Once Upon a Time – David’s a big, fat, coward … unlike Prince Charming

Explain to me this: How is it that Prince Charming can be so utterly, well, charming and gallant in Fairy Tale Land and yet be such a weaselly wimp in Storybrooke? Is his contemporary worminess a side effect of his coma, because the David we see in current time doesn’t hold a candle to the lovesick Prince Charming who was willing to risk everything, including his life, for love in his royal backstory.

First, David wanted to keep illicitly sneaking around behind his wife’s back, transforming Mary Margaret, the woman who he believes is his true love, into a mistress. Instead of breaking up with his wife, with whom he had no memories nor chemistry, before moving ahead with his relationship with Mary Margaret, he wanted the best of both worlds.

Then, when Mary Margaret insisted that he be honest, David agreed to be honest with Kathryn. Only he chickened out and instead of telling her about how he’d fallen for Mary Margaret, he said he and Kathryn weren’t “clicking” and that she should go to Boston, to law school, without him (only she’s unaware of the fact that, like the Hotel California, once you check into Storybrooke, you can never leave, at least not without Regina’s okay). Because he remained silent, David enabled Regina to be the one to tell Kathryn about his affair and Regina gleefully helped spread word all over town that Mary Margaret was a home-wrecker. (Regina’s trusty can of spray paint was a helpful tool for her make-shift, shaming billboard on Mary Margaret’s car.) How uncharming of David.

Now, to make matters worse, according to previews for the next episode, there’s going to be a missing person investigation because Kathryn, who was attempting to leave Storybrooke, has “vanished,” and Mary Margaret will be one of the key suspects. I’ll give the writers this much, I didn’t see this twist coming.

See why I like Fairy Tale Land so much better? There, Prince Charming can face down a shape-shifter who tried to seduce him by pretending to be Snow White in order to fill a canteen with magic water in order to free his reluctant fiance’s lost love from his tomb of gold. In Fairy Tale Land, Prince Charming says romantic things like how he’ll always find Snow White, even if it means risking his neck, literally. I don’t see David, in his current state, doing anything like that.

I don’t know what to make, frankly, of the other guy skulking around Storybrooke, August W. Booth, who, appears to have re-written or re-imagined or re-something Henry’s fairy tale book then planted it near Emma’s car. (It went missing after Regina had his secret hiding place, the play scape at the park, demolished.) Are we supposed to surmise that this dude was hired by Regina to fashion a new book of stories to persuade Henry to read only the tales Regina wants him to read? Or does the writer guy have some sort of power to change the future and/or the past? Who knows if now the entire premise upon which the pilot episode was based — that Henry knew the backstories of all of Storybrooke’s inhabitants because of a book Mary Margaret had given him — is put into question.

Having Emma drink “magic” water from a “magic” pond that’s allegedly beneath the well (along with the rest of Fairy Tale Land), that, I’m assuming that’s supposed to be the same lake from which Emma’s dad drew the water to free Frederick from the golden suit of armor. It appeared as though the writer dude August was scamming Emma by telling her that, by drinking the water, she’d supposedly get back something she lost. Then poof! Henry’s missing book is in a metal case beneath the tire of her car. Regardless of August’s trick, do you think that water has magic powers in Storybrooke?

What do you think, did the Once Upon a Time writers leave us with enough questions to mull over and discuss for the next two weeks until the next new episode?

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Feb 19, 2012 @ 22:29 EST5EDT