Once Upon A Time S1 E20 The Stranger
Added 2021-03-30 02:57:27 +0000 UTC
Comments
The Stranger- Thank you so much for another phenomenal reaction, Jessie!!! This is another one of my overall favorite episodes from season one, and wow... What a twist with August turning out to really be Pinocchio! They absolutely handled the mystery behind who August is really, really well. I had no idea that he would be Pinocchio. So brilliant and I absolutely love it! I certainly didn't expect August to be Pinocchio. Nobody ever does. It's a fantastic revelation, and one of my favorite revelations throughout the entire show! :) As for why August is turning back into wood... It has to do with Blue's warning to Pinocchio when she first turned him from a wooden puppet after he sacrificed his life for his father, to a real boy. The Blue Fairy warns Pinocchio to always remain selfless, brave, and true. And like we see in the Disney movie, if he failed to remain selfless, brave, and true while being a live puppet, then he would turn back into a lifeless puppet. As he does in Pinocchio. And because he is now in a land without magic, he's dying because puppets can't come to life in a land without magic. If he turns fully into wood, a lifeless wooden puppet is all he will be. I love seeing this come about. Very smartly and beautifully written! :) He's becoming wood once again because the magic keeping him human is wearing off. Emma being the Savior and simply remaining in Storybrooke is all that is keeping him alive for right now. Like we've seen in past episodes such as That Still Small Voice, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and Dreamy, etc... Emma simply being in Storybrooke as she works to change things is enough to weaken the curse and bring the little bit of magic we've seen back to this world. The mine collapsing, the crickets and the fireflies coming back, and Graham's full memories being restored, etc... However, without Emma's belief in magic and her breaking the curse, August will eventually succumb to his own cursed fate after having remained selfless, brave, and true, and what little magic that is protecting him from turning back to wood cannot sustain him within a non magical world. Absolutely brilliant! I hope all of this makes sense to you. I apologize if my explanation is a bit confusing. My favorite moments within this episode are hands down... between August and Emma in the woods towards the end, as well as the moment in the very end between August and Marco (Geppetto, his father). But I'll get back to these moments later... First... this episode begins with August making a special lock for Mary Margaret's and Emma's loft apartment so that Regina can't break in ever again with her skeleton keys. The lock is made out of wood and August states he learned how to make it in wood shop, which is also most likely a lie. It was most likely taught to him by his father given who they really are. Although... I suppose it is possible August took wood shop in high school in order to remind himself of who he really is and because he has a real talent for making things out of wood. I really like that August making the wooden lock is the second clue... the first clue in this episode that really indicates who August really is. The first clue being in earlier episodes when they kept harping on the possibility that August has been lying about who he is and his reasons for being here. Next... Henry calls Emma to Granny's and explains to her how someone had added pages to his storybook. Which we had seen August do earlier on in a previous episode... What Happened to Frederick?. And this brings us to the backstory that reveals who August is at last, as we see the ending from the Disney movie as Geppetto and Pinocchio are trying to escape from Monstro the whale, as Pinocchio gives his life so that his father can live. And then we see Blue come down to save Pinocchio by turning him into a real boy upon hearing Geppetto's plea. I love, love, love Once Upon a Time's take on the Pinocchio story. Next... we see August inside his room, as the pain in his leg flares up once again even worse than before. And we finally see what's wrong with it, as we see his leg has become wood again. So, August then calls Gold asking for his help with Emma, knowing he's running out of time to convince Emma to believe. When August arrives at Gold's shop minutes later... Marco is there upon Gold's request for help with an antique clock, because Gold has figured out who August really is since his confrontation with him the night before. And August is clearly nervous to see his father there, and is unable to say so much as a word to him. It's a pretty cruel move for Gold to make, as he's taunting August by bringing his father there to his shop knowing that August would be there then too. However, once Marco's gone, August asks Gold to nudge Emma his way, after she had refused to go with him earlier to where he needs to take her in hope of making her believe in the truth. Emma finally comes to August when Gold refuses to help her with getting Henry away from Regina once and for all. And August at last takes her to the diner outside of Storybrooke where Emma believes she was found, on the side of the road. August then reveals that he was the seven year old boy who found Emma and brought her to the diner where they were later taken to the orphanage. And Emma is immediately angry because she discovers that August has been lying to her all along about who he really is, and she's afraid because he knows about who she is and knows about her sad past. This brings us to my first favorite scene between August and Emma, as August continues to reveal to her the truth about who he is and how he and Emma are connected to one another. I love his explanation with how he's dying upon turning back to wood, that he had strayed and