Season 1, Episode 7:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Centric Characters: The Huntsman
Previous: The Shepherd | Next: Desperate Souls
The Huntsman: What did she do to you?
The Evil Queen: I shared a secret with her, and she couldn't keep it. And that betrayal cost me dearly.
The Evil Queen: I shared a secret with her, and she couldn't keep it. And that betrayal cost me dearly.
Sheriff Graham: There was a wolf.
Regina Mills: A wolf?
Sheriff Graham: Its eyes: one was blood red and the other was black as night. The funny thing is, I think I've seen it before.
Regina Mills: A wolf?
Sheriff Graham: Its eyes: one was blood red and the other was black as night. The funny thing is, I think I've seen it before.
At Granny's diner, Graham and Emma have a chat. Graham thinks that Emma's avoiding him since she caught him leaving Regina's house, although she insists she doesn't care. He mentions he feels nothing with Regina and suddenly kisses Emma, and as he does he sees a vision of a wolf in a forest. Emma ignores his shock to chew him out for the kiss. Saddened, Graham returns to Regina.
FLASHBACK! Snow White and the Queen mourn at the wake of Snow's father, and the Queen tells Snow that she's there for her if she needs anything. The Queen later speaks with her Magic Mirror, revealing herself to be behind the King's death, and would have murdered Snow too if not for the political backlash that would occur. They decide they need a third party to dispose of Snow, someone used to killing. A huntsman.
Cut to the huntsman, Graham's original self, completing a hunt and thanking the fallen deer for its sacrifice, and promising food to his companion, a wolf.
Graham wakes up next to Regina, and tells her that he had a dream in which he killed a deer and saw a wolf in the woods, only it felt more like a memory than a dream. Despite Regina's insistence, he leaves, and outside he sees a wolf that stares before turning away.
At Mary Margaret's apartment, Emma throws away some flowers she thinks were left by Graham, but Mary Margaret clarifies that they're for her from Dr. Whale. Emma congratulates her for getting over David, but the conversation turns toward Emma and Graham, and Mary Margaret is sure Emma has feelings for him.
Graham is following the wolf through the woods outside Storybrooke, where he encounters Mr. Gold, who claims to be gardening. Graham explains how he dreamed of a wolf and then saw a real wolf which he's now looking for. Gold casually mentions how some people think that dreams are memories from other lives.
FLASHBACK! The huntsman and his wolf go to a tavern, when the other patrons mock him. Eventually an argument arises which ends in the huntsman winning a fight. A mirror is broken in the scuffle, and the Queen watches the scene through the shards. She tells her guard to bring the huntsman to her.
Graham catches up to the wolf, and it comes to him and allows him to touch it. As he does so, he has another vision, this time of the woods, himself holding a knife over a scared-looking Mary Margaret, and a strange vault. Graham snaps back to reality, and the wolf is gone. Graham finds Mary Margaret at the school and tells her they know each other from another life.
FLASHBACK! The Queen meets with the huntsman, telling him she wants him to kill someone. He's not interested in the trappings of luxury she offers, but she tells him she needs someone who won't care about the opinions of the people to carry out the murder, which is why none of her soldiers will do. He accepts and she asks what she could give him in return. He gives a simple request, outlaw the hunting of wolves, before asking who his target is.
Graham tells Mary Margaret he doesn't remember when he met her or anyone else in town, and she admits she doesn't either, but doesn't think that's proof of anything. She mentions how his idea is similar to Henry's beliefs, which intrigues him.
FLASHBACK! Snow White and the huntsman walk through the woods. Snow quickly pieces together that he's not one of the palace guards, and knows he's someone the Queen chose to kill her. She knocks him down due to his armor and runs.
Regina confronts Emma at the Sheriff Department about Graham, although she denies any meaningful relationship with him. Regina angrily tells her to stay away from Graham.
Graham, meanwhile, is at Regina's house, but it's Henry he wants to talk to. He asks Henry if he's in the storybook.
FLASHBACK! The huntsman finds Snow White writing a letter. She knows the woods are his turf and she'll never escape him while she's there. She gives him the letter, telling him to deliver it to the Queen after he kills her. He reads the letter, then raises his knife high before cutting a stalk and making a whistle. He tells her to blow it when she needs help and to run.
