we are both
So it's now absolutely clear that the postcard from the beginning of the premiere was not any kind of built in 'summon Baelfire' feature. Rumple does not expect Bae to find him and in fact was planning to go searching. I mean, that was pretty much how it looked, I was just trying out the idea. Still unsure what the deal is with the mystery man and the postcard: Rumple was a top contender for having sent it. Jefferson was trapped in his car, although he may have had a window of time to send a postcard. August was still inanimate wood for the duration, although we don't know exactly what the timeframe of the mystery man's scene is...
OH August! What why adnaskfnafiefk I was really not expecting any of that. He blinked and then he vanished! WHAT HAPPENED? Did he wake up and sneak out to alert Baelfire/mystery man/whoever without anyone noticing? Was he taken into custody by Rumple/Blue/Regina (probably not Regina-we seemed to be seeing everything that she was doing)? Did the magicks make him spontaneously go poof somehow? I am thinking it is probably a bit more likely that something like the first idea happened, because he DOES know someone who told him about Rumple's dagger and there was clearly some form of agenda there, but idk. I am super impressed at how tight that secret was kept!
I can't decide whether I think that Cora was sent to Wonderland or Neverland. Wonderland has already been introduced and there's a theory that Cora is the queen of hearts, which makes some sense. On the other hand, Captain Hook will be happening soon, so Neverland. Shrug.
Also, I think I loved everything about this episode. Jane Espenson man. I had Regina feels and Charming feels, which aren't terribly common brands of feels for me with this show-Regina's usually too busy evilling it up to really earn feels, and Charming has been a bit too one-note to inspire feels, but they both brought it tonight.
Other cool people tonight: Henry, Red, Granny, Grumpy, Archie (unexpectedly! He's such a good guy.), Dr. Whale (totally expected, but I loved just seeing him around in all the shots, too. Tumblr I read joked that if Charming was holding auditions for wisecracking sidekick, Whale won the role with his line.), Jefferson (I am not a fan of the concept they have going for the Mad Hatter, nor am I pleased that everyone and their dog ships him with Emma, but something about being trapped in the car + his expressions + randomly knocking over the table and running away made me like him more.)
I think August, Emma, and Henry are the only ones capable of leaving the town without losing their memories, as they are the ones who were not cursed. This is the point where it's important that Rumple only remembered with the trigger of hearing Emma's name, because if he remembered all along it would be no big deal for him to leave... I'm assuming. They should consider actually making it clear in the show that that's what they were going for.
Also, there was the hint again that maybe Rumple can actually predict the future, and he deliberately steered Regina into becoming the woman who would cast his curse.
Timeline theory: Cora is the miller's daughter. Instead of trading just for straw into gold, she trades for her book of magic so she can have the power herself. Rumple takes the firstborn (Regina), and Cora gets her back in the usual way (guessing his name, which she carefully writes down in her book so she doesn't forget). The obvious reason I can see why Rumple might consider this square is if he was aware that he might need Regina to grow up in a particular way. Or maybe his plan was to raise her to cast the curse, and he decided it was better this way? (I'm sorry, I just started picturing Rumple attempting to raise baby Regina and it's unbelievably adorable in my head. Creepy but precious.) Or perhaps his dagger was involved in the whole thing somehow.
People on the internet seem confused, so I am going to write this out. Again. Pinocchio was made out of enchanted wood, which is how he was animate in the first place. Turning him into a real boy was a one-time spell with a qualifier. While Gepetto didn't know this one way or the other and the Blue Fairy wasn't interested in explaining, going to a world without magic had no effect on Pinocchio because the spell was over; it wasn't actively keeping him real, it was already done. Emma deciding to stay in Storybrooke started turning him verrrrry slowly back into wood because a. Emma causes magic by existing and believing, and there is a connection with Pinocchio, which is how there was any magic around to do anything to him, and b. that was the moment he actually officially failed, because she came back to Storybrooke without any help from him, and that was a far bigger deal than whatever else he'd been doing. Or possibly, it couldn't have any effect on him until Emma did her thing. Whatever. So, he was turning back into wood, slowly at first but then picking up speed. He could still move a bit for a while, because of residual magic or something, but enchanted wood doesn't exist in this world and so he turned into an inanimate puppet. Bringing back magic (gradually) animated him again. At the moment, there's no reason to believe that he turned real again. Except that if he is an enchanted puppet, he can't leave town without turning inanimate again probably, so there's that. That would mean that he's either an animate puppet still in town, an inanimate puppet just across the border, or real and off somewhere. IDKKK. Apparently I'm confused too!
