Once Upon a Time Forums

Spoiler Warning - Only Read the following if you watched all of Season 1:

What are your thoughts? Let me know if any of these are addressed in the show in a scene. Can you think of others?

1) Who is the fairest of them all?:
In the Pilot - Snow says to Charming:
"She poisoned an apple because she thought I was prettier than her. You have no idea what she's capable of"

The story didn't pan out that way, and did Snow ever have a reason to actually think this in Once Upon a Time? I hope the writers come up with a way explain this (perhaps Snow keeping the truth from Charming?)

Realizing Snow's statement was a nod to the other versions of the story, my question is whether her statement can fit in Once Upon A Time's world without being a contradiction of the script.

2) Hearts snatched out in fairy tale land - is there any magical law that governs this? How many ways can you snatch out a heart? (hmmm ... Reese's Hearts :-p) :
a) Regina's Dad drops down dead.
b) Regina's fiancee doesn't die until the heart is crushed, but is incapacititated as its pulled out.
c) Huntsman retains free will and is not incapacitated, and Emma can 'feel' Graham's heart in Storybrooke.
d) Did Regina wish to snatch out Snow White's heart and keep her alive or kill her? How are we to know?

3) Sleeping Curse(s):
a) How many are there? If Malificent stole one, is this the one from Sleeping Beauty that puts everyone to sleep, or is this the apple that the ginger bread house witch had?
b) Did Snow White need to be told the disclaimer for the apple to work, or was that just the Queen enjoying the torture?
After all, Emma didn't get a disclaimer, and Regina expected it to work without a disclaimer.

4) Talking Animals:

In the Pilot: Prince Charming says to his guards: "I've sent my men into the forest. The Animals are abuzz with the queen's plan."
This seems to be a reference to Disney fairy tales, but we have yet to see a talking animal in this series. Or am I mistaken?

5) If the Genie's Lamp could grant wishes after the Genie was freed, then could Regina take control of the lamp afterward, or would it need a new genie? Does anyone remember if it disappeared after the 3rd wish? How does a lamp work without a genie?

6) If Rumple only regained his memories when he heard Emma's name name at Granny's upon her first visit (as the Creators asserted in an interview), then did he unwittingly arrange Henry's adoption without any memories of FTW?

7) Do we believe that Emma actually had a super power of being able to detect lies, but was in denial with Sydney, moreover choosing not to use it in her varous investigations, as well as every time Regina tricked her? Or did she make the whole thing up?

If it was Emma's 28th Birthday that Henry showed up, and she gave him up for adoption 10 years prior, it is safe to assume she was 17 when he was conceived, yes? I feel like I've seen it discussed that she was 18. Nothing wrong with being 17, but depending on the state, wonder if Henry was illegally conceived :-p Massachusetts' laws are ambiguous at quick glance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_co ... sachusetts . She'd be fine in Maine however :-p Did the writers intend for her to conceive at 17, which seems controversial for a family show? I personally have no ethical problem with conception at any age, if it's an ethical conception to begin with, but just wondering.

9) Rumple is a perspicacious guy, so must we assume he was in denial about Belle not loving him, and not using his intellect, because since she was turning him back into a man and erasing the 'dark one', their love must have been true and mutual, right? I don't understand why such a smart character who sees everything coming dealing with magic would not realize that she couldn't be 'tricking' him because if her love was disingenuous, the kiss would never break his 'curse' of being the dark one. So is this an inconsistent character trait, or is it that when it comes to love, Rumple always gets it wrong, and isn't too smart?

10) Did Henry ever mention in the show that nobody ages?
Whether or not he did, this is what is understood, correct?
This would of course been most obvious to him with his classmates, and the kids younger than him that he eventually out-grew. (The 7 year olds that were older than him when he was 5 became younger than him when he was 10).
This presents a problem for Regina - are we to assume the following: Henry was aware no one aged, Regina was aware he was aware, his memories were always left intact, and that the only reason he hasn't tried to escape from her sooner is his dependance on adults, as well as an ignorance of reality - having grown up in a town where no one grows up but him? (Where's Tink? :-p)
Is it just me, or has the 'no one grows up' part of the script not really been addressed as it should have been?
Shouldn't have Henry blatantly stated: there were kids who were older than me who are now younger than me?
Or would he realize this would make him look too crazy ...
Or perhaps his memory has been manipulated as well ...

11) Did anyone else get as confused as I did - until Graham was killed - about Mayor Regina's knowledge of the curse and FTL? Although tons of people on online forums insist that of course she remembered everything because it was her curse, I wasn't so sure until she finally showed viewers she knew by going into the chamber beneath her father's tomb. I got a very strong sense of purposeful ambiguity, like in Wizard of Oz (was it real or just a dream?) or stories where there's never concrete proof something wasn't just someone's imagination.

