Season 7, Episode 3:
The Garden Of Forking Paths
In the alternate Enchanted Forest, Cinderella gains an unlikely ally and joins up with a resistance movement against Lady Tremaine; however, her stepmother is aware of her every move and has a proposition for her she can't refuse. Meanwhile in present-day Hyperion Heights, Captain Rogers and Weaver, each in his own way, attempts to get the goods on Victoria, while Jacinda attempts to stop Victoria from destroying Lucy's beloved community garden. Lucy in turn is convinced her grandmother is hiding a secret...and it turns out there is more than one.
Tropes
- Action Girl: All the pieces are in place to set up Tiana as one of these. Rebel Leader of La Résistance? Check. Hellbent For Leather? Check. First appearance in the episode involves rescuing Cinderella by knocking out Tremaine's guards? Check. Also good with weapons and implied to be both an intelligent spymaster and strategist? Check.
- Call-Back:
- Lucy brings up how Regina tried to hide Snow White's coffin in the mines of Storybrooke and thus Victoria must have some reason to want to dig up the Garden.
- The Heart of the Truest Believer gets brought up again, this time in relation to why Henry is so vital to Tremaine, as well as the protection spell on Henry's heart.
- Character Development: It may have taken over three decades, but Regina has finally learned that taking the hearts of people is not a good thing and makes sure that Cinderella does not fall down the same dark, slippery slope that she originally did.
- Continuity Nod:
- Tremaine's relationship with the Witch mirrors Jafar's with the Old Prisoner, to the point of the witch saying that Tremaine is locked up as well.
- Tremaine blaming Cinderella for the death of someone she loved (her daughter) calls back to Regina doing the same thing to Snow White regarding Daniel.
- Victoria tricking Jacinda into doing something to hurt her child in front of her (in this case, burning the petition) and thus turning her against her mirrors when Regina did the same in Season 1, getting Emma to read Archie's files and call Henry crazy within his hearing.
- Jacinda trying to stop Victoria the wrong way (burning the petition), only to turn around and do it the right way by rallying the neighborhood to restore the garden, echoes how Emma tried the wrong way to beat Sidney for the position of sheriff (taking advantage of Gold's arson and her rescue of Regina), then did it the right way (exposing Gold, proving her integrity and boldness).
- Instead of Henry finding a piece of the glass coffin his grandmother slept in, Lucy finds a piece of her mother's glass slipper.
- In the present day, Victoria mentions a protection spell on Henry's heart, referencing how Regina placed it on him years ago.
- When they first meet, Ella asks if Wish Hook is Henry's father, to which Wish Hook says, "Not quite," referencing how he's an Alternate Self of the original Hook, who is Henry's stepfather from marrying Emma.
- Couch Gag: The title card features an excavator.
- Death by Adaptation: Lady Tremaine's second daughter Anastasia is dead. But she keeps her body alive with hopes of bringing her back.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In contrast to previous interpretations, this Lady Tremaine genuinely loves her daughter Anastasia and was distraught by her death.
- Freudian Excuse: While the original Lady Tremaine in Disney film and her previous counterpart on the show were simply sadistic, selfish jerkasses who tormented Ella out of petty cruelty and cared for no one but themselves, this one genuinely loved her daughter Anastasia, is willing to do whatever it takes to bring her back, and torments Ella believing that she is the cause.
- Fire-Forged Friendship: Cinderella and Tiana quickly bond over their dual wishes to bring down Tremaine. That friendship carries over to their cursed forms of Jacinda and Sabine.
- Hope Crusher: This is essentially why Tremaine is redeveloping Hyperion Heights and driving the fairy tale characters away. She needs to crush Lucy's belief in order to revive Anastasia.
- Loophole Abuse: Roni discovers thanks to her copy of the City Code that if anyone in the neighborhood creates a petition and gets enough people to sign it, they can prevent developers from destroying anything deemed an asset to the community.
- Meaningful Name:
- In this version of the story, Lady Tremaine's daughter Anastasia is dead but she wants to restore her to life. Anastasia means "she will rise again."
- Variation. After joining the resistance, Cinderella drops the mocking name she was given as a servant and returns to being just "Ella".
- The episode title. The "forking paths" refers literally to how Cinderella takes a different path after encountering Tiana, thus explaining why she wasn't there to meet Henry, but also figuratively to how she chooses not to take Henry's heart (or Jeremiah's), and to stay with the resistance instead of fleeing to protect it; it also refers to her choice in Hyperion Heights to stand up to Victoria rather than accept her poisonous deal. Meanwhile the garden literally refers to the community garden they're trying to save, although Jacinda's refusal of the deal and Lucy daring to explore the hidden tunnels also revolve around the garden.
- The Mole: Thanks to releasing Victoria's unethical business partner from Rogers' custody, Weaver now has one of these to spy on Victoria for them.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse:
- Lady Tremaine makes one to Cinderella: take Henry's heart so as to restore her daughter Anastasia, or she will kill all of her friends in the resistance.
- Victoria also makes one to Jacinda, offering her an apartment with Lucy in her new condo if she will just burn the petition and allow her to raze the community garden.
- Plot Parallel: In both the Enchanted Forest and Hyperion Heights stories, Cinderella/Jacinda joins a resistance to Tremaine/Belfry, but Tremaine/Belfry offers her a deal to betray her companions in order to save herself, which she at first goes along with until confronted by Regina/Roni and then decides to correct her actions.
- The Reveal:
- Tremaine originally wanted Henry's heart to resurrect her daughter. In Hyperion Heights (since Henry and his family have protection spells on their hearts), Tremaine's new goal is to crush Lucy's spirit by taking away everything she holds dear to revive her. Hence her actions in the main story.
- Also, it's confirmed that Sabine is the cursed version of Tiana. And Tiana in turn reveals that, whatever the Prince's role in the death of Cinderella's father, it was all planned by Lady Tremaine.
- And we discover that not only was Anastasia's coffin buried under the community garden, but Victoria is keeping a mysterious magical Old Prisoner of some sort locked in the top of her company office tower.
- Right Behind Me: Jacinda accepts Victoria's deal to live in her condo with Lucy, if she will only let her raze the garden by destroying her petition... right as Lucy comes down the sidewalk behind her and sees her burning it.
- Shown Their Work: Henry references the real life history of the Seattle Underground and how the city had to be rebuilt after the Great Seattle Fire.
- Supernaturally Young Parent: When Henry introduces Regina to Ella as his mother, she's clearly surprised that the apparent age difference between him and his mother is not as great as one would expect (due to things like spending time in realms where it passes differently), which prompts her to ask if the similarly young-looking Hook is Henry's father (and in fact, Hook's original counterpart, who looks the same age as this Hook, is Henry's stepfather).
