Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 88 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Live Together. Die Alone.
By Cindy McLennan | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.07.2012
Charming gives chase but is stopped by Red. "David, stop." Charming tells her to get out of his way. Red: "Regina has Henry!" Charming: "But he has the way." Red: "But she has Henry. She's threatening everyone." After Red fills him in on Regina's empowered appearance at the Town Hall, she informs him that everyone is panicking because Regina has her magic back. "They want to leave town. They're going to lose everything." Charming insists that he has to chase after Jefferson first, since he's the only hope of getting Emma and Snow back. God (or good fairies) help you, Charming, if Emma and Snow return to find you've let Regina take back Henry. Red is on my side. "Back to what? This town is about to come apart. You've got to do something." She sounds particularly Canadian there, eh?
Sidebar: Okay, the above exchange, which didn't come to mind when I was writing the recaplet (linked atop page one of this recap) alleviates some of my concern about the Storybrookers' sudden exit from town, but I still don't fully understand their motivation. Well, I guess I understand it, but I don't like it. I especially don't like it where Geppetto is concerned. He's ready to forget he even has a son -- this soon? Meh. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this when it's time to discuss Charming's big speech, so for now, I'll stop.
Mayoral Manse. Regina tries to talk to Henry but he rushes up to his room. Underneath his bed, he's stashed a handmade escape ladder -- bed sheets knotted together. He tethers one end to the radiator, then tosses it out the window and begins his descent. He's caught, not by Regina, but rather by a tree she has enchanted to ensnare him, just the way Cora snagged her, another lifetime ago. As Henry struggles Regina says, "Don't fight it. Honey. You'll get a sliver."
Back inside Henry's room, the two sit on the boy's bed. He asks, "How long am I in prison -- until I grow up?" Regina claims she "rescued" him because she loves him. He points out that keeping someone a prisoner because you love them isn't exactly fair. Oh, remember when you were a kid and you thought the world was fair? Regina doesn't and says as much. "You know where I come from. That was really not fair. Of all the places I've seen, this is the fairest of them all." Nice dialogue. Henry's not impressed though and points out that she's ruined lives and has sent away Emma and "Mary Margaret." Regina says that was an accident. Henry: "The way you treated me wasn't an accident. You made it so no one believed me." Great evocation of the abuser/survivor threads in this relationship. Wow. "You made me feel like I was crazy." Regina assures him that's all going to change now, as abusers are wont to do. She says he can know all the secrets and live in a house with magic. She conjures up a giant rainbow cupcake and paints a portrait of their lives together as...well, as enchanted, with friends coming over whenever they like -- friends he can impress with his book and the magic she'll teach him. Henry says no one will want to come over. They're too scared of her. Regina's voice rises and sharpens. "You can make them not be scared." She modulates her tone. "You can make them love you." Henry doesn't want that. He doesn't want to be Regina and tells her so. When he leaves his room, Regina thinks back on her life in...