And I loved that feeling of ambiguity, as one could until that episode always rationalize why the Mayor was upset / ruthless without needing to concede that she remembered her former identity. I felt that the writers were toying wish us, and it was fun!

What I didn't appreciate was that the narrator of the opening sequence of the show for the first several episodes said "only one person knows, and only one can stop her". I felt like he spoiled one of the most dramatic secrets kept from viewers until the Graham crushed-heart episode. [and furthermore, more than one person knew ... it looks like 4-5 in Storybrooke actually knew: Regina, Henry, Gold (kept it a secret at first), August (kept it a secret at first), and possibly Jefferson. So the narrator also fed false information]
Is anyone with me on this? Imagine the narrator never said that. Was there anything in the script that made it obvious that Mayor Regina knew she was the queen before we finally see her use magic, crushing Graham's heart? I loved that episode so much because until then, she didn't necessarily seem evil. Do you agree that purposely keeping it ambiguous would have been effective?

Was I just foolishly mis-remembering the scene when she asserted to Rumple he wouldn't remember, and my vague memory generalized that she wouldn't remember either? Because I get the feeling that if we showed Once Upon a Time to newcomers and muted the opening narrater, that people would be asking: "does she know?" each and every eipsode, until that heart-crushing episode.

Until that epsisode, the show seemed to take great lengths to never let us see Regina, even alone, reveal that she 'knew' anything about Fairy Tale Land.
I chose to ignore the narrator until that episode, and considered it a poor editing choice.

What's your take?

12) And what of Charming's mother? Is she in danger because he broke off his engagement? Was this addressed in the show? Did he suddenly forget about her when falling in love with Snow?

I agree so far that every point is either a puzzle piece that hasn't fit in yet, or a plot hole, except about Regina's memory. I remember thinking the moment Mr. Gold said "please" and she gave in that they both remembered. After I started to think the "please" was a coincidence on his part but was still convinced she remembered. That was in episode 2 I think.

The Prince James thing has bothered me since we found out he wasn't really James. I've always wondered if he ever told Snow, or if she still thinks that's his name.

To start at the bottom and work up- "James" will always be Charming to Snow, whatever his birth name.

Rumplestiltskin had the opportunity to think through his relationship with Belle after the kiss- I think he was wearing a slightly different outfit when he told her to leave (indication of time passing or at least a cold shower.) I agree that he chose not to give up his power before finding Bae. Plus, he's had plenty of time since to consider!

Regina's dad was probably dead before heart removal, which may account for the different appearance. Rumplestiltskin said to her "You know what you love- now go kill it!", and I believe that the taking of a loved one's life was key to enacting the Curse.

Not touching the aging question, except to say that Henry had a better chance of knowing who was aging than anyone else. My recollection is that he'd had the Book for "a month" before going to Boston; not sure which episode that was in. Assuming he arrived on Emma's birthday- what day was it? I thought at first it was October, but no mention of Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year. So then I thought her birthday might have been in January (fits with Valentine's Day ep 6 weeks later) Any thoughts?

The legal, ethical, and moral issues surrounding Henry's conception are definitely plot points to explore in future seasons. Emma was in jail in Tallahasee (I think) when he was born- so those laws may be applicable. Also: what did Emma do to end up behind bars? I can imagine about 8 different scenarios, but the writers haven't told us yet.

We didn't know the EQ was named Regina until the episode with the Genie. Before that, everybody just said "The Queen". And the opening narration changed several times- I'm not sure the pilot said who knew.

The jewels on the lamp changed color- maybe because the Genie was freed. Like a "vacancy" sign? I doubt the lamp would work in Storybrook anyway. Wasn't Mr Gold polishing the lamp in that episode?

In episode 15 'Red Handed', Emma mentions to Ruby that she'll have trouble leaving town by bus because buses don't tend to come or go from Storybrooke. Okay, makes sense - no one from the outside can enter or leave, right?

So how exactly did Henry get to Boston by bus in the pilot episode?

If we consider the glowing magical hearts as the "heart" you fall in love with, rather than the actual muscle we learn about in bio class, the ambiguity of the heart question is resolved. Regina takes the metaphysical one to keep in a box, depriving the previous owner of their emotions, or maybe spirit. Crushing the glowing heart destroys the person as thoroughly as if their actual heart was cut out.

I think Rumplestiltskin's reaction to Belle's love came at least in part from his fear that she loved who she thought he was, rather than who he really was. Once the Queen was mentioned, rationality went out the window for awhile- Rumplestiltskin of all people would be in a position to know how well Regina could lie. He may haveassumed that Belle had been filled with romantic daydreams by the person most likely to benefit from his loss of power;Belle might love him only temporarily,break the Curse (granting Regina mastery of FTL), and then find out something about him which caused her to repudiate him.Rumplestiltskin wouldbe alone again- quite possibly the worst torture hecould endure.

