anyway, Emma and Henry go to check in a new person and Ashley/Cinderella asks Hook to entertain her baby while she looks through a log of already registered untold characters. He has a hook for a hand, but yeah, let him hold your baby. Emma witnesses the tender moment between child and pirate, and now she has baby fever. 

Emma's case of baby fever is so severe that she stormed into the office of Archie and interrupted his anger management therapy session with Grumpy. After running him out of the office she confesses to Archie that she is afraid her happy ending with Hook is not going to be possible. I don't know how seriously he takes Emma's tremors because he seems to have a "oh that's cute" expression on his face every session with her, but by the end of their appointment he had encouraged Emma to live instead of thinking about her inevitable end. I think it worked, too, because by the end of this episode Emma and her dream boy, Hook, are set to be roomies. It was either that or the super exciting, possibly romantic (?) hunt for Ashley/Cinderella that got her in the mood to ask Hook to pack his bags and come on home. I think it was probably Archie. 

Back at Granny's, Ashley/Cinderella must have noticed her stepsisters name in the book of new characters because she almost immediately took off, not before nabbing her partner's hunting gun, to look for her. Of course Emma volunteers to find her and promptly recruits Hook and Henry. The dream team. I'm sure  the Charmings would help, but they were busy being useless elsewhere. Poor Regina was stuck with the dynamic duo as they tried to track the evil queen. Charming somehow got sidetracked on a mission of his own, while Snow followed Regina around pretending to help but really she just wanted to talk about her plan to become a teacher. 

I really wanna teach high school with these two.

OK, but right now let's focus on the Evil Queen

OK, but have I mentioned that I really want to be a teacher?

Back to Cinderella, we found out that she actually ruined her stepsisters happy ending back in the day. You see, Clorinda fell in love with a man that wasn't royalty and she had to hide it from the evil stepmother. So that scene at the ball when the prince is giving Clorinda a rose, it's to congratulate her on her engagement. The prince was actually interested in Cinderella because this was another installment of "Snow, the Matchmaker." 

After the ball, Clorinda came to find Cinderella to tell her that the prince wanted to be with her and to confess that she had found love with one of his men. Cinderella was giddy for all the love bugs, including herself, and she offered Clorinda a key to the land of untold stories so that she could escape her mother's wrath and live happily ever after with Jacob. Cinderella accidentally rats her evil sister out and the evil stepmother drags Clorinda into the land of untold stories, leaving Clorinda's love behind. 

So, Ashley/Cinderella in present day Storybrooke is running around town with a shotgun to look for the sister that she had wronged. Why did she need the gun if she was just trying to right a wrong she did to Clorinda? I'm genuinely confused. Unless...was she planning on shooting the stepmother? I don't know, but when Ashley/Cinderella found her stepsister in a barn, Clorinda was not really excited to see Cinderella. At one point she had the gun pointed at her, but then the evil stepmother showed up with Jacob and then all of a sudden Clorinda wasn't interested in being a murderer anymore. Then the stepmother was going to kill Jacob and or Clorinda when Ashley/Cinderella jumped in front of them, sacrificing herself while simultaneously earning the forgiveness of her stepsister. But then Emma shows up and magics again, saving Ashley's life. 

This episode was just OK for me. There was no real progress made on those bigger story lines of the season and I really need to move along on those. Hopefully I'll get what I want next week in "Strange Case."

See you then! 

OUAT 6.2 A Bitter Draught

The A Story The Count of Monte Cristo .vs. The Charmings

• As the latest Storybrook refugees seek help from Granny’s as Snow White instructed when the Count walks in. He leaves a letter for the Charmings and mysteriously vanishes. Why does he want to meet the Charmings alone (something I would never recommend for anyone)? So he can kill them!

