Written by: Ian Goldberg, Adam Chambliss
Directed by: David Barrett
US Airdate: Sunday, March 17, 2013
ABC
In Short: Regina’s her name and revenge is her game, in both 1983 and the present day.
Recommended? Yes!
HENRY: You used to be heroes. What happened to you?
This was a fun episode that ended with a twist I totally did not see coming. But before that twist, about which more anon, we were treated to a graduate-level seminar courtesy of the distinguished Professor Regina Mills on why revenge is a dish best served cold – colder than snow.
Our …

Written by: Jane Espenson
Directed by: Ralph Hemecker
US Airdate: Sunday, March 10, 2013
ABC
In Short: Cora’s backstory is revealed, and Princess Eva’s death is avenged… but at what cost?
Recommended? Hell Yes!
CORA: I don’t like what that enchanted box is saying.
REGINA: It’s not an enchanted box. It’s a phone tap.
CORA: I don’t care.
– best dialogue in the entire episode.
Hurry! Somebody bring me a cold compress for my throbbing forehead and a soothing tisane to calm my jangled nerves. My heart is still racing. This was such a complex episode that I can’t possibly …

Written by: David H. Goodman and Daniel T. Thomsen
Directed by: Gwyneth Horder-Payton
US Airdate: Sunday, March 3, 2013
ABC
In Short: Both Snow and Regina are finally pushed just a little too far.
Recommended? Yes.
REGINA: Well, there you go. See where good gets you?
Well, well. The chickens have really come home to roost, haven’t they? The good people of Storybrooke have responded to Regina’s (Lana Parilla) attempts to reform herself with indifference at best, and more often with self-righteous skepticism. Emma (Jennifer Morrison) has taken Henry (Jared Gilmore) out of town without telling Regina …

Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed by: Dean White
US Airdate: Sunday, February 17, 2013
In Short: Scenery: It’s what’s for dinner, as fathers and sons are reunited, secrets are laid bare, and dastardly plots are hatched and executed.
Recommended: Heh. No.
AUGUST: I know you’re Baelfire.
– A very special message to Neal
This may not be the most popular opinion I’ve ever put forward, but “Manhattan” was a train wreck of near-epic proportions. Staring in disbelief, I couldn’t tear my eyes away, profoundly as I wished I could. A perfect storm of bad …

Written by Christine Boylan & Kalinda Vazquez
Directed by Guy Ferland
US Airdate: Sunday, February 10, 2013
In Short: Emma and Gold embark upon a journey, and Anton the Giant’s backstory, which we have all been breathlessly awaiting, is at long last revealed.
Recommended: Zzzzz.
ANTON: All you humans do is lie and cheat and kill, and I’m sick of it!
This is going to be a short review, because “Tiny” was a deeply underwhelming episode. To jump right in:
Emma and Gold leave Storybrooke to search for Gold’s lost son, Baelfire; young Henry tags along, but …

US Air Date: Sunday, January 20, 2013
Written by: Jane Espenson
Directed by: Milan Cheylov
In Short: The world comes to Storybrooke, triggering controversy among the residents and a cascade of memories in a drunken Dr. Whale.
Recommended:
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN: Rumpelstiltskin says magic has a price. I think science does, too.
“In the Name of the Brother” picks up where “The Outsider” left off – Gold is holding a freaked-out Belle, Hook is writhing in pain on the ground, and the Outsider is unconscious and gravely injured in his car. Long story short, the entire crew …

US Air Date: Sunday, January 13, 2013
Written by: Andrew Chambliss & Ian B. Goldberg
Directed by: David Solomon
In Short: Belle goes adventuring.
Recommended: Yes!
HOOK: My dear Belle, you should have stayed with your books. Real life can get so… messy.
“The Outsider” is Emile de Ravin’s episode, and I’m happy to say that she rocks it. In fact, I was so happy with her story in both worlds that I almost didn’t mind the cheesy plot twist at the end. (Amnesia? Are we seriously going to go there, show?) Here’s what happened:
First, in …

US Air Date: Sunday, January 6, 2013
Written by: David H. Goldman & Robert Hull
Directed by: Dean White
In Short: Archie Hopper is murdered, and Regina is the only suspect… but there’s more to the story than (literally) meets the eye.
Recommended: Yes.
EVIL QUEEN: I regret that I didn’t cause MORE pain.
– A badass Fairy Tale Queen defiantly faces the firing squad.
See, this is why you want to live a clean life. If you’re known to have been a vindictive, murderous, overdressed sorceress back in the Old Country and then kindly Archie …

Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed by: Ralph Hemecker
US Air Date: Sunday, December 2, 2012
In Short: How far will Regina and Gold go to prevent Cora from coming to Storybrooke?
Recommended: Yes!
CORA: Oh, you foolish girl. Don’t you know…love is weakness?
EMMA: No. It’s strength.
Whew! What a fun episode. What twists, what turns. It’s making me deeply impatient for January – which is a 180-degree turn from where I was a week ago, let me tell you. And how, precisely, did this episode rock my world? Let us count the ways …

Written by: Kalinda Vazquez, Daniel T. Thomsen
Directed by: Ron Underwood
US Air Date: Sunday, November 25, 2012
In Short: To sleep, perchance to dream…
Recommended: No. And also yes!
CORA: If there’s one thing I know about your grandparents… [AWESOME EYEROLL] …they always find one another.
For an episode that kicked off with Cora (Barbara Hershey) raising her very own Army of the Undead, this episode seemed awfully flat to me. Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind to appreciate an episode the biggest moments of which revolved around putting people to sleep, …