Are you hooked on Once Upon a Time yet? ABC’s new fairytale series has a little of everything – romance, drama, comedy, and fantasy – as well as terrific acting and intriguing storylines. And if you haven’t yet been able to catch up on all the episodes, here’s the scoop on Episode #3.
 
Highlights of Episode 3:
 
-This episode starts off with the backstory of how Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) met. He was riding in a carriage with his then fiancée, who we can already tell is a whinny stuck-up brat by the amount of complaining she did. They suddenly had to stop because a tree was blocking their path. Prince Charming went to investigate when all of a sudden Snow White – all covered up – stole a pouch out of the carriage (I know what you all must be thinking: “Wait, what Snow White is a thief?”). After stealing the pouch, Snow White takes off on her horse. Shortly after that, Prince Charming gives chase. Knocking her off her horse, they fall to the ground and in his surprise he says, “You’re a girl.” Snow White corrects him and says “woman.” As he is still trying to process that fact, she hits him upside the head with a rock. As she’s riding away, he yells, “You can’t hide from me. Wherever you are, I will find you.”
 
-Back in Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is having a not-so-good date with Dr. Wales (David Anders), who, while she’s talking, catches him checking out the waitress, Ruby (a provocatively dressed Little Red Riding Hood). She asks for the check and on her lonely stroll home, she sees Emma (Jennifer Morrison) in her car. To her surprise, she finds out Emma is now sleeping in her car, but is happy to see she stayed for Henry (Jared S. Gilmore). Mary Margaret offers her a place to stay, but Emma politely declines saying she doesn’t do well with a roommate.
 
-The next day, Mary Margaret is at the hospital with her class hanging up get well banners, when she finds Henry in John Doe’s (Prince Charming) room wanting to know if Mr. Doe is going to be okay. Mary Margaret explains to Henry his name is not really John Doe, that’s just what they call people they don’t know who they are. Pushing Mary Margaret, he asks her if she knows who he is. She tells him no. He asks more questions, wanting to know how long has he been like that, does he have any family? To which she replies as long as she can remember and no one has claimed him. With one last shot, Henry says to her, “Are you sure you don’t know him?”
 
-Henry meets up with Emma telling her he found her father, Prince Charming, and that they have to tell Snow White. Emma puts the breaks on telling Henry they can’t tell Mary Margaret that her soul mate is in a coma, that could be too painful. Henry tells her they have to get him to remember and suggests that Mary Margaret reads to John Doe “their story.” Emma agrees, but tells Henry that they’re going to do it her way and she is going to ask Mary Margaret.
 
-Emma pays Mary Margaret a visit and being asked the question, she responds, “You want me to read to a coma patient?” Emma informs Mary Margaret Henry thinks it will help him remember who he was. Which, of course, has her wondering who exactly Henry thinks he is. Emma tells her, “Prince Charming.” Emma suggests they play along to show Henry fairytales don’t exist. Mary Margaret agrees to read to john Doe.
 
-Mary Margaret goes to John Doe and begins reading “their story” to him. As she gets to the end and before she can finish, “They knew, no matter how they were separated, that they would always…,” John Doe springs to life and clutches her arm. Mary Margaret rushes to get Dr. Wales only to find John Doe the same as he’s always been since he has been at the hospital. He suggests maybe she imagined it, telling her to go home and rest. After Mary Margaret leaves, he calls Regina (Lana Parilla). She had asked him to call her if anything with John Doe were to change, telling her he grabbed a volunteer. When the doctor tells Regina who the volunteer was, I thought she was going to break the phone she was squeezing it so hard. Is there anyone in this town who isn’t secretly doing stuff for Regina?
 
-Back in the fairytale, Snow White is in a hollowed-out tree gathering all of the things she has stolen. As soon as she steps outside the tree, a trap scoops her up and she is suspended in air, with Prince Charming laughing, saying, “I told you I would find you,” to which she replies, “Is this the only way you can catch a woman?” Which I personally found funny. He wants to know where his jewels are and she tells him she sold them. He agrees to let her down if she leads him to his mother’s ring that she stole. Asking Prince Charming, “Why would I help you?,” he replies, “Because you don’t want me telling anyone who you really are… Snow White,” pulling out the wanted poster that has her photo on it.
 
