This week’s episode starts with Mary Margaret running through the woods; yeah that was it, just a quick scene of her running. Okay then.
(Need to catch up? Check out previous Once Upon a Time recaps: Episode 11 | Episode 12 | Episode 13 | Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16)
We then have Henry waiting for Emma at the police station—she arrives with Mr. Gold. Henry talks privately with Emma about how the “escape plan” was such a great idea, too bad Emma didn’t know Mary has turned escapee. Of course Emma takes off to find Mary, driving her old skool VW bug through the woods in the fog. All of the sudden a guy appears, she can’t stop fast enough and he dives into the ditch. She stops the car and helps him up, and Natasha’s jaw hits the sofa bottom. HELLO HOTTIE! Finally! Another hottie to replace the former Sheriff! His name is Jefferson; he’s limping so Emma drives him home.
Back in the past, we have a guy running through the woods playing hide and seek with his daughter. When they are on the outskirts of their property, they realize the Queen’s guard is at their house. So the father sends Grace, his daughter, to hide while he goes to speak with the Queen. Weirdly enough, he calls her Regina and she calls him Jefferson so they may be the only ones whose names haven’t changed from past to present. Long story short, Regina asks him for a favor and he refuses, saying his “work” is how Grace lost her mother in the first place and family comes first now. Regina pleads with him to do her one last favor because something she wants was taken from her. Wonder what it is? Keep reading, it’s so not what I expected and makes Regina more of a bitch then we thought she was.
In Storybrooke, Emma drives up to this beautiful mansion and lets Jefferson out, but he’s limping so she helps him inside. Being the kind guy and host that he is, he offers Emma a cup of tea to warm up. Too bad he drugged her and she gets dizzy, then passes out.
Past-back time! We have little Grace at the market with her dad looking at toys when she comes across a white rabbit stuffed animal she wants to invite for tea. Jefferson asks the creepy ass looking gypsy how much it is and tries to barter with her when he realizes he doesn’t have enough money. Grace says it’s okay, but he keeps trying, to no avail. They walk away and that’s when we see the mirror mirror on the stall, the bitchy gypsy is Regina in disguise!
Present time, Emma wakes up bound and gagged! I may have wished Jefferson tied me up and drifted off into my own Once Upon a Time storyline here. Ahem. Somehow, Emma breaks a tea cup and cuts through duct tape to make her escape...rolling my eyes here. She sneaks down the hall and peeks into a room only to find Jefferson sharpening a pair of scissors. Okay, so now what?
Jefferson of the past ends up crafting his own white rabbit for Grace and their tea party but he’s distracted. He decides to send Grace to their neighbors for the rest of the day. She realizes he’s going to go do that favor for the Queen and begs him not to go. He promises that he will come back to her, because family comes first. When she leaves, he takes out a hat box—and by now, we’ve realized he’s the Mad Hatter!
In the present, Emma sneaks into a room to hide and finds Mary bound and gagged on a chair! She says that she found the cell door key under her pillow and when she made her escape Jefferson caught her in the woods. Emma also notices at some point that he’s been watching her, he has a telescope pointed directly into the police station. Dear old Jefferson comes in and holds them at gun point; he needs Emma to do something for him.
At the Queen’s, she’s in another AWESOME outfit. Seriously, the entire clothing budget must go to her because she rocks the most amazing outfits while Emma is always in some stinky looking leather jacket. Anyway, we’re in the past here, people, catch up! Jefferson tells her he will do as she asks, as long as Grace wants for nothing ever again. Regina agrees and he opens the hat box. A top hat (it’s a little steampunk, don’t you think?) jumps out and starts spinning to make a vortex and they jump in! Wheeee!
Present time again. Jefferson takes Emma into a room full of hats and tells her he knows all about the curse of Storybrooke. How everyone has been trapped until Emma came into town, him for example. Twenty eight years he’s been alone in the mansion until she brought the magic. He begs for her to make his hat work again, because he remembers. His curse is to be able to remember both worlds. At this point I just started to stare at his lips; he has the most amazing lips. Then I thanked the creators for allowing him to wear tight pants. *Swoon* Anyway, he refuses to let Emma or Mary leave until Emma creates a new hat for him. Emma thinks he’s insane.
Outside of the vortex, Regina and Jefferson are in a room with a ton of doors aka the Looking Glass. Jefferson tells Regina the rules that if two go through, two come out. Nothing more, nothing less. She agrees, and they walk through into Wonderland where they find a giant bug smoking a hookah. Welcome to Wonderland!
They walk to a maze that signifies the start of the Queen of Hearts territory, Jefferson says ’oh hell no,’ but Regina makes him enter. She walks to a vault and steals a box, but the QoH’s guards spot them. Epic battle ensues; they get away and to the looking glass. Regina bends down and grabs a piece of magic mushroom and puts it in the box. Out pops her father! That is who the QoH’s had that she wanted, thus we realize that Regina is a HUGE bitch because she knows the rules. Whatever amount enters, the same amount must leave. She says to Jefferson, family IS important and leaves his poor ass in Wonderland to be captured. Is it any wonder why he went mad?
He’s brought before the Queen of Hearts who speaks in only a whisper and is covered under a veil. She whispers ’off with his head’ and yep, his head gets lopped right off. But he’s still alive, yet if he wants his body back he can get it if he tells them how he got to Wonderland in the first place. He says it was the magical hat that Regina has since stolen. The Queen won’t allow him to leave unless he creates another magical hat…and we know the rest, he loses his shit and turns Mad Hattah.
In the present, Jefferson tells Emma he just wants to go home. He shows her another telescope pointed into a home where we see Grace, who is now Paige. Emma starts to believe him—or so we think, until she takes the telescope and knocks his ass the hell out. She goes to Mary and is about to release her when Jefferson takes a running leap at the both of them while holding a gun. Enter another cheese fight scene where no one gets shot so the point of the gun was lost on me. But you do notice the giant scar on Jefferson’s neck. All of the sudden Mary gets some MMA training and kicks Jefferson through the glass window, when they look out all that’s outside is his hat. He’s gone. I screamed. Why must we kill all the hot guys on this show FFS?! STOP IT! Give me some eye candy that is not David/Charming!
Outside, they find Emma’s VW and have a heart to heart about Mary escaping again or going to her arraignment. Emma says she’s never had family before and doesn’t want to lose Mary, whoops she slipped up and changes it to friends. Long story short, they’ll fight and face it together. But then the tower clock goes off and they are late for the arraignment, Regina’s gonna flip. But when Regina shows up at the jail, Mary is in her cell all innocent like. Mr. Gold walks in and says that his client will not be seeing visitors and takes Regina out into the hall. That’s when we find out, Regina has made a deal with Gold too. Double crossers all around!
Meanwhile, Emma meets Henry at school and sees Paige/Grace. This leads Emma into borrowing Henry’s OUAT book and she sees the story of Grace and the Mad Hatter. We see the poor Mad Hatter in a room full of fabric, screaming and trying to fix the magical hat. He’s finally lost his mind. And Emma has the book, leading us to believe she’s finally starting to come around!
Now would someone tell me what they think happened to Jefferson? Did he fall into the hat? Did Emma fix the hat? And was he not adorable?!
Natasha Carty reviews Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy on her website Wicked Little Pixie and lives in Toronto, Canada, with her cat, Seamus.
