We get more of Snow White and Charming’s fairytale land story without too much of their angsty relationship in Storybrooke. Yes, this is mostly because Mary Margaret is now in jail on suspicion of having murdered James’s wife Kathryn, but more Snow/Charming with less angst? Win! The evidence is mounting against Mary Margaret: Kathryn’s heart is found at the bridge where Mary Margaret and James liked to meet in Mary Margaret’s jewelry box, with her fingerprints on the inside.

The fact that Mary Margaret is the lead suspect brings Emma and Henry back together finally talking about Operation Cobra again, at least a little bit. Even better, Henry has a run in with Storybrooke’s very own handsome stranger, August, at the diner. Their conversation is hugely exciting, in terms of seeing where the story is going. August tells Henry that the answers to the charges against Mary Margaret may be found in Henry’s book. He knows, he says, because he is a believer, and he is in Storybrooke to help others – namely, Emma – believe as well!

Best of all, though, is that James is starting to recover bits of memories from his fairy tale life.

<3<3<3

There is not much that needs to be said about the fairy tale storyline, other than it is the kind I love the most – fitting together the puzzle of Snow and Charming’s relationships. In Heart of Darkness we see what Snow is like after she takes Rumplestiltskin’s potion that causes her to forget Charming completely, and it isn’t pretty. When true love is at stake, however, we know that someone will find a way.

Honestly, I was disappointed in the finale. After all of the hype – that we were finally going to get to know who A was – it was kind of a let down. Not only because I figured it out last week but because Mona clearly isn’t the end. So we still don’t really know who A is. I feel misled.

I get that they have to keep the show going. But still.

Is next season going to be about finding Maya’s killer? I’m not sure how well they’re tracking the books at this point (I’ve still only read the first two).

What did you think?

The past several episodes were a huge red herring as far as I’m concerned with the major question being can Rick protect the group by killing Randall? Rick thought he could, almost did, and then faltered in the end. But…I think a lot of that was because Randall wasn’t really a threat, at least not yet. He was a potential threat and so it really was inhumane to just kill him. Shane pushed for his death because he could maybe be a problem down the road and Shane really doesn’t have a problem killing people. But I also think it was just about this constant conflict between Rick and Shane and Shane always trying to push Rick out.

Lori goes and has a conversation with Shane…that…well I can’t blame her. I think she deserves to be cut some slack, but ultimately, I suppose it wasn’t really helpful and she was just trying to ease her own guilt for how badly everything turned out and all the poor decisions she made along the way. Shane is obviously really touched and reacts by going to grab Randall out of the barn. Oh yeah but first Carl told Shane it was his fault what happened with Dale and Shane tells Rick and Rick talks to Carl and tells him no more kid stuff. I didn’t make the connection last week that it was the same walker that Carl was torturing that ended up killing Dale. But yeah, Dale’s death is Carl’s fault, even if it wasn’t intentional.

So Shane takes Randall out into the woods and pretends he’s going to join his group but then kills him. And then beats himself up against a tree and runs back to the panicked group and tells them that Randall escaped and beat him up, etc. And so Rick, Daryl, and Glen join Shane in the woods and they partner off and look for Randall. Daryl and Glen find him and he’s zombified! But also not bitten! Great development, to be honest, it’s the only way such a mass spread of the zombie virus makes sense to me. So yes I’m glad this is a part of the mythology.

Meanwhile, Shane finally decides to go through with his plan of murdering Rick, but Rick knows what he’s up to. Shane says he can take better care of everyone than Rick, Rick tries to talk Shane down and ends up killing him. IT WAS SO GOOD. And so the real question all along about whether or not Rick could kill someone when it mattered was answered–yes he can. And yet as he was there, bent over Shane’s body, crying, “you did this to us” it was hard not to be moved. Perfect way for it to happen in many ways. Rick tried so hard for so long to ignore the truth about Shane, but it was no longer able to be ignored. Carl was standing there witnessing the whole thing and manages to shoot Shane as he rises again…so now Rick and Carl know too.

But! In the most exciting news ever, A HUGE HERD OF ZOMBIES is coming to the farm. I think the finale is going to be great, but I’m sad it’s already happening. I’ll miss the show.

Me: *switches from The Walking Dead to Pretty Little Liars* No Zombies there.
Hubby: Except that dead girl that’s talking to them.
Me: Right.

What do we think about nonsupernatural shows using supernatural elements?

This recap is going to be pretty recap-less.  Mostly it was just all Jenna…Melissa…Jenna…Melissa…CREEPY CHILD…Jenna…Melissa…CREEPY TALKING DOLLS…sexytimes…JENNA SEES!

I think A is Mona. She hated Alison. And maybe befriending Hanna was just part of the long con. And we already know she’s pretty crafty. It can’t be Garrett and Melissa. They’re just the red herring for the second to last episode, right?

