Once Upon A Time: Red Riding Hood

This week's episode of Once Upon A time focused on Ruby and her journey to control her wolfy-side. It also marked the return of King George, Prince Charming/David's fake king father as a revenge-seeking murderer determined to destroy David. (You may remember that King George plucked Charming David from a life as a shepherder because he looked like the Prince who died. George needed an heir and someone to marry Midas' daughter. George was really ticked when Charming fell for Snow.) You can find a recap of tonight's episode here.

There were three key parts to tonights episode as far as I am concerned:

1) Ruby's necessary adjustment to the return of her wolf-side now that magic is back. This was resolved pretty quickly as we went back and forth between the flashbacks to oldtime fairytale land and modern Storybrooke. We meet Ruby's wolf mom and pack and start to understand why Granny took Ruby away and tried to raise her as a human. As Ruby saved Snow in the flashbacks, David's trust that Ruby in wolf form won't kill him saves her now.

I have to wonder if this de-wolfing will stick.

2) King George is back and is really, really evil. He kills a poor pawn (Billy the tow truck driver/mouse) just to frame Ruby to get back at David. That's some complicated revenge.George also burned Jefferson's hat thinking that would separate David from Snow and Emma forever. Maybe Cora and George should start dating. They could hatch their evil plots together.

 Now that Gold & Regina seem to be kinder and gentler, and with Cora stuck in fairytale land, we need a baddy on the Storybrooke side of the fence.

3) The nightmares - Both Henry and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) are having fiery nightmares. At the end of the show, they meet each other in a nightmare where Henry uses Gold's amulet to stop the fire and speak to Aurora. their conversation doesn't last long but it's enough for Aurora to report the conversation back to Snow, Emma and Mulan. (The nightmare reminded me of the Opera House dream from Battlestar Gallactica a bit - Laura Roslyn spoke to Deanna when they weren't in the same part of the galaxy.)

Overall, I thought the episode was a good one, although it could have used a little more Hook.

We have a two week break before the next episode. What did you think about tonight's episode? What's King George's next move? Will Ruby continue to be able to control herself during full moons?

You can read past commentaries on Once Upon a Time here.