Once Upon a Time 1.14: Dreamyby Wolfen MoondaughterReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Network
Credits Grade: 8 The story of Grumpy's heartbreak is revealed along with something of the nature of both dwarves and fairies. In Storybrooke, Leroy becomes smitten with a nun and struggles to sell candles for her with a still-ostracised Mary Margaret, while Emma investigates the disappearance of Kathryn.And yet again, this show gives me a relationship to root for, and expanding my "favourite characters" list in the process. I loved Amy Acker as Fred / Illyria on Angel: The Series, and Saunders / Whiskey / assorted other characters on Dollhouse, and I'm excited to see her again here, as the fairy Nova and nun Astrid. (What is it with her and having multiple roles on one show?) She's awfully damsel-y, but still likeable, and given how this show tends to work, I imagine we'll see her come into her own sooner or later. Like many of the other couples in the series so far, Nova-Astrid and Grumpy-Leroy have great chemistry! It was also fun to see Leroy and Mary-Margaret interact this time; they make for as great a friendship as their fairytale counterparts seem to have. I find the backstory for the dwarves is really strange, but it at least serves the story well. I'm glad we got to see Belle again so soon, but I am not liking the Blue Fairy very well at all. There's some clever deception from Regina and Sidney, and some great use of parallelism. There's also a surprising lack of movement on the Kathryn front (the preview from last week made it seem like that was the front-burner tale). Now let's get to examining the nitty-gritty, with spoilers from here on out. Like I said, the dwarf background is really strange, this whole hatching from eggs thing and the lack of females. (The hatchery made me think of Alien, and I suspected it as a dragon-hatchery at first!) I can't recall any story about egg-born dwarves, and I thought the general consensus regarding females (in the mythological sense) is that they exist but are bearded like the men? It seems odd to me that a show based on folklore would suddenly depart so much from familiarity. A cursory search online reveals there is a figure from Chinese mythology, Pangu, who was a dwarf born of an egg, but that's the closest I can find, and I reckon not a story most of the audience is aware of. This is not exactly a criticism, though, as it did make the story interesting. (Was Leroy's eating an egg meant to be a nod to how his other self came from an egg, suggesting rebirth, or does it suggest he's a cannibal? *snicker*) Disturbing, too, with this notion that the dwarves are created for the singular purpose of creating fairy dust and purportedly incapable of falling in love but of course, that was intentional, to create sympathy and drama via a lack of choice. This whole thing about the tools granting names to the dwarves was interesting, especially since it was a matter of reflecting the inner nature of the dwarf rather than determining the nature of the dwarf by naming him. I love that, in his dreams being broken, Dreamy breaks his "Dreamy" pick-axe and becomes Grumpy! And so once again, names prove important and now also prove changeable by deed. I find it curious that Blue would tell Nova that she's a dreamer for thinking she could be a Godmother by the following year, yet claims later that Nova is special. Is that truth, or did she just say that to persuade Dreamy to forget her? While it may be true that Nova is just too "new" to become a Godmother so soon (although I felt like there was a hidden "ever" in there), I suspect Blue wants Nova to stay because she intends to be a Godmother herself, and that's what she meant about Nova having to deliver the stuff alone by that time next year. I bet if Nova left, Blue would not become Godmother, at least until a replacement was found and trained. It's Ironic that she tells Dreamy that Nova can be great if he makes the choice not to hold her back, when it's really Blue that's disallowing Nova to make the choice to follow her heart and see what she might become, either with Dreamy or as a Godmother. Speaking of dust-delivery, I wonder if the writers were intending a nod to Disney's Fairies franchise, in which fairies are given a daily allotment of dust? Was that why, when the bag of dust got caught up in the conveyor system, that was why Nova didn't simply fly after it maybe she needs dust to fly, and she was out? Was it the dust that made Dreamy attracted to Nova, and if so, was she drawn to the dust in him? In other words, were Blue and the foreman dwarf right, and it was just an accident that must be overcome? Or was their love intended, and the dust was Destiny's working, to ensure the possibility? (I would suspect the later, since the dust went to Dreamy's egg alone.) In the end, does it really matter if it was dust or hormones that created that love? I can see Blue's point about how they could make more people happy separated, in the sense that if they stay in their roles, they can make the fairy dust, but