Once Upon A Fan

By Amy Degenstein-Hood

     In an episode fans have been speculating and waiting for, we finally found out the identity of August W. Booth, The Stranger.

     This week’s episode begins in Storybrooke with August putting a new, wooden bar lock on Mary Margret’s door. When asked where he learned to make it, he says “wood shop”. Mary Margret is preparing to go back to her teaching position and says that after a stint in jail, 4^th graders are nothing to be scared of. She begins to ask Emma about the statement she made to Regina, insinuating that she would soon be taking Henry away from her. Emma says she is ready to be Henry’s mom. The walkie talkie goes off, and Henry tells Emma that he needs to meet her for an Operation Cobra emergency. August walks with Emma on her way to see Henry. He tells Emma that a custody battle will be difficult, but that he wants to take her on a journey that could show her how to approach Regina and possibly win. Emma asks August where this “Magical Mystery Tour” would take them, but then tells August she has to meet Henry and can’t go with him. 

     At Granny’s Diner, Emma sits next to Henry where he tells her that they have to whisper because their conversation is “sensitive”. Henry shows Emma the book, and tells her that a new story has been added. It is the story of Pinocchio, but it was left uncompleted. Henry says that he doesn’t know why it would be unfinished because everyone knows how the story ends. He suggests to Emma that someone must have added it to the book to try and tell them something important. Emma tells Henry that he is going to be late for school, and as he gets ready to go, the focus shifts to the book.

     We see a small raft boat in FTL. Geppetto and a wooden boy with very light eyes (similar in color to August) , Pinocchio, are being tossed about in very rough seas. We see an enormous blue whale, Monstro, swimming menacingly in the waters behind them. Geppetto tries to give Pinocchio the only life preserver they have, but Pinocchio refuses, telling his father that he will float because he is made of wood. Geppetto tries to make him take the preserver, but Pinocchio leaps away into the water as Monstro’s giant mouth opens to swallow the boat. We then see Geppetto wake on shore, surrounded by small pieces of the ship and holding the life preserver. He says that his boy has saved him. Looking down the shore, he sees Pinocchio, face down and not moving in the water. He rushes to his side and crying, picks him up and begins to rock him. The blue fairy appears, and he begs her to save his boy. She waves her wand and Pinocchio becomes real. Waking and saying the famous line from the Disney movie, “I’m a real boy!” The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that as long as he is brave, truthful and unselfish; he will remain a real boy. The shot focuses in on Pinocchio’s hat, and then switches to Storybrooke; where we see August looking sadly at the same hat. 

  August makes a call to Mr. Gold and tells him he needs to meet with him. As August heads for the door, he stumbles backwards with severe pain in his leg. He leans against the edge of the bed and pulls up his pants leg. We see that his leg has turned to wood. August Wayne Booth is in fact, AWB, A Wooden Boy….Pinocchio.

     At the school yard, MM looks very happy to be free and back at work. Regina approaches and asks where Henry is, saying that she has brought him his lunch. MM replies that Henry is with his mother, and Regina asks if there is a problem. They banter back and forth and MM makes it very clear that she knows Regina is the one who framed her, not Sydney. MM also tells Regina that she forgives her, despite everything. She also says that Regina must be very lonely to try and destroy people’s lives and that doing so will never make her happy.

     MM walks away as Henry approaches and Regina gives him a TRON lunchbox. Regina tells him that it’s time to think about having him transfer classes and teachers. Henry stands up to her and tells her very directly that she will not win. Snow White will have her happy ending. We then see August entering Mr. Gold’s pawn shop. Marco is talking to Gold about a cuckoo clock that he needs to fix. August seems shocked to see Marco. Marco tells Gold that he will fix the clock, and then tips his hat to August as he leaves. Gold mentions to August that it is odd that he can’t even say hello to his own father. August then tells Gold that Emma is going to come to him for legal counsel and to hire him as her lawyer. He asks Gold to decline so that Emma will come to him and he can try to convince her that the curse and stories are all real. In Gold’s shop, we see several clocks (none of which have the same time on them) something that appears to be a knife set, 3 swords on the wall, and the Mickey Mouse phone. 

     In FTL, Geppetto is teaching Pinocchio how to fix a clock. (The same clock Marco has just taken from Gold’s pawn shop.) When Pinocchio presses the spring and fixes it, the clock opens to reveal that he has tied up Jiminy and put him inside. Geppetto reminds him that he must be good if he wants to remain a real boy. The Blue Fairy shows up and tells Geppetto about the queen’s curse. She asks him to fashion a wardrobe out of the last enchanted tree so that Snow and Charming can escape with their child who is the only hope of saving FTL. He says that he can’t lose his boy, but agrees to make the wardrobe. 

