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We analyze episode 20 of Season 1 of ‘Once Upon A Time’: ‘The Stranger’.
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ONC021: The Stranger
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What if for the series finale Regina gets all of the villians togther and they fight good? We already saw Malifecent, what would happen if we see Ursla, Captain Hook, Cruella etc……
Watch the very first episode again! This episode returned to many of the themes first mentioned back then.
1. The cardinal virtues – hope, faith, and love. The most important, love, brought up when Emma asks Regina if she loves Henry. It’s Regina’s answer that convinces Emma to stay.
2. I’ve always suspected that the story line will follow that of the two mothers who come before King Solomon. The mother who truly loves the child is the one who will give him up. After watching the trailer for next week’s episode (it seems that Henry is poisoned after eating something), that may be the choice that Regina gives Emma.
But I’m hoping that Emma returns to her flat in Boston, and sees what’s written on the front door. I did mention before that I thought it was a spell. I like the idea of Baelfire being Emma’s father. Maybe what is written on the door came from him.
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Wow, I love these ideas! Thank you so much!
You’re welcome! Of course, this means that I don’t see Regina repenting in any way. Some people just don’t want to. I think she tried to seduce David because of what Henry said, and is beginning to doubt that her grand plan of revenge is going to succeed in the end.
I just rewatched the pilot to get a glimpse of Emma’s door again because I forgot what it looked like. Great theory. I hope it does turn out to be some kind of clue to Baelfire and him being Henry’s father.
As one who can’t listen to the podcast live, I hope my reactions are not too late. But I wanted to react to your dismissal of the possibility that Baelfire is Henry’s father.
Basically, your dismissal is based on the Fairy Tale world timeline. A long time passed by between Bae going in the vortex and the curse being enacted – let’s say 50 years, to simplyfy things. There’s two answers to that argument. First, it’s a commonly accepted concept in sci-fi and fantasy that time in two different worlds does not necessarily pass at the same rate – look at the Narnia stories, where many years pass in Narnia land, but only a few seconds or days in our world. So, 50 years did not necessarily pass by in our world between the vortex dropping out Bae, and the creation of Storybrook as a result of the curse. Second, we don’t know at what point in our history the vortex opened up in our world. It could have dropped Bae in the middle of the 16th century, or it could have dropped him off in the mid 1990’s.
I also wanted to point out a couple of interesting parrallels that I tought you missed discussing. One is between Gepetto and Rumpel. Their actions are not dis-similar, as they both sacrificed their world for theirs respective sons’ sakes. In Rumpel’s case, it is through is direct actions – creating the curse, whereas for Gepetto, it is through his demands and actions.
The second parrallel is on the theme of forgiveness. On the one hand, we had Mary Margaret, a couple of episodes ago, begging Regina for forgiveness, and Regina refusing to give it. On the other, we had Regina this week, who not only did not seek forgiveness, but was even still lying about the harm she tried to to MM, and yet MM gave her the forgiveness that was not seeked, and maybe even not welcomed.
That’s all my comments for this week. And, as today (May 4th) is international Star Wars day, let me conclude by wishing Fr. Roderick, May the 4th be with you!
In the past few days I managed to watch the series in one go. In respect to the theory that Baelfire is Emma’s father, I think that could be the case.
I noticed that the only ones knowing what really is going on with the curse are Regina, Mr. Gold, August, the Mad Hatter and Henry. All have full memory of what happened except for Henry, because he’s not from Fairytale Land.
So, I wonder why and how Henry knows this is real. Nobody in Henry’s environment is encouraging him, but yet he sticks to that what he knows must be true.
Could it be that when two fairytale characters get a child together in our world, that their child is more sensitive to magic and sees the world differently than we do?
Inge – I like that theory that Henry is more sensitive to magic because he is the offspring of 2 fairytale characters – Baelfire and Emma (who was born in Fairytale world). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Baelfire shows up and is connected to the rest of them in real world, if not at least Henry’s father.
For me there must be an explanation why Henry knows all this, or how he is able to see these things. There must be something there. The only plausible reason must be that his destiny is tied to Emma’s somehow. I can only think of an idea that Henry must somehow be deeply connected to FTL, not only through his mother but also through his father. Then this must be Baelfire.
Also, Henry got adopted by Regina and Mr. Gold found him for her. Mr. Gold must know there’s something going on with this child and brought him to Storybrooke on purpose. But what?
The thought just struck me. The blue fairy said the vortex took Bae to ‘a world without magic’ (or was it ‘a land’), which is the title of the season finale. Will the vortex drop Baelfire in our world on Sunday, May 13, 2012 (the day the season finale is aired)?
A couple comments, just listened to this.
I don’t believe that the foster home was in Storybrook, so I don’t think the other residents were denizens of Fairytale land. August takes Emma out of Storybrook to show where he found her.
On the same topic, I think Henry wasn’t born in Storybrook, was just brought thereby Regina. So he also isn’t subject to the boundary of Storybrook.
I’m so puzzled by Henry’s father too. Remember Mr. Gold said he got Henry (for Regina) from Phoenix (look up the meaning of the word, phoenix – very interesting:) Emma had her son in a Phoenix hospital, but why? I thought she was from Boston? Also, if Gold got/adopted Henry from Phoenix … how was he able to leave Storybrook Land, “without something bad happening”? And, what kind of “hold” does Henry have over Regina? I mean, this is the same evil woman who tore her own father’s heart out. I somehow believe Baelfire is Henry’s father. And, did I hear mention (from the villagers) that Bay’s mother “slept around”, so maybe Rumple is not his father?