Also, I loved that Chris Isaak cover. Aria and Ezra really do get the best music.

We know that Henry claims that nobody can leave Storybrooke, and thus far this does appear to be true – other than his own foray to Boston to find Emma in the first place, but he is not actually from the fairy tale world, so these rules might not apply to him (even if that does raise questions about his claim that time stands still in Storybrooke). Is this a further attempt by Regina to keep Mary Margaret and David apart? Incidentally, I’m wondering if they are the ones who have the ability to break the spell, the degree to which she is determined to keep them apart seems predicated on more than her hatred of Snow White. If not Regina, did David have something to do with it? The possibly doctored phone records Regina comes up with certainly suggest so. Or, perhaps, it is the curse itself which is acting either to keep everyone within Storybrooke or to deny happy endings. We’ve certainly heard insinuations from Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold that the curse may be more than Regina truly comprehends.

The Kathryn/Mary Margaret storyline was not the main one, however. In this episode, we get to see how Grumpy became, well, Grumpy. There was a hint that he was not always such a surly character in 7:15, and now that is being developed further, so we can fully comprehend how the loss of love turned him from a dreamer to a grump. There isn’t much here that speaks to the main point of how we got to a place where Regina finds it necessary to curse the world, but with the contact that Snow will eventually have with the dwarfs, and Grumpy in particular, this is a very interesting character study. Grumpy/Leroy’s Storybrooke story is a bit less compelling, other than showing that some of the good and romantic man that once existed in him still remains.

This week’s episode alleviated some of those concerns, in what was one of the more interesting episodes from the perspective of how the group is going to govern themselves in their new world. Rick came to the decision that they needed to kill their prisoner, Randall. Dale was horrified and asked for more time to get the group to come around and Rick agreed. So basically the whole episode was about Dale trying to get people to come around to a more humane decision. No one really agreed with him, though, and tensions escalated as they met to make the decision as a group. It was interesting how they offered different perspectives. Daryl wanted to withdraw from the decision making because he felt the group was broken. Carol just didn’t want to have culpability either way–in other words, Carol WANTED a government to make a decision for her. Dale pleaded his case with passion, that if they killed the prisoner all of their civilization was gone. Shane was certain that killing him was the only way to ensure their long term safety.

Dale was horrified at their almost..indifference? Truth be told, while most of the group came around to support the decision to kill him, it wasn’t as if they had terribly strong feelings either way. The only thing that gave me a glimmer of hope was that Andrea eventually came around to support Dale’s viewpoint.

Dale took off, and Rick went to kill Randall…only to discover he couldn’t actually go through with it. But as night fell, Dale was attacked by a zombie in a brutal way. As he lay dying, Daryl put a bullet in him to end his suffering.

I was shocked by Dale’s death. The episode clearly laid out that Dale equals humanity to the group so his death has huge implications. I suspect we are about to head into very dark times. Of course, Rick being unable to go through with the execution means there is a glimmer of hope, but wow. Also the nature of his death was so awful. There has to be consequences to this. One nice bit of symmetry I guess was opening the episode with Daryl torturing the prisoner and ending it with Daryl putting Dale out of his suffering.

The only other thing of note in this episode is that Carl is becoming creepy. He’s obviously becoming desensitized and doesn’t care about things like human comfort. Torturing that zombie was just plain weird and what exactly was he planning to do when he snuck in on the prisoner?

Emily gets a text from Maya saying she’s okay but not to tell anyone.

Aria meets this new Duncan fellow who knows a lot about Allison but didn’t know she was dead. And he saw her the weekend she went missing. Weirdly, Aria gets in an airplane with him. It looks really bumpy and makes me anxious. Then she actually flies the plane. And it gets bumpier. Which makes me even more anxious. But she does learn that Allison was in Rosewood hours before they thought she was the day she went missing.

Toby is back. And hanging with Jenna again.

Aria’s mom goes to see Ezra. She tells him she’s not really on his side. Ezra goes to Aria’s dad and tells him he’s not taking the job in Louisiana. Ooh…challenge.

Spencer tells her mom about her father’s involvement in looking for Allison. Turns out that was her idea. And at the end she seems to be opening up to Jason a little. Can’t really blame her for not wanting to be around him though.

Jason gives the girls a bag of Allison’s things. At first they think it’s worthless stuff, but they discover that the newspaper it is wrapped in has secret highlighting code. But – frustratingly – they don’t try to figure it out. When Hanna goes over to Jason’s to get the bag back, she discovers a burning house with Jenna inside. She rescues Jenna just before the house explodes. Was “A” trying to kill Jenna?

The girls are figuring it out. Only two episodes left and we’re promised the big “A” reveal in the finale. I’m done trying to guess. I just want to know. But wouldn’t it be great if it were Ezra or Emily’s dad or someone totally random?

