‘Once Upon a Time’ season 2, episode 10 review: Do you pity Regina now?
While we were critical at times of “Once Upon a Time” during the first half of season 2, we have to give the show some praise for its winter premiere Sunday night. The show gave us action, references to “Lost” and “101 Dalmatians,” and also a pretty fantastic storyline that contained a storyline that was concise and easy to storyline.
We can really summarize what was going on in Storybrooke with just a couple of sentences. After Archie was found dead in his office, Regina was accused by much of the town of killing her. Why? She was spotted earlier in the day having an argument with the psychiatrist, and then Ruby also saw her entering the office late at night. There was plenty of evidence out there that she was the guilty party, including a missing file in the office. This was so much evidence, in fact, that Emma was sure that this was a frame job.
This story was told alongside a tale from the past about Snow White and Charming discussing the subject of whether or not the Evil Queen could really change, and the conclusion that they drew at the time was “no” (even though Snow was crazy enough to try and free her from prison). However, she has shown that she is willing to make an effort now in order to be closer to Henry, and this is what made Emma believe her until even the dreams of a dog were used as proof that “Regina” entered the office and killed the doctor.
The problem? Well, it’s simple: in the perfect crime, Regina was framed by her own mother (in her form), and since no one knew that Cora was in Storybrooke, she could not be a suspect. An attempt was made to put Regina under arrest, and then she disappeared in a fit of rage (and a pile of smoke) … and thus, this led to Emma having to tell Henry about what she had learned. This was set up wonderfully, with the tension actually building so there was a real emotional payout at the end.
Who knew that we would ever feel so bad for Regina? For the first time, she really did nothing wrong, and is being forced to pay the price for it without knowing why. The sad thing is that we still have no idea how she is going to get out of this. The only real stunners this week? That it was actually Rumpelstiltskin who first suggested the curse, and not Regina; in addition to that, Cora actually killed someone else, and disguised the body to be Archie’s. He is alive, and he can tell Cora and Hook the town’s secrets.
What a fantastic hour overall! What did you think about this episode? If you want to see some of what is coming up on the show, follow the link here.
Photo: ABC
