What I’m Watching: Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time: Season 1, Episode 6 “The Shepherd” (C+)

Here we have an installment centered around one of Storybrooke's most newly conscious and notable residents, whose fantasy past proves to be considerably more intriguing than might have been expected. There's not a hint of the Evil Queen in the fantasy world, and instead it seems that Rumplestiltskin is the common poisonous link in all of those storeis. The untimely demise of the real Prince Charming led to his destiny being handed over to his twin brother, a poor farmer with a heart of gold. That's not literal gold, of course, though that was present in this hour with the appearance of King Midas. I was hardly surprised to see Alan Dale in a position of power as the other king, who proved to be rather cruel in his threat to kill the newly crowned prince's mother if he didn't marry the princess. His clever slaying of the dragon doesn't seem to translate to the real world, as he leaves his own homecoming party to go visit his crush Mary. Regina's bonding with Kathryn has led to another bone for her to pick with Mary, and sending David in the wrong direction after he picked a place that he couldn't even locate to meet Mary was harsh. It seems that it isn't yet time for a happy ending for these two, so that's going to have to wait a bit. With much less screen time for both Emma and Henry, we still have the unfortunate breaking news of Graham's affair with Emma, something which Emma did not take well at all.