Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 523 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Mother Knows Best
By Cindy McLennan | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 2012.10.14
Cabin. Exterior. Charming finds Ruth gathering flowers, and tells her the place is already beautiful. Ruth laughs him off. She's about to meet the girl he's going to marry. Everything must be perfect. When her son doesn't understand, she's lady enough not to womansplain it to him. But hark! Who goes there? Something wicked this way comes. Charming draws his sword and orders Ruth to return to the cabin and bolt the door. "Whatever happens, stay inside."
Charming runs toward the approaching sounds and soon finds himself surrounded by a handful of Widmore's knights. One of the knights who is on foot raises his crossbow and shoots an arrow at our would be Prince. When Charming ducks, the arrow flies over his head and lands squarely in the chest of one of the mounted knights. I am not your action recapper. Suffice it to say Charming handily defeats all of his assailants, but his last kill is the coolest. He snaps a knight's neck with only his bare hands. Alas, his mother refused to follow directions. During the scuffle, she was struck in the chest with an arrow. Charming races to her and catches her just before she collapses. "I told you to stay inside." Ruth apologizes, but she thought he was hurt. Isn't that just like a mother, too?
As Charming lies to Ruth that everything will be okay, Snow and Lance arrive. Falling on her knees beside Charming, Snow says, "I'm so sorry. We came as quickly as we could." Ruth: "Is this... Snow?" Charming nods and looks to Snow, who takes in the reality of the situation. We flash back to...
L'enchantement. Past. Night. As Snow tries to light a fire, Aurora sneaks up behind her, grabs her, and holds a knife to her throat. "Don't move. Phillip's gone, because of you." Snow, no delicate hothouse flower, flips Aurora, then disarms and straddles her. "You listen to me, Princess. You think I don't know what it's like to be separated from the people I love? What happened to Phillip was not our fault, so I suggest that you find another way to channel your anger."
Mulan pulls Snow off Aurora. "Don't talk to her like that." Snow: "She tried to kill me." Mulan grabs Aurora's knife and tells Snow, "I will deal with her." Just then, Emma fires a warning shot into the air. And I can't decide if I like this, or if it feels too contrived. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. So, Emma fires the warning shot. Snow whispers, "Emma, what are you doing?" Ignoring Snow's volume cue, Emma's voice is strong as she says, "Protecting you," and then tells Mulan to drop her weapon.