-Back in Storybrooke, Emma and Henry meet up with Mary Margaret at the café to let them know he woke up…well, sort of, he grabbed her arm. They rush over to the hospital to find Joe Doe’s gone missing. Who shows up a short time later? You guessed it, Regina, who’s furious to see Henry there with Emma. Both Henry and Emma call Regina out wondering why she would be there. She states she’s his emergency contact because she’s the one that found him on the side of the road years ago. Of course, how convenient. After that, Regina tells Emma, “Since I can’t keep you away from my son, I’ll have to keep my son away from you.”
 
-Mary Margaret, Sheriff Graham (Jamie Dornan), and Emma go to security to look over the surveillance tapes which show John Doe walking out of the hospital on his own. The door he left through leads to the woods.
 
-The next several scenes cut between the fairytale and Storybrooke. Cutting back to the fairytale, Prince Charming is wondering how Snow White became a wanted women. She says the Queen blames her for ruining her life. Of course the prince has to ask, “Did you?” She replies with a short, simple, “Yes.” Changing the subject, Snow White asks to get a drink of water, Prince Charming allows her to get a drink at the river, where seconds later Prince Charming is caught off guard. She knees him in the stomach and shoves him into the river where he starts to float down. She runs to the road where she runs into some of the Queen’s men. They have her up against a tree with their knives drawn when suddenly one of the men goes down. Prince Charming hit him with a long-distance arrow shot. After a brief fight, Prince Charming asks Snow White if she’s all right and is ready to go find his jewels. They arrive at the troll bridge where things instantly don’t feel right. Snow White pays her toll by placing some gold on the bridge, and soon the hideous trolls emerge from the depths in which they were hiding. Skeptical of who Prince Charming is, they didn’t want to speak in front of him. Snow White assures them he is fine and offers to make a trade: all their money back for one ring. The trolls decline and attack Prince Charming and Snow White. During their attack, the trolls discover the Wanted poster Prince Charming has with Snow White’s picture, which means even more money for the trolls. Snow White uses her “evil fairy dust” to save Prince Charming from the trolls. Shortly after, they say their torturous goodbyes.
 
-Jumping back to Storybrooke, the Sheriff, Mary Margaret, and Emma hit the woods to look for John Doe. The sheriff tells the ladies, “This is his world,” and to let him handle it. Okay, what did he mean by that? As the ladies stand there, Mary Margaret begins to ask Emma about her past and family. Suddenly, Henry appears. What the heck is he doing there? Henry tells Mary Margaret, ‘You are the one that woke him up, he’s trying to find you. Stop chasing him.” Sheriff Graham finds John Doe’s hospital bracelet on the ground, covered in blood. Minutes later, they find John Doe lying in the water not breathing. Mary Margaret gives him CPR and he awakens and says, “You saved me.” He’s rushed back to the hospital and a blonde comes running in yelling, “David!,” claiming to be his wife. I personally believe she was hired by Regina, but we will see…
 
-The woman claiming to be David’s wife thanks Mary Margaret for saving her husband. Mary Margaret, confused, asks her how have you not known he was here and why didn’t you come to claim him. She claims they had a fight and David walked out. She didn’t look for him because she assumed he left town. How convenient. He wakes up and his “wife” shows up out of the blue. Emma feels the same and confronts Regina, and of course Regina has an answer to that also. Turns out supposedly John Doe has been talking in his sleep and it wasn’t hard for her to put the pieces together. Regina rubs in the fact that she had Henry and Emma was totally alone.
 
-In the end, Mary Margaret is sitting at home looking sad when she gets a knock at the door. It’s Emma asking if that spare room is still available.
 
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Once Upon a Time Season 1 Episode 3 aired November 6, 2011.
 
–Recap written by Alison Helms