Monday Recap: The Tower

Who did we meet?: Rapunzel. Framing device for the latest magical widget. Is the reference to her dead older brother a clever semi-reference to Sondheim's Into the Woods or another deceased character of color?  Both?

Humor Credit: Lily Sparks

 





What did we learn?: We know what Zelena is after, and it's not (just) the Charming-Snow baby. We saw her go after David's "courage". Which means she's quite probably going after a brain and heart as well - unless she's already got them. I quite literally had a light bulb moment watching tonight's episode when I realized that Rumpel really is the only character in town with any brains. So that just leaves the heart.

Possible candidates for heartsnatching include:

• Henry. Is the heart of the truest believer still true if his memory is wiped?
• Snow. Does her heart still have that 'out out damned spot'?
• Emma. Because...she's ostensibly the protagonist?
• Regina. Because...magical powers? If Zelena gets Henry, does she have Regina's (and/or Emma's) "heart"?
• Hook. This is the one that's most interesting to me. I'll come back to this.

Where and When do the events take place?: The EF between a year or 9 months or so ago. Storybrook present day

Why is this important? This is important: Where. Is. Neal? 1. He seems to be the only unaccounted for party that the Storybrookians are concerned about, 2. Zelena talks to Rumpel about trying to get her hands on what he spent a lifetime seeking? Spent a lifetime seeking, and was never able to find - courage. Rumpel is a self-identified coward. 3. Zelena's got the Dark Dagger which presumably gives her control over Rumpel - last we HEARD about that knife, Belle and Neal were going to find it in the EF. The last we SAW of it, Rumpel was using it to kill (?) Peter Pan.

Wait, what?: Didn't Hook say that Charming and Snow were in trouble? Is he going to follow up on that, or...what? They don't actually seem to be in any more danger than anyone else/any more than usual.

Oh Henry!: Totally still down with Teen Henry. He sleeps, he eats, he plays video games and we dump him at Granny's.

Really OUAT?: We're really going to go after the latest Magical Big Bad without even looking for any of the faries or Rumpelstiltskin? Why is Belle so resigned to Rumpel being dead? Perhaps most importantly - WHO IS RUNNING THE LIBRARY?

Shut Up Charming: I'm actually glad they gave His Royal Derpiness something to do in this episode, but that first scene with Emma was creepy and awkward as HELL.  Her dress was cool though. It sort of made up for the fact that she was wearing Eric's white cable knit sweater the rest of the episode.

Shut Up Snow: I know you're supposed to be innocent and trusting and all but would it kill you to ask for references for the a-little-bit-too-damn-convenient midwife who showed up at your door?  I mean, she was a midwife for more than just the past year that no one can remember, right?

Rando Thoughts/Crackpot Theories:

I think Zelena's got Hook's heart and is using it to control him a la Cora.

I don't think Zelena is actually Regina's half-sister. This week we saw her snatch blood from Rumpel and use it to open the safe. We know she snatched blood from Regina as well, via the flying monkey, which she may have used to open Regina's secret passage to Cora's mausoleum/vault

I think Zelena's end game includes Neal (where else did he go in his bean-jumping-realm travels??) but I don't know why. This  might explain why she sent a monkey after Emma. Did Neal cast a (modified) Dark Curse to bring everyone back to Storybrooke, hoping to wipe memories to escape Zelena and simultaneously get himself back to Emma and Henry?

Or maybe Zelena dangled the potential of Emma in front of Hook to get him to work with/for her and take out Neal?

What's the purpose of  doing the "sisters" reveal, and then wiping Regina's memory? When Regina cast the Dark Curse it wiped everyone's memories except for her, and separated them from their happiness. What's the point of having everyone's memories erased this time around?