why should they be expected to sacrifice their dreams for others? How happy can you make others if you're miserable? How do they know that the pair cant bring happiness in other ways? I liked the parallel of Nova dropping the dust on Dreamy, and then Astrid dropping the glitter on Leroy. Her names are nice parallels in their own right, both having to do with stars. Note that Mary Margaret's classroom was also full of stars. I wonder if "Leroy" is a play on the actor's actual name, Lee? I find it funny that in both realms Dreamy-Leroy tends to call women "sister", as if he somehow knew he would one day be attracted to a nun. I wonder if fairies become nuns in our world because there are no male fairies in this story, just as there are no female dwarves? I wonder if Gold's intense dislike of the nuns translates to a dislike of fairies? Did Rumple ask for a wand and they refused to give him one, and so that's why he killed that one to get her wand? And I wonder if Mary Margaret was even a novitiate amongst the nuns of Storybrooke? I had thought her such when we first met her, and seeing her involvement with them now makes me suspect so all the more. Especially given that Sidney calls her "Pixie-cut" (in regards to her haircut), which could allude to a connection between her and fairies .... I love how Leroy fixes a problem involving a transformer and becomes Astrid's hero, then, after falling out of favour, destroys a transformer and becomes her hero again. I also love how Astrid tells him that someone once told her essentially that if you can dream it, you can do it (a Disney quote), and then we actually see Dreamy tell Nova that. Perhaps her memory of the advice is a sign of the curse fading? I love the parallel of Nova watching both the lights of the town and the fireflies with Dreamy, and then, when Leroy and Astrid are reunited, it's after everyone in town is holding a candle. In fact, coupled with the boat, I wonder if this is a nod to Disney's Tangled, which featured Rapunzel and her guy going off in a boat to watch floating lanterns! At one point, Leroy even says, "Well, maybe I saw the light," and Tangled has a song called "I See the Light"! I love that Granny lit Mary's candle, signaling that she was either sorry for how she'd treated Mary and / or forgave Mary for going after David while he was still married to Kathryn. Speaking of Kathryn, I like that Emma used her "superpower" when questioning David about the disappearance. I suspect that Regina forged Kathryn's phone records so that Sidney could use them to frame David, rather than printing up the real deal. His forlorn look towards Mary as he was put in the back of the police car was heartbreaking. Of course, so was the glance he gave Mary before Emma even approached him. Now for some other random comments .... Of course they had to put in the bit about how dwarves love to "whistle they work," right? Granted, it was Snow White who actually sang about whistling while she worked in the Disney movie, but the dwarves did whistle while working (and singing "Hi-ho!") in the film, and they even had them whistle that tune here which made for a nice Segway, as we heard Leroy whistle that tune in our world in the next scene. They did another great Segway from the fairytale world into ours when Belle told Dreamy to find his hope, and Leroy seeks out Astrid in the following moment. And then "Hi-Ho" was used to nice effect when Grumpy said it, rather bitterly. I love how, besides being an introduction, "I'm Dreamy" also sounded like a statement! That guy with the carrot Easter Bunny, or the White Rabbit? ... The line about not trusting a "Doc" who got his medical degree from a pick-axe was my fave line of the ep! Loved how Snow nearly went into apoplexy when Leroy lied to Astrid. Of course, even if she didn't have a serious problem with lying, she probably would have had a conniption anyway, and who could blame her? I find it ironic that the curse prevents people from leaving Storybrooke, and yet Astrid and the nuns were afraid they would have to leave the town. Further, Leroy worked hard to prevent their departure, while Gold wanted them gone! It seems the curse worked against Gold! His grouchiness suggests he knew it would, too. Were I him, I would have just gone ahead and taken Leroy's offer! I find it interesting that Dreamy took a path similar to Snow's, pretending not to love whom he loves because he's told that he must do so, so that the one he loves can have a better path. So we see that he really was highly qualified to advise Snow! And he does so again, in this world! That made for a nice lead-in to a great twist, making it look like he was going to jump off that roof (though it was kind of obvious what he was really going to do, once the transformer was in the shot). And here we have another instance where the happenings in the real world turned out better for the characters than the happenings in the fairytale world. It won't last, of course, but I like it all the same. Written: March 5, 2012
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