It’s so satisfying to get answers that make sense, rather than being strung along with ratings bait while the show stretches thin and breaks.
My question last week: who the hell in Fairytale Land is August Booth?
Got my answer this week: Effing Pinocchio.
And it all fit together in a way that made sense. Geppetto strong armed the Aerodynamically Unsound Fairy into lying about the magical capacity of the enchanted tree to guarantee a spot to Pinocchio.
- Couldn’t they have given her a wee chair to sit on?
Pinocchio was the little boy who brought Baby Emma to the roadside diner. And Emma wound up on her own because the foster system sucks and who can blame Wee August for running away?
- Better off with a pack of wolves
Meanwhile, Regina demonstrated that she has no idea how to process positivity and forgiveness. Mary Margaret, eternally good creature she is, forgave Regina for the entire murder framing scenario. Coming from anyone else, her “I forgive you because your world must really suck” speech would have been a snarky, verbal bitchslap. But, from Mary Margaret, it seemed genuine. Even Regina saw that and was affected by it.
- Love and world domination. Is that really too much to ask?
Then there’s was the whole thing with David and Regina, which was obviously all another Evil Queen set up to poke a hole in Snow White’s happy ending,as evidenced by the blank note she “read” from. As it went on, it felt like Regina was genuinely, if clumsily, trying to make normal, friendly human contact. Which, of course, she fumbled.
David…..well, he’s still stupid and a terrible boyfriend/husband with awful taste in Valentine’s cards. But, he is a decent human being. He’s probably the only person in Storybrooke who doesn’t treat Regina with total disdain and revulsion all the time. He was almost charming.
- “It’s 5PM, but I have to get up early. It’s so demanding to answer phones at a pet shelter serving a town of 40 people.”
He’s still an idiot, though.
Lastly, I think we need to do a Disney product placement segment every week. I’ll call it “Refugees from the Disney Vault.”
This week, Henry sports a TRON lunch box.
- Once Upon A Time. Brought to you by your evil overlords
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Prince Charming as David is such a dang tool. He drives me more crazy every week. I’ve gotten to where I much prefer stories about the other characters and episodes where he doesn’t make an appearance at all. Where in fairy tale land he at least seemed to have a backbone, in the real world he is just a big pansy ass who can’t stand up for himself or the people he supposedly loves. He may be a decent human being, but he’s also a big stupid wimp. I’m not ready to forgive him for doubting Mary Margaret’s innocence, and I totally don’t forgive him for being dumb enough to fall for Regina’s “poor me I need a friend” routine.
All stupid failure princes aside though, I really enjoyed this episode. I thought the August/Pinocchio storyline was very fitting, and it tied him into the whole Storybrook mythos well. I’m kind of on the edge of my seat waiting to see what the show runners will pull out for the season finale.
This show is so subversive in some ways – I can’t help but wonder if the point of David’s behavior and characterization is that Prince Charming can’t exist in this world. Not because there isn’t room for him, but because those qualities don’t play the same way in the real world.
I loved that ending scene with August and Geppetto in the workshop. Pinocchio growing up isn’t something I’d not considered before. In the fairy tale, his happy ending was becoming a real boy, but it never occurred to me that the real boy would grow up and be a disappointment to his father, just like the rest of us are.