Once Upon a Time: The Tower (3x14)

Okie dokie. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. I've got to admit, there were parts of this episode that just downright confused me. As such, it was hard for me to really sink my teeth into this episode and enjoy it. Let's go through the plot, and then I'll explain further.

In Storybrooke, everyone is still trying to hunt down the Wicked Witch. Regina hangs out with Henry while Hook, Emma, and David look for evidence in Regina's office. David finds a berry that he recognizes from the forest, which gives them a place to start looking. At this point, David gets a text from Mary Margaret asking him to come over and meet their new midwife, Zelena.

Just before this, we see Zelena taunting Rumplestiltskin, who is still her prisoner. She takes some of his blood, and then goes into his shop. She freezes Belle to get her momentarily out of the way, and then uses Rumple's blood to procure some night root from Rumple's safe.

At Mary Margaret and David's place, David expresses some suspicion about Zelena, but Mary Margaret really likes her, and David agrees to give her a try for a while. Unbeknownst to them, Zelena spikes David's tea with some of the night root. David, going back to rejoin the search for the Wicked Witch, sees a hooded figure and thinks it might be the Witch. He leaves Emma a message to tell her this.

Emma and Hook are in the forest, and Hook discovers some of the berries that they had seen in Regina's office. Emma is suspicious of Hook, because he won't really tell her what happened to him over the past year. The two of them find a farm house and discover the cellar (where Zelena was keeping Rumple). At this point, Emma receives David's message and runs to go find him.

David encounters a cloaked figure and manages to stab it - but it's not the Witch, it's a doppelganger of David himself! The sword hilt and the stabbed doppelganger disappear just as Hook, Emma, and Regina show up. Regina had been called to help, since they thought they might be closing in on the Wicked Witch. She explains to David that the doppelganger thing must have something to do with the Witch, who seems to be toying with them. The hilt of David's sword contained the strength of David's courage, since he stabbed a manifestation of his own worst fears with it. (These fears being that he won't make a good father). Now, it seems like the Witch may have access to David's courage somehow. Emma, Hook, David, and Regina go down into the cellar and see an empty cage with a spinning wheel. It appears that Rumple has escaped!

Back a year previously in the Forbidden Forest, Charming is having bad dreams about failing Emma as a father. He learns that Snow is pregnant, and even though he's excited, he's scared too. He's already lost one child. Robin Hood tells Charming about a plant called night root that will take away all of his fear. Charming decides to go get some. While he's searching, he hears a woman calling for help. He climbs a long rope of hair up a tower and meets Rapunzel, who tells him that she was also seeking out the night root. She was afraid she wouldn't be brave enough to rule her family's kingdom.

Charming tries to help Rapunzel escape from the tower, but the two of them are confronted with the cloaked figure - this time, it's an exact double of Rapunzel, who is trying to steal Rapunzel's courage. She confronts her fear (with encouragement from Charming) and cuts off her hair, sending the cloaked figure down to its supposed death, and freeing Rapunzel from the tower. Rapunzel tells Charming that she had a brother who saved her from drowning but died in the attempt, and that was part of the reason she ran away from her responsibilities. Rapunzel is reunited with her family, and Charming tells Snow that he was nervous about the new baby because of losing Emma twice. Snow reminds him that they have each other, and they'll handle everything together.

So... like I said, there were parts of this episode that just sort of threw me off, and didn't really make a lot of sense. I didn't like this whole "face your own fears" silliness that they were throwing around. Why would the Wicked Witch even bother messing with people like that? It was a strange little plot element that I really didn't enjoy.

Also, as much as I do enjoy David as a character, he's not quite interesting enough to carry an episode for me. He's better when balanced out by Mary Margaret, Emma, etc.

Zelena making tea poisoned with night root was just silly and over the top. David feels suspicious of this woman, and with very good reason. I'm sort of mad at Mary Margaret for being so oblivious. And also, I'm confused... why did Robin Hood recommend the night root to Charming? Did he know what was going to happen? For that matter, when the hooded figure was attacking Charming and Rapunzel, how did Charming randomly figure out what was going on? Guessing that the hooded "witch" was a manifestation of Rapunzel's worst fears? That's a bit lucky, don't you think?

But... let's be fair. There were things that I enjoyed, as well.

Hook and Emma! I have a feeling that eventually I'll start sounding like a broken record about this, but I love these two. I love the suggestion that Hook is hiding something, because I think that has a lot of great story potential. I love the fact that Hook is glad, in a way, that Emma's heart was broken, because that means it still works. If they're not endgame, I'll be very upset.

Regina and Henry! Their talk was really sad but really amazing at the same time. Henry is a bright kid, and it was nice to see him be insightful about his mother. He obviously knows something big is going on. Regina has to toe the line with him, and not show her affection too openly. It's painful but sweet to watch the two of them interact.

Rebecca Mader's acting. She's doing a great job as our new villain, the Wicked Witch. She plays the innocence very well in her scenes with Mary Margaret, but she can turn the evil (or should I say wicked) nature up when we see her conniving ways.

Rumple has escaped! I love the way he's acting just on the edge of crazy, so we don't know if he's completely raving or if he was just acting so that Zelena might let her guard down. I'm excited to find out!

And I'll leave it there. I had some big problems with this episode, but it obviously wasn't all bad!

6/10