ONCE UPON A TIME: When “Dreamy” Met Nova

Once Upon a Time fleshed out more of the Snow White story this week by focusing on the Dwarves. One Dwarf in particular: Grumpy. Plus, Belle has a cameo and Amy Acker guest stars.

We open in Fairytale World. Above it, actually. Up in the clouds, clumsy young fairy Nova gathers Fairy Dust with the blue fairy, who admonishes her to be careful. Fairy Dust is the most important substance in the land and if Nova wants to be a Fairy Godmother, she must be responsible. As they fly away, Nova drops some of the magic glitter down, down, down…onto a giant egg.

Turns out, Dwarves aren’t born, they’re hatched. Fully grown and ready to work in the mines. As the Dwarf emerges, he recounts that he had a marvelous dream about a beautiful fairy just before he hatched. The Head Dwarf, Bossy, tells him to forget it because Dwarves don’t fall in love, get married, or have children. They mine.

Our newly hatched Dwarf still has a slightly dazed look in his eyes, but heads into the mines with his 7 “brothers” where they’re each given an ax. As each one grasps their ax, their name magically appears on the handle: Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Doc, Stealthy, Happy, Bashful, and…Dreamy. This would be adorable, except that we know he eventually becomes Grumpy.

Fast forward to a year later and Nova is in the mine gathering Fairy Dust on her own. So she’s been promoted from having to assist the Blue Fairy, but still isn’t a Fairy Godmother. Dreamy finds the lovely, and very pink, Nova there and recognizes her as the woman from his pre-natal dream. Nova promptly manages to drop the sack of Fairy Dust onto conveyor belt, where it heads for the smelter. Dreamy saves it and she is smitten by this sweet-natured Dwarf. Nova tries to invite him to watch the fireflies on the hill, but bless his heart, Dreamy doesn’t get the implied invitation and wishes a bewildered Nova a pleasant time watching the fireflies.

After work, the Dwarves assemble at the tavern for a drink, a meal, and some beard maintenance. While his brothers are in high spirits, Dreamy is morose. Brooding, even. A little cajoling fails to bring him out of his misery, but insight comes from an unexpected source: Belle. The princess has been kicked out of Rumplestiltskin’s castle, and possibly her father’s, but is still very much alive. And very much heartbroken. She correctly identifies the cause of Dreamy’s melancholy as “being in love.”  He tells her about Nova and their conversation. Belle chuckles and gently informs him that he should go to the hill to watch the fireflies. At least Dreamy has a chance to have his love returned. Poor Belle.

Dreamy meets Nova on the hill and they talk about their lives. She’s only seen the world from afar, flying above. Dreamy has only seen it from below, the dirt and diamonds. “We could see it together,” Dreamy suggests. “Get a boat, sail around the world.” Nova kisses him and agrees to meet him the next night to sail away together.

“Sounds like a dream come true,” Dreamy says, tempting the Fates.

Dreamy tries to sneak out the next night, but Stealthy lives up to his name and catches him in the act. All the Dwarves wake up, wanting to know where their brother going. Dreamy explains that he’s going to sail around the world with the woman/fairy that he loves. The Dwarves don’t really have any context for this “love” stuff, but they wish Dreamy well.

It can’t be that easy, of course. As Dreamy sets off with his rucksack, Bossy stops him. “You have a responsibility to mine the diamonds,” he tells Dreamy. That’s a Dwarf’s purpose in life. They are not capable of love, so whatever he thinks he’s feeling for Nova, it’s not love. Dreamy is still pretty sure he’s in love, but then the Blue Fairy appears and tells him that if they run away together, Nova will lose her wings. She will never get to be a Fairy Godmother. However, if he returns to the mine and allows Nova to become the great fairy she’s meant to be, the two of them can bring great joy to the world. I smell B.S., but the damage has been done.

Meet Grumpy.

Dreamy is convinced that he must turn down Nova in order to save her. Now, I thought he’d just be a no-show, but props to the Dwarf, he did go to the hill to tell her face-to-face that they can’t run (or sail) away together. Before he can say anything, Nova shows them their boat. It’s pretty awesome. But Dreamy does what he thinks is best for her, telling her that a Dwarf and Fairy don’t belong together. She is heartbroken and begs him to reconsider, to see that her dream is to be with him. But he refuses, thinking that she’d be betraying her true dream of becoming a Fairy Godmother. It’s a devastating scene, and both Lee Arenberg and Amy Acker played it with palpable emotion. When he returns to the mine,  Dreamy breaks his ax in a fury and asks for a new one. When it’s placed in his hand and his name appears, Dreamy has  become Grumpy.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Emma and (the duplicitous) Sydney are trying to find out what happened to Kathryn. Emma is convinced that David had nothing to do with it, relying on her “special power” of knowing when someone is lying as proof. But when Regina provides Kathryn’s phone records to prove that she spoke with David shortly before the car crash, it’s harder for Emma to reject the idea that David could be at fault. In the end, she takes David down to the station for questioning, as the whole town looks on.

