Recap / Once Upon a Time S1 E20 "The Stranger"

Season 1, Episode 20:

The Stranger

Centric Characters: Pinocchio

Previous: The Return | Next: An Apple Red as Blood

Jiminy: There will be many temptations in this new world, Pinocchio. But as long as you remain brave, true, and unselfish, you will not fail.
Geppetto: You will find me again. And on that day, I will look at you with pride. You'll be a great man, my son.

August: We're going on a trip, Emma. So I can tell you somebody's story.
Emma: Whose story?
August: Mine.

---

August gives Emma and Mary Margaret a demonstration of a deadbolt he has installed for them on the apartment door to ensure Regina can't get in with her creepy skull keys anymore. Emma asks how a writer like August is so proficient in carpentry, but he explains it away as having taken woodshop in school. This reminds Mary Margaret to get ready for her first day back as a teacher and the conversation shifts to Emma's decision to take custody of Henry from Regina, for which she plans to once again enlist Mr. Gold to help. Henry then calls Emma up on the walkie talkie asking to meet at Granny's to discuss an "emergency" regarding Operation Cobra.

August joins Emma as she walks to the diner, and warns her that the custody battle won't be enough to fully defeat Regina. He invites her to join him on a little trip to show her something she needs but she declines.

At the diner, Henry shows Emma that the storybook has been altered even though no one else should know where they're hiding it. The alteration is the addition of Pinocchio's story, but strangely the ending isn't included. Henry wonders what this could mean before Emma carts him off to school.

---

FLASHBACK! Geppetto and Pinocchio ride their raft across a stormy sea, trying to escape the great whale Monstro. Geppetto tries to give Pinocchio the raft's only life vest to save himself, but Pinocchio refuses since he's made of wood and can float on his own, before diving overboard.

Geppetto wakes up on shore, but soon discovers Pinocchio's lifeless wooden form in the water nearby. As he mourns his son, the Blue Fairy arrives on the scene to make things right, transforming Pinocchio into a real boy with a wave of her wand. Geppetto thanks the Fairy and as father and son prepare to return home, the Fairy gives Pinocchio a reminder.

Blue Fairy: Remember, Pinocchio! Be brave, truthful and unselfish. So long as you do that you will always remain a real boy.

---

In his room at the inn, August considers the hat that once belonged to Pinocchio. He then calls up Mr. Gold and arranges a meeting to talk about Emma. As he prepares to leave, he suddenly staggers back and falls onto the bed. He lifts his pant leg to see the limb underneath is made not of flesh, but of wood.

At the schoolyard, Regina arrives to ask Mary Margaret where Henry is, and she snippily replies that he's with "his mother".

Regina: Miss Blanchard, is there a problem?
Mary Margaret: Not anymore. Though someone did go through a lot of trouble to make it look like I did something horrible. But they failed.
Regina: Yes. Sidney Glass. Who's safely incarcerated.
Mary Margaret: If it was Sidney.
Regina: Well, ask your roommate. He confessed.
Mary Margaret: Of course he did.
Regina: Are you insinuating something?
Mary Margaret: Yes, I am. But I forgive you. Even if you can't admit what you did. I forgive you anyway. Your life must be filled with such incredible loneliness if your only joy comes from destroying everyone else's happiness. It's so sad, Mayor Mills, because despite what you think it won't make you happy. It's only going to leave a giant hole in your heart.

Mary Margaret departs as Henry arrives, and Regina, clearly shaken by Mary Margaret's words, returns his forgotten lunchbox and then tells him that she's going to have him transferred to a different class.

Henry: Why do you want me out of Miss Blanchard's class? Is it because you framed her?
Regina: Henry! Do you really think I'm capable of doing something so horrible?
Henry: Of course. You're the Evil Queen.
Regina: Enough. Those fairy tales are not real. Miss Blanchard should never have given you that book; she should be grateful I'm not trying to get her fired!
Henry: Go ahead and try! It won't work. No matter what you do, Snow White will have her happy ending! She and Prince Charming will be together! The Curse will end! Good. Will. Win. And I'm not transferring classes.

August enters Mr. Gold's pawnshop, where Marco is repairing an antique clock for him. August is stunned to see Marco, and after he leaves Gold asks August why he didn't try introducing himself to his father if he's a close to death as he claims. August won't answer and they move on to the topic of Emma, who August says is too busy getting custody of Henry to listen to his various attempts to get her to believe in the Curse.

