Should Once Upon a Time keep Mary Margaret and David apart?

The wise, brave, spear-wielding Snow White who was hunting in the Fairy Tale Land forest is a kick to watch. Loved the scenes with Snow, even the melancholy ones from this episode where she was so heartbroken that she considered taking a potion to make her forget she ever knew Prince Charming.

Snow White saved her beloved’s life in Fairy Tale Land, as she’s done numerous times as Mary Margaret in Storybrooke, by telling him she didn’t love him in order for his arranged marriage to proceed and for him to continue living. (The Prince’s adopted father — Charles Widmore from Lost — threatened to have the Prince killed if Snow White didn’t dump him.) This was followed quickly by the crushed Snow wandering aimlessly in the forest, being taken under the wing of Grumpy and his band of six pals. The last we saw of her, she had consumed the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind juice Rumplestiltskin had given her in exchange for a piece of her hair. Prince Charming who?

What twisty, heart-rending drama. Good stuff. Seriously.

Events in Fairy Tale Land are proceeding in intriguing fashion to fill in the gap between the characters’ back stories and the moment where we began this journey, with Prince kissing Snow from a lethal slumber, marrying her, her giving birth to Emma then all of them (except for Emma) being exiled to Storybrooke with its mass cases of amnesia and time standing still. But what’s now unfolding in Storybrooke, where the future isn’t predetermined, is making me scratch my head a bit and fret for the show’s future. They can’t really allow Mary Margaret and David to hook up, can they, at least not without putting an end to the romantic tension?

I would’ve been thoroughly on board with the kiss they shared in this Once Upon a Time episode had David not previously repeatedly pulled Mary Margaret toward him (emotionally and physically), only to then push her away and lie with another woman in bed. After David initially started to regain flashes of memory and affection for Mary Margaret, he lavished her with statements like, “I didn’t choose her,” referring to Kathryn, who said she is his wife. (In Fairy Tale Land, Kathryn was the woman to whom the Prince was engaged, under extreme duress so the Prince’s father could get access to the woman’s father’s fortune.) “I’m choosing you,” David told Mary Margaret. When Mary Margaret tried to be good, telling David she couldn’t get involved with a married man, he said of Kathryn, “She needs someone to feel about her the way I feel about you.” Who wouldn’t swoon?

Wearing the ring Prince Charming’s Fairy Tale Land mother gave to him to give to his bride, Mary Margaret waited for David so they could begin their new life together. But the confused David got cold feet after spying a windmill in Mr. Gold’s pawn shop (Kathryn had told him they had a windmill). He told the hopeful, beaming Mary Margaret that he had to try to make it work with Kathryn. (The scene of Snow White letting Prince Charming down in this episode was an echo of this earlier one, although David wasn’t cutting Mary Margaret lose in order to save her life.)

So after all the push and pull, David couldn’t resist locking lips with Mary Margaret in public, particularly after learning that Kathryn wasn’t pregnant? That annoyed me. Felt like David was using Mary Margaret.

Can this couple move forward with a Storybrooke relationship without sabotaging some of the romantic chemistry that has made viewers adore their storyline? While I love this couple together, despite David’s Derek Shepherd-like behavior, I hope that putting them together doesn’t damage the dramatic tension.

And about the “stranger,” that motorcycle riding writer with an old school, manual typewriter in a wooden box … intriguing to say the least, especially in light of Regina’s tremendous unease at his presence.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Jan 23, 2012 @ 14:31 EST5EDT