Enter The Dragon

No, not the 1973 Bruce Lee movie (also his last movie, it debuted six days after he died), this week's episode of Once Upon A Time. The "dragon" in question being Maleficent, the villain of Sleeping Beauty who cursed Princess Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall asleep for a hundred years. Well, the OUAT version of Maleficent was nestled in her dragon form beneath Storybrooke when the curse was originally enacted and Emma Swann -- the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White -- killed her at the end of season one to retrieve the potion that restored the fairy tale memories of everyone there. And two and a half years later, Rumpelstiltskin (we'll get back to him in a minute) with the help of Ursula and Cruella get what they need to restore Maleficent to life. Just as in storybooks, in Storybrooke death is not considered a serious injury!

Here's the clincher; nobody but the current panoply of villains knows that Rumpelstiltskin's back in Storybrooke. (And by the end of this episode, so does Regina, OUAT's version of Snow White's wicked stepmother the queen.) Rumpel's wife Belle drove him out of Storybrooke because he'd been lying to her so he could maintain his power -- if you see the photo, that's the dagger controlling Rumpelstiltskin that Belle is holding, and she and [Captain] Hook are about to bury it. Belle gives Hook the dagger after she calms her nerves by commanding Rumpelstiltskin if he's in Storybrooke to appear. Nothing happens. Belle gives Hook the dagger as he's promised to hide it where no one will think of looking. Belle leaves. Hook has this nasty -- OUAT's version has him as more of an antihero -- grin after she's gone and morphs into Rumpelstiltskin. He didn't need to appear before Belle when she held the dagger because he was already there!

My family and I were watching that show Monday night and it shocked us all! Now we're wondering when Hook got kidnapped ... man, I could go on all day, but I've got more to say about what (at least some of what) has gone on up to now. Monday morning Sarah gave her oral report on George Washington that she dressed like him for with my blue robe, Martha's white shirt, her boots, and having her hair tied back. As far as I know, she's the only one who dressed up for the report -- she had to give it first because she's first on the roster, and she says she did quite well. I'm glad that Monday and Tuesday nights we were all able to nestle in at home, and Wednesday I met the family at church after the Lenten service had gotten out (due to my work schedule for the week, I'm always arriving at the end) and I brought Sarah and Jeffrey home. And their home reading's caught up ...

You see the bookshelves I've got up, it's hard to imagine how it could not be!

David