Sunday, November 27, 2011

Once Upon a Time Ep 5: That Still Small Voice

Or should this episode be called… the return of the Apollo bar! Oh, how I love these little nods to Lost. ;)

“You are who you are and there’s no changing it, right?”

This week’s episode was written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Jane Espenson, and there was some dialogue that was so typical of her brilliance. Tonight we focus on Jiminy Cricket, and finding out how he became a cricket, and a conscience. From the time he was a young lad, Jiminy – who was raised as a pickpocket and a thief by his two uncouth gypsy parents – longed to be good. We see him stealing for them, while asking repeatedly why they can’t try to go another way. Despite being the voice of reason in their small group, his pleas simply don’t reach his parents. Where he was a good conscience for Pinocchio, he failed miserably as a conscience for his parents. But that’s because he felt helpless under their control. As he grew, his misery grew also as he continued to do bad things for them (and for Rumpelstiltskin, to whom they were clearly “pawning” their things for gold thread). He longed for his freedom, and was willing to destroy them as his final bad act before becoming good. But when something terrible happens, Jiminy finds another way to escape: he becomes a cricket.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Mary continues to get to know John Doe, Emma becomes Deputy, and when there’s a sinkhole near an abandoned mine, the town goes nuts. The Mayor decides she’s sick of being the bad guy, and she threatens Archie Hopper that if he doesn’t convince her son once and for all that the fairytale theory is just a theory, she’ll ruin him. “I will cut you down to size until you’re a tiny shrunken creature and THIS [holds up umbrella] will be the only roof over your damn head… You take that delusion out of my son’s head and you will CRUSH it…” Archie goes against his conscience (for the second time – recall back in episode 2 he called the cops and said Emma stole his files because the Mayor asked him to) and tells Henry that he’s crazy and if he doesn’t stop this foolishness, he’ll end up in a psych ward. Henry, devastated that Archie would say this to him, decides to prove himself and heads down into the mine, putting his life (and Archie’s, when Archie follows him) in danger. Henry is convinced something is important down in those mines, and the reason they collapsed is because Emma showed up and the mines are trying to alert them to something.

In several scenes reminiscent of Jack and Charlie being trapped in the cave in “The Moth,” Archie talks to Henry while they sit in the mineshaft, and realizes that maybe Henry’s not completely crazy, and Henry realizes Archie is sympathetic to him. Archie doesn’t believe that he was Jiminy Cricket, but he’s like Jiminy in that he really wanted to be a certain person, and needs to work hard to stay on that path.

In the lovely ending to this episode, Archie and Henry are saved by Emma (I seriously thought Archie was going down with the mineshaft and was SO happy when he was holding on by his umbrella!), while we see how Jiminy was turned into a cricket so he could become the conscience to the little boy whose parents Jiminy had wronged: Geppetto. Tears!!

Highlight: The parents telling Jiminy he needs to stay with him by convincing him how old and infirm they are. Dad: “I’ve got lumps in strange places.” Mom: “I’ve got burning sensations.” Hahaha…

Did You Notice?:
• In the little puppet show at the beginning, the woman says, “I wish… I wish… but nothing changes. I wish I was better at wishing!” The puppet show not only anticipates Jiminy’s wish at the end, but that Geppetto’s parents will be turned into wooden marionettes themselves.
• The Mayor!! I was so glad to see Harry Groener as Jiminy’s parents.
• The first time Geppetto shows up at the traveling show and talks to Jiminy, he says, “Puppets! What a great job you have!” We can already see why he would grow up to make little wooden creatures.
• John Doe and Mary play Hangman… the first time they had a conversation, Snow White was hanging from a tree in a net.
• The floor of Rumpelstiltskin’s place is an outline of a spinning wheel.
• The moment Rumpelstiltskin gave Jiminy the potion, I wrote in my notes, “Are his parents the two little dolls in Mr. Gold’s pawn shop?” I KNEW those dolls would turn out to be something, as I mentioned in my previous post!
• I love the special effects on this show. It’s everything Lost didn’t have.

Ruby Red:
I’m noticing there is a LOT of red in this show. I noticed it in the very first episode, but it was only because of the distinct lack of red on Snow’s lips (which in the fairytale were described as blood-red) and I realized that despite Snow’s lips not being red, the colour is certainly prevalent everywhere else. In this episode:
• Emma dissuades the sheriff from making her take off her rust-red coat
• Kathryn makes cranberry muffins (and the towel on top is red).
• At the rescue scene, both the fire truck and the tow truck are red.
• Ruby. She’s always dressed in scarlet red.
• The Mayor’s lipstick is always a burgundy colour.
• Jiminy’s vest.
• The blood on his forehead.