August: She's coming to you for legal advice.
Gold: And you want me to steer her towards you?
August: I can get her there. To believing. Trust me.
Gold: <laughs> I'm… I'm sorry, it's just that knowing who you are, and your nature… trust is a big ask. Fear not. A gentle nudge, I shall provide.

---

FLASHBACK! In their workshop, Geppetto teaches Pinocchio how to repair an antique clock. At the clock starts to run, Jiminy Cricket pops out, tied to the wooded cuckoo courtesy of Pinocchio. The Blue Fairy appears, and although Pinocchio first thinks that she's come to scold him for his prank, she instead bears bad news for Geppetto. Geppetto sends Pinocchio and Jiminy away before the Fairy explains the Evil Queen's plan to cast the Dark Curse. It's too late to stop her but Geppetto can help provide a way to break the Curse: the unborn child of Snow White and Prince Charming can save everyone if she can be spared from the Curse's effects, which can be accomplished by way of the wood of an enchanted tree. The Blue Fairy asks Geppetto to make the wood into a vessel to protect the child.

---

Mr. Gold refuses to assist Emma with the custody battle since Regina's power will make things too messy. Emma tries to get him to change his mind but he insists that he's "simply not the man to help you beat Mayor Mills". Emma storms off straight to August, ready to take him up on his offer.

David locks up the pet store for the day before seeing Regina across the street investigating her car's engine. David takes a look and deduces that the battery is dead, and offers to give Regina a ride home since he doesn't have jumper cables. She accepts and after they arrive at her house she invites him to stay for dinner, but he declines since he doesn't want to be out too late. Once inside, Regina pretends to read a fake note from Henry and claims that Henry has decided to have dinner with Dr. Hopper after his therapy session, and tells David that it seems Henry is trying hard to avoid her. David takes pity on Regina and decides to stay for dinner after all.

---

FLASHBACK! The Blue Fairy takes Geppetto, Pinocchio and Jiminy to the enchanted tree, explaining that it's the last one in the realm and it has the power to transport two people to the Land Without Magic free from the Curse's effects. The plan is for Snow White and Charming to use it before Snow gives birth so they can raise their daughter to break the Curse and defeat the Queen. Geppetto asks if the Dark Curse will cause Pinocchio to return to being a wooden puppet, but the Fairy doesn't know how the Curse will affect him. Geppetto tells the Fairy that he will do what she asks but only if Pinocchio is shielded from the Curse instead of Charming. Jiminy tries to argue but Geppetto shuts him down, reminding him of his forever debt to Geppetto. Geppetto then asks the Blue Fairy to lie to Snow and Charming and say that the tree only has power to transport one person so that they don't fight against him.

At the council, the Blue Fairy does exactly that and impressively no one notices the four pairs of shifty eyes.

---

Emma and August ride out of Storybrooke as August reveals that he's going to tell her his Backstory.

After finishing dinner, David insists on doing the dishes for Regina. Regina reveals that she's always felt somewhat responsible for David after finding him in his coma. David asks for the details on that. She explains that she had forgotten her phone at city hall one night and had come across him on the way back. David remarks that it's "almost like the universe wanted you to find me". Regina moves in for a kiss but David backs off and clarifies that he didn't mean that in a romantic way and he likes their relationship as it is. David thanks Regina for the dinner and leaves, shortly after which she throws her wine glass against a mirror in rage, breaking both.

---

FLASHBACK! The Evil Queen rides in her carriage to the castle of Snow White and Charming, the swirling storm of the Dark Curse close behind.

At the castle, Snow White is giving birth.

The Blue Fairy tries to get Geppetto to change his mind since if Pinocchio is sent through the wardrobe, Snow White will be unable to raise her daughter in the Land Without Magic. Geppetto is adamant and decides that Pinocchio will have to help guide the child instead of her mother. Geppetto convinces Pinocchio to accept the task of making sure Snow White's daugher believes by the time she is twenty-eight years old before sending him through the wardrobe to the Land Without Magic.

---

Emma and August arrive at a roadside diner, and August explains that it's the diner she was brought to as a baby after being found on the roadside, showing her a newspaper clipping about a seven-year-old boy finding her. August reveals that he is that boy.