  

  "I'm going to kill Snow White, lol!" - The Count of Monte Cristo

• Tonight’s flashback reveals, during his quest for revenge, Edmond (The Count of Monte Cristo) is hired by Evil Queen Regina to kill the Charmings. LOL I like where this is going. He meets them in a burned down village, where they enlist his services as a wine steward. Oh, and Grumpy was there. Oh, and Snow White had a Maiden back in the enchanted forest, Charlotte (remember her from the earlier seasons? Yeah I don’t either). Edmond is instantly in love with Charlotte.

  

  Charlotte, aka Snow White's Mainden

• Evil Queen Regina gives Edmond poison to poison the Charmings, but when Charlotte almost drinks it, he cancels the plan. Then Rumple shows up all of a sudden at the halfway mark for the first time this episode and poison’s Charlotte anyway, with magic, then tells Edmond he can keep her alive in the land of untold stories. End scene.

  

  "Tell me more about this shampoo Charlotte uses on your wig!" Edmond to Snow

• Back in the present time, Regina fails to call off the hit because the Evil Queen (who is wearing the most bedazzled costume in history) is controlling Edward via his heart.

  

  "Bedazzle me!" - The Evil Queen

• Edward attacks the Charmings and easily wins (LOL), but Regina shows up, saving the day by killer Edmond, which is exactly what the Evil Queen wanted.

  

  The Charmings vs The Count of Monte Cristo- who wins?

Regina wins, she always wins!

The B Story Emma’s Dilemma Continues

• This week, Emma goes to therapy and we actually got to see it on screen! She tells Archie about her premonition and he encourages her to tell others, but Emma will hear nothing of it. So, she stormed out and he nor her helped one another.
• Emma fears Regina or the Evil Queen one might killer her!

  

  "Therapy" LOL

The C Story  Belle On A Boat

• So, Belle waltzed into Granny’s to everyone’s surprise and didn’t bother to explain how she was awake, just that she needed a new place to stay. So, her true love, I mean Hook, whisked her away to the Jolly Roger. So, that’s where she’s going to live and now she is known as Belle In A Boat.
• Also, I have always shipped Belle and Hook as a couple. They both have weird accents, love people that are so not meant for them, so they just need to sail away into the sunset and never come back. Long live #Book!

  

  "Let's sail away, forever!" - #Book

***** Extra Tidbits *****

• Zelena made an excellent point about; why are they driving when they can just magic themselves around town? I would use magic to essentially teleport everywhere.

  

  "Why does everyone think I'm a Leprechaun?" - Zelena

• Archie appeared 2 weeks in a row and we had a Grumpy appearance.

  

  "Maybe next week, I'll get a big boy chair" Archie

• The Evil Queen stole a coin from Gold, then insinuated that her and Gold could be together. Ew! Just say not to #Goldgina!

  

  NO!

• Apparently, everyone has secret untold stories and maybe, Charming’s father did not die in an accident, but may have been murdered! Dun, DUn, DUN!
• In the one short scene they shared, Regina knows something is up with Emma! #SwanQueen

• Next week you guys, I am so excited for a shot gun toting Cinderella going after her evil step sister(s), just for the LOL’s!

  

  Cindy's got a gun!

A Bitter Draught

It's the season of characters from the land of untold stories. With so many stories to choose from I watch wondering who it will be this week. 

Enter Edmond Dantes. This week was all about The Count of Monte Cristo and his history which involves Snow and David. A long time ago Edmond was seeking revenge on those that wronged him and his fiancée, when he got involved with an evil queen. She teased him with a list and the promise to release it if he would take care of the Charmings for her. He agreed. 

Meanwhile in Storybrook, Emma still struggled with her shaky hand, Belle tried to find a place to live, David and Snow are running from an Evil Queen controlled Edmond, Regina attempts to save Edmond and Charmings, and Zelena struggles with her conscience. 