But the real story is that of Leroy, Mary Margaret, and an adorable nun named Astrid. Because of course nuns are named Astrid.

Leroy is at Grannys eating breakfast and being his grumpy self when Mary Margaret arrives and asks for volunteers to help sell candles at the annual Miner’s Day festivities. She’s met with silence and sneers from the townsfolk. Leroy approaches a deflated Mary Margaret who perks up, thinking he wants to volunteer. No, he wants to leave and she’s standing in front of the door. Just in case we weren’t sure who’s side the town was on in Team Kathryn vs. Team Mary Margaret, Leroy tells us: “The town harlot and the town drunk? The only person this town likes less than me, is you.”

While Emma offers Mary Margaret a chance to tell us what Miner’s Day is all about (it celebrates the tradition of the nuns trading candles to the miners for coal), Leroy walks across the town square and gets dusted with snow by Astrid. The clumsy nun is up a ladder, decorating for the festival, and when she realizes what she’s done. As soon as he sees Astrid, Leroy breaks into the first smile I’ve ever seen from him. It’s both sweet and shocking.

After helping Astrid with the lights she’s stringing up, and gently admonishing her for nearly overloading the transformer, Leroy heads over to the school to volunteers to help Mary Margaret sell candles. On the other side of the room, Astrid is being not-so-gently admonished for accidentally ordering 12 dozen tanks of helium instead of just 12, which will use up the convent’s entire rent stipend. Because in Storybrooke, unused helium tanks are non-refundable.

Upset, Astrid spots Leroy and reveals that they have to sell at least 1000 candles to make the rent or Mr. Gold will evict them. If figures he was their landlord. Leroy confidently assures her that he’ll sell all the candles, as Mary Margaret tries not to roll her eyes. Unfortunately, Leroy’s description of the pair – the town drunk and the town harlot – proves correct and they have no success at the festival. He suggests going door to door instead, speculating that people will pay them to leave. As door after door is shut in their faces, their spirits sink. Unable to tell Astrid he failed, Leroy claims that they sold all of the candles. Mary Margaret is aghast but also amused as she realize that Leroy has a crush on the nun.

Hoping to find a way around the unsold candles debacle, Leroy tries to trade his boat to Mr. Gold for one month’s rent for the nuns. Mr. Gold refuses. He doesn’t like the nuns. “I have a long and complicated history with them,” he mutters.

Shortly thereafter, Astrid visits Leroy at the dock, bringing him a pie as a thank you for saving the convent. He is her hero. Until she sees the boxes of candles partially hidden under tarp. Leroy has to admit that they weren’t able to sell an single candle, but he didn’t want to let her down. Astrid is adorably disappointed. And I really like her hair.

Back to his usual grumpiness but with a tinge of sadness, Leroy mopes his way over to Granny’s where he finds Mary Margaret indulging in some liquor after her day facing the townsfolk. (Is anyone else a little weirded out that Granny’s appears to be both a regular diner and a bar?) Mary Margaret counsels him that a relationship with Astrid is impossible. From experience, she says, there are consequences to not doing what society thinks is right. Like having a relationship with a married man, or falling in love with a nun.

“What about your good memories? Do you regret them?” Leroy counters. At least Mary Margaret has good memories of her times with David whereas he never even got to have a special moment with Astrid. “It wasn’t worth it,” Mary Margaret says hopelessly. Drinking won’t dull the pain, says the town drunk, so instead he climbs on a roof by the town square and…smashes a transformer. Bet you wish you had candles now, don’t you Storybrooke!

Faced with a blackout, the citizens of Storybrooke can’t buy candle fast enough, and they sell out the entire stock. Can Leroy have his moment with Astrid? Yes, yes he can. And the whole town, carrying candles, are almost like fireflies on a hill.

As Leroy and Astrid have their moment, Mary Margaret trudges back to her truck and sees the remnants of the word TRAMP spray painted across the windows. She is sad. For some reason, she decides to go back to the now candlelit festivities where  Granny sees her, and lights her candle from her own. A lovely, hopeful moment juxtaposed with David being lead away by Sheriff Emma.

New characters this week: Nova/Astrid

Next week: Little Red Riding Hood and a very scary wolf

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