Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A+ | 384 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT PANic And PANcakes
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 11 | Aired on 12.15.2013
We return to Storybrooke, October, 2011. Henry looks at his blank family tree assignment. He slips it in his folder, which he slides under his Tron lunchbox. Mary Margaret finds him asks why he didn't turn in his homework -- again -- and if there's a problem. Yeah, Mary Margaret. His family tree isn't a tree. As Michael Raymond-James says, it's an effing wreath. We will politely ignore that Jared Gilmore has matured too much in the past two and a half years to be playing himself in this flashback. Similarly, we will politely ignore that the show can no longer effectively hide Ginnifer Goodwin's pregnancy. The show is cursed to use human actors who have physical realities of their own. Earlier, when Charming was going on about twists and turns and that the unexpected could still end happily, I wondered how much of that was the writers deciding to approach the changes in these two with a positive attitude. If so, good on you, Show.
Henry doesn't answer Mary Margaret. He doesn't even look at her. She says, "Oh Henry," and takes a seat next to him. "Things really will change if you just believe it. Life is unpredictable." Henry's voice sounds hostile as he asks if her life is unpredictable. It seems to him as if, "...everything's pretty much the same around here, except me. My birth mom didn't love me. Regina says she does, but she doesn't. I--I don't belong here."
Mary Margaret tells him he does belong and is loved. The she gets an idea. She takes out the Once Upon A Time book and says she found it this morning, when she was cleaning out her bedroom closet. And yes, she says she cleans her closet weekly, so it's clear she's still under the curse, because who the hell would clean their closet weekly? If you're that damned tidy, the closet shouldn't even need cleaning, but I digress.
So Mary has cleaned that closet thousands of times, and yet she never before noticed the book. Today, it was just there, like magic. Henry says, "That's not possible." Mary Margaret says, "Well, of course not, but it happened. This book somehow arrived. Was it given to me? Did I forget about it? I don't know, but there it was. And do you know what I saw when I looked inside? Hope." Henry says it just looks like fairy tales to him. Mary Margaret asks, "And what exactly do you think fairy tales are? They are a reminder that our lives will get better if just we hold onto hope. Your happy ending may not be what you expect, but that is what will make it so special."