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

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The Enchanted Forest

The Genie (Giancarlo Esposito, otherwise known as Sidney Glass/The Magic Mirror) is released from his lamp by King Leopold and grants him three wishes. Leopold uses his wish to free the Genie, and then uses his second wish to give away the third wise to the Genie. Leopold brings Genie back to the castle and introduces him to his daughter, Snow, and his wife, Regina. At Leopold’s birthday party, he declares Snow to be the fairest in the land and the greatest gift that he could receive. Regina feels rejected and leaves, to be followed by the Genie. He gives her a mirror to allow herself to see her in the same way that he does: as the fairest of all. King Leopold finds both the mirror and a diary entry by Regina revealing feelings for the man who gave it to her, and instructs the Genie to find the man who has stolen Regina away from him.

While the Genie ponders what to do, Regina’s father Henry gifts him a box, which he claims will free Regina. Bringing it to Regina, they find the contents to be deadly snakes from the Genie’s home country. Regina plans to commit suicide by using the snake’s venom, but the Genie suggests that they instead use the snakes to kill the King. The Genie does the deed, even revealing to the King that he gave Regina the mirror in his dying moments, and then reveals to Regina that he has killed her husband and they can now be together. Regina reveals that it was always her intention for the Genie to kill the king, and that the snakes were specifically chosen to be traced back to him. The Genie uses his wish at that moment: to always be by the Queen’s side and to look upon her face always. Immediately, he finds himself trapped in a mirror, becoming the Magic Mirror.

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Storybrooke

The storm from the previous episode has ruined Henry’s castle and he desperately searches for his book in the sand underneath. Regina appears and announces that she plans upon getting rid of the castle as it is a safety hazard. At Granny’s Sidney tells Emma that Regina fired him from the paper, and that she embezzled $50,000 and wants her help to expose Regina’s corruption. Emma agrees, once Henry discovers that the book is missing once the castle is torn down. Sidney and Emma pursue Regina to the woods, but lose control of the car when Emma’s brakes fail. They run into Mr. Gold, who admits to selling a plot of land to Regina. Emma and Sidney then discover a plan for a building in the mayor’s house. At the council meeting, Emma shows everyone the files and accuses Regina of building a second home in the woods. Regina in turn unveils her plans to build a new playground for Henry and the other children in Storybrooke, before revealing to Emma that if she continues to see Henry, she will get a restraining order. In private, she then thanks Sidney for fooling Emma, and for cutting the brakes in her car. In the café, Henry desperately tries to write down all of the stories that he can remember from the book before he forgets them. At the very end of the episode, it is revealed that the Stranger has the book.

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Thoughts

• Here I am again, to once again give a round of applause to Raphael Sbarge’s agent. That man is getting credited in a whole lot of episodes that he isn’t in, and getting paid. He is career goals. Seriously though, it’s honestly baffling who made the decision that Archie should be lead cast is crazy, because they don’t use him correctly from the very beginning. What even was their intention in the first place?
• I’m not entirely certain how we are meant to feel about Sidney from this episode. In fact, if anything, he actually appears worse here than when he was just the Magic Mirror. His backstory reveals that he is, in fact, worse than I gave him credit for. What kind of person kills the man who gave them freedom, even if they do want to bang his wife? It’s just not okay! I’m certain that the main takeaway is in fact upon how successfully Regina manipulates the people around her, but still.
• Even though Regina completely fooled Emma into thinking that she was using state funds to build her own property out in the woods, I am confused as to what playground, precisely, costs 50 thousand dollars? Is that a common amount to spend on a playground? More importantly, just because somebody is mayor of somewhere does not give them the ability to unilaterally approve building, even if it is a public service that she is building. You cannot just spend town funds on whatever you feel like, Regina, and Emma calling her out at the meeting was entirely appropriate and, sure, she wasn’t correct about what Regina was up to, but just because she’s building a playground doesn’t automatically mean that she wasn’t wrong for just going around and spending people’s money without any permission.
• Emma and Henry being separated makes me sad, but hopefully it doesn’t last too long.
• Very little in the way of development for Mary Margaret and David here, except they are still meeting up in secret, following their kiss as the end of last episode.