Season 2, Episode 2:
We Are Both
Centric Characters: Evil Queen
Previous: Broken | Next: Lady of the Lake
Cora: Power is freedom.
Ruby: What's the plan?
David: I don't know, but I got two hours to figure it out.
The dwarves stand on the road at the edge of town as Leroy spray paints a line. Leroy tells the others that they have to find out what happens now if someone leaves the town's borders. Sneezy draws the short stick, so Leroy pushes him over the line where he is seized upon by a magical effect.
The town is a mess, both figuratively from the Curse breaking and literally from the storms caused by the wraith's prescence. August's wooden body remains on his bed in the inn, and he suddenly blinks. Outside, recovery efforts are being led by Ruby, who assures Mother Superior that David will be coming up with a plan.
David demands answers from Regina regarding the hat and any way he could follow his family to wherever they went, but she feigns ignorance and refuses to help leading him to mock her continued loss of magical ability. Regina swears that once she has her magic back her son will follow suit, but David tells her that if she has to magically force him to be with her, then he won't truly be hers.
FLASHBACK! Regina flees the palace on horseback but is stopped when tree branches reach out and pick her up. Cora appears and explains that she's placed a barrier spell on the area which will stop Regina from leaving without King Leopold, who she is to marry in two days. Regina tries to argue that this isn't what she wants, but Cora doesn't listen and leads Regina back.
David goes to the park where the recovery efforts are taking place and is soon pelted with questions from every direction until he reaches Mother Superior, who thinks it's possible that there could be another magical tree that could transport him, but without fairy dust it's nigh impossible to find out more. Leroy and the dwarves come running in, showing everyone that Sneezy has reverted to his Cursed self as a result of crossing the town line, meaning that no one can leave without forgetting themselves again. Everyone goes crazy at this new development, so David tells them to meet back in two hours and he will tell them his plan, though he tells Ruby afterwards that he doesn't yet have a plan.
Regina tries to light a candle with her magic, and although the flame sputters in and out she can't get it fully burning. Angered, she heads out to her car where Archie tries to get her to open up about what she's going through, but she blows him off.
FLASHBACK! Regina and Snow White prepare for the wedding together, when Snow finds a ring on a chain. Regina tells Snow that it was from Daniel, and reveals that Daniel didn't ditch her but rather was murdered by Cora because Snow couldn't keep Regina's secret. Snow is horrified by this and Regina begins to strangle her with the chain, but this turns out to be Regina's imagination, and in reality she tells Snow that she doesn't remember where the ring came from.
Regina laments to her father about Cora and asks how she became the cruel witch she is. Her father tells her that Cora learned magic from a man she knew a long time ago, and although he doesn't remember that man's name, Regina deduces that she could find out from Cora's spell book as it had come from him.
Regina frantically searches all the books in the pawn shop before being interrupted by Gold. Regina demands that he hand over her mother's spellbook, eventually resorting to blackmail by threatening to reveal to everyone that the Enchanted Forest still exists, something the two of them have kept a secret, since that knowledge would jeopardize whatever plans Gold has in the Land Without Magic. Gold gives Regina the book, and as she starts to leave Gold remarks that although he once said he didn't think Regina looked much like her mother, he can sure see it now. Shocked but still unshaken, Regina marches off with the spellbook.
FLASHBACK! As Cora sleeps, Regina slips the spellbook out from under her pillow. Searching through it, she finds a strange name and though she struggles to pronounce it, Rumplestiltskin appears nonetheless. He tells her that they had apparently met some time before and is excited to finally be with her again.
David tries to come up with a speech but doesn't get far, explaining to Henry that Snow was the people person. He takes out the hat and Henry recognizes it as belonging to the Mad Hatter, but he doesn't know who the Mad Hatter is in Storybrooke.
David goes to Gold's pawnshop and asks for a way to find someone, mentioning the enchanted ring he had provided once before. Gold gives David a potion, instructing him to pour it on an object belonging to the person he seeks, in exchange for staying out of his way in the future. David agrees, and as he starts to leave Gold asks what happens if someone tries to cross the town line. David cheekily explains that leaving town means falling back under the Curse, so everyone is still trapped in Storybrooke. After David is gone, Gold smashes some display cases in rage.
