Man I am on a roll with these recaps xD There's something really addicting about recapping even though by the end I'm half blind and I swear I have carpal tunnel syndrome trying to pick out the "right" screencaps. It doesn't help that I write as much as I talk -_-
This episode shows us how Snow White and Prince Charming first met. It's a nice twist on the tale and I'm glad that this Snow White got her true love by actually doing something and not just sitting around on her rump stupidly accepting food from sketchy strangers. I find Snow and Charming's chemistry very convincing and it was great to see a little more of Charming's character. I like how he's definitely an optimistic, polite, overall polite guy yet not stupid, has a strong moral center, and is no pushover (even for Snow). Snow is as feisty and dare I say, charming ^_~, as ever - so it was a great pleasure to see how their love blossomed.
Season 1, Episode 3: Snow Falls
The scene opens to a familiar castle and pans down to a fancy horse drawn carriage racing through the forest. Charming is asks his companion, "What do you think of the view, my dear?"
And we see his "love" is not Snow White but instead a petulant, rather sulky woman dressed in blue. She complains that they should've taken Troll Bridge, harps on about the bumpy road, and fans herself incessantly in irritation. From the tired expression on Charming's face, it's clear their relationship is built more on being selectively deaf rather than love. The carriage stops due a fallen tree and Charming hops out to investigate leaving behind a leather pouch he was holding.
It becomes clear upon inspection that the tree has been cut - an ambush! But by then it's too late; a cloaked figure lands on top of the carriage and steals the leather pouch.
Now we see where the scar on Charming's chin came from and as she flees, he shouts furiously after her, "You can't hide from me! Wherever you are, I will find you!" It's not quite as romantic when it's being shouted at you like that ;)
On her way home, she sees Emma hunkering down to sleep in the car for the night and MMarg is happy to see her choosing to stay for Henry, rather than taking the easy way out and leaving. Clearly Regina has been up to no good again as the entire town has no vacancies. MMarg reveals she was a date and it seems she has never had much luck in love - the loser this time didn't even pay for the meal. She sadly says, "There's no such thing as love at first sight. Or first kiss." She offers her spare room to Emma and lets her know she is welcome though Emma, taken aback by the kindness, refuses.
The next day, MMarg and her students are at the hospital volunteering and she sees Henry sitting by the bed of John Doe. We find out that "John Doe" (a pseudonym for unclaimed people with no ID) has been in a coma for as long as MMarg can remember. Nobody has claimed him and he appears to have no family or friends since he never has visitors.
Henry slyly asks if she is sure she doesn't know him, an all-knowing smile on his face. The camera pans out and we see a scar on his chin. Three guesses as to what Henry is plotting next ^_~
Unsurprisingly, the next scene is Henry telling Emma that he found her father, Prince Charming. It's John Doe from the hospital and the fact that they both has scars in the same place is proof. He also explains that the the coma is a product of the curse - it's keeping Snow and Charming from finding their true loves. He insists that they should tell MMarg though naturally, Emma warns him that telling a girl that her soulmate is in a coma isn't exactly welcome news.
Henry has a solution for that too. All they have to do is "remind" John Doe of who he is by getting MMarg to read the fairy tale book to him. He's obviously so used to Emma's skepticism because he's rather shocked when Emma agrees that they should do it. Her only condition is that she ask MMarg, not Henry.
At MMarg's home, sipping cinnamon hot cocoa, Emma explains to her that she needs to do as Henry asks because it's the only way to show him reality. When he sees that reading to John Doe doesn't make him "remember who he is", he'll understand that fairy tales are just that - fairy tales. For his sake, MMarg agrees to do so and that she'll give them a full report on what happened tomorrow morning at Granny's.
That evening, MMarg reads to John Doe. In the story she reads aloud, we hear that Snow White and Prince Charming realized their love for each other at the Troll Bridge! Omomomo!
She fetches Dr. Whale - ew, the sleazeball from her awful date! But he tells her that at least medically speaking, it doesn't appear that anything has changed. It's implied that she must have imagined it. The doctor then calls the Mayor because he was told to let her know if there were any changes with John Doe (as if I needed a reason to like him less >_>). When Regina finds out it was MMarg that claims he grabbed her, the cogs in the her mind start turning...
At home MMarg continues to read the fairy tale book alone and we pick up with Snow White hurriedly packing her things. She tenderly places a little necklace around her neck and leaves her tree-hole home...
....right into a trap set up by none other than -
Charming: I told you I'd find you. No matter what you do, I will always find you.
Snow White: Is this the only way you can catch a woman? By entrapping her?
Charming: It's the only way to catch thieving scum.
Snow White: Oh. Aren't you a real Prince Charming?
Charming: I have a name, you know.