fails to raise her like he promised his father he would, and tells Emma that he fell to all kinds of temptations while he was away. Just like Pinocchio falls for all of the temptations of the world in the Disney movie too. I also love the details when August explains he knows that Emma chose to stay in Storybrooke months earlier at 815 pm at night, while it was 815 am in the morning where he was staying on the island of Phuket... where there are all kinds of temptations he fell for. Just like Pleasure Island once again taken from Pinocchio. Again... absolutely brilliant! And I love even more so that Emma can't see August's wooden leg because she refuses to believe in the truth. Just like she could feel Graham's heartbeat when it wasn't really there like you said as well. Because she doesn't want to believe in the truth about the curse and about magic, and only wants to get Henry back. This moment is Jennifer Morrison's time to shine as she fights back with August and tells him that it's crap that she has to be this all powerful Savior destined to save everyone in Storybrooke. And when August states that everyone is depending on her to save them... that he's depending on her to save him, I absolutely love how Emma responds... "Then you're all screwed." It's so tragic and sad, but what a powerful moment! And the look on August's face is devastating. Amazing! Incredible acting, not just from Jennifer Morrison (Emma), but Eion Bailey (August) too. I understand why Emma is so angry and why she doesn't want to believe August. Believing that fairytales are real and that her parents are Snow White and Prince Charming would be impossible for any normal person to believe. Especially someone who has been forced to grow up all alone, believing that her parents gave her away because they didn't want her like Emma has. Someone... who has built up walls so high around herself in order to keep people out so they can't hurt her. I also love the continued backstory with Pinocchio, Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket, and Blue, as Blue returns to Geppetto to tell him that their plans have changed and that he can't send his son through the wardrobe with Emma and Snow, since Snow has given birth early. Unfortunately, Geppetto goes against the Blue Fairy's warning and sends his son through anyways. I love how well acted the both of them are in this scene, and I really feel the emotions from Geppetto's and Pinocchio's acting. Beautiful. Once again... I absolutely understand why Geppetto acted as he did, because he was afraid of losing his boy, which he would have. So sad. Of course it was wrong of Geppetto to put such a heavy burden on a seven year old boy, but Geppetto was desperate to do anything that would hopefully spare his son from the very fate he's suffering from now. And in the end, we have my second favorite scene between August and Marco, as August comes to offer help to his father so he can spend his last days with him because he's dying and had failed to help Emma to believe. Again... I feel the deep emotions in this scene, especially as Marco assures August that if he had a son, he would be proud of him for trying to keep his promise even if it wasn't fulfilled until many years later or not at all. You can see and feel the pain coming from August as you see his pain on his face. The pain from believing how he's failed to be the man he believes his father would have wanted him to be. And yet Marco confirms for him that his efforts to try to make right on his promise even if it is too late, would be enough for him. I love it! So beautiful. I just love seeing them come to interact together, knowing that they are father and son. As for the side storyline between David and Regina... it is definitely a set up by Regina. She's trying to lure David away from his love for Mary Margaret by seducing him. Not because she has any feelings for him, but because she knows full well that if Mary Margaret were to see them together... kissing and being happy together in a new relationship, it would crush Mary Margaret. Even though Mary Margaret has refused to take David back. Can you imagine how it would feel if the man you love were to find love with someone else who is only using him to hurt them both? And not only is it Regina that David might have been with, but she is also the very woman who has framed Mary Margaret for murder, which makes the whole scheme even more sick and twisted. Mary Margaret has refused to take David back, but she does still love him. Her feelings for him haven't changed just because she's hurt by his lack of belief in her. Ouch! It's really cruel of Regina. Also... I love seeing the blank note Regina picked up that was supposedly from Henry after they walked inside her home. David was about to leave, as she supposedly reads that Henry is going over to talk with Archie after school. However, when we see the note, the paper is actually blank. Regina is trying to play on David's sympathy to convince him to stay for dinner, hoping she can later seduce him, when all David is trying to do is be a good man and a friend to Regina, given that he believes her to be a good woman and friend to him. However, she later leans in to try to kiss him, and he pulls away. Despite his confusion and pain from losing Mary Margaret, it still feels wrong to him to fall for Regina, even more so than it felt wrong to him to fall for Kathryn. However, in spite of the curse keeping his false memories intact, the tiniest part of Charming that is still in David came through, helping David to quickly know that falling for Regina's seduction was wrong, which I love. As for how I feel about this whole storyline... I like how Regina has come to be desperate enough to try to seduce David even though she hates him almost as much as she hates Snow White, and I appreciate the reasoning for them