The best thing about a show as inconsistent as Once Upon A Time is that it’s easy to be surprised because you never know what the quality is going to be from episode to episode. After a genuinely moving installment last week, imagine my shock when I found myself enthralled by “Welcome To Storybrooke,” a Regina-centric episode that tells of the early days after the casting of the Dark Curse. The flashback begins right after Regina turns the fairy tale kingdom into a quaint New England suburb, discovering the new world she’s created along with new desires now that she has everything she wanted. We know that time was wonky in Storybrooke up until Emma showed up, and it turns out that all of the town is on a Groundhog Day time loop that only Regina is aware of. She goes through her days telling people what to do and having sex with the oh-so-smoldering Sheriff Graham, but she’s not happy until she meets a little boy who has wandered into town with his father during a camping trip. Also, it’s 1983.
Once Upon A Time is at its best when it humanizes Regina, a villain who is often as cartoonish and one-dimensional as her animated counterpart. Her experience with Kurt Flynn and his son Owen shows how she has yet to shed her Evil Queen persona in this different environment, but it also shows Regina in an early moment of weakness during a time when she has complete control. Kurt and Owen are camping when the Dark Curse hits, and they decide to explore this new town that drops in the middle of the Maine forest. The time lapse in Storybrooke poses some interesting questions that I’m not going to spend much time on, like do Kurt and Owen experience the same repetition of time as Regina? What about Henry when he arrives? That last question will probably be addressed in a different flashback, but the first one is a pretty big plot hole.
Kurt and Owen make themselves comfortable in town while their car is being worked on, and Regina befriends them in an effort to give herself the family she desperately wants. Regina goes to Mr. Gold to talk to him about the curse and how unhappy she is now that everyone just obeys her without question, but he pretends that he has no idea what she’s talking about. Owen is someone that will talk back to Regina, and she realizes that she wants the love of a child who has a choice whether or not to love its parent. A mayor’s subjects will always try to remain in her good favor, but a child doesn’t have those same considerations. Owen will sit in Regina’s seat at Regina’s diner, and he won’t get up when she tells him; that’s what makes it all the more satisfying when he gives up the seat willingly. She’ll do anything to get Owen to want her, and she’ll do anything to keep him when his father decides that he wants to go back to their old life in Jersey rather than starting a new one in a strange town that appeared out of thin air.
In present day Storybrooke, Regina continues to go to insane measures to get small boys to like her, discovering a scroll in her mother’s old gown that outlines the Curse of the Empty-Hearted, which creates the illusion of love by killing a person that is deeply hated. If Regina takes Snow White’s heart, she can use it to cast the curse on Henry. When Rumpelstiltskin shares this information, Henry runs off to destroy magic in Storybrooke by blowing up the wishing well, giving Jared Gilmore way too much to do. This show actually has pretty good luck with child actors except for the one that is in the regular cast, and Benjamin Stockham is great as Owen in the flashback. He’s adorable but is also relaxed on camera, with a natural line delivery that puts Gilmore to shame. It’s understandable why Henry is so moody, considering the circumstances of his life, but all of his emotions are obviously performed rather than realistically lived. He’s just not a good actor, and everyone else on this show is undeniably talented, even if they don’t get the best material sometimes.