Also, Jefferson? You need to stop insisting that two sets of memories drive you mad when you were CLEARLY driven mad by Wonderland long before you ever had two sets of memories. Dear Jefferson: you are a nutball. (Although I like it better when he is a nutball vs when he is actually right and trying to be sympathetic and tragic and all. And I am interested that he describes himself as a portal jumper and apparently knows conclusively that FTL still exists. Does he know that because of a set of skills that go with being a portal jumper, or maybe it has to do with that time Regina wanted to use his hat to go get her apple from FTL...?)
Also, I don't think Rumple created the mirror, not when in the same episode he said he couldn't create portals. He just teleported in a mirror he already had, just like how he gave Charming Gaston's clothes. He probably found the mirror in an attempt to claim a portal but was like “pfft, Wonderland? WHO CARES.”
And I noticed, for the record, that right before his big line Whale was looking through what appeared to be a first aid kit or medical supplies, not talking to Henry. Henry just happened to be sitting next to him looking through his book. I like to think that they talked a bit, and maybe Henry was trying to figure out who he was. (People on the internet were assuming, based on spoiler set pics, that Whale was talking to Henry and were using it as evidence that he could be Peter Pan. Not saying he couldn't be, but that was a stupid piece of non-evidence and it didn't even happen.)
Hey, I didn't talk about Regina yet. So in rewatching s1 a couple times, I noticed some subtle layers to her. She is not focused on keeping the curse active; she is focused on keeping her son. This episode is the proof of that characterization-proof that it was not something I was reading into it. Regina was a lot more bothered about losing her son than having the curse broken. This episode... man, it just filled in all the holes. It made her truly sympathetic without undermining previous characterization (like some of the attempts to make Sylar sympathetic did) or coming off as contrived (like The Stable Boy). It more clearly places her as abused-becomes-abuser, and shows us that she didn't actually immediately turn into The Evil Queen and start plotting to kill Snow like The Stable Boy implied, and yet it kept the cold rage/psychoticness that was doing the implying, and worked it more or less seamlessly into a character that was still young, fairly innocent, and mostly a victim. And while it had Rumple nudging her in the direction that led to her casting the curse (undoubtedly his entire plan for her), it didn't try to blame her descent into Evil on his influence either. He handed her the tools, but she chose to use them the way that she did. On the other hand, I don't want a complete redemption for her (yet anyway), because I still wouldn't totally buy it. She is focused on Henry; she does not give a damn how anyone else sees her and would prefer to control them through fear and magic (...because it makes her feel powerful I guess). She only wants to redeem herself in Henry's eyes. Unfortunately for her, that means she has to behave with everyone else, too. So I wouldn't buy it if she starts acting like she wants redemption for redemption's sake; she only wants it because it's the only way she can get on Henry's good side. Now, over time she could thaw, she could find she enjoys working with other people, snarking all the while, she could have the realization that she has been acting just like her mother. But I don't want to see it too soon.
Oh, and I almost forgot about Charming! I liked him a lot here, although there isn't so much to discuss with him. He's not that complex a guy. But I liked seeing him struggling with taking charge. He is, after all, a shepherd and not a prince. He might have gotten some training in how to be royal from King George before that fell apart, and he got some experience during that brief period of time that he and Snow had control of whichever kingdom that actually was, and he obviously has good leadership skills and instincts, but he still was not raised to rule, and it shows. Which is awesome. I also loved the grandparent-grandchild bonding moments, and all that talk about David like he was a different person but not really.
ETA PREDICTION/THEORY: Unless he has some other master plan that hasn't been revealed yet, Rumple is going to use the favor Emma owes him to make her track down Baelfire, since she can presumably safely leave town, and "finding people is what she does". I would except Rumple to become very interested/invested in returning Emma (and Snow by extension) to this world, but probably pretend he's not.