Finally we got back to Emma, Emma and Henry, and the fairy tale book, only this time a mad hatter was thrown into the mix.
And, to my surprise, I loved watching Jefferson/The Mad Hatter try to coerce Emma into making him a magic hat that would transport him back into the world from whence he came, the world where he at least had the ability, the hope, that he could be a father to his daughter again.
We learned a lot about our characters and their curious backstories in this installment of Once Upon a Time. It felt as though we’d inhaled a bit of the blue caterpillar’s smoke.
My favorite scene: Mary Margaret’s use of the mallet, brought smack dab into The Mad Hatter, plus the tantalizing hint of Mary Margaret/Snow’s voice from underneath the Queen of Heart’s veil which seemed to point viewers to the conclusion that Mary Margaret/Snow was the Queen of Hearts, or at the very least, is in some way connected to her.
What would that mean if Snow was the Queen of Hearts? That she’d kept Regina/The Evil Queen’s father’s heart inside a vault, very much like Regina’s/The Evil Queen’s vault?
What to make of this world within a world? There’s Storybrooke and Fairy Tale Land and Wonderland. The Mad Hatter was once trapped inside Wonderland, but when The Evil Queen whipped up her curse (using her father’s heart as the secret ingredient) he, the Mad Hatter/Jefferson, was confined to a big, old, fancy house in Storybrooke, unable to reach out to his daughter with the knowledge that he was trapped? (Random question: How could Emma have grown up from Snow’s baby to an adult, Henry grow up from a baby to a boy and yet Grace/Paige remains the same age?)
And how about Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin collaborating with former nemesis Regina/The Evil Queen (or perhaps double crossing her) in the Mary Margaret case? Never can figure out the end game with that guy.
If we’re keeping track at home, that means that the people in Storybrooke who know about and believe in the curse include: Henry, Regina, Mr. Gold, the Mad Hatter and possibly the mysterious writer dude. Emma, as it appears from the end of this episode, may be well on her way to becoming the sixth.
I’m crossing my fingers that these new wrinkles — another level of existence, the possibility that Snow White was/is somehow the Queen of Hearts, Mary Margaret wielding a croquet mallet couldn’t be a a bigger suggestion — are part of a well thought out plan, that the writers have a clear path in mind and that we viewers will not be ambling around, being introduced to new characters each week who may or may not advance the meta-story.
But I must admit seeing a dark heart inside of Snow, especially with the stark contrast of her angelic Mary Margaret-Storybrooke persona, would be fascinating.
What do you make of the Queen of Hearts-“off with his head” scene? Of the addition of a third world in Wonderland?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Mar 26, 2012 @ 12:59 EST5EDT
Pretty sure that it’s been mentioned that Emma and Henry are not affected by the curse. We see this because Henry left Storybrooke in order to find Emma (and we all know that NOBODY can leave Storybrooke without anything bad happening).
Huh. I’m totally going to have to go back and watch the scene with the Queen of Hearts again. I didn’t hear Snow’s voice at all (But I wasn’t really listening).
The simple reason that Emma and Henry are not affected by the curse because they were not in Fairytaleland when the curse hit.
I find it interesting how the writers manage to weave all these disparate tales together
I did not catch snow voice as the Queen of Hearts. You have to pay attention to everything on this show as it just keeps getting more and more interesting, I am always waiting for the next show!