Henry explains Graham's identity as the huntsman, Mary Margaret's as Snow White, and that his kiss with Emma triggered memories because she's Snow White's daughter and therefore has a connection to him. Graham asks what happens next in his story, and Henry tells him the Queen removed his heart so he could never feel again. Graham looks at the storybook's illustration and recognizes the vault from his vision. Henry explains that it's where the Queen kept his heart. Graham realizes that the wolf was guiding him to his missing heart.
Emma meets Graham outside and he tries to explain what's going on, fully believing in the Curse now. He spots the wolf and goes after it, with Emma close behind. They reach the Storybrooke Graveyard where Graham realizes a mausoleum is the vault that contains his heart. Doubtful but knowing Graham won't give up, Emma helps him break in.
FLASHBACK! At the Queen's palace, the huntsman presents her with "Snow's" heart. He also reads the letter, telling the Queen that Snow hopes her death will satisfy the Queen and allow her to be a kind and just ruler. The Queen is unmoved and burns the letter, and reveals to the huntsman that she hates Snow because she divulged a secret which hurt the Queen severely. She takes the heart, places it in a box and holds it before her vault. None of the drawers open, and the Queen realizes the huntsman's betrayal.
In the mausoleum, which contains a sarcophagus for "Henry Mills, Beloved Father", Graham scours the area for his heart. Regina shows up to leave flowers for her father, and Graham claims responsibility for the vandalism but refuses to go with her, saying that he feels nothing for her, and not because of Emma. Regina accuses Emma of taking everything from her, but Emma refutes this by saying that Henry sought her out, and Graham kissed her unprompted, so maybe the fault lies with Regina. This results in a fist fight which Graham breaks up before following Emma out of the graveyard.
At the Sheriff Department, Graham laments to Emma about Regina, saying he doesn't know why he was ever with her.
Regina, alone in the crypt, slides the sarcophagus over to reveal a hidden staircase.
FLASHBACK! The Queen rages at the huntsman, and extracts his heart in lieu of Snow's, proclaiming that he belongs to her now. She demonstrates that she can torture him by squeezing the heart before ordering her guards to take him to her bedchamber. She places his heart in the vault.
Regina descends the stairs into the Queen's vault, now in Storybrooke. She opens a drawer and takes out a box containing a heart.
At the Sheriff Department, Emma and Graham share a kiss and Graham experiences one more vision, and in that moment he is freed from the Curse. He tells Emma he remembers and thanks her.
Regina considers Graham's heart in her hand, before squeezing and crushing it to dust.
Graham collapses in pain and within seconds is dead, to Emma's horror.
Tropes
- Almost Kiss: Sort of. Before Emma and Graham can kiss again, Regina kills him.
- Arc Symbol: The antlered crest from Regina's vault, which Graham keeps seeing in his memory flashes.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Snow White decides that she'll let the Huntsman kill her rather than try to outrun him, when he'll inevitably catch her.
- Couch Gag: The title card features the huntsman's wolf.
- Cryptic Background Reference: Or in this case, foreground; Graham, delirious and chasing the wolf through the woods, comes upon Gold doing some mysterious digging which is left unexplained other than an offhand (and blatantly false) claim of "gardening". It's not until "The Return" that this is explained.
- Damsel out of Distress: Or before she's even in distress more likely. Snow White identified the Huntsman as an assassin at once and was able to get a head-start before he makes a move.
- Death in the Limelight: Graham is killed in the same episode which reveals his backstory.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Not precisely (since his death occurs when he first collapses on the floor as Regina crushes his heart), but Graham is held in Emma's arms afterward, once she realizes he is dead and cannot be saved.
- Double-Meaning Title: Aside from the Literary Allusion Title explained below, it references Graham being the Huntsman, his heart being taken and controlled by Regina, and of course the fairy tale Backstory of being tasked to kill Snow White and bring back her heart (and bringing one belonging to an animal instead).
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted technically. The Queen carries the Huntsman's heart and so is able to control what he does - meaning she forces him to have sex with her. It's presented as an unambiguously despicable act. He even looks horrified as the Queen says "bring him to my bedchamber". However Regina never gets called out on this particular evil, likely because no one ever finds out about it.