When You Wish Upon a Star:
I’ve said in the past that there are star references in every episode, and this one was no exception:
• Obviously, Jiminy wishes upon a star at the very end.
• Emma, the person who the star is usually associated with, is handed a star badge to designate her as deputy.

Any Questions?:
• If Rumpelstiltskin can spin straw into gold, why does he need people to steal things for him?
• Was Pinocchio really a wooden marionette that Geppetto made, or did Rumpelstiltskin turn a little boy into a marionette, and Geppetto loved him enough to turn him back into a little boy?
• How did Rumpelstiltskin become Rumpelstiltskin? That’s the story I’m looking forward to. And word on the street has it, we’ll see it soon.
• What’s with the flask party at the mineshaft? Does everyone in Storybrooke carry a flask of alcohol with them? (Except for Ruby, of course, who just has a beer bottle handy.)
• What is at the bottom of that mineshaft? Was it the Queen’s Mirror? Was it part of Snow’s castle? Is it possible there are remnants of the fairy-tale world under Storybrooke?

22 comments:

Gillian Whitfield said...

Wow, this was up quick! To which I say, YAY. I missed Once Upon a Time so much over the past two weeks. Soon enough it will be the winter hiatus, which I will be experiencing not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times this year, with House, Once Upon a Time, Castle (all of which this is the first year I'm waiting more than three weeks for a new episode) and Heartland.

I really enjoyed this week's episode (especially the Lost reference. I said to my Dad when they showed the Apollo bar, "That's a Lost candy bar!" Good ol' Dharma). I didn't make the connection between Henry and Archie = Jack and Charlie connection right away (and the Moth is one of my favourite season 1 episodes!), but it makes sense.

Jiminy's parents were AWFUL! I totally didn't buy their, "Oh, no. We didn't trade the elf potion with the poison did we? Oh, aren't we just awful," act at all.

Based on the preview for next week's episode, it looks like John Doe is going to have to pick between his wife and Mary Margaret, there's going to be drama, and Regina is going to interfere. Oh, yeah! And there's going to be dragon slaying! (it will be Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire all over again, ;) )

I can't wait to see next week's episode!

Page48 said...

That's the first time I've noticed "Mayor" Groener in anything other than BtVS. He's so good at being bad.

Joan Crawford said...

This is completely off topic but are you watching Boardwalk Empire?


"You were just praying"


Ha!

Christina B said...

Oh, did I sob at the Geppetto reveal! Cried like a baby!

As soon as I saw his parents were turned into dolls, I said, `Nikki knew!!" LOL

Great episode. I loved it.

Bex said...

Such a good ep! I think it was snow whites casket at the end!

I couldn't figure out where I knew his dad from.. I can't believe how different he looks with a beard!

Christina B said...

Oh, and did anyone else notice Archie's dalmatians name? Pongo! From Disney's 101 Dalmatians! :)

Anonymous said...

Nikki asks: "What is at the bottom of that mineshaft?"

Found this at another blog:

"If you go back and watch closely you’ll see that the piece of
glass was really a part of the glass casket that Snow White was laying in during the pilot episode before the prince came and kissed her and woke her up. And the mine
was the mine that belonged to the seven dwarfs. Fairy tale land still exists, it’s just hidden beneath Storybrooke. I think more and more that Regina does know that
she’s the evil queen. Because she was so desperate to get rid of that piece of glass, seeing as it was the only hard evidence that there’s something real down there. And she wants to pave over the mine so that no one can ever find it."

Suzanne said...

I am so glad you noticed that Jiminy's dad was The Mayor. He seemed so familiar to me, and I even had a passing thought that he reminded me of The Mayor, but for some reason, it never clicked that he actually was the same actor. The only other time I have seen him on TV was way back when on Star Trek:TNG when he played a friend of Deanna Troi's from her home world.

Great review!

Sara said...

Following up on what Anonymous posted, Jane Espenson confirmed on Twitter that the object at the bottom of the mine shaft was indeed Snow White's glass coffin: https://twitter.com/#!/JaneEspenson/status/141019772556034048

So upset that I wasn't looking at my t.v. screen when Archie held up the Apollo candy bar—I'm sure my squee of delight would have been heard up and down the eastern seaboard.. ;)

Lioness said...

The voice over at the beginning makes it clear that Regina knows and remembers everything.

Linda345 said...