Rumplestiltskin's unnaturally long life probably depends on his magic. He'd die without seeing Bae again. So I can understand why he'd want to hold onto his power until Emma came along. Kicking Belle out of the castle protected his chances of reaching his original goal, as well as his heart. But his reaction to Regina's story at the end of "Skin Deep" reveals a hope Rumplestiltskin wouldn't have admitted otherwise- letting Regina know what a valuable weapon Belle might become.

On the topic of Snow saying she is the fairest of them all, I think there is a story we have yet to see to connect that to the rest of the snow/charming/queen storyline, and hopefully we will see it in season 2.

Huh, the only inconsistency I noticed was the story Grumpy tells Snow in jail and what they showed in Grumpy's back story episode (WHICH WAS FANTASTIC). An inconsistency is when a show states/shows something and then does something that directly contradicts their previous statement/example.

You have raised some interesting questions however...

1. Now one ever says that Snow White isn't the fairest of them all. In fact they mention it at some point that she is.

2. Regina's dad is old, maybe he just fainted from seeing his heart being ripped out of his chest. And or the magic might allow you to decide if you want the move to kill or not. Plus, I think Regina just wanted Snow to suffer, so whatever caused that was ok with her.

3. I assume you just had to eat the thing willingly. It probably would have worked on Emma because hey, free turnover. Since it's the same apple I assume there is only one. Though a curse is a curse is a curse how hard would it be to make another one.

4. Jimmity talks =p But really they mention it a few times. Like Snow White's song birds told me about blah blah, yet for some reason Charming needed to send a note so it's probably just one of those things.

5. The Genie grants the wishes NOT the Lamp. The Lamp is just where he lives/is trapped.

6. Henry's whole role is kind of eh. He's there to bring Emma to Storybrook but really is he actually special. For all we know that's just random luck/destiny so that Emma would come on her 28th birthday to break the curse (what's her name is like 30 something so I always found that funny)

7. I would have to watch the eps again, but Im pretty sure at no point does Glass or Regina actually lie to Emma. They say things that are half truths but not actual straight up lies. I mean why doesn't Emma ever just ask "hey Regina are you the evil queen and is Henry's story real?" and actually get an answer. Every time Emma raises the question Regina doesn't actually answer. Also about consent, Im pretty sure there is an age range clause like a 17 year old can have sex with a 17 year old and that's still legal. It's just when some who is considered an adult 18+ has sex with someone who is considered a minor 17 and under that it becomes a crime. If it was illegal for 17 and unders to have sex you would have a lot of teenagers in prison. Now if the father was not a minor, eh. In Canadian the age of consent use to be 14 and is now 16. But really, do we really think early teens don't have sex?

8 (not 9). Pretty sure he just wanted to keep his power/he thought Regina sent Bell in as a way to make him lose his powers. Over all, it was Rumple just wanted to keep his powers but after he regrets it. That's pretty much the repeating theme in his story. He pushes away the people that love him because they want him to give up his powers, but after he pushes them away he realizes he made a mistake.

9. This one is a bit odd.

10. Nope, pretty much it states from the out start that they are all fairy tale characters. I mean that's was the entire pitch of the show. Now if it was like that Buffy episode where it's not quite clear if the Buffy we know is real of if the Buffy in the insane asylum is real (and you really don't get a straight up answer in the end) now that would be a different story. But pretty much from the first episode the entire thing is laid out as THESE ARE ALL FAIRY TALE CHARACTERS WHO DO NOT REMEMBER MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It would have been really neat if Henry was wrong. The entire point was that Regina cursed everyone to forget and she created a world where she "won" and she gets to create everyone's life. That's what the curse did. It teleported everyone to a world without magic and gave her control over everything.

Hoping some of this will be resolved in Season 2!

I doubt Snow would ever tell Charming that she knowingly ate a poisoned apple to save him- he couldn't handle it. Plus, if there was some prophecy about the fairest in the land (which Rumplestiltkin implies when Snow pulls up in the rowboat to get the "anti-love potion") Regina may have wanted to make sure it didn't come true. SHE DID NOT PLAN TO CAST THE DARK CURSE UNTIL AFTER SNOW AND CHARMING'S WEDDING.

Wasn't Graham's wolf buddy a talking animal?

In the scene where their raft is nearly swallowed by the whale, Gepetto says "Pinocchio!" in an Italian accent. My guess is that he spent time trading, or maybe shipbuilding, in Italy sometime after leaving his home village. Maybe Venice? (Marco Polo was born there, and that's always been my theory for his Storybrooke name)