SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched last week’s Once Upon a Time season 2 premiere, look away!

Once Upon a Time started its second season last night with its very own “Desmond Hume Moment.” For any LOST fans out there, you know what I’m talking about: the opening scene with a mysterious man in a mysterious place with a connection to our stories heroes and heroines. The connection this time is a postcard sent to the mysterious man (no, really, that’s what he’s listed as in the credits) that reveals that he is outside of Storybrooke, knows about the curse, and knows that it’s now broken. There is obviously a lot more to this scene than what is given – like who is this mysterious guy? Who is he corresponding with in Storybrooke? And why is the breaking of the curse important to him?

Storybrooke

We weren’t treated to any answers as we panned back to Storybrooke moments after Mr. Gold, accompanied by his lady love Belle, released magic on the town to unpredictable results. As the townspeople reunite with their loved ones with their memories now intact, an uprising against Regina occurs: they want her to suffer the way she made them. Since she seems to be magic-less, she is now weak to the citizens she worked so hard to oppress.

Henry doesn’t let this happen though, convincing Emma, Mary Margaret, and David (a.k.a the newly reunited father, mother, and daughter who are all the same age) to protect Regina because she is still technically his mom. After trying to kill his birth mom, Emma, and almost killing him at the end of last season shouldn’t Henry be super pissed at Regina? Whatever, kid.

They lock Regina up at the police station until they figure out what to do with her, but Gold has another plan – send a Dementor-looking creator to her to steal her soul (someone’s been reading Harry Potter). Regina, Emma, Mary Margaret, and David concoct a plan to banish the creature into the curse-destroyed fairytale realm through the Mad Hatters Hat. It seems to work but Emma and Mary Margaret are also drawn into the hat too and sent into oblivion. Or so we think.

Fairytale Land

Back in a story from the fairytale land, Mulan and Prince Phillip find his one true love, Princess Aurora (a.k.a Sleeping Beauty) and wake her from her long sleep. We then find out he has been marked by the same creature we saw marking Regina in Storybrooke, and once you’re marked you’re a dead man walking. Prince Phillip decides to sacrifice himself to protect Mulan and Princess Aurora. They try to stop him, but to no avail.

As Mulan tells the Princess about the curse that she slept through, we learn that there is one part of the fairytale land that’s still intact and was frozen in time for 28 years just like Storybrooke. And that’s exactly where Emma and Mary Margaret pop up, right next to Mulan and the Princess.

Questions for the next episode:

Who is Dr. Whale’s fairytale persona?

Why did Regina not remember Jefferson a.k.a. the Mad Hatter?

Is August, a.k.a. Pinocchio, going to come back to life with the breaking of the curse?

Alexa Hoyle can be reached at [email protected].