Emma is still seeing Dr. Cricket to appease her parents and boyfriend. During her session she confesses her vision to Archie, and she also admits to him that she does not want to tell her parents about the vision. Emma wants Archie to tell her how to defeat this mystery person and keep him/her from killing her. Once Archie tells Emma that he can't really do that, she gets mad and storms out on him. Why, though? I feel like Emma should understand that that isn't really what Archie does, it's not his area of expertise. If she wants help defeating someone in a battle, why wouldn't she ask her parents? They are all about survival and being together forever. Go ask them, Emma. Or go ask your son who is technically still the writer. Have him write you out of this mess. Anyway, my point is there are lots of better options that aren't Dr. Cricket.

We didn't see too much of Rumple this week, except that scene where the Evil Queen was being all sexually aggressive with him.  Ewwww. Any form of Regina with Rumple is no. Just no. I think it's mostly gross because we already know that Cora had a thing with Rumple and something about parents and children having the same sexual partners is creepy. I kept waiting for Belle to walk in on it, but that never happened. Instead, Belle was setting her new home aboard the Jolly Roger. Hook seems to be kissing ass and trying to make up his past to everyone and the result with Belle was offering her a place to stay on his ship. It looks like Belle is actually attempting to stay away from Rumple this time, but let's give it two or three more episodes and see where she is then. Stay strong, Belle. 

The Charmings were running from Edmond the entire episode. He's still contracted to kill them AND he's being controlled by the evil queen, so even Regina couldn't talk him out it. She did try, though, and when the Charmings inevitably failed to save their own lives, Regina had to save them by killing Edmond. Henry was there and witnessed the whole thing. I thought it was really sweet when he rushed to comfort his mom by telling her she did what she had to do. It was around this point that the evil queen popped up to tell Regina that she wanted things to play out this way because she wanted to blacken Regina's heart. 

The Evil Queen has also been pursuing Zelena in these first two episodes. With Zelena's allegiance the evil queen will have an easier time taking down Storybrook and its people. Or maybe she just wants a sister, I don't know. To be honest, I think Zelena or evil Regina alone could make it past Storybrook's army at this point. Their protectors are Emma, David and Snow, Regina, and I guess maybe Henry? Emma and Regina, the two strongest, are at their weakest points, and the rest of the army are useless most of the time. So long, Storybrook! But I really do feel bad for Zelena. Watching her struggle between doing what she thinks might be right and having a family member that enjoys her company is hard. Zelena tries, but the self righteous Charmings and their protege, Regina are really hard on her. I still love Regina, don't get me wrong, but she has been rough with Zelena. Although it's worth mentioning that Zelena seems to be more sensitive than Regina ever was when going through this whole conversion process. Regina accepted the blame for all of her actions and proved to be extremely resilient. Zelena, on the other hand, seems to excuse herself more than Regina did, and she gets offended when anyone points out her bad actions from the past. Zelena will be harder to reform, if at all since the evil queen is now in the picture enticing her with affection. 

That pretty much sums it up this week. One untold story down, who knows how many left to go. Next week we get back to Cinderella, I believe, to watch her hunt down her stepsisters. I'm pumped. 

OUAT 6.1 The Savior

• As I sat down to watch OUAT for a hot minute I forgot where left off last season? Did another purple cloud swoop through town, wreaking chaos or did some other Disney movie crash into Storybrook? Then I remembered! Two Reginas! Two Reginas are always better than 1, right? The answer is always yes. Also, I am really tired of all the ABC promos of “a whole new world!” We get it, we’re also doing Aladdin this year! Enough!

  

  A Whole New World . . . 

The A story Emma’s Dilemma

• We begin many years ago in some unknown land where we meet disease struck Aladdin and Jafar. I am seriously disappointed we didn’t get a “Many years ago, 10 years Later, Present Day title card.  
• So, we begin with a very ew #CaptainSwan Moment that is interrupted by the arrival of all the untold stories on a steampunk blimp. The blimp crashes into the forest. Don’t worry, all of the untold stories scattered into the woods, leaving only the steampunk ship crash remains for Emma, her family and true love Regina to find. Oh, and Hook was there too. Emma touched something and got a shaky premonition about her doing battle with a hooded person. Then her hand shook uncontrollably like Aladdin’s did. Everyone easily confronts Dr. Hyde, who’s too strong to be taken down by Emma and Regina because Regina got rid of her bad side (and apparently half of her power).