Ordinarily I'd be down on MM for breaking up a marriage, but I don't think John Doe actually has a wife. He doesn't remember her, and Carolyn always appears magically whenever he and MM are together. Could Rump be behind this?

John Doe and MM seem to be having Lostian flashes of memory regarding each other. Actually, according to Henry, the curse is beginning to break, thanks to Emma. So maybe one day Prince and Snow will meet by a vending machine, trying to get an Apollo bar out, and it will all come clear.

Yep. Storybrooke is the Flash Sideways.

Fred said...

I am still puzzled why Regina wants Henry as her son. If the evil queen had cast a spell over fairyland inhabitants, why desire an adopted son, and have him know he is adopted? Clearly, from what we know so far, Henry was born sometime later to Emma, who was out in the real world. So Henry was not a part of Regina's initial plan, but was an add in. But for what puropse? To get Emma back to
Storeybrooke? Oh Regina/Ms. Mayor you need a House-like figure to screw with everybody's mind. Let's be honest, for an evil queen, she sure isn't doing all too well. Now, I must admit, I am one of those cheering Regina on, and I want her to succeed; at this point the challenges just seem a little too easy. Oh, if Jiminy had really gone down the mine shaft! Nevertheless what we got was pretty good too, and the way he played Regina with the threat of having the authorities take Henry away seemed quite plausible.

The character that needs explaining is Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold--too easy to say his motivation is just greed, as his name implies. I see him more as Randall Flagg in S. King's The Stand. He is an evil being that is set to the side of the storyline, a character who profits in each world. Mr. Gold and his alter-ego will be interesting to watch in the flashback and development. Who knows, perhaps Mr. Gold, we may discover, actually can get out of town from time to time.

Dusk said...

I think she wants him as a son to fill the Void in her that she was warned she would never fill if she cast the curse, they seem to have made it clear she really did love her father and seems to be trying to recieve love from a new Henry.

Since it was his curse in the first, place, I suspect Mr. Gold has his memories intact as well, I would assume he knew full well who the birth mother was when he got a child for Regina.

JavaChick said...

Glad to hear I was not the only one in tears when Jiminy became a cricket and heard the name Gepetto for the first time (and then when Archie & Marco were reunited at the top of the mine shaft). I was laughing and crying at the same time. Hats off to the writers and performers.

I really wanted to feel sympathy for Regina when Henry was in danger, wanted to see her as a mother fearing for her child, but she just makes it so hard! I caught a glimpse now and then of motherly concern, but mostly she just comes across as mean.

Poor Mary Margaret and John Doe. So obvious that they belong together but the 'real world' keeps interfering - first with him being in a coma, and now with the wife.

Anonymous said...

I for one am growing tired of all the LOST references eg. Apollo chocolate bar. Hope that won't become a "jump the shark" moment...I just want to enjoy the show on its own terms. Maybe a LOST reference here and there. Fine. But every episode?

What's next-Henry going back down the shaft and finding Desmond pressing the button???

Anonymous said...

In the Pilot episode, was there any glass in Snow White's coffin?

http://thisisjustaroughdraft.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/once-upon-a-time-pilot-abc-11.jpg

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Henry has the piece of glass (from Snow White's coffin) that he found inside the mine...

Mike_D said...

Okay, did anybody notice that when the Mayor called Emma that her office was in black and white?

Please somebody say yes! Nikki?

Nikki Stafford said...

Mike: Yes, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Mayor's office is decorated to look like a black and white forest (Granny's Diner also has forestry wallpaper, as does Archie's therapy office). I noticed she's always got black, white, and the occasional red around her. Notice her clothes always seem to be in those colours as well (with the occasional grey or silver). ;)

Nikki Stafford said...

LOVE the fact that it's Snow's coffin, by the way, I absolutely agree. I noticed when they picked up the glass it was glass, not reflective, so I assumed the mirror idea was wrong, but I really do think that's Snow's coffin. It's even on the little green hill that her coffin was on when the Prince first showed up.

Blam said...


Man, I'm so behind in watching all my TV and checking in here — a vicious circle indeed.

Andy said...

I finally started watching Once Upon A Time (just came on Netflix streaming) and about halfway through Episode 5.

I observed a new reference and came to your post to see if you had spied it too. The dalmatian that is with Dr. Hopper/Jimminy when Emma barges in asking why he devastated Henry and who goes with him to the mine is: PONGO! Dr. Hopper calls him by the name of the father dalmatian in Disney's classic 101 Dalmatians.

One of many Disney references, I realize. But thought this was a nice sorta obscure one. There's no connection between the cricket and the dog, except that they are complimentary story book characters.