Once Upon a Time – The queen of hearts

Where to begin with this fabulous Sheriff/Huntsman-centric episode? (Loved its ironic title, “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” after Carson McCuller’s novel about people who feel like societal pariahs.)

Emma’s presence in Storybrooke is certainly shaking things up, even more so than when the ground was literally quaking a few weeks ago. The power of Emma’s kiss drew the Sheriff back into his Fairy Tale Land/Huntsman life where he was a soulful hunter who’d been raised by wolves. The only person who could provide the Sheriff with some answers as to what was happening to him was Henry who shared with him his coveted fairy tale book. And it was an amazing thing to see, the feverish Sheriff waking up to his Fairy Tale Land alter ego.

Back in Fairy Tale Land, he had become The Evil Queen’s bed puppet after she learned that he hadn’t killed Snow White as she’d ordered (after she had her husband, also Snow White’s father, killed for unknown reasons). The Huntsman/Sheriff was forced into consorting with The Evil Queen/Regina who literally — in a fairly gross reveal — kept his heart inside a box and had the power to squeeze it and kill him if he disobeyed her.

This led us to more Lost-like developments (as the music in this episode strongly reminded me of the music from Lost), namely Once Upon a Time’s version of the Hatch: The secret compartment beneath the mausoleum which houses Regina’s father’s coffin. Inside that hidden compartment was a room with what looks like a wall of bank safety deposit boxes filled with Regina’s gruesome collection of hearts.

This means that Regina has direct access to Fairy Tale Land, or at least part of it. That, combined with the piece of Snow White’s glass coffin that was discovered during the mine/sink hole disaster, can only mean that Fairy Tale Land lies just beneath the surface of Storybrooke, a metaphor for the just-beneath-the-surface memories all the fairy tale characters have of their past lives. It’s only a matter of time before the intrepid Henry discovers this.

Emma’s presence in Storybrooke is spreading like a wonderful contagion as, bit by bit, the power of The Evil Queen’s curse is waning. First, her mere presence made time advance, then she saved Cinderella from giving her baby to Rumplestiltskin (with whom Emma made an unwise, open-ended agreement). She and Henry persuaded Mary Margaret to rouse David/Prince Charming from his coma and now her kiss caused the Sheriff to lose it and run around Storybrooke telling people that he thinks he had a past life, like when he asked Mary Margaret if she could remember when she met him and he observed that he couldn’t remember meeting anyone. Dominos are falling …

I was shocked when, in a fit of jealousy, anger and fear, Regina killed the Sheriff, just as Emma, ironically, heeded Mary Margaret’s advice to open her heart. I didn’t think they’d go there, kill a major character, but they did, indicating that the writers are willing to ax others as well.

However, the coolest development by far, probably of the entire series, was learning about that secret passageway to the bank of heart drawers beneath the mausoleum.

By the way, who does a “spot of gardening” in the middle of the woods? What was Rumplestiltskin up to with that shovel?

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Dec 12, 2011 @ 13:02 EST5EDT