I’m now nearing the end of the second season in my Once Upon a Time binge watch. Once again, expect spoilers.

“Tiny”:

Here we have another somewhat disappointing episode.

An interrogation of Hook leads to the discovery of Anton, the last surviving giant, aboard his ship — albeit somewhat shrunken. He flies into a rage at the sight of Charming, believing him to be his far less noble brother, James. With a little help from Regina, he plans to wreak some havoc.

Meanwhile, Emma, Henry, and Rumpelstiltskin travel to New York in search of Rumpel’s son.

I like Anton and the giants’ story in general. The battle with Jack wasn’t quite the mighty epic I’d initially envisioned, but it’s still a nice twist.

But I was very disappointed that all of Regina’s character development has been thrown out to turn her back into the old caricature of evil, and the ending was just a bland deus ex machina.

Also, what idiot decided to let Hook roam around without supervision? I realize these people are kind of naive, but jeez.

Overall rating: 6.4/10

“Manhattan”:

And suddenly everything is very awkward.

Emma, Henry, and Rumpel have arrived in New York, and they manage to track down down Rumpel’s son, Baelfire. But in a twist I should have seen coming, it turns out Baelfire is also Henry’s father.

Our flashbacks this time around illustrate how Rumpel came to be a cripple with a reputation for cowardice, and it puts him in a surprisingly sympathetic light while once again proving that his wife was a horrible, horrible person.

This episode neither excels nor disappoints. It’s got a lot of Robert Carlyle, which is good, but mostly all it boils down to is a lot of yelling and general awkwardness.

I really do feel bad for Rumpelstiltskin. I’m sure I shouldn’t, but I do. He may have ended up a monster, but he started out with the best of intentions. People treated him like a monster long before he became one.

Him being Henry’s grandfather could prove interesting going forward, but on the other hand, I don’t like this “the boy will be your undoing” talk.

Overall rating: 6.9/10

“The Queen Is Dead”:

This is kind of an odd episode. There’s a lot going on, but not much really happening.

In New York, Hook catches up with Rumpel but manages to serve as little more than a plot device to force him and his son together.

How much more trouble is Hook going to cause before these people realize that a more permanent a solution is necessary? I know they’re not the killing type, but they could at least lock him up and throw away the key.

Meanwhile, in Storybrook, Cora and Regina hunt for Rumpelstiltskin’s dagger so that they will be able to control him once he returns.

I have little to say about this plot beyond the fact that I remain powerfully disappointed by how all of Regina’s character development has been thrown out the window, and that Charming’s foolishness seems to be rubbing off on Snow now.

Overall rating: 6.6/10

“The Miller’s Daughter”:

Rumpelstiltskin is dying, and Cora is determined to claim his power for herself. She claims it’s to help Regina, but by now we all know how much truth there is in that.

It’s up to Emma, David, and Baelfire to protect Rumpel, despite their less than warm feelings toward him. But the battle may hinge on the actions of Snow White. Rumpel offers a way to save him and end the threat of Cora once and for all, but it goes against everything Snow believes in.

For the flashbacks, we go way far back to learn Cora’s origin story. It’s not terribly surprising — she was pretty much always awful and power hungry — and definitely the weakest part of the episode. My main takeaway was that Regina’s father used to be a Freelancer.

Also, how old is Rumpelstiltskin, anyway? He was already the Dark One long before Regina’s birth. That also begs the question of how long Hook and Baelfire have been around.

But I digress.

“The Miller’s Daughter” is slow to start, but it builds to a pretty powerful conclusion. As is often the case, much of the appeal boils down to Robert Carlyle being an amazing actor. Rumpel’s deathbed confessions to Belle and Baelfire were examples of how powerfully moving Once Upon a Time can be when it’s not being too sugary sweet. After a run of weak episodes, I remember why I’m watching this series.

The ending was great, as well. I definitely did not expect Snow to actually go through with and succeed in her plan to kill Cora. Not only is it very satisfying to see Cora finally reach her end, but it’s a nice change of pace to see Snow go a little too far — by her own standards, at least. It’s a refreshing surprise.

It also gives Regina a good reason to be pissed off for once. Maybe now her conflict with Snow won’t be so clearly black and white.