---

FLASHBACK! Pinocchio emerges from a tree in the Land Without Magic. Frightened by an airplane passing overhead, he tries to climb back inside but is blasted back and passes out. While unconscious he remembers his promise to Geppetto, to guide the child of Snow White and remain brave, truthful and unselfish. As he wakes up, there is another pulse of magic from the tree and a baby appears inside.

---

August leads Emma into the woods where he claims to really have found her, but she doesn't trust him anymore and turns away until he gives her a description of her baby blanket.

Emma: Okay. Let's say you were that kid. Why lie about where you found me?
August: I lied to protect you.
Emma: From what?
August: <gestures to the tree behind him> That.
Emma: <disbeliving> A tree?
August: You've read Henry's book, right?
Emma: Ugh!
August: You know about the Curse, don't you? Your role in it? It's true, Emma. We both came into this world… through this tree.
Emma: You're asking me to believe that you are a fairy tale character?
August: Pinocchio.
Emma: <incredulous> Right, of course. Pinocchio. Explains all the lying. <Beat as Emma makes a connection> You're the one who added the story to Henry's book!
August: I needed you to know the truth.
Emma: The truth is you are out of your mind and you're not even a very good liar. Why not write the ending to that story?
August: Because this is the ending and we're writing it right now.
Emma: <mockingly> And how does this story end?
August: With you believing.
Emma: Not gonna happen.

Emma heads off to August's dismay and as he tries to chase after her his leg pains him again and he collapses.

Emma: What! Is wrong! With your leg?!
August: <chuckles madly> I failed.
Emma: What are you talking about?
August: It doesn't matter, you don't believe.
Emma: If you think that by making me feel sorry for you that something's gonna change, you are wrong!
August: I am not screwing around here! Whatever you believe or don't, this is real, Emma! I am sick!
Emma: That's an understatement.
August: You ever been to Phuket? This beautiful, amazing island. Full of pleasures, the perfect place to lose oneself. That's where I was… when you… decided to stay in Storybrooke.
Emma: How do you know when I decided to stay in Storybrooke?
August: Because at 8:15 in the morning, I woke up with a shooting pain in my leg. That's 8:15 at night in Storybrooke, sound familiar? That's when time there started to move forward again! I was supposed to be there for you. But I wasn't. Because I was halfway around the world, I got a painful reminder just how far I'd strayed. That tree won't make you believe… maybe this will.

August lifts his pant leg to reveal the wooden leg beneath, but all Emma can see is a normal leg.

Emma: How does that prove anything?
August: Look.
Emma: August. I'm looking.
August: You don't see it, do you?
Emma: See what?
August: Your denial is more powerful than I thought; it's preventing you from seeing truth!
Emma: Okay, one of us is losing it here and it's not me.
August: You don't want to believe. After everything you've seen, why can't you just do it?!
Emma: Why is it so important to you that I do?!
August: Because I- the town- EVERYONE needs you!!
Emma: I don't want them to need me!!
August: Well that's too bad because we all do!
Emma: YOU'RE SAYING THAT I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYONE'S HAPPINESS, THAT IS CRAP!!! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THAT; I DON'T WANT IT!!!
August: Right now, a little while ago you didn't want Henry either but then he came to you and now you are fighting like hell for him!
Emma: FOR HIM! BECAUSE THAT IS ALL I CAN HANDLE RIGHT NOW!!! AND I'M NOT EVEN DOING A GOOD JOB AT THAT!!! Now you're telling me I have to save everyone; that is beyond ridiculous; I don't want any of it!!!
August: Well that's too bad, Emma. Because that doesn't change the truth. You're our only hope.
Emma: Then you're all screwed.

---

FLASHBACK! At a foster home, Pinocchio entertains baby Emma shortly before the abusive foster father shows up to get mad at him for borrowing tools to fix Emma's crib. After the man leaves, an older foster child shows Pinocchio a wad of stolen cash and tells him that the rest of the foster kids are running away that very minute and invites him to come, but refuses to allow Emma to come along since they can't take care of her. Desperate to escape the abuse, Pinocchio apologizes to Emma and joins the other children.

---

Back at Storybrooke, August drops by Marco's workshop and helps him to fix Mr. Gold's clock.

