Emma is fixated on getting Henry away from Regina and goes to Mr. Gold for help. August knows he doesn't have time for Emma's mind to wander. He needs her to focus on one thing. Believing in the Curse. August is still in a lot of pain. What's bothering him? His leg. It's turning back into wood. If you haven't guessed by now, August is Pinocchio.
He asks Mr. Gold to send Emma to him about her Henry problem. Emma and Henry have both noticed that someone added Pinocchio's story to his book. All that's missing is the ending. Is the ending all up to Emma?
In case you're not familiar with the tale, Gepetto carves a son out of some wood because he's a lonely old man. It's not as creepy as it sounds. The Blue Fairy uses her magic to gift Gepetto and turn Pinocchio into a real boy. As long as he isn't selfish or a liar, he'll be fine. And he even gets a cricket as a friend. You know the drill. But now the Blue Fairy wants a favor. The Evil Queen's curse is fast approaching and Snow's baby is their savior. Or will be on her 28th birthday when she comes to Storybrooke.
She asks Gepetto to help protect Snow's baby against the curse by fastening a magical wardrobe from an enchanted tree. The wardrobe can only protect two (presumably Snow and her baby) but Gepetto says no dice. He doesn't want his son to turn back into a shelf. He agrees to help under the condition that the second slot of protection goes to his son. This gets complicated when Snow goes into labor early. Not wanting his son to be firewood, he sends him through to (Earth?) early. Not long after, a baby girl arrives in the forest behind him. Gepetto makes him promise to protect Emma and save them all. Well, we all know how Pinocchio ended.
Regina is still evil. This time, she wants revenge on Mary after both she and Henry tell her off. Regina feigns some car trouble and melting groceries to get Prince Charming himself, David, to take her home. She then pretends she has no life and that Henry won't eat dinner with her (like she had to pretend about that last part) so that David will stay for dinner. It's super awkward watching her act normal around such a clueless individual. When she leans in for a kiss and is denied by David, she smashes her mirror the bits. What is she going to do next?
August and Emma hop on to his motorcycle for a little road trip. That's right. They leave Storybrooke. August takes Emma to the diner she was found abandoned at as a baby. He shows her the news article about the little boy who found her at the side oft he road. It was him. She refuses to believe that's possible so he takes her to the enchanted tree. If she didn't believe the first part, do you really think she's going to believe in a magical tree? To Emma, it's just a tree. And his leg is just a leg. Because for whatever reason, her deep denial about the Curse won't even let her see his wooden leg.
She won't believe. Baby August is having trouble believing in anything good as well. He's stuck in a crappy orphanage with baby Emma and a bunch of other kids. One of them steals some money to buy them all bus tickets out of there. Not wanting to leave Emma behind, he asks if she can come along. The kid shuts that idea down and August gives in to the temptation (temptation island! Get it?) and leaves Emma behind. Speaking of bad decision, Emma grabs Henry in the middle of the night and tells him they're running away.
Yeah. That'll go over well.
I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen in this episode. I guess it would have been too easy for Emma to believe right away. If she ever does, it will probably happen in the season finale. I do, however, enjoy an episode with lots of August. He's hotter than burning firewood.
Check out the preview of next week's episode (An Apple Red as Blood) here