For the first twenty minutes or so, I thought this would be another mediocre episode, but I am quite happy to be wrong.

Overall rating: 8/10

“Welcome to Storybrook”:

Yet again, Regina is on the war path to end Snow White. She plans to kill Snow and use her heart to cast a spell that will place Henry in her thrall.

Meanwhile, the flashbacks this time around actually take place in Storybrook. Immediately after the town’s creation, Regina encounters an ordinary man and his son who were caught up in the curse. She proceeds to get all baby crazy and try to abduct the son, with consequences in the town’s modern day.

I found this another disappointing episode. Regina going after Snow just feels a little tired at this point, I am so not interested in this conflict they seem to be trying to set up between Storybrook and the real world, and a lot of the characters’ actions just didn’t feel right.

I don’t believe for a moment that any self-respecting child — least of all Henry — would willingly try to banish magic from the world, especially when we have plenty of examples of magic doing good in the world. The problem is obviously the people, not the magic.

Snow’s suicidal self-loathing over Cora’s death is a bit hard to swallow, too. I do understand that killing someone is not something to be taken lightly, and any decent person — especially someone as pure-hearted as Snow — will feel guilt over such an act.

But Cora was about as unambiguously evil as anyone could ever be, and there’s no doubt whatsoever the world is better without her. There are limits to how much guilt over her death can be considered reasonable.

And while it’s in Snow’s character to be very pure-hearted, it’s also in her character to be incredibly strong, to rise above all adversity, and the writers seem to have forgotten that right now.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

You know the drill. Continuing the binge-watch. Here be spoilers.

“Child of the Moon”:

Well, this answers one of the big questions I had going into season two: Will Red start transforming again now that the curse is broken?

Yes. Yes, she will.

It’s not a welcome revelation for Red herself, though. She’s terrified she’s going to lose control and hurt someone.

Meanwhile, King George is determined to continue his quest for vengeance against Prince Charming in Storybrook, and when a local man is gruesomely killed, he’s quick to exploit the suspicion against Red as a tool to discredit Charming.

In the past and in another world, Red encounters a clan of werewolves led by her long-lost mother, who teach her how to understand and control the wolf within her.

I really like Red. She’s one of the show’s more interesting characters, torn between her beast nature and her humanity, and the actress puts on a great performance in this episode.

Unfortunately, I also found both stories very predictable. It was blindingly obvious that King George was going to try to frame Red even before the body showed up, and Red finding a home among fellow lycanthropes was clearly too good to be true.

On the plus side, the twist at the very end was definitely not something I saw coming. The connection between Aurora and Henry raises all kinds of interesting possibilities.

Also, Granny is awesome.

Overall rating: 7.5/10

“Into the Deep”:

A connection between worlds has been found in Henry and Aurora’s dreams, and Emma’s party hopes to use to gain the information needed to defeat Cora from Rumpelstiltskin.

Cora isn’t going to make that easy, though. She attacks the party and abducts Aurora. Meanwhile, Henry’s continued efforts to make contact put his life in danger. Groups in both worlds are forced to take increasingly desperate efforts to maintain contact.

If memory serves, this is the first episode of the series without any flashbacks, and while I tend to enjoy the flashbacks, it is a nice change of pace. It makes for a very tight and exciting episode. It’s got the feeling of building tension that you usually only see near the very end of a season, but we’re still not even halfway through. Very good.

“Into the Deep” also makes good use of the cast, with strong performances once again from Snow, Regina, and Henry.

Really my only complaint is that it once again shows both Emma and Charming to be complete and utter schmucks.

Overall rating: 8/10

“Queen of Hearts”:

All jail and no magic makes Rumpelstiltskin a dull mage…

With Aurora’s unwilling aid, Cora is able to defeat Emma and Snow’s company, paving the way for her to go to Storybrook. Knowing a portal will open soon, Regina and Rumpel plan to destroy it to prevent Cora’s arrival, even if it risks killing Emma and Snow. And the flashbacks illuminate the origins of Cora and Hook’s partnership.

There’s enough sword fights, magic, and excitement to make this a solid episode, though it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations set by “Into the Deep,” and a few things bug me about it.

