PREVIOUSLY ON: Double Feature – Once Upon a Time & 12 Monkeys

Once Upon a Time: First Aired March 29th, 2015

Everyone now knows Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold’s (played by Robert Carlyle) plan to turn Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) evil. Snow White/Mary Margaret (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming/David (played by Josh Dallas) become resolved to keep Emma good by any means necessary.

Flashbacks show Snow and Charming using a unicorn to see their child’s future. Charming sees a happy vision whereas in Snow’s vision Emma kills her. They meet with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (played by Timothy Webber) who tells them he can transfer any darkness from their child to another. Snow decides to use Maleficent’s (played by Kristin Bauer) egg/baby (birthed as an egg in her dragon from). However, he didn’t tell them the spell would send the egg to the Real World. The portal opens as the baby emerges from the egg and Ursula (played by Merrin Dungey) and Cruella (played by Victoria Smurfit) are taken too. In the present, Regina/The Evil Queen (played by Lana Parrilla) brings Gold a picture of the door illustration and he realizes the Author is in the book. Maleficent (played by Kristin Bauer) magically puts everyone in town to sleep so they can steal it. Henry (played by Jared Gilmore) remained awake because he was under a sleeping curse and runs off with the page. Mary Margaret and David (also immune) go to meet him but secretly ponder destroying the page to keep their secret even at the possible expense of Regina’s happy ending.

Even if Maleficent’s egg (still trying process that’s how she gave birth) didn’t have a baby inside, Mary Margaret and David had no right to take it. They not only stole it but infused it with so much evil that it could have threatened the entire land. Maleficent has every right to want to get even and the fact that Mary Margaret and David lost Emma now seems more like karmic retribution. I loved the role reversal of Cruella and Ursula stepping in to stop the “heroes” from doing something evil. The episode also explained how those two ended up in the real world, not something I was dying to know but it’s good to tie up loose ends. The sleeping curse has been used so often on this show and it’s pretty useless considering people are immune after it’s used. Regina has gone out of her way to become a hero and the last thing Mary Margaret and David need is another powerful witch with a vendetta against them.

Regina has Henry give her a copy of the page but Gold sees through her lie and she’s knocked out. However, he doesn’t hurt Regina because he has something he believes will make her willingly join them. Gold also shows Maleficent a vision of her baby when it was adopted 30 years ago, a daughter named Lily (the same name of a girl Emma befriended as a runaway teenager). Snow and David take the page but she can’t bring herself to continue lying and instead of burning it they confess everything to Emma who is understandably furious. When it’s time to free the Author, Pinocchio/August (played by Eion Bailey) reveals there have been many Authors throughout the years handpicked by the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. However, the latest Author abused his power (for instance manipulating the events surrounding Maleficent’s child) and the Apprentice trapped him inside the book. The Author is revealed to be a peddler (played by Patrick Fischler) Snow and Charming met in their flashback, and once released he runs away.

After hearing all the bad things the Author had done, why was nobody more guarded when he came out of the book? I’m also trying to figure out how/why one person with a pen apparently controlled the fates of everyone in the Enchanted Forest. Was the big joke that free will never existed because people’s lives were controlled by this person? Heroes always won because that’s what the Author was supposed to make happen, that’s pretty unfair to the villains (strange as that sounds). It’s absolutely insane that the Sorcerer would give someone that much power, especially over himself and his Apprentice. Hopefully there’s more to the Author’s backstory about his powers to explain it more but overall I’m not a fan of it. Of course Emma’s childhood friend would turn out to be the daughter of a villainess, and their relationship ended on a sour note to boot. When Lily is reunited with Maleficent and they compare notes of how Emma and her family have continually screwed them over. It’s going to be a mother-daughter revenge reunion.

 

12 Monkeys: First Aired March 27th, 2015

Ramse (played by Kirk Acevedo) and Cole (played by Aaron Stanford) arrive in 1887 Tokyo. They race for the White Dragon nightclub where none other than Leland Goines (played by Zeljko Ivanek) is enjoying a night out.

Goines is being propositioned to buy the original specimen of the virus but declines. However, when Cole and Ramse accost him, Goines’ interest is piqued and he changes his mind. Cole and Ramse are forced into a knife fight and Cole is seemingly stabbed to death while Ramse leaves with Goines. Ramse is arrested for the stabbing and imprisoned, where he receives letters from a mysterious woman. Upon his release in 1995, the woman is revealed to be Olivia (played by Alisen Down) a member of the 12 Monkeys who gives him a new identity. He’s taken to a mansion where he meets the Mystery Man (played by Tom Noonan) and is officially inducted into the 12 Monkeys. Ramse becomes “The Witness” and gives the Monkeys information from the future that will help them plan the spread of the virus. Ramse’s goal is to avenge the death of his future lover, Elena (played by Amy Sloan), and ensure his future son will be born.

I can’t help but think the Cole vs Ramse fight would have been more epic if they used katanas instead of a tiny knife. Ramse is willing to end the world just to keep his future son alive. Is there a better way to prove you love someone? Losing his family obviously clouded Ramse to the hard facts of what will happen if the virus spreads. Even if he succeeds, Elena will still die and he will end up never seeing his son again because he’s trapped in 2015. Also, if he stops the virus there’s every chance he and Elena could still meet and have a family in a healthy world. The concept of a good guy and a villain from the future battling for the fate of the world gives the show an exciting new dynamic. It’s also good that the show will presumably take place solely in 2015 for the time being which will bring narrative structure as opposed to the several time jumps per episode. I hope Cole finds a DeLorean or something so we can eventually go back to the future.

Throughout the years leading to 2015, Ramse gives the Monkeys information about Cole’s movements through time so they don’t drastically alter anything. This bodes well for Cassandra (played by Amanda Schull), who can’t be killed before she makes the recording that put Cole on his original mission. Her ex(?)-boyfriend, Aaron (played by Noah Bean), wants to run somewhere remote for a chance to survive but Cassandra believes Cole will come back for them. He eventually tries to join a government task force called Spearhead, which the Monkeys have also infiltrated. Meanwhile, Olivia is emotionally manipulating a captive Jennifer (played by Emily Hampshire) for useful information. Back in 2043, Jones (played by Barbara Sukowa) uses what little power the machine has to send Cole to 2015, effectively stranding him in that time. Unfortunately, her people abandon her, believing the project is dead with Cole lost in the past forever.

Ramse is kind of like a ringer for the Monkeys, giving them everything they need to pull out a win. That said, he seemed pretty miserable with his new role. You’d think he would be happier about saving his future son. Jones did manage to keep Cole on track by sending him to 2015 but essentially her role in the mission is over. Unless Jones can fix the time machine all she and her people can do is wait and see if their existence crumbles around them. Aaron’s decision to run away isn’t going to earn him any hero points, but I can understand the impulse. But now he gets to play the role of undercover agent to see what the Monkeys’ next move is. Olivia’s tactic of offering to give Jennifer a new parental figure was somewhat creepy but effective. Apparently all Jennifer wanted was to be a daughter again, even if it was to someone in a bioterrorist organization.

If you enjoyed Manny’s return to Storybrooke and trip through time, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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