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Once Upon a Time – Snow’s no killer

The big question of this Snow White-centric 'Once Upon a Time' was this: Did the potion-addled princess-in-exile really possess a killer's heart? I think not.

- Season 1, Episode 16 - "Heart of Darkness"

Though Snow did indeed pull back on that bow, fully intent upon sending an arrow through The Evil Queen, it wasn’t meant to be for Snow to actually kill her step-mother, the love Prince Charming had for Snow prevented that from happening a turn which, hopefully, bodes well for Mary Margaret in Storybrooke despite David’s wimpy character. In fact, it almost seems as though their characters are the opposite of their Fairy Tale Land selves when they’re in Storybrooke.

Speaking of Storybrooke, the pixie-haired Mary Margaret, who looks like she’d have a hard time killing a mosquito never mind a romantic rival, was not only incongruously behind bars as “evidence” against her mounted and her faith in Emma waned. Yet it was surprising to see the straight arrow Mary Margaret actually use the skeleton key to make a break for it, knowing that her escaping from jail won’t exactly further her argument that she never hurt Kathryn and has nothing to hide. And seeing Mary Margaret ally herself with the reptilian Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin as her attorney — mirroring how Snow White used his memory-blotting potion to help her forget Charming, then his “sure-fire” bow and arrow in Fairy Tale Land — made me squirm. I hate that guy.

As for the Storybrooke version of Prince Charming, David, he’s such an unfaithful coward that he’s become annoying, what with his vacillating between Kathryn and Mary Margaret and his leaving Mary Margaret to be tarnished as the “town harlot.” This is a guy who has blacked out multiple times before and he actually thinks that, based on a partial flashback in which Mary Margaret had long hair (hel-lo David, that’s not the current Mary Margaret’s hairstyle), that she murdered Kathryn? Seriously, is he that dim?

I keep waiting for some kind of breakthrough involving Henry, the boy with all the answers, though I’m wary of his new alliance with the mysterious, motorcycle riding writer dude who says he’s a “believer” in the fairy tales, just like Henry. How would he know that Henry believed in them unless Regina told him? Although I’ve hypothesized that writer guy is in cahoots with Regina to try to control Henry, I’m now starting to wonder if he’s just a big, fat, red herring or whether that’s just my Lost-induced paranoia kicking in.

One thing that has been a disappointment over the past few episodes is Emma. Her character has been flat and boring. After becoming sheriff, she’s turned into a one-woman police procedural trapped inside a twisty, multi-layered fairy tale. The writers have unfortunately stopped delving into Emma’s psyche at the same time she’s investigating whether her mother killed her father’s wife. Certainly this unorthodox premise warrants some drilling down into Emma’s biographical and emotional background instead of just reflexively resorting to the Emma good guy versus the Regina bad guy dynamic.

Yeah, we get that Emma thinks Regina’s evil and no good for Henry and that Henry wants to be free from his adopted mom, but I’m craving more than good versus evil. It’s more complicated than that. There’s all this mother-daughter-stepmother-father-adopted mom goodness that could be explored which could make Emma more interesting, have some more depth. But in recent episodes, Emma’s been no more interesting than a garden variety detective who’s working a tough case.

Photo Credit: Jack Rowand/ABC

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