ONCE UPON A TIME: It’s “7:15 a.m.”; Do You Know Where Your Stalker Is?

It’s a testament to the quality of storytelling on Once Upon a Time that even though we’ve already seen Snow White and Prince James get married, live and rule together, and have a daughter in the very first episode, the story of how they reached that point is as compelling as if we didn’t know the ending. This week’s episode, “7:15 a.m.”, swung the spotlight back to Snow and James, and David and Mary Margaret, as True Love’s journey continued.

In Fairytale Land, Snow is in the woods, about to spear a turkey, when Red Riding Hood appears to bring her provisions. It’s been a month since Snow has spoken with anyone, and it’s a blow when Red tells her that Prince James is marrying Abigail, King Midas’ daughter, in just two days. Hurting, Snow says, “I wish there was a way to get him out of my head.” Red tells her that she may know of a way. Snow makes a reference to a time that she helped Red “when no one else would”, and Red folds. I assume we’ll find out more about that in a future episode. For now, though, Red reveals that Rumplestiltskin might be able to help Snow, that there have been whispers of his terrible powers.

Desperate, Snow goes to meet him on a pier surrounded by fog in the middle of nowhere. “You really are the fairest of them all,” Rumple says when he meets her. A nifty reference to the Evil Queen and her Magic Mirror, just in case we’d forgotten that Snow has more troubles than a broken heart. “I can’t make him love you,” the creepy sorcerer tells her, but Snow takes him by surprise and says that she wants to not love him anymore. Rumple’s cure will make her forget him altogether, for love is strong magic and requires an extreme cure. He goes on a rant about the dangers of love, how it’s killed more people than any disease. A bit of foreshadowing, I believe. He finally ends his tirade and gives her a potion that will erase James from her memory, taking some strands of Snow’s hair as payment. Now what could he want with those? Part of another potion he may need in the future?

At the castle, Prince James skips his rehearsal dinner, and King George comes to scold him for it. The King orders James to “get the other woman out of his heart” so that the merger with King Midas can happen and the kingdom saved. No love is lost between these two, and James impulsively writes a note for Snow and sends it via carrier pigeon. Just as Snow is about to drink the potion to forget him, the pigeon finds her. In the note James asks Snow to come to him before the wedding if she has feelings for him, as he has for her.  She sneaks in with a delivery of flowers for the wedding, but a guard captures her and throws her in the dungeon. Grumpy is in the cell next to hers and commiserates over lost love. Stealthy, the eighth Dwarf, breaks Grumpy out of jail, who goes back for Snow.

Stealthy wants to go through the courtyard to escape the castle, since it’s empty for a few minutes; Snow says they should climb over the curtain wall. Grumpy chooses to trust Stealthy, leaving Snow to her own devices. Sure enough, guards converge with King George, who demands to know where Snow White is. Grumpy plays dumb, and a guard kills Stealthy before we can react. Grumpy is next to die, until Snow arrives and turns herself in.

In a cozy chat with King George, Snow is given a choice: go tell James she doesn’t love him, breaking his heart, or the King will kill James. Killing Snow would only make James love her more, and the kingdom would crumble. Having an assassin kill James makes him a martyr, and King Midas would still provide aid to the kingdom. Snow can’t believe King George would use his own son so cruelly; the King tells her that James is not his son. I’m wondering if the King realizes he’s given up a vital piece of information to an outlaw. It feels like a possible fatal flaw, but it does serve the purpose of convincing Snow that he’d have no qualms killing his “son” to get what he wants.

Snow goes to James’ chamber, and tells him that they can’t be together. James, assuming she means logistically it won’t work, tells Snow that he has plans for every contingency, that he knows how to keep them safe from King George. Snow tells him that, no, she doesn’t love him, that she wants him to move on, to love someone who can love him the way she never has and never will. It’s a convincing performance; I almost believed her myself. But as she leaves, the silent tears fall. The Dwarves, now seven instead of eight, find Snow walking down the road, and offer her a home, a tribe. Snow starts to drink the potion so she can be free of her heartbreak, but Grumpy stops her, tells her to use the pain to grow. As they head toward the woods, it’s the scene we saw in the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror last week.

The next morning, James goes in search of Snow and finds Red instead. “She’s gone,” Red tells him. “Then I’ll find her. I’ll always find her.” Grumpy runs to the cottage with gleeful tidings: the wedding is OFF. “Your Prince isn’t getting married,” he shouts. “Who?” she says. The empty potion bottle is on her bedside table.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Henry confronts Mysterious Motorcycle Man (MMM), asking him questions about why he’s in Storybrooke and what he has in his Mysterious Wooden Box, but MMM neatly avoids given anything but the vaguest of answers. Regina sees them talking, and is concerned. After all, strangers don’t come to Storybrooke.

