Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: B | 387 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight
By Cindy McLennan | Season 2 | Episode 8 | Aired on 2012.11.25
Neverland. Cora holds Aurora captive in that sort of underground (although like the hatch in Lost, there's also a convenient ground level entrance) makeshift cell. When she brings the princess some food, Aurora is wise enough not to eat it. She informs Cora she won't be telling her anything. Cora says Aurora isn't her target, she's just bait. Aurora laughs at the idea Emma and Snow would risk their chance to return to their family, just to save her. Cora smirks at this. "Your new-found companions? You may not know them, but I do. Snow and her daughter just can't help themselves. No matter the personal stakes, they won't let an innocent die."
With some more probing, even though Aurora doesn't answer her at first, Cora figures out that Aurora has designs on journeying to Storybrooke, and mocks the girl for having already forgotten Phillip. Aurora protests. She would do anything to bring back Phillip. Cora: "Is that so? What if I told you that when a wraith consumes a soul, it merely travels to another realm -- that that soul could be brought back to this world. Show me a little courtesy and I may explain how." Some people think Cora is lying here. I guess she is, but I think she's lying with the truth. Since we could hear the cries of the Chintz Monster's victims (back in whatever episode that was) and since Aurora laid Phillip on the slab where she once had been lain, I never figured him for completely dead. This makes me happy, because Phillip and Aurora are my OTP.
Aurora listens for but a moment, and kicks her food tray at Cora. Aurora is neither stupid nor easily bought. I'm so proud of her, I could cry. She's been my lifelong favorite. I know the Disney version doesn't have all that much agency, but she's so sheltered and does try to break free from her godmothers' control and follow her heart. Plus, she is really pretty, has awesome princess hair, and her gown changes from pink to blue (I prefer the blue). So there. Oh dear, where was I?
Aurora screams that she will never help Cora, so Cora magics her against the wall, and knocks out our fair princess. Standing over Aurora's unconscious form, Cora spits that the girl is, "Plucky." I wait for a Mary Tyler Moore/Lou Grant "I hate spunk" moment -- you know the one -- but it never comes. Instead, she makes her way over to her raven (her raven -- will this show never do right by Maleficent), pets the bird and orders it to, "Tell them."