Waiting for the other shoe to drop, pretty much sums up the third outing of OUAT's sixth season. With the introduction of the Land of Untold stories, Once Upon a Time allowed itself to revisit one of the most epic fairy tales out there and spin another twist or two on the already different Cinderella story from the first season.
Back in the Enchanted Forest: We saw the rest and closer to the original version of the Cinderella tale. Ella being mishandled by her step mother and step sisters, entering the ball and falling in love with Thomas. It was all very nice setup and the chemistry between Thomas and Ella was palpable. Lisa Banes did an amazing job in past and present time as Lady Tremaine. The way she put down Ella at the ball was horrific and she embodied the role perfectly. After that, the story took an OUAT-ish turn and intertwisted the Land of Untold stories into the tale. After the reveal that Clorinda was in love with Prince Thomas' footman, Cinderella gave her the option to escape to the Land of Untold stories with him. Of course, this was a too perfect ending for an Enchanted Forest story.
Ella selling out Clorinda's location for the safety of her glass slipper was an unexpected twist and besides setting up the present time story it added edge and humanity to Ella's character.
Present time Storybrooke: I really enjoyed the Storybrooke part of the Cinderella story. Jessy Schram was really good this week and made me feel really engaged in the story, while Lady Tremaine was truly evil and made me hate her. The slight mislead about her running around with a rifle to kill Clorinda was adding up a bit tension to the story and gave our rescue team time to start their search. It was nice to see Ashley and Clorinda step up against the cold-hearted Lady Tremaine and with Team Swan give an end to an untold story.
The family bonding between Hook, Henry and Emma while they've searched for Ashley was sweet and showed that they are really becoming a family. Didn't expect to see them showing Henry and Hook interact on such a simple and sweet level. Also, that Hook-Alexandra scene was melting my heart, I mean they were beyond adorable and cute.
The highlight of the episode was the Evil Queen-Emma scene. Having the Evil Queen in Storybrooke added so much dynamic and interaction to the story and elevated the show to a new level. The way she was testing and pushing Emma was just so well written. She is playing chess and weakening the Queen in last week's episode she went for the other Queen in the game. And it worked, the Evil Queen hit all the right self-doubt buttons on Emma's harddrive.
The writers greatly exploited Emma's current struggle and fear of dying soon with the desire for the seemingly perfect life Ashley was living. The sessions with Archie are a great part of each episode and give us a great introspective into Emma's journey and where her state of mind is. At the end, Emma realized she shouldn't wait for her savior duties to stop interfere with her life and instead live. And the first step towards something normal is letting Hook move in with her, the boy deserved it.
Still, one of the beauties of this season is the really good parallel storytelling, giving all the main characters the enough screen time and development. We witnessed Regina being proactive about her other half this week and I loved it. Regina is a Do-er and she isn't waiting for faith to resolve the issues instead she is trying to become the solution. So she sought out Mr. Hyde but was handled a disappointment after seeing the Evil Queen scooped the information out of Hyde already. Finally, with Snow's help, Regina realized that Zelena is one of the Evil Queen's targets. In another really engaging and powerful scene between Regina and Zelena Regina realized that the rift is deeper than she thought. I was a bit annoyed they've left us hanging there and that the scene just got cut off. I hope Zelena gets more into the action in the next couple of weeks, time for her to choose.
I liked Snow's push for a normal life this week. The story of the season is pretty much about this fight to have a normal life besides all the bad stuff that is happening. Snow wanting to return to teaching and enjoy the simplicity of life was quite Piper Halliwellesque, Charmed fans know what I mean. Her talk to David about hunting down his father's killer was really inspiring. She was right it wasn't about justice it was about vengeance and making someone pay for all the stuff David lost and had to fight for after his father's passing. I was quite surprised David kept the clue and showed some character with that move, something we haven't see in recent seasons of OUAT.
Special kudos for the Rumbelle scene this week. Didn't expect the show to push the emotions this hard. Rumple send Belle a cassette with a verse of a poem he liked. It was a move I didn't anticipate but made Rumple score some points with me. And here is the verse for anyone who was searching for it.
Other tidbits
- The episode concluded with the Evil Queen freeing Hyde and setting up next week's Jekyll/Hyde centric episode.
- Using Snow to find Ella in the Enchanted Forest was great idea.
- Dr. Whale indicating he maybe has brains in his freezer was a nice iZombie reference.
- The remembering to use Gus, the auto mechanic Ruby had a crush on was a nice throwback.
- I would love to see Lady Tremaine again, she was an impeccable villain.
I really enjoyed covering for Ashley this week, but it is your turn now. What did you think of "The Other Shoe"? Did you enjoy the new twists to the Cinderella story? Where do you see Rumbelle in the future? And will David's story last longer than 3 eps? Sound off in the comments and let the discussion start.