In their shared loft, Emma watches Mary Margaret scramble to get ready after oversleeping. When Emma comments that Mary Margaret doesn’t have to be to school until 7:40, and it’s only 7:10, Mary Margaret tells her that she is supposed to be there early to help the kids make a volcano for science fair. Liar! She’s making sure to be at the diner at 7:15 a.m. because David comes in for coffee at the same time every morning. Mary Margaret pretends to be reading a book, pulling out the old “oh, I didn’t know you were here” routing when David stops to chat. It’s a cute but wistful exchange. As he leaves to go to work at the animal shelter, Mary Margaret sees that he’s taking a second cup of coffee out to Kathryn, who’s waiting in the car. Emma must have smelled Mary Margaret’s pants on fire, because she slips into the opposite chair and gets the truth out of her. “Love’s the worst,” says Mary Margaret. “I wish there was a magic cure.”

Later, Mary Margaret bumps into Kathryn (literally) at the drugstore and notices that Kathryn is buying a pregnancy test. It’s one more blow for her heart. Out for a walk, Mary Margaret finds a pigeon caught in a net in the woods. What a convenient excuse for her to visit the animal shelter! (And a very pretty shelter it is, too.) The vet gets the bird all fixed up, but tells Mary Margaret that she needs to be returned to her flock or she’ll be alone for ever. Loneliness is a constant companion for Mary Margaret, so she is determined to save the pigeon from a similar fate. David offers to go with Mary Margaret to find the flock, because a storm is coming, but she declines his help with almost believable cheerfulness.

Mary Margaret takes the pigeon out to the woods to search, but as the storm approaches she slips and falls over a cliff, barely hanging on to stop her fall. David is also a stalker and followed her out to the woods. How fortunate. He’s able to pull her up and is busy defending himself for following her when the storm breaks. Cold and soaked the bone, they find an empty, but large, cabin to wait out the storm. Before they can get too cozy, however, Mary Margaret confesses that she still has feelings for David, that she goes to Granny’s at 7:15 every morning to see him, and it hurts that he chose Kathryn. David confesses that he goes to Granny’s at 7:15 to see her. They almost kiss, but Mary Margaret pulls back and tells him no, she knows that Kathryn thinks she’s pregnant and she can’t come between them. James is stunned.

Meanwhile, Regina has tasked Sheriff Emma with finding out more about MMM. She resists the order at first, but when Regina recounts seeing him talking to Henry, she changes her mind. Emma finds him enjoying a cup of coffee at Granny’s as the storm rages, and confronts him about “being suspicious”. He has an answer for everything, nimbly poking holes in all of her reasons for questioning him. When Emma asks about the Mysterious Wooden Box, he refuses to tell her what’s inside. He launches into a dramatic, and increasingly menacing description of how he’ll make her watch him haul it around to mysterious places, wondering what’s inside, imagining all sorts of terrible things. Or she’ll let him buy her a drink sometime and he’ll her now. Emma chooses the drink. He opens the box. It’s … a typewriter. He’s a writer. This is rather anticlimactic, which leads me to believe that there’s more to his story.

Back to the cabin. David is still startled by Mary Margaret’s revelation about Kathryn. The rain stops, so she heads out with the pigeon and sees the flock flying past. She releases the pigeon, who rejoins her flock, avoiding a life alone. James catches up to her and confesses that he loves her, but that these feelings conflict with his remembered feelings for Kathryn. He’s confused, but Mary Margaret tells him they have to forget each other. She is determined that they both move on.

The next morning as they’re getting ready for the day, David asks Kathryn if she has something to tell him. She confesses that she thought she might be pregnant, but she’s not and she’s relieved because  they aren’t ready. Kathryn has concerns about their marriage  and wants to go see Dr. Hopper for counseling. David agrees to do so and opts for breakfast at home instead of going to Granny’s for coffee. Back at the loft, Mary Margaret also stays home for breakfast, with a sad look at the clock.

They both end up at Granny’s at 7:45 instead. “She’s not pregnant,” says David. And they share True Love’s kiss.

Next week: After witnessing the kiss between Mary Margaret and David, Regina is on a bit of a rampage.

New characters: Sleepy, Stealthy, Doc (we met Grumpy in the first episode)

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.