Marco: Who taught you that?
August: My father.
Marco: He taught you well. He must be very proud.
August: I don't know about that. I don't think I became the man he wanted me to be.
Marco: Well, have you tried to make it up to him?
August: I made him a promise, a long time ago. By the time I got around to making good on it, I think it was too late.
Marco: But you kept your promise. You realized your mistake, you tried to fix it. That's important! If I had a son, that would be enough for me.

August looks over Marco's carvings and gets an idea.

August: You look like you're shorthanded.
Marco: I get by.
August: How would you feel… about… taking on an assistant?
Marco: I can't pay you.
August: That's okay. I just feel like fixing things.

Marco accepts and August joins him in the workshop.

Emma calls Henry on the walkie talkie, and asks him to come outside to talk.

Emma: Henry, I need to ask you something very important. Do you want to get away from Regina? Do you want to come and live with me?
Henry: More than anything.
Emma: <hurried> Okay. Then buckle up, alright?
Henry: Why? Where are we going?
Emma: We're leaving Storybrooke.

Tropes

• Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite the things she's heard and seen since coming to Storybrooke, the clues which suggest the storybook is more than what it seems (her baby blanket being in one of the pictures, and the images of Jefferson and his daughter she discovered there at the end of "Hat Trick"), and the things August knows about her which no one else could, Emma still refuses to believe in magic or the Curse. While it is understandable that someone from the real world would be a skeptic about such a thing without undeniable proof of it (especially one with the backstory and personality Emma has), there are too many true details here for her to explain away. Justified however in that, as August realizes, Emma cannot allow herself to believe because she has so little sense of self-worth she can't trust herself to even have Henry depend upon her for happiness, let alone the entire town.
• Arc Words: "Sometimes you have to lie to protect those you love."
• Armor Piercing Statement:
  • When Jiminy tries to reason with Geppetto regarding what is at stake, and that if he blackmails the Blue Fairy it will set a bad example for his son, Geppetto lashes back with a reminder that the cricket has no room to talk since he was the one to deprive Geppetto of his parents.
  • Mary Margaret also makes one as part of her pitying speech to Regina where (unbeknownst to her amnesiac self) she zeroes right in on Regina's loneliness and empty life that leads her to destroy everyone else's happiness, and even quotes the "there's just a hole left in your heart" line which both Maleficent and Rumple had warned Regina would be the consequence of casting the Dark Curse.
• Calling the Old Woman Out: Henry does this to his adopted mom at the beginning of the episode. Complete with a nice bit of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking at the end when, after telling her how exactly she will fail, he adds that he won't be leaving Mary Margaret's classroom.
• Couch Gag: The title card features Jiminy Cricket.
• Dramatic Irony: Marco's entire conversation with August is full of this, and makes their reunion and working together in the woodshop as sad as it is heartwarming.
• Faking Engine Trouble: How Regina gets David to take her home. According to him the battery is dead, but not only does he not check to be sure (say, for example, that all the proper connections to the battery are in place), it's entirely possible Regina found some way to drain the battery. Because otherwise it's quite the coincidence the battery would die right outside the animal shelter, and the fake note from Henry she set up back at her house shows she was carefully orchestrating things all along.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Emma's problem with a vengeance, it is revealed, and painfully so.
  Emma: I don't want them to need me!
  August: Well that's too bad, because we all do.
  Emma: You're saying I am responsible for everyone's happiness? That is crap! I didn't ask for that, I don't want it!
  August: Right now. A little while ago you didn't want Henry either, but then he came to you, and now you are fighting like hell for him.
  Emma: For him! Because that is all I can handle right now, and I'm not even doing a good job at that! Now you're telling me that I have to save everyone? That is beyond ridiculous! I don't want any of it.
  August: Well that's too bad, Emma, because that doesn't change the truth. You're our only hope.
  Emma: Then you're all screwed.
• Idiot Ball: Because he is so desperate to protect his son, Geppetto consigns him to a world without magic and charges him with the task of raising Emma and guiding her belief. When he's only seven years old and presumably has no knowledge of how to look after a baby. To his credit, Pinocchio really does try at first, and was at least successful enough to get them both to an orphanage, and Geppetto obviously believed he had raised his boy right (so that if he didn't know how to carry out his task, he would seek out someone who did). But it was still a terrible burden to place on him, so that even without Pinocchio's weakness to temptation, the result is really not surprising at all.
