Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 186 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT PANgs
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 6 | Aired on 11.03.2013
Snow leads Ariel to a table and quizzes her on flatware. When she holds up a fork, Ariel says, "Mini-trident? Salad-trident?" Snow corrects her. "Salad fork." Then she notices Ariel steal it, and adds, "Oh, it's really not that valuable." Ariel's attention is already on Prince Eric, who is standing on the next floor up. Below him is a fountain, featuring a statue of Ursula. Snow nudges Ariel toward Eric. Since it is her first day with the new legs, Ariel stumbles. Eric clearly finds it charming. He helps her up and invites her to dance. Eric is fairly boring, but I don't think that's his fault. There's just not much story for him. He's nobody to us, and we're not going to (as of yet) spend any time with him. Suffice it to say that he has a memory of Ariel's face. He finally remembers why. He tells her of the shipwreck and says someone saved him. After, he had these recurring dreams of Ariel. She asks how that could be. Eric says, "Ursula is the one who saved me, and in doing so, she showed me a vision of my future. That's the face I saw. That's you."
Ariel says Ursula is just a myth. Eric isn't so sure. He asks Ariel what brings her to his neck of the woods. She says she wants to see the world. Eric says they hold that in common. He's leaving in the morning to explore the world and invites her to accompany him. Talk about forward! Ariel doesn't know how to answer, because well, would he want to see the world with a fish girl? I guess honesty still isn't an option. Eric says that in the morning, he will wait for her. "If you show up, I'll be filled with joy. If you don't, well, I'll be heartbroken, but I'll understand. It's so nice to meet you, Ariel." Their dance ends with a bow from him and an awkward curtsy.
As Eric goes off to greet his guests, Ariel rushes back to Snow, who has the misfortune to be standing right in front of a mirror. Guess who's watching the two, from the other side. Yes, it is our evil Queenie. You didn't think we'd get through a whole flashback without Regina, did you?
Back in Knifingham Palace, Regina grunts at the sight of Snow White. The two guards who chased Snow off the cliff are with her. The first one confirms the redhead is the woman who rescued Snow. Then the conversation goes bonkers. Regina says, "Next time you let someone fall to their death, make sure they're actually dead." Guard One says, "She looked dead." Wait. What? You just said you saw Ariel rescue Snow. I mean, sure, she looked dead underwater, but you could hardly tell that from up on the cliff. If you left while she was still submerged, I could understand your assumption, but as soon as Ariel brought Snow to the surface, our fair princess took a big gasp, and then she and Ariel fiddled about on the shore long enough to exchange backstories, and long enough for Ariel to change her tail into legs. Regina is as tired of his nonsense as I am, so she snaps his neck. I'm giving her a pass on that murder. Guard Two stutters out an offer to lead more guards after Snow. Regina says they've proven unequal to the task. She has a new idea. And we all know what that is. We flash forward to...