Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: B+ | 944 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Bibbidi Bobbidi Botch
By Cindy McLennan | Season 1 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2011.11.13
Diner: Emma returns and asks Ruby why she didn't tell her about the baby-selling deal. Ruby says she didn't want Emma judging her friend. Emma spots the wolf figurine, which is now inside the diner and asks Ruby where her car is. She quickly twigs to the fact that Ruby let Ashley take it, and sent Emma to Sean's as a diversion, to give Ashley time to get out of town. I'll note here that my friend Denise does not like Ruby, but now that Ruby is doing more than sticking out her ass and otherwise posing, I'm kind of digging her. I certainly admire her loyalty in this episode. Ruby refuses to talk in front of Henry, because he's the Mayor's kid. Emma persuades him to leave, so Ruby will spill. Once he's gone, Ruby tells Emma that Ashley left about a half hour ago and was planning to go to Boston and disappear.
Emma drives off in search of Ashley. Before she gets too far, Henry pops up from his hiding place in the back of her car (it must take magic to hide in a VW Bug) and reminds Emma that Ashley can't leave town. "Bad things happen to anyone that does." Emma doesn't have time to argue about the curse. She wants to take Henry home, but he convinces her there's no time for that.
Enchanted Forest: Grumpy leads Thomas, Ella and Charming down to a dungeon-y place. They exposit about how Rumpy, who cannot resist making a deal, is the most dangerous man in all the realms, and that they've converted a mine to serve as a special prison for this most special of prisoners they hope to ensnare. It's the cell in which Rumpy was stuck, during the pilot, by the by. Grumpy says, "I hope you like it. A lot of dwarf blood went into it." Ew. I skipped some exposition, though, so let me fix that. Team Princess has sent one of Snow's bluebirds with a message to Rumpy to arrange a meeting. "We're going to tell him Doc heard something with his stethoscope..."
I'll interrupt myself here to acknowledge that detail. Because we (the audience) think of fairy tales as our folklore, we think of them as being set back in Medieval times, or whatever long ago and far away period you'd like. If/that Doc has a stethoscope, is not some glaring anachronism. Remember, the Enchanted Forest is its own universe, so to speak. It doesn't have to have to share our history of scientific discovery or anything else. Just because the characters dress in ways that see old-timey to us, doesn't mean they're not (in the context of this show) contemporary. I think the text backs me up here, because the Enchanted Forestians sound modern when they speak. Okay? Okay.