‘Once Upon a Time’ season 3, episode 7 preview: Ariel’s arrival in Storybrooke

What is pretty interesting about the sneak peek for Sunday night’s “Once Upon a Time” episode is that unlike last year, the teaser that was actually played during Comic-Con is in some ways actually going to come to fruition. We are going to end up seeing a scene of sorts play out regarding Ariel and the dwarves in Storybrooke, with the major difference here being that this version of the character is not going to steal Leroy’s food.

The video below starts with something pretty funny in that the man otherwise known as Grumpy having to quiet his fellow dwarves down, as they all start talking as though life is better without the Charming parents around. There has not been any real drama in Storybrooke in the time in which they were away, and to them that’s a reason to celebrate.

But then, Ariel comes along demanding to speak to Belle, and we are introduced to our first super-surprising twist of the episode: There are two guys in Storybrooke (who feel like total hipsters lost from the set of “Girls”) who are there trying to take down Ariel for the sake of the “home office” and ensure that she is not allowed to leave the town. With that in mind, we still have a few questions:

1. Who are these people, and what sort of problem could they have against magic to start acting out in such a way?

2. How in the world is Pan able to find so many of these people in the first place? Does he have a computer in Neverland where he can create Craiglist entries for crazy people?

3. Are we every going to get any answers to that mysterious Dragon fellow back in the second season that Tamara took out?

These two men at least do raise the stakes in Storybrooke, and prove that this will not just be a happy visit with Belle and some of the other characters. It is a nice reminder, though, that only five days have passed; so even though Belle will surely be missing her love Rumple, it will not have been so long where he is a distant memory.

Want to know who else is appearing in Storybrooke in this episode? Then just click here, where you can see the full list.

Photo: ABC