It was pretty obvious a character on “Once Upon A Time” would not survive Sunday’s episode.

“Once Upon A Time,” is an ABC show with characters from our favorite stories including Snow White, Belle and Red Riding Hood. All the characters are cursed by queen Regina, to be taken out their world and live in our world, with no memories of who they are.

They all live in the fictional town Storybrooke, Maine, until the curse is broken by Emma, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. With the curse now broken, all the characters got their memories back but don’t have a way to get back home.

This episode focused on Cora’s backstory and tells the original story of Rumpelstiltskin. Cora is the miller’s daughter, while she is delivering flour to the king’s castle, Princess Eva trips Cora. She is belittled and embarrassed by the king and then forced to apologize, even though she didn’t do anything wrong.

While at a palace ball, Cora claims to the king she can turn straw into gold. The king is interested to see her do this so he traps her in a tower with straw, and she has until the next day to prove she can make gold out of straw.

While trapped in the tower, Cora meets Rumpelstiltskin, who offers to help her out of the mess she is in. They make a deal that she will give him her first born child and he will teach Cora how to turn straw into gold.

Back in Storybrooke, Rumpel gives Snow the same candle she was offered to save her mother with and they both devise a plan to ensure he will be saved by the candle and someone else will die.

There are tender moments between characters including Rumpel and Belle, when he calls her in the hospital to let her know he is dying and even with her memory loss, that one moment between them was sad, but bittersweet.

Snow finds a heart and against her morals, she pours the candle wax on it, while whispering the name of the victim.

We see a side of Snow that we are not used to seeing and as Snow said “This isn’t me,” audiences will agree this is not the Snow we know nor do we like this side of her. This shows she is willing to do whatever it takes to do the right thing, even if it is at the cost of her own conscience.

The episode was not subtle about who would die since it was clear from the beginning who it would be and most we will find this character needed to go to light a fire under another.

Snow was a little too late to stop the death and audiences will wonder if next week, she will be a little too late to save herself as well.

 

Brittany can be reached at: [email protected]