I’m a bit sad Mulan and Aurora didn’t come through to Storybrook. They might show up again, but this undoubtedly means they’ll be on the backburner for the time being. I’d be perfectly happy to never see Aurora again, but Mulan was pretty cool. I want to see her get more time in the spotlight.

I’m also not sure how I feel about Emma gaining the power to shoot out Harry Potter love rays. On the one hand, it makes sense to give her some continued relevance as a saviour, since that’s her whole reason for existing. On the other hand, Emma is really boring, and I don’t want her becoming any more ubiquitous than she already is. And I don’t know, but random love lasers just feels a little tacky.

Overall rating: 7.3/10

“The Cricket Game”:

Regina continues to be one of the most interesting parts of this series. After the enormous amount of effort and skill they poured into making her utterly unlikable, making the viewer feel sympathy for her should be all but impossible, but here they are pulling it off.

When one of Storybrook’s residents turns up dead, all the evidence points to Regina… maybe a little too obviously. But of course, no one is willing to believe she’s not guilty, and after all she’s done, it’s hard to blame them.

Only Emma thinks something might be up, and she actually tries to prove Regina’s innocence, but the evidence seems absolute.

Along the way, we once again see that Emma does, in fact, have magic, which I’m still not thrilled about. More magic is always good, but it would have been more interesting if it had happened to anyone else.

On the whole, this episode split evenly between Emma and Regina, and therefore split between awesomeness and mediocrity. Thankfully, Regina is just a bit more interesting than Emma is tedious.

Also, I am once again struck by how much Emma and Regina are a potential goldmine for slash fic writers. They’re even sort of raising a kid together. It writes itself!

For that matter, Aurora and Mulan could also prove to be quite the shipper goldmine.

Really this entire show just seems like a playground for femslash writers.

Overall rating: 7.4/10

“The Outsider”:

This episode could pretty much be summed up as “forty minutes of Belle being awesome.”

In Storybrook, Hook enacts his plan of revenge against Rumpelstiltskin, hoping to use Belle to get to him. But Belle’s tougher than she looks, and Hook may have bought more than he bargained for.

In the Enchanted Forest’s past, Belle is seized by an urge for adventure and heads off to help defeat a legendary monster. Along the way, she joins forces with Mulan, but Belle’s books prove a mightier weapon than Mulan’s sword.

I have trouble thinking of much to say about this episode beyond the fact that Belle is awesome. It’s always gratifying when a character who doesn’t seem especially tough or heroic proves themselves the equal of the greats.

That ending, though… My poor aching feels.

I really hope Hook dies a gruesome, painful death at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later. What a horrid, disgusting excuse for a person. I mean, Regina and Rumpel have done some awful stuff, and Cora is just pure evil, but Hook is vile. Can they lock him in a room with Red during the next full moon? Or maybe let Grumpy use him as a pick sharpener?

Overall rating: 7.8/10

“In the Name of the Brother”:

When we saw no more mention of Wale’s true identity as Dr. Frankenstein, I assumed the writers realized it was a bad idea and decided to drop that story.

So much for that.

Following the car accident that laid up Hook, the driver — a stranger to Storybrook — is at death’s door. There’s some debate over weather they should let him die to save Storybrook’s secrecy, but of course Charming and Snow won’t have it, so it falls to Wale/Frankenstein to save him.

But our dear Victor is in a bad way, and before he can save anyone, someone needs to save him.

Meanwhile, Cora attempts to restore ties with Regina and Rumpel, with a disturbing level of success.

All my previous complaints about the inclusion of Frankenstein still stand. It still feels out of place, and it’s still ignoring the whole point of the story of Frankenstein. Regina falling for Cora’s manipulations was also terribly disappointing, I’m sad about how things have turned out for Belle and Rumpel, and I’m not terribly enthused about them adding the need to keep Storybrook secret to all the other problems.

Oh, and Hook is still drawing breath, albeit with difficulty.

This was not only a boring episode, but one which gives me significant doubts about the quality of the series for at least the near future.

Overall rating: 4.9/10 Probably the worst episode of the series to date, and a great disappointment considering the mostly high quality of the second season so far.

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I just Googled “Once Upon a Time Emma and Regina.” Yeah, wow.