Welcome to Storybrooke: A Season in Review

Spoiler Alert. The most recent episode of ABC's Once Upon a Time aired last Sunday, and was called "Welcome to Storybrooke." In this episode, time switches between the Storybrooke of the 1980's and the present day version. When Regina enacts the curse, Storybrooke plops down onto unsuspecting campers, Flynn and his child, Owen. After staying a little while in the town, the two realize that it's a bit creepy (to say nothing of the strange mayor) and attempt to leave. Meanwhile Regina has discovered, within the course of a week, that cursed life isn't all it was cracked up to be and longs to share her version of heaven with someone, namely Owen and Flynn. In an attempt to force them to stay she appears to capture Flynn while allowing Owen to run off into the real world (alone). In the present day, Mary Margaret is consumed with guilt over killing her enemy's evil mother (in an admittedly tricky way), and Regina stops Henry from attempting to blow up the wishing well (thinking it will destroy magic). Regina renounces her design to force Henry to love her, and when later confronted by Mary Margaret with a death wish, denies MM that release and instead points out her darkened heart and predicts MM's downfall. Greg, seeming newcomer, captures all of this on his camera phone and is revealed to be Owen all grown up and searching for his father, thus his motive for coming to and remaining in Storybrooke.

The episode, though in many respects very gratifying, leaves much to be desired in terms of helping the show out of its tangled knot this season, as it painfully points out some of the ongoing problems Once has faced this year.

Rumpelstiltskin and Jane Eyre

Though most wouldn't deny that Jane Eyre (a nineteenth-century novel by Romantic author, Charlotte Bronte) shares themes of Beauty and the Beast just as many stories based on redemptive love do, the Once version of Beauty and the Beast, and in particular Rumpelstiltskin's story, has just as many interesting parallels to the Victorian novel as it does to the original fairytale.

Mr. Gold (Season One)

The writers of Once Upon a Time have cast Rumpelstiltskin in the role of the Beast and added Emilie de Ravin's Belle to that mix; however, unlike the traditional Beast protagonist, in this version the Beast is not only physically repulsive, but morally reprehensible as well. Also, unlike the traditional tale, the Beast has several lovers pre-Beauty, and throws Beauty out at the "end" of the story (Skin Deep). This deviance from the traditional Beauty and the Beast plot actually matches fairly well with Bronte's novel.

In the novel, the anti-hero, Rochester, slowly falls in love with a young woman named Jane (twenty years his junior) who is working for him at his estate, Thornfield.  Jane is the caretaker and governess of Rochester's ward, Adele. In the course of the story, we discover that Rochester has had two important women in his life before meeting Jane, and will have a dalliance with one more before he confesses his love for Jane. Though she feels the same and the two plan to marry, Jane finds out (on the wedding day, no less) that Rochester is already married, having hidden his insane wife in the upper rooms of his house. Jane leaves Rochester, traveling on her own across the countryside before being rescued by her cousins and forming a new life for herself (going through a slight bought of amnesia in the process). When a supernatural experience causes her to return to him, she finds his house burned to the ground, and discovers that his mad wife set it on fire, then killed herself. Rochester, though now blind in one eye and a cripple, reunites with Jane and the two marry and have a son.

Don't quite see the connections yet?

Pirate Milah

Well, for starters, there's Bertha Mason, the wife of Rochester's youth, whom his father and brother tricked him into marrying. Bertha is hinted at being a raucous, racy woman, possibly unfaithful to Rochester, who slowly goes insane until she has to be locked up for her own safety. While Milah, Rumpelstitlskin's wife, doesn't go insane, her carefree personality and thirst for a dangerous life (i.e. Hook and the pirates) is similar to Bertha's desire for pleasure and greater license. It is also worth noting that Bertha has an unmitigated wrath toward Rochester, similar to Milah's hatred for Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin spends a great deal of time tending Milah, just as Rochester ultimately becomes Bertha's caretaker.

