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shipperxFor the writers, how hard has it been balancing three story/time lines?
Jane Espenson: When we started the season with the three threads instead of two, we were all tentative. Will this work? It really quickly became evident that it was not just going to work, but it was going to step everything up. For the first time, you have story lines that are happening contemporaneous with each other. We always had those fairy-tale story lines from the past. We just felt this excitement when we got to the end of Episode 201, when we do that reveal that these two stories have been happening at the same time. We can still tell stories from the past, so we've got three different colors of story on the board; we write on the white board with different color ink. We've fallen in love with these stories.
In Sunday's episode, we'll see how Regina met Rumple
Espenson: [Laughs] Can an evil queen and a wicked sorcerer be friends? They are the main focus of this episode. I'd listen carefully to what Rumple says about their first meeting. Maybe this is their first meeting, but maybe they go even further back. There's an awful lot going on in town with David/Prince Charming as well.
For Snow and Emma, they're enemies of Fairy-tale land because of the Wraith. How are they navigating those waters?
Espenson: They've got a lot of explaining to do.
It's not just about explaining that it's not their fault, but where did they come from? Are they who they say they are? We don't know what relationships Mulan and Aurora had with the characters that we've seen in Storybrooke. Will they know the name Snow White? And Emma doesn't know anything about this world. We handed them a big old of bouquet of obstacles to deal with.
Not to mention, they're dealing with charred fairy-tale land. I'm reminded of cinder Earth from Battlestar Galactica and what happens when you find the place you've been yearning for and it's not what you thought it would be.
It's interesting for both sides. Aurora and Mulan are going to have to deal with who these people are, who they blame for this terrible situation. And we have to deal with Snow and Emma dealing with this strange world.
Nice Battlestar reference.
Espenson: We never say it explicitly in the room, and I don't think Adam [Horowitz] and Edward [Kitsis] have made the parallel, but when we talk about fairy-tale land, I can't help but think of cinder Earth. It's not narratively used in the same way, but I always think of that heart-dropping feeling of finding Earth and it's cinder.
Going back, you mentioning Aurora and Mulan possibly not being aware of Snow White is a parallel to Whale telling Charming that he's not his prince. Is that a geographical thing, or could that be Whale knowing that Charming wasn't really the prince?
Espenson: I've heard a couple different interpretations of "You're not my prince." One being that he comes from a land that's not fairy-tale land, another being that he comes from a different part of fairy-tale land and has an allegiance to a different prince. I hadn't heard that one. That's cool too. Whale gets more and more interesting, doesn't he? I love that notion. That line is one of my favorite lines ever because it is so multiply interpretable. Obviously, we're keeping the Whale mystery going.
Emma's reaction to that line was also very strong. She's really starting to realize her father is a prince!
Espenson: She has some amazing takes in these early episodes, where she's reeling from this realization and taking in this new world. It's not just intermittently heartbreaking — and the heartbreak on Snow's face when she hugged her, my God, and Emma realizing that she's found her parents and nothing that she thought was true is true — but it's also funny because we're dealing with this modern woman who's dealing with these crazy things that are apparently true.
Beyond that, these are things she's read about in fairy tales. It isn't just, "My father's a prince," it's, "My father is Prince Charming?!" That notion is so comedically rich. Jennifer does a great job of playing the comedy of it.
How soon will we get a sense of what the real danger is in fairy-tale land?
Espenson: They will be danger in Sunday's episode; you'll learn a lot. Look to the ending of Sunday's episode to get a glimpse of the real danger. It's not just ogres. It's worse.
Is part of that danger Capt. Hook (Colin O'Donoghue)? Are there people who have taken advantage of what this leftover world is?
Espenson: The new cinder FTL has a number of dangerous characters in it, let's just say that. And yes, Hook is going to be introduced. Is there an overlap between those two?
FTL, aka fairy-tale land, made me think of Battlestar again!
Espenson: It all goes back to Battlestar. [Laughs]
How difficult will Emma and Snow's journey back to Storybrooke be? Not only the journey, but dealing with Emma's feeling about Snow and Charming having given her up.
Espenson: It's not just going to be Snow and Emma trying to get back, but obviously David trying to figure out how to get them back from the other side. We don't know how possible that is. It's not going to be easy. The first scene of Sunday's episode is not going to be, "Oh look, I got the Mad Hatter's hat to work!" It's going to take real effort and I would look for that to not be resolved right away. We've put them in a very difficult situation and we're not going to make it easy to get out of it.
And David can't just turn to Jefferson/The Mad Hatter to have him make a new hat?
Espenson: A very smart step would be to go to Jefferson. But does David even know about Jefferson? I wouldn't be shocked to see Jefferson show up at some point because he would be very useful.
Speaking of the hat, Emma appeared to have a hand in starting it up in the premiere. What are the consequences of the fact that Emma can apparently do magic?
Espenson: Can she do magic? Or facilitate magic? That shot of her hand on Regina's arm was certainly evocative. I wouldn't take that to mean Emma can do magic, though. But yes: Emma. Magic. Some sort of loop around those two words. Again, the first scene of Sunday's episode is also not going to be Emma making frogs appear. You're on a very long journey with these characters.