     In SB, Emma goes to see Mr. Gold and asks him to represent her in a custody battle for Henry. He declines, and says that he is not the man to help her beat Regina. Emma says that he is not, then goes to seek out August. At the Inn where August is staying, Emma then asks him to take her on the journey he mentioned before. 

     Outside the animal shelter, David sees Regina across the street unable to start her car. He looks and says it is the battery, then offers to drive Regina home. At the house, Regina asks David to stay for dinner, but he says that he can’t. Inside, Regina picks up a paper that says “Mom” on the outside/ She tells David that it says Henry is having dinner with Archie. The camera pans around and we see that she is lying; the paper is blank. Regina looks sad and David buys into it, agreeing to stay for dinner.

     In FTL, the Blue Fairy shows Geppetto the last enchanted tree. She says it only has enough magic to save 2 people. She explains that the plan is for Snow and Charming to go through to the land without magic, then have the baby and raise it so that she will come back and save everyone from the curse. Geppetto agrees to build the wardrobe, but only if Pinocchio can take one of the 2 places and be saved. We then see the round table scene from the pilot, in which the Blue Fairy tells the council that the tree will save only one person.

     In SB, August and Emma are riding on his motorcycle. He says that he is taking her somewhere to tell her his story. Back at Regina’s, David volunteers to do the dishes. Regina tells him the story of how she found him on the side of the road. She leans in and tries to kiss him, but he pulls away. She apologizes, and he tells her that their friendship should stay the way it is. After he leaves, Regina is furious. She throws her glass of wine into the mirror and shatters it.    

 In FTL, we see the scene from the pilot where Snow is about to give birth. The Blue Fairy tells Geppetto that Pinocchio can no longer go through the wardrobe because Snow will already have baby Emma, and that will take both of the magic spots. After she leaves, Geppetto tells Pinocchio that he cannot lose him. He tells his boy that he loves him, and that he must go through the wardrobe and take care of Emma until it is time for her to return and break the curse. Pinocchio goes through the wardrobe. Geppetto opens it back up and it is once again empty. Crying, Geppetto turns away.

August and Emma stop at a diner and Emma is very aggravated. She asks why August has brought her to that place. Turns out it is the diner where she was found. August tells her they are there because her story is also his story. He then tells her that he is the 7 year old boy who found her when she was a baby.

We then flash back to Pinocchio coming into our world through a tree. He steps out very cautiously and is suddenly scared by a plane flying overhead. (It is a shout out to Lost…Oceanic flight 815) He is blown back to the ground, then stands up to see that baby Emma has come through the tree as well. 

     In the woods, we see August showing Emma the tree where they both came through. Emma does not believe August and tells him he is out of his mind. August tells her his true identity is Pinocchio. He follows after her as she walks away, but he falls to the ground. He explains that he was on an island full of pleasures, “a perfect place to lose oneself”, when she decided to stay in Storybrooke. She asks how he knows when she decided to stay, and he replies that it was 8:15 am where he was, and 8:15pm where she was. He says a shooting pain went through his leg at that exact moment, and time began to move forward again. He tries to show Emma his wooden leg, but her denial is so strong that she cannot see it.  Emma says she can’t be responsible for everyone’s happiness, and she doesn’t want that responsibility. August tells her she is their only hope. She then says “Then you’re all screwed”. 

     We then see Pinocchio and Emma, in a children’s home. Pinocchio gets baby Emma to smile and stop crying. He kneels down to fix her crib, when an angry man comes in. Pinocchio explains that he only wanted to fix Emma’s crib so she wouldn’t get hurt.  The man grabs his arm and tells Pinocchio never to touch anything in the house again, that nothing there belongs to him. After the man leaves, another child in the house reveals that he has stolen enough money from the sock drawer to buy all of the children bus tickets away from that hateful place. Pinocchio says he promised to take care of Emma and asks if she can go too. The boy tells Pinocchio that they cannot take care of a baby, and he makes the difficult choice to leave. He kisses his hand and places it on Emma’s forehead. 

     In SB, we see Marco trying to fix the cuckoo clock. August walks up and tells him to align the gear on the spindle and then press the spring. This is exactly what Geppetto told Pinocchio when teaching him to fix it. When it works, August tells Marco that his father taught him that. He then says that he made his father a promise, and by the time he made good on it, it was too late. Marco tells him that he tried to make it right, and that if he had a son, it would be enough for him. August asks if Marco needs an assistant. He does, but tells August he cannot pay him. “That’s alright. I just feel like fixing things”, August replies. We see on Marco’s shelf the wooden whale that Pinocchio was carving in the pilot episode. 

     Outside Regina’s home, Emma calls Henry on the walkie talkie and tells him to come outside and see her. She asks if Henry wants to live with her. When he says “more than anything”, Emma tells him to buckle up and says they are leaving Storybrooke.