• In Medias Res: Like so many of the flashbacks, this one begins when Pinocchio and Geppetto are about to be eaten by Monstro.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Although he doesn't learn August was the one who had it (or his identity, yet), Henry finally notices that the storybook has been changed and thus figures out someone else had it while it was missing.
  • Emma, however, does find out August's identity (though she doesn't believe it), and also that he was the boy who found her wrapped in the baby blanket with her name embroidered, and was meant to help her believe in magic so she could break the curse.
• Manipulative Bastard: August, who because he knows who Gold is and that he wants the curse broken gets Gold to refuse to take Emma's custody case against Regina, all to force Emma to have no choice but to listen to August. At the same time Gold shows his own bastardry by making sure that when August comes over to speak to him about this, Marco is there to repair his clock so that the two can meet and he can taunt August (as payback for the Baelfire stunt, surely).
• Match Cut: On Pinocchio's hat, finally revealing when the camera pans up that he and August are one and the same.
• Mythology Gag: Not only does Monstro appear (though he only causes the boat to swamp rather than swallowing it), but after turning Pinocchio into a real boy the Blue Fairy gives him the fateful words that he must be "brave, truthful, and unselfish." This is further referenced snarkily by Gold when August claims he can trust him regarding getting Emma to believe in the curse (that who he is and his "nature" make it very hard to trust him). And finally, the boy at the orphanage who pressures Pinocchio into running away with him and leaving Emma behind has an appearance and mannerisms extremely similar to the delinquent Lampwick.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Both Geppetto and Pinocchio manage to worsen things. Geppetto managed to get the Blue Fairy to convince Snow White that the wardrobe can only work for one person just so he could get Pinocchio on the other side and Pinocchio managed to ditch Emma as a baby to go hang with some kids who were gonna ditch the orphanage. Because of this, we have Emma.
• Once More, with Clarity: This episode establishes that both Emma and Pinocchio were put in the wardrobe. They were put in after each other. When Geppetto closes the door after Pinocchio, he is transported immediately, and the Wardrobe is empty; the scene in the Pilot makes just as much sense as before.
• Papa Wolf: Geppetto blackmailed the Blue Fairy to ensure Pinocchio's safety.
• Perception Filter: Because Emma won't believe in the curse, she can't see that August has a wooden leg.
• Pulling the Thread: When August claims he was the boy who found her, and that it was in the woods, Emma attempts this by saying he must be lying since she had been found by the side of a highway. Subverted when he points out she has only the newspaper story to go by, the facts for which were dictated by a boy who could have lied about where he found her, and then proves he was telling the truth by revealing about her baby blanket.
• Synchronization: Because he was sent through the tree to look out for Emma and help her believe in the curse, Pinocchio's well-being is linked to her actions and decisions. So because he abandoned her and went off to a life of temptation and pleasure, when Emma finally did come to Storybrooke and decide to stay, he was immediately punished at the exact same time by beginning to turn to wood again. And now, the longer she goes without believing and in fact actively resists doing so, the more his change accelerates.
• Shout-Out: The airplane Pinocchio sees shortly after arriving in the Land Without Magic is from Oceanic Airlines.
• The Vamp: When Mary Margaret proves immune to her taunts (in fact only offering her forgiveness and pity), and Henry refuses to allow her to remove him from Mary Margaret's class, Regina resorts to this for what little revenge she can achieve—by putting the moves on David. Unfortunately for her he's still loyal to Mary Margaret.
• Villainous Breakdown: It's brief, but after failing to get anywhere in her seduction of David, Regina stares into her mirror, then throws her wine glass at it, breaking both.
• Wham Episode: This episode reveals quite a bit, from the fact that the wardrobe could actually fit two people to the fact that it's confirmed on just whether or not Emma believes in Henry's story. And when her refusal to do so (or believe in August) deprives her of her last chance to be with Henry in Storybrooke, she decides to leave town with him.
• Wham Line:
  Emma: We're leaving Storybrooke.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: August makes this plea with extraordinary passion to Emma to get her to believe, even using how she had changed from wanting nothing to do with Henry to being willing to do anything to protect him from Regina as proof. But her life of cynicism, pain, and loneliness has so broken her that she can barely even believe herself capable of that, let alone helping everyone in Storybrooke. It's truly gut-wrenching to witness.