Snow White: Don't care! "Charming" suits you.
| Aww, she's so adorable ^0^ |
Their bantering is pretty cute ;) I enjoyed this scene a lot! Anyway, Charming wants his pouch of jewels back - his mother's ring in particular - but Snow has already sold them. Snow sticks in a few barbs about wanting to give a ring to that "nag with the bad attitude" and from Charming's uncomfortable expression, he's well aware of his fiance's lack of charms ;] Where the wistful MMarg longs for true love, Snow is a cold hard cynic, "True love, it doesn't exist. It's all arranged marriages and business transactions. There's no such thing as love at first sight. Or first kiss." She also quickly surmises that they are only getting married because Annoying Fiance's kingdom wants to take over Charming's and this marriage, this "merger" is a way to avoid all out war. Anyway, she refuses to help.
Charming, for all has laid back politeness, isn't stupid. He has a trump card up his sleeve. He knows that she's Snow White, a wanted criminal. If she doesn't help him, he'll turn her over the Queen, who probably isn't as "charming as I am." eheh I like seeing Charming's claws come out a bit ;) Refreshing to see that "charming" doesn't mean being "annoyingly nice" all the time. Snow White knows she's lost this round ^_~
At Granny's restaurant waiting for MMarg, Emma, wearing Regina's shirt which Henry snitched for her >_> is doing some pre-comforting by telling him not to get his hopes up about John Doe. It's quite funny that Emma is so certain nothing happened and that Henry will be heartbroken, especially since we the audience know that something did. So Emma's expression of shock is pretty comical who MMarg eagerly tells them John Doe grabbed her hand xD ahaha oh ye of little faith! Henry and MMarg are determined to read to him again to fully wake him up and Emma, still in shock, gets swept along with them ^_^
| Sleazy doctor, TEQ, the Sheriff-who-is-someone-I'm-sure, Snow White! |
However, when they get to the hospital, Regina and Sheriff Graham are there because John Doe is missing! Henry is immediately suspicious of his mum and so is Emma, but for the latter it's because Regina is John Doe's emergency contact. Regina was the one who found him on the side of the road years ago with no ID and brought him to the hospital. She also tells Emma to back off from the search and stay away from Henry. "Enjoy my shirt, because that's all you're getting." The Sheriff seems a little embarrassed as Regina snips at Emma (it does seem like he has a crush on her).
Leroy (Grumpy), the janitor, and Walter aka Sleepy, the security guard, were the only two people on the floor that night. Emma quickly figures out that Sleepy accidentally showed them the wrong tape; Grumpy mocks him for sleeping on the job again while Sleepy snaps that at least he doesn't drink on the job.
Popping in the correct tape, we see that four hours ago John Doe left by the side door, which leads into the woods.
In the Enchanted Forest, Snow and Charming trek through the woods. Seeing the necklace Snow wears, a self-proclaimed not-jewelry-type, Charming asks what it is. When she refuses to answer, he snatches it and she reluctantly tells him it's "bad fairy dust" - deadly, as it will turn any enemy into a form that can easily be killed. He doesn't seem convinced but he tucks it away into his shirt to Snow's dismay. She tells him the dust is very rare and that she was "saving it for a special someone." He guesses correctly that she wants to use it on the Queen. Snow tells him that the accusations on the posters are lies and the Queen wants to rip out her heart regardless. Luckily, the Huntsman that she sent to kill Snow took pity on her and let her go. Snow's been living in the woods ever since, trying to save enough to escape to another realm, where she can never be hurt. She fiercely defends her actions and says she only steals from the Queen's nobles to survive (robbing from Charming was an accident). However, she does admit that she did do something that ruined the Queen's life.
On the pretense she's thirsty, they head to a stream and she knocks Charming into the water and runs off with a pouch of gold - straight into the Queen's Huntsman! To make matters worse, she doesn't have her necklace as protection.
Back in another wood, Sheriff says the trail has run cold. But he just needs a second because "tracking is one of his skills" and "this is my world." Hmmm...is he a Queen's Huntsman? Anyway, as they wait, MMarg asks Emma how she fell into bounty hunting. Emma says she's just been looking for people all her life [implied that she searched for her parents]. When shes asks if Emma ever found them, she wearily replies, "It depends who you ask."
Speak of the devil, Henry suddenly pops up saying he knows where John Doe is going. He's looking for MMarg :) They need to stop moving so that John can come to MMarg.
Then Sheriff Graham finds John Doe's bloody wristband.
Just as they are about to stab out Snow's heart, Prince Charming rescues her! After a bit of sword fighting, arrow shooting, and just being the quintessential, sexy hero, Snow and Charming escape. Despite everything, Snow seems swayed by how he saved her life though she stole from him; as he says, "It was the honorable thing to do." But when he asks whether she's ready to get a move on to get his jewels back, she snaps back to reality and numbly agrees, after all, he's got a wedding and a "ring-less fiance" to go back to :( Back to her old self, she tells him that she sold the jewels to trolls who are not in fact "just little people" (he's mixing them up with dwarves) and quite dangerous.
