Once Upon a Time 1x09 Review

True North


In this episode we meet Hansel and Gretel, or as they are known in Storybrooke Nicholaus and Ava. In Fairy Tale land they lose their father, and then are asked by the Evil Queen to steal a special apple from a blind witch who lives in a candy house in exchange for her helping them to find their father. Turns out of course that she kidnapped him first in a big plan to get the poison apple that has Snow White's name written all over it. Meanwhile in Storybrooke they homeless and Emma sets out to find their father. We meet Mr. K.(Who could he be??), but he can't help her. Mr. Gold though points her in the exact right direction to find the father.

The episode is about daddy issues, and we learn that Emma has serious daddy issues. She always wanted to know her dad, and the fact that he could be Prince Charming I think has her head spinning a little bit. We also learn though that the time she spent in foster care was even worse than we originally thought. We knew this was why she can't make connections easily, but she really made it seem like hell, and I was surprised the episode was so negative toward foster homes in general. She lies to Henry about his father so he thinks he was an awesome firefighter, but really he was probably just some dude.





I really love Emma and how her past is troubled, but they are careful to not lay that on too thick. Yes they talked about it a lot, but it wasn't just her whining it was for a purpose, and her motivations seemed genuine. The motivations I'm not totally sure about though is Regina. I get why she would want to battle Emma on this, and why she would want to keep this family apart, but sending them away confused me. Henry says that when people try and leave Storybrooke bad things happen. Regina being so gungho about them leaving suggests that she likes when these bad things happen, and that it happens only to the good people of the town.

In Fairy Tale land the Evil Queen was upset and confused why the kids didn't want to join her in the castle. The father tells her that families want to be together, and they always will find each other. The shot of the woods where we see that Hansel and Gretel probably never will find their father was very sad, and really shows how evil the Queen can be. However, the kids and their father are reunited with the help of Emma and some fake car trouble in Storybrooke.

As the episode ends it seems like all is well, until a new guy appears. A stranger rides in on a motorcycle, and since no one has never come there before Emma this is very worrisome. Who could this guy be? I don't look at spoilers so I have no idea who he could be but I'm thinking he's a bad guy. Most of the people we have met, other than Regina and Mr. Gold have been good guys so I think the bad guys will start to appear more and more as the curse starts to break.

Any theories on who Mr. K. is? or this stranger?   Post it in the comments.