Once Upon a Time: The Garden of Forking Paths (7x03)

I felt a little less happy with this episode, mostly because I feel like the plot is moving forward so slowly. We did get a good amount of information here, but I kind of wish we could speed things along!

Cons:

So, the Hyperion Heights story-line had a few of those moments of cheesiness that were just a little over the line for me. Jacinda makes a speech about hope and belief to a bunch of people from Hyperion Heights, and they all eat it up. It reminded me of Henry's awful speech in New York a few seasons back. It felt unrealistic that people in the actual real world we live in today would be swayed by such sappiness.

There's a pacing issue going on where certain things set up in episode one are still being dragged out. I don't want to be told all of the answers to the season's big mysteries, of course. I like not knowing exactly what Rumple is up to, or what he knows. I like not knowing how and when Tremaine enacts the curse. But other things feel pointlessly secretive. Like we meet a witch that Victoria has been keeping prisoner, but we don't learn the witch's identity. Why are we saving that for later? And we learn that Cinderella is in some way responsible for the death of one of Tremaine's daughters, but we don't learn what happened. Whatever it is, can we not just know now so we can move on to more interesting things?

Pros:

The flashbacks show the continued story of Cinderella and Henry. Cinderella befriends Tiana, who it turns out is part of a rebellion designed to take down the devious royal family as well as Lady Tremaine. Henry, Regina, and Hook meet up with the camp of rebels and agree to help them in their quest. Cinderella has a private meeting with Lady Tremaine, where we learn a terrible truth: Cinderella was apparently somehow responsible for the death of one of Tremaine's daughters, Anastasia. The young girl's body has been preserved by magic, and Tremaine has a plan to bring her back to life, but she needs to trade Anastasia's heart with another powerful heart, and she tasks Cinderella to go kill Henry for the spell to work. If Cinderella does not, then Tremaine will kill all of the rebels. Regina stops Cinderella from going through with this plan, and encourages her to do the right thing. Cinderella agrees, and the rebels strike out to begin their plan to take down the royal family.

This plot thread had so many good things about it. Tiana is amazing, and I'm really digging the friendship between her and Cinderella, as well as the friendship between their counterparts back in Hyperion Heights.

Also, the rebellion idea is pretty cool. Obviously it's reminiscent of Snow and Charming fighting for their kingdom in order to get it back from Regina. But this time, we don't have all of the pieces of the puzzle, and I like not knowing everything.

I mentioned above that I wish we could just know the story behind Cinderella and Anastasia, but despite my slight annoyance here, I do like the idea of Lady Tremaine having a specific hold over Cinderella. It makes the story more compelling - Cinderella is not bound to Tremaine simply because of familial connections, but also through guilt. I like this angle.

The budding romance between Henry and Cinderella is pretty adorable. The two certainly have chemistry. I also like seeing some of these other relationships start to flesh out. Regina and Cinderella, who now wants to go by Ella, have a good chat, so we can see the bonding begin between future mother-and-daughter-in-laws.

In the Hyperion Heights story, we get to see Hook (I mean Rogers), Regina (I mean Roni), and Henry (... just Henry) continue to work together to learn what Victoria is up to. Rogers has a lead on a guy who is being bribed, but Mr. Gold steps in and prevents Rogers from learning anything too important. I love not knowing what the heck Rumple is up to. It's so fascinating and perfect. I also like seeing the trio investigating Victoria. The parallels between the two main plots are working really well. In both versions, we see a rebellion against this evil woman start to foment, and at least one big victory is won, while yet more questions are asked.

The other parallel is that Cinderella/Jacinda has a moment where she could potentially get what she wants by making a deal with Tremaine/Belfrey. She at first accepts the offer, but comes to her senses in time to make things right. The Hyperion story line sees her trying to save the community garden from Victoria's plan to put up new condos. When Victoria offers to give one of the condos to Jacinda, and return Lucy to her, Jacinda caves. However, seeing how disappointed Lucy is, Jacinda does the right thing and gathers the people to save the garden. Cheesiness aside, I like that Jacinda has very clear weaknesses to overcome. She would obviously do anything to be with her daughter, but it's more than that - she's afraid of Victoria, and tends to cave under pressure when it comes to her step-mother.

The end of the episode officially confirms what should have been pretty obvious: Victoria is not under the curse. She knows exactly who she is, and she has brought along an unidentified witch to help her bring back Anastasia. Apparently if they can take away Lucy's belief, that will some how work to restore Anastasia. Not sure of the details on this one yet, but it looks like Lucy's grandma is coming for her, now. Dun, dun, dun...

One last thing before I wrap up - I really like the budding relationship between Lucy and Henry. Lucy's dialogue is just as hokey and silly as Henry's was when he was the little kid trying to convince his incredulous parent of the fantastical world around them. But Lucy is cute enough, and the bond between them feels real enough, that I don't mind the cheesy dialogue at all.

That's all I've got. I liked most of the individual aspects of this episode, but when I take a look at the season so far, I find myself checking my watch a little bit. I'd love it if they could speed things along ever so slightly!

7/10