FLASHBACK! Regina explains to Rumplestiltskin that she wants to be free of her mother, clarifying that she doesn't mean killing her. Rumplestiltskin conjures up a large wrapped item and tells Regina that it's a portal to "a specific, annoying little world" and that all she needs to do is push her mother in and she'll never see her again. Regina is hesitant to use magic since Cora's magical power led her to become twisted and evil, but Rumplestiltskin assures her that the portal will do all the work and she won't have to dirty her own hands.
Regina opens the spellbook and blows on the pages, releasing a magical mist which she inhales. Regina feels her powers instantly return as the apples on her tree change from rotten to ripe.
David uses the potion on the hat and it floats off, leading David to a crashed car conveniently just around the corner from where he was. Hearing someone inside, David clears some rubble and gets Jefferson out.
The townspeople gather at the courthouse, anxiously waiting for David to arrive. The doors suddenly fly open and Regina enters, her power on full display. Knowing what she's there for, Henry turns himself over to her to protect the rest of the town.
David tries his hardest to grill Jefferson but he says that with the hat in it's current condition, there's no way to get it to work. Jefferson runs away and as David gives chase he's stopped by Ruby who tells him that Regina is officially back in business and the rest of the townspeople are getting ready to clear out, even though they'll forget everything again.
Regina and Henry arrive back at the Mills house, where he immediately tries the old Bedsheet Ladder strategy and she immediately catches him with the same barrier spell Cora had used on her. Regina tries to convince Henry that being with her isn't that bad, and even offers to teach him magic so he can have whatever he wants and force people to be his friends. Henry shuts this down, telling Regina that he doesn't want to become her.
FLASHBACK! On the day of the wedding, Cora meets Regina in her bedchamber and sees the wrapped object, revealing it to be a looking glass. Regina tries to push Cora into it but Cora magically stops her. Cora mocks Regina's attempt to get rid of her, but Regina sees Rumplestiltskin in the mirror and suddenly breaks free from Cora's spell and launches her back with a magical force of her own. Cora disappears through the looking glass and it shatters as Regina stands in horror of what she's just done.
David and Ruby manage to pull in front of the caravan heading out of town to stop them. People get out of their cars to demand that David move out of the way, but he delivers a Rousing Speech that they don't have to lose themselves just to escape Regina, that if they stay united together they can be protected from her and they can make Storybrooke a good home for themselves. Convinced, the townspeople turn back.
FLASHBACK! Regina leaves the palace once again and encounters Rumplestiltskin on the road. She returns the spellbook to him and he asks her how it felt to use magic. Regina tells him that she loved it but doesn't want to do it again. Rumplestiltskin tempts her, saying that she could do so much if she allowed him to teach her, and she reluctantly takes back the spellbook.
Rumplestiltskin: That, dearie, is entirely up… to you.
David bursts into Regina's house demanding to see Henry. Regina calls Henry downstairs and tells him that she's letting him go back to living with David, and that she wants him to want to be with her since she's remembered that force doesn't build love, and she wants to redeem herself. As Henry leaves to prepare, David asks Regina if the Enchanted Forest still exists. She confirms it but admits she doesn't know of any way to get to it.
Across town, business reopen. The dwarves head off to mine for fairy dust. At Granny's, Henry whispers something to Marco who rushes to the in, finding August's room deserted but discovering Pinocchio's old hat.
Mr. Gold stands at the town line, angrily contemplating.
Regina almost tosses the spellbook into the fireplace, but opts to lock it in a cupboard instead.
David assures Henry that the Enchanted Forest still exists and all they need is to find a way there to get their family back.
In the Enchanted Forest, Mary Margaret and Emma are taken as captives to a village. Mary Margaret knocks Aurora down and tells Emma to run, but they don't make it far before Mulan hits Mary Margaret with bolas, somehow knocking her unconscious. The two are taken to "the pit", where they are met by none other than Cora.
Tropes
- Bookends: Three to be exact
- This Episode begins and ends with Regina leaving the palace on horseback.
- It also begins and ends with Prince Charming barging into Regina’s house with a sword in his hands.
- Lastly, it begins and ends with Regina telling Charming to take care of Henry.
- Couch Gag: The title card features Cora's vine spell.
