‘Once Upon a Time’ season 6, episode 3 review: Cinderella’s Untold Story; Emma, Hook’s step forward
While we worried that the Cinderella story had already run its course on “Once Upon a Time,” we gotta admit that a few episodes in to Sunday night’s new episode, we were hooked once more. It’s a character who could certainly use a little more to do, even though Jessy Schram is not a regular on the show and balances this role with other jobs.
Tonight, we learned that Ella a.k.a. Ashley’s Untold Story had to do mostly with her stepsister, who blamed her for ruining her happy ending after her whereabouts were revealed. The stepsister split up her daughter and the Prince’s footman in the most dramatic way possible, and this came mere minutes after the Prince proposed to Ella and gave her a shot at a happy future.
In going back to Storybrooke, we had a continuation of that here and there with the stepmother as a devotee of the Evil Queen, who promised her a chance to finish what she started many years ago. This led to Ashley being in great peril after the stepmother did one of her most wicked acts of all: Stabbing Ashley, and were it not for Emma, she may have died. While this narrative was a little flimsy (the stepsister certainly flip-flopped a ton when it comes to allegiances), at least it was Disney lover’s delight with all of the various references thrown in here and there.
Hook and Emma goodness – First and foremost, Emma has a closet full of red jackets! Of course, we’re kidding — the big news here is that Emma finally asked hook to move in with her, even if she hasn’t come clean yet about the whole “she’s about to die” part of the equation.
David’s quest – What happened to his father? After learning that his dad may have been killed, we suddenly saw a quick turn in the oft-Charming character. He wanted to potentially seek revenge for what happened, while Snow wanted him to focus on his family and his life now. Couldn’t there be some middle ground? We do think that Snow’s response to him set up his decision to keep moving forward in secret.
Episode Grade: B-. It was nice to see Cinderella again, but there were some questionable decisions (Snow’s advice to Charming, stepsister flip-flopping) that could have gone better. Also, we needed more Belle given that she could be having conflicted feelings on Rumple.
What’s next – The upcoming episode is entitled “Strange Case,” and judging from that alone, we imagine that it will revolve around Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in some way. Head over here for some more news about that and much more.