  

  #SwanQueen Power Fail!

• The gang, with Dr. Jeckle’s help quickly come up with what is essentially a powerful stun gun to take down Hyde, but not before Emma has another shakey premonition and nearly costs Regina her life. Hyde notices Emma’s hand and later he tells her to find a red bird and follow it. This must be easy since we’ve only seen blue birds in Storybrook, ala Snow White. Emma does and she finds an oracle who shows her the premonition in it’s entirety; Emma will die battling this hooded figure who is a villain. All Savior’s must die by the hands of a villain, her family watches (without helping) and she tells Emma that she can change how she get’s to that point but the battle and her death are unavoidable.  

  

  We're just going to watch instead of help . . .

The B Story Rumple and Belle in a Box Redo

Rumple and Belle out of the Box 

• Hyde had told Rumple a way to invade Belle’s dream so he can wake her but her had to travel to the temple of Morpheus to do so. Morpheus tells him how but sets a time limit. Belle dreams of when she was Rumpelstiltskin's servant, therefore she only only see’s Gold as Rumple. He decides to make her fall in love with him again by doing the one thing that always sills the deal: dancing to the beauty and the best for like the tenth time . . . Once Rumple gives Belle true love’s kiss she remembers all and rejects him again. Morpheus shows up, even though there is still a little time left, but reveals he isn’t actually Morpheus, but Rumple and Belle’s unborn son. First, he is completely accent-less even though both of his parents have some sort of one. He warns his mother not to trust his father and then he gives her true love’s kiss and wakes up his mother. Belle once again wants nothing to do with Rumple.

Belle and Rumple's son looks more like . . .

This guy!

The C Story Sisters No More

Regina and Zelena's relationship wen up in smoke, lieterally . . .

• Zelena moved in with Regina and within two minutes, the show destroyed their relationship over Robin Hood, of all people, and sent Zelena back to her Kansas Farm house, where the evil queen waits. Since good Regina will not be her sister, the evil queen will! End show!

  

  "Apple-tini?" the Evil Queen

***Extra Tidbits***

• Archie and Pongo cameo’d.

  

  "Remember when I mattered?"- Archie

• It took Charming and Snow all day to kind of find a ship full of people in the woods in the very small, confined town of Storybrook.
• Snow White literally said this “They don’t trust us,” then promptly shouted “My name is Snow White and you can trust me!” That’s completely trustworthy . . .
• In the this Season Preview we will watch the untold stories of Aladdin and Jasmin, Cinderella and more . . . I hope that includes Aurora and her ghost husband who conceived just in time to break Mulan’s heart- I mean we’re going to see Cinderella again after all . . .

OK, I'm already concerned. 

I don't understand time in the OUAT world. It got really bad in season three with the introductions of new realms and just completely stopped making sense by season four. What does "a long time ago" mean in this show?

Anyway, a long time ago and somewhere far away, Aladdin is the savior. He's hanging out in his tent when Jafar shows up and turns one of his friends to dust, and he knocks another one unconscious. Aladdin tells Jafar to kill him, but Jafar just wants to tell Aladdin that, because he is the savior, he will not be able to live happily ever after (here we go again with the happy endings), and that's pretty much it. What was the point? Why obliterate someone and conk another out just to tell Aladdin that he will live a miserable life? He could have let the spares hear that, couldn't he? I don't know. I guess for dramatic effect and the setup of Emma's new story, this was necessary. 