- By extension, the episode also shows that Regina and Graham's relationship in Storybrooke has been rape-via-mind-control, as he was an unwilling participant in the Enchanted Forest and presumably would still have been unwilling in the "real world" if it weren't for the Dark Curse altering his memories to include hooking up with Regina voluntarily.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Not only does Graham get his memories back right before he's killed, but the reason Regina kills him is simply over his betrayal in leaving her for Emma—yet by doing so when she does, she prevents Graham from telling Emma what he remembered. Meaning her secret as the Evil Queen is still safe, and Emma still won't believe Henry, taking the entirety of the season before finally doing so.
- When Emma lashes back at Regina for blaming her for everything going wrong in her life, Emma tells her that since both Henry and Graham were the ones to run away from her, she should "look in the mirror to figure out why that is."
- Face Death with Dignity: Snow White is prepared to. This (along with the fact she wants to give her life to spare others, proving she has honor) prompts the Huntsman to spare her.
- Forgiveness: When she realizes the Huntsman intends to kill her, what is Snow White's final act (after running, but knowing she won't be able to get away)? Writing a letter to Regina apologizing for what she did to her, and praying that once her Revenge is complete she will become a good queen to her people. Regina, of course, views it only as a means of twisting the knife and burns it.
- Humans Are Bastards: The Huntsman's view, until he meets Snow White.
- In Harmony with Nature: Because he was raised by wolves, the Huntsman treats nature and the animals in it with respect, rather like Native American cultures (thanking his kills for giving their lives) and believes animals are purer because they act with honor rather than out of selfishness like people.
- Karma Houdini: Although she faces Laser-Guided Karma for her other mistakes and evil actions, Regina never faces any direct consequences of her killing Graham at any time for the rest of the show’s duration.
- Killed Off for Real: Graham gets killed off and is not revived in any capacity. The character does appear a couple of times again in flashbacks, but he stays dead. He's one of the only characters who do.
- Literary Allusion Title: To the Carson McCullers novel of the same title. It's a novel where one of the main characters cannot hear, while in this episode Graham comes to believe that due to having his heart taken by Regina, he cannot feel.
- Locked Out of the Loop: While this is of course true of all the characters in Storybrooke, Graham specifically finds out in this episode about Henry's storybook, something he wasn't aware of before—and this allows him to start putting the clues together and unraveling the mystery of his "past life flashes" and his inability to properly feel.
- Mid-Season Twist: Graham dies and it's implied that Regina remembers everything.
- Never My Fault: Emma accuses Regina of this. Regina blames everything going wrong on Emma coming to Storybrooke. Emma tears her apart on this.
- No Name Given: The Huntsman's true name is never revealed. It's quite possible he doesn't even know it himself.
- Raised by Wolves: The Huntsman's upbringing.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Emma to Regina at the end. Almost directly after Graham gives one to her.
- Reveal Shot: The episode seems to open with an actual deer in the forest (foreshadowing Graham's Enchanted Forest identity, and a later scene where he hunts one), but it's actually a picture on the board he's throwing darts at.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted. The wolf has one red eye and he's the Huntsman's friend.
- Shout-Out:
- The cynical heroine of a Fractured Fairy Tale gets told she has a wall inside her she uses to protect herself, and that while this means she won't get hurt, it also means she won't have love either. Quick, is this Emma or Virginia?* To further underscore the reference, it's Snow White who tells her this, and the episode also revolves around her possible Love Interest who has a connection to wolves, spends much of it running around sweaty and out-of-sorts, and is revealed to have loyalty (of varying degree) to an Evil Queen.
- Graham’s death scene plays out rather similarly to the death of Nephrite in Sailor Moon.
- Spotting the Thread: Snow White figures out the Huntsman isn't one of her father's guards because he doesn't express condolences for her loss when she speaks of Leopold, and because he isn't wearing his armor properly.
- There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Regina states this, then describes the kinds as "wolves and sheep", with the Huntsman as a wolf. When she learns he spared Snow White's life, she accuses him of then becoming a sheep.
- Wham Episode: Graham remembers his Enchanted Forest life, gets killed off and Regina is confirmed to retain all of her memories from before the curse.
- Wham Shot: The ending scene, particularly Regina crushing Graham's heart while tears run down her cheeks.
