Once Upon a Time 1.4: "The Price of Gold"

The Price of Gold was Once Upon a Time's most controversial episode yet! (Okay it could just be me, the last scene had me almost throwing something through the television.) But more on that in a bit. :) This episode introduces a real power player from Fairy Tale Land -- Cinderella (Jessy Schram). Fair disclosure: I have a very decided bias towards the "princess stories" when it comes to ranking fairy tales -- Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White are "the big three," if you will. To the show's credit the writers throw a major twist in Cinderella's story -- instead of being sent to the ball by a beloved fairy godmother, Cinderella makes a deal with the devil -- literally. After Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) basically blows up the fairy godmother, in her desperation to escape her life of drudgery Cinderella promises him anything if only he'll work magic in her favor.

Interestingly enough Rumplestiltskin actually tries to talk Cinderella out of this -- he reiterates one of the show's major themes -- that all magic comes with a price, the implication being that the price is too dear to pay. But Cinderella persists and foolishly signs a veritable "blank check" -- she'll give Rumplestiltskin whatever he wants, whenever he requests it. As the previews for this episode hinted, Rumplestiltskin demands her unborn child. This raises the question of whether or not the show will ever tell the "traditional" Rumplestiltskin story, where he teaches the maid to spin straw into gold in exchange for her baby -- demanding too many unborn kids is apt to get a little weird, no?

Back in Storybrooke, I LOVED how Cinderella's story translated into Ashley's, the single, pregnant maid desperate to better her life so she can provide for the child no one thinks she can handle -- the child her Fairy Tale father-in-law arranged to "give" to Mr. Gold. And given as how I've always thought the Prince (Tim Phillipps) -- in the Disney film, anyway -- never had much of a personality, seeing that in Storybrooke he allows his father to talk him out of stepping up and caring for his unborn child wasn't too much of a stretch. Considering Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) own past as regards children, it was a given that Ashley's plight and doubts were going to hit home with her. The impact Ashley has on Emma was a most welcome one, as it gave Morrison her best opportunity to date to show some real emotional investment in Storybrooke and its world. (But seriously, yes Emma really was stupid enough to give Mr. Gold another blank check promise... *sigh*)

As Henry (Jared Gilmore) points out, Emma is the only one who can come and go from Storybrooke at will because she wasn't cursed in Fairy Tale Land. I really liked how this hour played with this idea that Emma is transforming who she is and who she wants to be now that she's met Henry. It seems likely, given her strong response to Ashley's doubts regarding motherhood, that perhaps she was convinced that she "had" to give up her child for adoption -- and she's been running ever since, with no desire to put down permanent roots until Henry started to weave his way into her heart. Gilmore's performance is one of the best parts of the show -- Henry is precocious and earnest and funny and sarcastic in turn -- and really like his relationship with Emma. I'm DYING to know what code name he was going to give her -- I'm thinking it is a clue as to what her Fairy Tale identity would be. Thoughts?

Couple of other things -- I loved the fact that we got to see Cinderella and her prince interact with Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) in Fairy Tale Land. As a kid I used to wonder what it would be like if -- as seemed logical -- they all inhabited the same world. *wink* Kudos to Charming for showing himself to be a prince among princes -- I wasn't terribly impressed with Cinderella's prince, but to his credit he did come through in Storybrooke, which was sweet. :) And I also liked Ruby's (Meghan Ory) friendship with Ashley, as it added some welcome and much-needed depth to what to date has been a pretty shallow character.

And now onto the ISSUE I mentioned at the beginning of this post -- Regina (Lana Parrilla) and the Sheriff (Jamie Dornan) ARE HAVING AN AFFAIR??? WHAT THE HECK???? Does this completely blow my personally beloved theory that Sheriff Graham is the Queen's huntsman out of the water -- because I like to think that the huntsman who spared Snow White wouldn't be shacking up with the Evil Queen (blech!!). I DON'T WANT GRAHAM TO BE EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do he and the mayor have this thing going on because his memory's been wiped by the curse??? (I realize I'm grasping at straws here...) It's not that I'm entirely sold on him as a romantic possibility for Emma, either -- though he's all flirty and "will you come work for me blah blah blah" and now I learn he's sleeping with the enemy? NOT COOL, no not AT ALL.

*sigh*

This Sheriff development is very upsetting, people, very upsetting...

Off to go sulk now... *wink* Throw me some hope in the comments! :)