to write this storyline into the episode. I like it too. As for the scene between Pinocchio and baby Emma inside the orphanage... it's so sad. Baby Emma is so cute and it's so sad that Pinocchio abandons her too like Emma believes everyone in her life has done as well. Of course I understand why August left the orphanage with the other children, because it was awful there, and Pinocchio was only a seven year old boy. Sadly, this leads August down the wrong path and Emma to think she's all alone. I really like seeing and getting to understand why August strayed from his promise to his father. I really appreciate that this scene was included in the episode. I wish that we could have seen more around the circumstances within the orphanage to show more of why August strayed, but there just wasn't time to. And of course it isn't needed for us to understand the circumstance of him leaving Emma all alone. Between Emma's talk of her experiences with being in and out of numerous orphanages, and August's talk... we are given pretty good ideas about just how bad things were for them both. And lastly... Emma gets Henry out of bed and then asks him once and for all if he wants to come live with her. He sincerely says yes, but sadly, Henry doesn't quite understand her intentions and before he can object, Emma immediately tells him to buckle up and together they drive off towards the town line to leave Storybrooke. Emma is most definitely in the wrong, since she is kidnapping him and she's not thinking rationally. And this isn't good. Oh... and chances are that Jiminy Cricket did confess to Geppetto some time ago what he had done to his parents, given that he is a man of conscience. His conscience would have encouraged him to do right by Geppetto by telling him the whole truth about what happened to them and why he's come to be there for him since the events shown in That Still Small Voice. Plus... Jiminy is a good man with a big heart. I really appreciate that Geppetto calling Jiminy out on his sins allows us to speculate that Jiminy had told him the whole truth. I feel so badly for Jiminy, because while he did make the mistake that Geppetto's parents paid for, Geppetto should not have hurt him as he does in this moment between them by reminding him of how he had hurt them. That was wrong of Geppetto. But I also understand him too. Thank you so much for another fantastic reaction, Jessie!!! I love, love, love this episode and I am so happy that you loved it as well. Two more episodes to go and these two episodes are the big two part finale for season one. I can't wait!!! Thank you!! Sincerely, Heidi
Heidi Elizabeth Marcum
2021-05-24 13:20:42 +0000 UTCI’m glad you got it!
Jessie Dobbie Reactions
2021-04-01 01:12:19 +0000 UTCThis show is so clever I don’t see how anyone couldn’t like it! I’ve always loved anything involving storybook characters or Disney, and mysteries are my weakness. Can’t wait for the finale!
Jessie Dobbie Reactions
2021-04-01 01:09:59 +0000 UTCThanks! Pinocchio was a great time in leading it all right back to the very beginning! I can’t wait for the season finale! The story with him and Geppetto is so heartbreaking, I hope they get a happy ending!
Jessie Dobbie Reactions
2021-04-01 01:08:53 +0000 UTCYes! They talked about the unreliable narrator in the movie Life Itself, I thought the name sounded familiar! I never would’ve made that connection, thanks! That was an amazing twist, I love how they wrapped it all up back to the beginning. As soon as he said woodwork I thought Pinocchio, but I doubted myself because this show is so clever I thought there might be another twist lol Great episode!
Jessie Dobbie Reactions
2021-04-01 01:07:07 +0000 UTCFor some reason it's not working on my end but I just go through my email from patreon and it works on there for some reason that's perhaps my phone thank you for getting back to me
Alex A Alvarenga
2021-04-01 01:05:07 +0000 UTCOh no! Is it still not working?
Jessie Dobbie Reactions
2021-04-01 01:03:30 +0000 UTCI love how good you are at figuring this out...it shows you are truly invested and are paying attention to the details! I think you might be the first Once reactor that I've watched that really is! Others watch and like it OK, some watch and don't really care for it at all (those are the ones that frustrate me the most because I don't understand why they bother), and others never make it past season 4. I think you'll make it all the way through. I think we have a new Oncer on our hands here!
Keebles
2021-03-30 14:45:44 +0000 UTCgreat reaction!! and i’m very impressed that you guessed who he was in the beginning lol. it never even occurred to me the first time i watched it. i’m super excited for the next reaction! it sets up a great finale :)
hello6775
2021-03-30 13:14:35 +0000 UTCI had to go through my email but I'm glad I found a way to watch it
Alex A Alvarenga
2021-03-30 07:46:32 +0000 UTCYou are clever - you suspected August was Pinocchio much sooner than I did the first time I saw this. I enjoyed seeing you put the pieces together. It was only after his identity was revealed that I realized the significance of his name: August Wayne Booth. Wayne Booth was an author, scholar, and literary critic who coined the term "unreliable narrator" for an author (whether in first person or third person) who presents a misleading point of view in a story. In short, a liar. And we know Pinocchio was famous for lying. It was also great to see you remember the newspaper story about how Emma was found and to realize how Emma's denial prevented her from seeing magical things. This was such an emotional episode that the emotions of the characters stand out even more than the solution to the mystery of August's identity.
Paul Fisher
2021-03-30 04:24:06 +0000 UTCIts not working for me. Vimeo down?
Alex A Alvarenga
2021-03-30 04:08:19 +0000 UTC