Milah in bed (The Crocodile)

The main difference here, beside the point that, unlike Bertha, Milah does give Rumpelstiltskin a child, is that Rumpelstiltskin is responsible for Milah's death in a more direct way than Rochester is for Bertha's. Still, the effects of the first wife in both men's lives, whether symbolically or literally, is long lasting and in some ways impedes the last romance.

A Timeline for ABC's Once Upon a Time (Updated!)

This is a timeline for ABC's Once Upon a Time. This is a fan-made timeline that uses Rumpelstiltskin as a marker for the years and events of the show thus far (Season Two). While the dates may not be exact, the increments between events should be fairly accurate based on known information.

This Timeline was created with help from several fans through the Once Upon a Fan website.
Abbreviations: B.D.O. = Before Dark One; A.D.O. = After Dark One
If you haven't watched the show, obviously this is a Major Spoiler Warning.
   

                                                                                                

Timeline (300 years)

Dates of Major Events:

• 55 (?) B.D.O.  Rumple is born.  
• 24 B.D.O.  The Seer is born
• 14 B.D.O. - Baelfire is born. Rumpelstiltskin (age 41) goes to the Ogre Wars. He meets the Seer (age 10). (Manhattan)
• 7 B.D.O. - Milah runs off with Hook. Rumpelstiltskin is humiliated and tells Bae (age 7) that Milah died. (The Crocodile)
• 0 A.D.O. (After Dark One) - Baelfire is sent to the Ogre Wars. Rumpelstiltskin (age 55) becomes the Dark One. Baelfire (14) goes through the portal. Rumpelstiltskin learns of a curse that will send him after Baelfire (via the Blue Fairy). Rumpelstiltskin stops aging. (Desperate Souls) (The Return)
•  6 A.D.O. - Rumpelstiltskin finds the Seer again (she is now age 30). He takes Seer's powers and stops wearing his fur cape at some point thereafter, trading it for his Crocodile-skin tunic and frock coat. (Manhattan)
• 7 (?) A.D.O. Rumpelstiltskin encounters Hook again while looking for a bean (still testing all his options?). He kills Milah and cuts off Hook's hand. Hook goes to Neverland via bean. (The Crocodile)

185 years (or so) go by.

• 192 (?) ADO - Gepetto and Granny are born.
• 199 ADO - Rumpelstiltskin gets involved with Jimminy Cricket and Gepetto's family (Gepetto age 7). Cora is born? (That Still Small Voice)
• 208 ADO - Granny becomes a werewolf. (Second Ogre War?) (Red-Handed)
• 216 ADO - Cora and Rumpelstiltskin strike a deal and Cora learns magic. Cora marries Prince Henry. Within the year, Regina is born (?). (The Miller's Daughter)
• 22? - Twins James and David are born. Rumpelstiltskin makes a deal with King George. (The Shepherd)
• 227 ADO - Snow White is born.
• 235-236 ADO (?) - Queen Eva is poisoned by Cora and dies. (The Queen is Dead)
• 237 ADO - Regina rescues Snow White. Cora kills Daniel. After taking her spellbook the night before, Regina pushes Cora through the magic mirror. Regina marries Snow White's father. Cora becomes Queen of Wonderland?  (The Stable Boy) 
• 237-243 ADO - Rumpelstiltskin visits the Land Without Color and makes a deal with Frankenstein. Frankenstein's brother is killed. Regina attempts to bring back Daniel with the help of Frankenstein and Jefferson. She is unsuccessful and chooses to accept Rumpelstiltskin's offer of an apprenticeship. (The Doctor) (We Are Both) (In the Name of the Brother)
• 243/4 ADO- Snow White’s father finds the Genie. (Fruit of the Poisonous Tree)
• 244 ADO - Most of the events in the Season flashbacks occur within the year(?). (See specific timeline below.)

• 245 ADO - Regina visits Rumpelstiltskin and learns how to cast the curse. She kills her father and casts the Dark Curse. All pertinent characters not within Cora’s protection are sent to Storybrooke. (The Thing You Love Most)

All Events within Year 244 - 245 AD (generally in order, though many of these events occur simultaneously):

   Snow White                                   Rumpelstiltskin                              Prince Charming                                 Evil Queen