- Daydream Surprise: Regina's imagined strangling of the young Snow White.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Regina's almost desperate need for her magic back, even if it's just to help her get Henry, is clearly played as similar to a drug user longing for a fix, particularly through some of the things Gold says to taunt her about it (e.g., talking about the pure spells in the book in a manner implying an uncut stash).
- The way Rumple preys on the young and impressionable Regina has more than a few parallels to a stalker, not to mention how an older man can pursue and manipulate a much younger girl or woman.
- Evil Feels Good: After using magic for the first time, Regina tells Rumplestiltskin that she'll never use it again... because she loved it. Magic itself isn't inherently evil in this universe, but since in this case it's explicitly being talked about in a bad way, it certainly qualifies here.
- Foreshadowing: Regina's comment regarding the book of spells, that she doesn't care if using it turns her skin green, considering who her sister will be revealed to be next season.
- Genre Savvy: Henry, who claims things in stories always look their darkest just before the hero finds a way to save the day. Immediately after this, Grumpy and the other dwarves show up with the news about the town line memory curse.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Regina realizes she's just as bad as her mother Cora.
- His Story Repeats Itself: The same vine-barrier spell Cora used to keep Regina from fleeing Leopold's castle is used by Regina to keep Henry from leaving her house. This, along with her very familiar determination to see magic as power and that she can make people trust her and love Henry, is part of how she realizes she'd become like Cora, the very thing she swore to Rumple she never would.
- Hypocrite: When Charming confronts Regina to try and learn a way to bring Emma and Snow back, he points out (when she chastises him for doing this instead of looking after Henry) that after the way she raised his grandson, she has no room to talk. She then tries to turn it around on him by claiming he isn't a good source of parenting advice either due to having "shoved his daughter in a box and shipped her to Maine". She has a point (he's had zero experience actually raising children, either back in the Enchanted Forest or in Storybrooke), but of course he never would have been forced into giving Emma up if not for her Dark Curse, so...
- Ironic Echo: Charming asking Jefferson about the hat, if he can "get it to work." Unsurprisingly, Jefferson's response is a bit hysterical: "If you only knew..."
- Jerkass Has a Point: As corrupting and manipulating as Rumplestiltskin is, he is right about one thing — shoving Cora through the mirror to Wonderland does make Regina free of Cora's influence which is exactly what she wanted.
- Rousing Speech: Prince Charming/David gives an amazing one to the townspeople of Storybrooke as they try to leave the town.
- Secret-Identity Identity: After the curse is broken the people of Storybrooke now have two sets of memories, that of their fairytale lives and of Storybrooke. Instead of rejecting his cursed persona David Nolan, Prince Charming tells the other townspeople:"David, Storybrooke David was—is weak, confused, and he hurt the woman I love. I wouldn't give up Charming just to be him, but you know what? I wouldn't make the other trade either, because that David not only reminds me of whom I lost, but who I want to be. My weaknesses and my strengths. David and the Prince. I am both. You are both. The town is both. We are both."
- Strong Family Resemblance: Cora and Regina's lust for power.
- Title Drop: In Prince Charming's speech.
- Troll: Charming is in rare form this episode with both of the major villains, although especially the way he enjoys denying information to Gold. For someone who claims to be better at fighting than talking, he seems to have a very good instinct for guileful speech.
- Villainous Breakdown: All those years of work Rumpelstiltskin put into getting to this point, and he's still no closer to being able to find Bae—and in fact the very thing he summoned to make their reunion possible (magic) is the reason he can't get to him. He doesn't take it well.
- Wham Episode: Anyone who tries to leave Storybrooke will lose all memories of their Fairy Tale life, possibly forever (though it's implied from the Dwarves that it can be fixed), Regina has her magic back, and Cora is alive.
- Wham Line:
- "My name's Cora."
- Also, just as it was back in the second episode of the first season, Wham Word: when Gold tries to use "please" on Regina, he finds it no longer works (why is never revealed for certain, but probably because the curse has been broken).
- Wham Shot: Cora is in the pit along with Emma and Snow. Doubly so since aside from her identity (and evil nature), the viewer had just seen her be sent through a magic looking glass back when Regina first married Leopold, so her being back is a shock in and of itself.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Despite how long she's been the Evil Queen, being told by Gold that at last, holding the spell book, she reminds him of her mother clearly unsettles Regina greatly.
