Original Air Date: 22 January 2012
Best Quote:
Grumpy: No.
Snow: Why? You of all people should understand. You've lost love. What if your pain could be erased?
Grumpy: I don't want my pain erased. As wretched as it is, I need my pain. It makes me who I am. It makes me Grumpy.
Review: Ain't love grand? And it becomes even more powerful when the lovers find themselves torn apart by outside forces. OK, you know that only happens in fairytales and romantic movies, since in reality, obstacles most often than not break people up instead of bringing them together, but that's why we watch TV and fall in love with the idea of true love. And this is why "7:15 A.M." has become one of my favorite episodes of this show's freshman run.
So this week's installment was about love. The kind of love that can bring incredible joy, but also a pain so great that, sometimes, it can only be cured by death. Or by Rumpelstiltskin's magic potion, one that can make you forget entirely about your soul mate. Robert Carlyle managed to steal the screen once more, even if he was only present for a couple of minutes, and I can't wait to see what's up with the hairs he took from Snow White.
But the episode is not about him. It is, instead, about Snow and James and their Storybrooke counterparts. And while all kinds of obstacles got in the way of the false prince and the banished princess, including Snow's own decision to take her pain away by drinking the potion Rumple had made for her, things in the real world are not much better. It's a game of finding and avoiding each other that they play, one that can only have one single outcome: admit the feelings they have for each other and understand that they can't run from that no matter how hard they are trying. And no matter how much Regina gets in their way.
In both the fairytale world and Storybrooke, James and Snow have become my favorite characters. He's exactly what a Prince Charming should be like - though I can't help but consider David somewhat of a coward for not being able to sever the tie with his wife. But OUaT's Snow White is exactly what a heroine should be like: strong, determined, passionate and a lot of fun to watch and, despite Ginnifer Goodwin's fragile look, the part suits her like a glove.
This week's installment also showed us how Snow White met her faithful companions from the original story - the seven dwarfs. Who, in reality, were eight, with Stealthy getting himself killed as he tried to break Grumpy out of the prison cell where he found himself locked up for a crime he didn't commit. I can't wait to see more of them - and I love the fact that they didn't cast actual dwarfs to play them, but for now let me just tell you that I am beyond excited about Grumpy. The character, as so many others that have been modified to fit this series, has been reinvented as a man who had lost his love, much like Snow, and is now owning his pain since it makes him who he is. A lot of philosophy from a guy who spends his days in a mine, but a life lesson to be learned by each and every one of us: the experiences we go through, good or bad, make us who we are and we shouldn't want to change any of that.
I will not end this post before mentioning Emma's small arc - following the stranger around. It was the first thing she did in her new position as a request from Regina and, though we still don't know the guy's name, we know he is a writer. A sexy motorcycle driving mysterious writer, whose last name I half expect it to be Grimm or Perault. The one who meets Snow White's daughter, becomes her happily ever after and writes about the story of how Emma saved the fairytale world. Yeah, I know, I have a prolific imagination. Once Upon a Time 1x09: True North Back to Season 1
