Once Upon a Time: Wake Up Call

First Aired November 10th, 2017

Regina/Roni (played by Lana Parrilla) believes Lady Tremaine/Victoria (played by Gabrielle Anwar) photo shopped the picture of her and a younger Henry (played by Andrew J. West). Meanwhile Drizella/Ivy (played by Adelaide Kane) brings flowers to the Witch (played by Emma Booth) that have a small amount of magic in them in her scheme to bring down her mother.

Lucy (played by Allison Fernandez) is ecstatic when she finds out about the photo and believes Henry and Roni will soon regain their memories. Roni decides she and Henry should pretend to believe Lucy to help her realize the ‘that the stories are just stories. In the past, Regina feels depressed but proud that Henry no longer needs her as much and saves Drizella from a man-eating plant. Drizella reveals she was born with magic but it was suppressed by her mother so Regina offers to help her develop it and during their lessons they’re confronted by Rumpelstiltskin/Gold (played by Robert Carlyle).

In the present, the Witch manages to grow another plant and Ivy takes a sample to use against Roni. Cinderella/Jacinda (played by Dania Ramirez) has been distant with Henry after thinking he was interested in Ivy so he plays a mix tape over a boom box to ask her out, so she invites him to help fix up her new food truck. Roni and Lucy go to Gold/Weaver for help investigating adoption records for Regina Mills.

The boom box thing was not only really cheesy but where in this day and age would someone find one? So it turns out Drizella is a witch but considering nearly every character on this show develops magical powers I can go along with it. Regina finally found a purpose in becoming a magic teacher and you could see why she was drawn to the girl; Drizella’s situation was similar to Regina’s when she was younger. But Regina was full of rage at that age just like Drizella and even without the scenes in the present showing her plotting against Regina I saw that coming.

Roni’s decision to play along with Lucy was a great way of moving the narrative along, even if it led nowhere it was a small step forward. The last episode it seemed that Weaver regained his memories but it’s unclear here, is he helping Roni as Gold or as the corrupt cop? But overall with the present storyline focusing more on characters possibly regaining their memories it made the present more interesting to watch than it has been.

Wish Hook/Rogers (played by Colin O’Donoghue) enlists Alice/Tilly (played by Rose Reynolds) for help finding the missing woman ‘Eloise Gardner’. His search leads him to an abandoned house where he finds a squatter with the rune symbol tied to his search. In the past, Gold tells Regina about Belle’s (played by Emilie de Ravin) passing and tells her that Tremaine may be behind Drizella wanting to learn magic.

Regina discovers Tremaine wants to fill Drizella’s heart with belief and use it revive her other daughter Anastasia, but she refuses to help Drizella kill her mother. Regina stops Drizella from killing Tremaine but she instead kills her husband to turn her heart black and make it useless to Tremaine and promises to unleash the Dark Curse to cause her mother endless suffering. In the present, Weaver gives Roni documentation of Regina adopting Henry and later Ivy visits Roni’s bar and spikes her drink which breaks the curse and restores her memories. Ivy is close to getting revenge on her mother and reminds Regina that she can’t let Henry and Jacinda share True Love’s Kiss because if the curse is broken her loved ones will suffer.

Rogers whole story this episode was a lot of buildup that led nowhere, having Tilly help him didn’t amount to much and there was no follow-up to his big bust. Drizella has emerged as a surprise antagonist and quite possibly the season’s main antagonist. It was a powerful moment when Regina watched Drizella kill her husband and announce her plans to enact the Dark Curse. Regina was basically reliving her darkest days through someone else and was powerless to stop her from going down that path. When Regina’s memories came flooding back it was the jolt of life this season needed. Regina is awake which means it can’t be too much longer before others are too and it revealed Ivy is actually a major villain and not just the spoiled girl she’s come across as before. The Dark Curse has been revisited with a twist that if broken Regina could lose Henry (likely that he’d die) which shapes the course of the remainder of the season and creates intrigue surrounding the story for the flashbacks to come.

Regina is horrified that she taught magic to someone like Drizella, but Henry says she was just looking for a purpose and says no matter what he’ll always need her. In the present, Regina is forced to continue her ‘Roni’ façade and talks with Henry about his date with Jacinda. She also learns details about his book and remembers many from their past but passes it off as having read a copy of the book.

The juxtaposition of these two scenes was very powerful; Henry saying he would always need Regina and now she’s forced to go against her mothering instinct. But more importantly with Regina awake the present storyline has become much more interesting to follow. Because while we may still get storylines about food trucks and making rent it’ll be combined with Regina on a mission to save her family.

Quotes/Thoughts

“Hey if I were the Evil Queen I could look into my Magic Mirror and tell you.”

Is this Witch eventually going to get a name?

“You should be proud. You know you’re a great teacher when the student surpasses the master.” “What do you want, you want a gold star?”

Considering how Regina’s lessons turned out I’d say Drizella is her first and last student.

 

Possibly Related Posts:

• Friday Fiction: Snowfall In The Living Room
• “It Came From The Archives” Doctor Who Special Reviews: The Church on Ruby Road
• Review: Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer by M. Rickert
• Friday Fiction: Frozen Army
• Foundations: The 5 Best Artifact Cards