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Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parrilla, Josh Dallas, Jared S. Gilmore, Raphael Sbarge, Jamie Dornan and Robert Carlyle

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The Enchanted Forest

In his youth, Jiminy Cricket is forced by his parents to take part in their cons. Even though he wants to break free of the family business, he still finds himself stuck in this way of life well into his adulthood. On the encouragement of a young boy, Jiminy visits Rumple to help him be free of his parents, and is gifted a tonic.

Later that day, Jiminy and his parents are swindling a couple in exchange for a tonic that will make the immune to a fictional plague. However, Jiminy soon discovers that the tonic his parents handed over was in fact the one that was gifted to him by Rumple, which he did on purpose. Jiminy goes back into the house to discover the pair transformed into dolls, their hands chillingly clasped together. Jiminy discovers that this couple are the parents of the little boy he had met earlier, and in his desperation makes a wish that summons the Blue Fairy. She turns him into a cricket, and tells him that he has a chance to help someone in the future, starting with the young boy, who is called Geppetto.

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Storybrooke

When Emma puts on her deputy badge for the first time, the earth begins to shake with an explosion. A sinkhole has opened up at an abandoned mine shaft. Regina tries to prevent anybody from going further, furtively pocketing a piece of glass as she does so. She pressures Archie to persuade Henry that his beliefs in the fairy tale stories are false.

Archie does as he is told, which upsets Henry, causing him to go missing again. Henry is convinced that answers about the curse are to be found down the mine shaft, and starts to explore it, finding, as he does so, a similar piece of glass to the one that Regina hid earlier. Archie follows Henry into the mine shaft, but an aftershock causes a collapse that blocks the main entrance, leaving both of them trapped. Finding an elevator shaft, they are on their way to safety when Marco attempts to blast the main entrance, causing the lift to fall.

While Henry and Archie discuss his frustrations with continually being told what to do in his life – in much a similar way to his fairy tale counterpart – Emma locates the top of the elevator shaft and rescues the pair. Archie makes it clear to Regina that he will continue to see Henry, but that if she interferes, he will declare her an unfit mother. Regina disposes of the piece of glass that she has been holding on to, and we see it clanging down onto Snow White’s glass coffin, hidden somewhere beneath the town.

Meanwhile, Mary Margaret continues to build a connection with David at the hospital. Even though Kathryn, his wife, is also visiting, David says that the only thing that feels familiar and comfortable to him is Mary Margaret. Becoming increasingly uncomfortable with her attraction to David, given the presence of his wife, Mary Margaret resigns from her volunteer position at the hospital.

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Thoughts

• It’s Archie’s turn for some character development this week, as we start to appreciate him as slightly more than just scenery. It’s a nice moral of the story, of a character coming into their own in their adulthood, which I’m sure is relatable to a large number of the audience themselves.
• Archie’s dog is a Dalmatian called Pongo, which is delightful, though I’m not sure whether that is anything other than an easter egg.
• Jiminy’s storyline has a wonderful symmetry to it, and a brilliant explanation for why he became a cricket: out of his longing to be free.
• It’s interesting that, even though we have so far seen her as the Evil Queen, Regina chose to have Henry. She chose to adopt him. She has so much love for him, and that is becoming increasingly apparent through her intense concern for him here. She looks completely helpless, trapped in this world without magic, in which she is entirely out of control and unable to help her son.
• Similarly, Emma seems particularly worried about Henry. Obviously, she would be a monster not to feel some sort of worry for a child who was trapped in a mine, but it’s starting to come across as more maternal, which is clearly on Archie’s mind too, considering his dire warning to Regina over who he would back in a custody battle.
• The dolls being present in Mr. Gold’s pawn shop is a nice, if slightly macabre, touch.
• What exactly is underneath the mine? We can see that Snow White’s coffin is here? What else lies there, waiting to be discovered? Did Regina know about the presence of these artefacts? Is that why she was so eager for everybody to stay away from the site?
• Why exactly did Emma putting on the deputy badge cause the sinkhole to open up? Very suspicious timing.
• David and Mary Margaret seem to be getting closer, potentially to the point of kissing and regaining their memories, but Mary Margaret’s conscience has resulted in her building up more walls between the two of them.