Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: N/A | 6 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Fairy Tales Can Come True
By Cindy McLennan | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 10.23.2011
Enchanted Forest Dungeon: A guard instructs Charming and Snow on how to behave in front of the prisoner. "When you reach the cell, stay out of the light, and whatever you do, do not let him know your name. If he knows your name, he'll have power over you." The guard then calls out, "Rumplestiltskin. Rumplestiltskin. I have a question for you."
A deliciously creepy Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) says, "No you don't. They do. Snow White and Prince Charming." He laughs the laugh of the evil, invites them to step into the light and tells them to take off their ridiculous robes. They must have mystical amnesia, because they totally forget the guard's warning to stay out of the light and, in fact, the guard forgets it, too. Rumpy knows they want to understand the Queen's threat. He says he can ease their minds, but it's going to cost them something in return -- the name of their unborn child.
Charming refuses to Rumpy's terms. Snow says, "Deal. What do you know?" Rumpy: "The Queen has created a powerful curse and it's coming. Soon you'll all be in a prison, just like me, only worse, for your prison -- all of our prisons -- will be time. Time will stop and we will be trapped someplace horrible, where everything we hold dear -- everything we love will be ripped from us. We will suffer for all eternity, while the Queen celebrates, victorious at last. No more happy endings."
Snow asks, "What can we do?" Rumpy: "We can't do anything. [...] That little thing growing inside your belly..." When Rumpy reaches through the bars for Snow's stomach, Charming draws his blade and slashes near Rumpy's hand. Charming: "Next time, I cut it off." Rumpy tsk-tsks at Charming and then tells Snow that her baby is their only hope. "Get the child to safety. Get the child to safety and on its twenty-eighth birthday, the child will return. The child will find you, and the final battle will begin. Muahahahahaha."
Charming drags Snow away and says they're leaving. Before they're out of the dungeon, Rumpy starts screaming about their deal and that he wants "her" name. Charming turns and says, "It's a boy." Rumpy softens his voice. "Missy, missy, you know I'm right. Tell me, what's her name?" Snow White closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them, she turns to face Rumpy. "Emma. Her name is Emma." Rumpy says, "Emma. Ah."
Our World: Emma and Henry drive past a sign that reads, "Welcome to Storybrooke," and right into a commercial. After the break, they drive through Storybrooke's downtown. When he refuses to give her his address, she brings the car to a stop. Getting out of the car, Emma tells Henry it's been a long night. "It's almost..." she looks up at a clock tower in the town square, and finishes: "...8:15?" Henry tells her the clock hasn't worked in his whole life. "Time's frozen here. [...] The Evil Queen did it with her curse. She sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here. [...] And now they're trapped." Emma, of course, doesn't believe him, despite her superpower. When he persists, she asks why everyone doesn't just leave. Henry: "They can't. If they try, bad things happen."