Flash forward in time and to another realm and a big floating ship from the land of untold stories skims the skies of Storybrooke. The whole town is attempting to track it when they eventually meet in a big field where they question the new ship together. Mr. Hyde is also there. It's at this time that he tells the citizens of Storybrooke that Gold pretty much gave the town to Hyde in exchange for information on how to wake Belle. I didn't really know the town was Gold's to give, but whatever. Emma and Regina decide to team up to trap Hyde. They act like they are going to let the rest of the team (Charmings, Hook, Henry, Zelena) be included, but they pretty much take care of it on their own.

However, there was a bit of a hiccup. And now we are introduced to Emma's conflict for the season, or half the season; I really don't know how long this will drag on. Prepare to see this face a lot.

Swan Queen is attempting to subdue Mr. Hyde, but Emma falters. With a little encouragement from her love, she finds the strength to aim the baton at Hyde and he is captured. They snap a pair of plastic handcuffs on him and send him to a cell. But now we know that Emma is experiencing a shaky right hand and visions of a fight with a hooded figure. What could it mean?

It means we are going to have another season of the Charmings and Hook desperately trying to figure out what is wrong with Emma. It's started already in this episode. The Charmings sent Archie to hunt down Emma and force therapy on her. The Charmings know best, don't they? Emma wasn't really feeling it; she asked Archie for some drugs and then faked her interest in sessions with the cricket.

Emma knew Archie couldn't tell her what her visions were about so she went to visit Hyde, who just before being captured murmured something about her tremors and how he knew more about them than she did. He told her to follow some bird, which she did...

and she met an oracle who told her the same thing Jafar told Aladdin. Emma will not get her happy ending. She has an enemy and the enemy will kill her in the same way that her visions show.

In the middle of the street while the Charmings, Hook and Henry watch.

The Charmings didn't have time to talk to their daughter about any of this because they had to track down the blimp people that landed in the woods. It literally took them all night, and when they did find them Snow encouraged them to find their way to Granny's for food and shelter.

The Charmings then scurry off into the dark forest toward town.

It's funny, though, because it took the Charmings all night to find these people who must have been very deep in the Storybrooke woods, and yet these strangers to this new land found their way out and to Granny's in no time. Although, we all know the Charmings aren't the brightest bulbs in the box, so it's entirely possible it took them all night to locate a big group of people that were hiding out no less than 50 yards from Granny's diner.

There is also a Rumple/Belle story going on during this episode.

Belle is stuck in a dream state that is set in Rumple's old mansion that is now covered in fuzzy bright dream orbs. We all know that Rumple is desperately trying to wake her since she's pregnant with their baby, but Rumple isn't able to wake her himself. He takes Hyde's tip and he finds some sand to sprinkle on himself so he can join Belle in her dream, I think. The problem is Belle is mentally stuck in the past so she still fears Rumple and thinks she's his servant. Lucky for Rumple, Morpheus is there to guide him through the dream place, and he informs Rumple that he has limited time to make Belle fall for him again and wake her. She eventually remembers that she loves Rumple, but she also remembers all of his lies. Morpheus then reveals that he is their son and he warns Belle about her husband. He doesn't want her to let Rumple ruin their family the way he did his last family.

My favorite part about this whole story was the reveal of Morpheus as their son. Someone must really think that Robert Carlyle and Giles Matthey look a lot alike.

Focus on Carlyle

Focus on Matthey

Focus on Carlyle again

It was mildly entertaining.

Anyway, Belle received true love's kiss from her son and was able to wake up. She told Rumple she would not be starting a life with him back home and she walked through the portal (?) back to Storybrooke. I am guessing Rumple will eventually follow, but at the end of this episode he was still moping back in the transitional room to Belle's dream place.

That's all I got this week. Well, that and a few questions that I am excited to see answered.

I really wanna know who Emma's enemy is. I also want to know who these new people are, and if they crossed realms, how did they do this? Will Belle stay strong and stay away from Rumple? Will Hyde stay in his cell?

See you next week!