Maya’s run away. But in a nice father-daughter bonding exercise, Emily discovers that Maya may not have made it on the bus to San Francisco like she planned.

Melissa comes clean with Spencer. She’s been talking to Garrett and telling him how their dad was relieved when Allison went missing. Melissa is convinced Allison was blackmailing him. And Spencer may have found the proof. When she confronts her dad, they go back to his office and find a missing gun. And pictures of Allison. Which were supposedly give to a private investigator to figure out what happened to Allison and try to protect Melissa, who Spencer’s dad suspected.

Hanna’s mom and creepy detective man have teamed up to try to figure out who gave Hanna the police report. But they’re not discreet enough to hide this from Hanna. Aria tries to tell Hanna’s mom that she sent the police report but the moms don’t buy it and start talking.

Aria’s mom is still somewhat cool with the Ezra thing but she’s reluctant to tell Aria’s father. But maybe baby brother Mike can get through to him?

Finally, the girls go to a new address that creepy cell phone guy gave them and find a doll hospital. And someone who mistakes Aria for Vivian…

First, this show confuses me. I must not be paying attention 100% of the time because I feel a bit lost on occasion. But I am excited that we’ll finally know who A is. That’s kind of why I’ve been putting off reading the rest of the books. I don’t want to know until the show tells me. I have NO idea who it is at this point.

On a personal note, I would have liked a father-daughter dance as a teenager. Did you guys have things like these? I only ever had mother-daughter luncheons/teas. Because mothers plan those kinds of things and fathers don’t.

August and Emma are a minor part of the story of this episode, though, and honestly the fairy tale land storyline seems to be more or less just filler as well. The real heart of this episode lies in the love triangle between Mary Margaret, David, and Kathryn. Mary Margaret is sick of sneaking around keeping their relationship a secret, and requests that David tell Kathryn the truth. At the same time, Kathryn has applied to law school in Boston and thinks a new start will help save her marriage. David tells her that he can’t come with her, but not about Mary Margaret – although she finds out about the affair from Regina and confronts Mary Margaret at school. David certainly has fallen a long way from his brave and honorable life as Charming, he really needs to be redeemed soon, or it will become very, very difficult to root for their relationship, particularly now that his bad decisions have made Mary Margaret into perhaps the most despised woman in town.

The Charming and Snow storyline in fairy tale land is wonderfully charming (sorry), when we are able to see it, but their relationship is Storybrooke is just becoming obnoxious and soap opera-y. What we really need, I think, is more Henry. Because of Regina’s restrictions he has been largely left out of many of the recent story lines, but he is the impetus for the changes happening in Storybrooke, even down to bringing Emma into town. In these episodes where is a bit player at best the cause of awakening the fairy tale characters from their curse is all but lost, which takes some of the power away from the show. It may be that our mysterious writer, sorry, August, will take over much of this role, which could be good because Henry’s character was getting annoying at times, but the Storybrook story really needs to regain its path so that Once Upon a Time doesn’t jump the shark.

I apologize for missing the last two weeks. But I’m back with a somewhat spotty recap. I am sure all three of you readers are just jumping with joy.

A is targeting Mona now. And she learns the truth about how Hanna got out of those shoplifting charges way back in season 1.

Spencer gets the $2000 for Alison’s old information. Once she turns it over, she gets an address. The girls are disappointed with this lack of information.  When the go to the mystery address, some homeless guy and an alarm scare them away. Talk about anti-climactic.

Aria finally told her friends she is still seeing Ezra, after telling them that mom and dad are ready to hunt down “A.” Seems like more and more people are going to be looking for “A” soon, huh?

Caleb decoded more info for the girls. The video continues to show…Melissa! They all want to hand the video over to the cops immediately, but they allow Spencer one night to talk to her sister. But instead of meeting Spencer, Melissa jumps into a car with Garrett (and they went to the OBGYN together earlier? Weird). So Spencer goes home with Wren instead? I guess she’s owed some makeout time after Toby’s disappearance.

Meanwhile, Emily is hanging out with the kind-of-creepy-still-in-the-closet girl whose name I can never remember. And it looked like Ezra may have actually broken up with Aria. But it didn’t stick. Again. Thanks to her mom this time. Also, Melissa appears to be even more involved because of some junk mail Hanna received (I may have missed this part).

Finally, the police show up at Maya’s door. They have news about Maya. And the gloved mystery person turns out to be a very good shot. Dun dun dun.

My questions:

• Do Spencer’s parents ever care where she is?
• Is Mona joining the gang? Will that make her less annoying?
• Is the music on this show getting better? It was always fine, but lately I’ve been in love with it. Did you hear Ingrid Michaelson this week? Or maybe Aria and Ezra just get the best music.
• Wouldn’t the police got to Maya’s parents and not her girlfriend’s house with news of her demise?