They arrive at Troll Bridge where they let the horse go because "trolls don't like horses." Snow is nervous and tells Charming let her do the talking. She places a handful of gold coins on the bridge and we see trolls climbing their way up to them.
The trolls take an immediate dislike to Charming and demand to know who he is though Snow tries to deflect them and trade back the jewels she sold them. The trolls grow suspicious because they're "too eager" to get the ring back (they offer to pay just to take the ring back). They search them and find the Snow White wanted poster (seriously, you didn't throw that out :P?!) and that Charming is a royal. Delighted with the prospect of a reward, the trolls take Snow White and Charming fights them off. Snow escapes but Charming gets captured. Holding the pouch of jewels and fairy dust, Snow sees Charming getting dragged off.
This is her chance to run with the jewels and dust and be rid of Charming forever but she seems torn between her freedom and Charming.
As we can see, she chooses to go back. Using her fairy dust, she turns all of the trolls into cockroaches. Charming is touched she used her precious dust for him but she brushes it off as "it was the honorable thing to do." She says she'll find another way to kill the Queen. In any case, how could she let Prince Charming die? Charming tells her that his name is James and you can tell this is the scene that they are starting to feel the love :)
At another "Troll Bridge," MMarg sees John Doe half-submerged in water.
MMarg is in a panic because he looks very dead and in a moment of panic she whispers, "Come back to us. Come back to me." Which makes the Sheriff look up in surprise.
MMarg starts CPR which turns really kiss-like if you ask me. Unlike her failure to revive Charming in Episode 1, this time her kiss wakes him up. The first words he whispers are, "You saved me." Henry is thrilled and Emma is shocked how it all turned out exactly like Henry said it would.
The downside is that John Doe has amnesia and doesn't remember who he is at all. To make matters worse, a blond woman calling him David aka Annoying Fiance (Princess Abigail) rushes in. She seems deeply in love and is in fact his wife, as Regina triumphantly reveals to MMarg's dismay.
On the other side, now with the ring back in his possession, Charming and Snow prepare to part ways. In an impish moment, Snow tries on his precious ring (MY PRECIOUS!!) herself. It's a perfect fit as we all knew it would be :} Charming and Snow have a moment with the whole "I love this person" look dawning on their faces but Snow quickly removes the ring saying, "Yeah, it's not me at all."
They seem reluctant to part, each looking back at the other. Snow in particular watches Charming walk away with a look of regret on her face. Regardless, she turns around to head in the opposite direction.
We find out the couple is David and Kathryn Nolan. Unlike her fairy tale counterpart, Kathryn seems to be much more loving and less irritating. She thanks MMarg and explains to her the reason she didn't visit him in the hospital for all this time was because years ago, they were fighting a lot, though now she sees it was her fault. He walked out and she assumed he was in another town refusing to contact her all these years. But now he's back and she gets to say I'm sorry and start over. However, Henry's belief is unwavering and tells MMarg that the reason they found him at the Troll Bridge was because he was looking for her, not Kathryn. He knows they are meant to be together.
Emma confronts Regina and remarks how terribly convenient it was for Kathryn to pop up after all this time. Regina replies she found her by using Emma's idea. She went back through security tapes and it turns out that David has been calling out for a Kathryn in his sleep. She managed to figure it out from there. She adds that the Nolan reunification has put her in a great mood because it reminds her of how grateful she is to have Henry. "Because not having someone is the worst curse imaginable."
The Nolan couple embrace but David looks at MMarg in a curious expression of recognition and MMarg, resigned, twirls a familiar ring....
At home, Emma arrives at MMarg's door and asks if the spare room is still available. With a smile, MMarg welcomes her in and mother and daughter are living under the same roof at last ^_^
Comments
Awww....it's a cliche but of all the meet-cutes out there, I like the "start off by bickering" the most. I really want to know what SW did to TEQ and how James & Snow actually end up married, but for now this episode was full of cute. As for the Storybrooke side, I'm curious to see how persistent Catherine will be. She sure does seem lovey dovey now but for purposes of the story, we know she and David can't stay together forever ;) G.Goodwin is doing a superb job as SW. The way she plays both the fiery, headstrong Snow White and the gentle, reticent MMarg is convincing and it's interesting to see how subdued MMarg is compared to her fairy tale counterpart.
Even though Emma doesn't fully believe Henry yet and is mostly just humoring him - it's lovely to see how she's willing to go along with it simply for Henry's sake. Her affection for Henry seems natural and self-sacrificing unlike Regina's demands for Henry to act a particular way. Regina's love for Henry seems mostly selfish the more I see it; I'm still not sure if she actually loves Henry or the idea of Henry. Very telling is how she says, "Because not having someone is the worst curse imaginable." It's proof to me that Regina is using Henry desperately trying to recreate the parent-child bond she once had. Not that it's working seeing how Henry seems to hate even sharing the same oxygen as her.
Anyway, this is the one that got me hooked on OUAT for good *sigh* I could just watch Snow and Charming banter all day~
