So we begin with a pickpocketing youngster and his parents in fairytale land. And we end up with some very heavy-handed “ideals” which clearly are going to be challenged by the end of the episode (wow, seriously, there wasn’t even a hint of subtlety here). Interesting that we’re going to have some more moral questioning on the programme – like we did with Cinderella’stale that had some fantastic (albeit un-nuanced) messages in it. But a lighter hand would be nicer.
Anyway, little pickpocket boy has been told that good=weak, let his parents do his thinking for him, he’s “free to do what we want”, and he can’t change who and what he is. Oh and the boy is Jiminy Cricket (he grows up to become a cricket, wow, not my dream come true, but different strokes I guess). We continue to follow him working with his immoral, thieving parents objecting to their naughty ways (one thing it does make clear is that the parents steal from greed rather than necessity as their legitimate enterprises earn them enough money. I can understand doing this to differentiate them from many driven to extremes by poverty but at the same time it feels like a simplistic way to avoid any nuance or grey areas. But at least it kind of acknowledges that those grey areas exist).
His fence for all his thieving turns out to be Rumplestiltskin whose scheme is, of course, nefarious and wrong which kills 2 people and leaves their child an orphan. Leading to Jiminy wishing and regretting until the blue fairy (token black inclusion for 5 minutes, at least she didn’t die this time) turns him into a cricket to help him guide the boy who lost his parents.
In the real world Emma is having uniform arguments with the sheriff (yes, remember Emma is a deputy. I can’t say I’m familiar with American law enforcement but I cannot imagine it’s that easy) making it clear she doesn’t need a tie (or traditional masculine clothing) to have authority. Did I mention I liked Emma?
And Henry is having therapy sessions with Dr. Archie (Jiminy Cricket: oh dear gods, can you imagine? I’d squish him by the third session!) who has apparently been pulled into Henry’s minions as well. The mayor is tired with Archie’s therapy and has a big dramatic threat to demand the doctor uses other methods to “cure” Henry of his delusions. She reminds him whose boss and that she can destroy him, an employee (shadows of what his parents said in fairytale land, yes that’s that lack of nuance again). In some ways this has strong echoes of how many people treat mental illness – as something that can be quickly and easily fixed. And also how vulnerable many are to incompetent, prejudiced or agenda driven mental health practitioners
