Child of the Moon (11 Nov. 2012)

When a murder occurs in Storybrooke on a full moon, Spencer (King George) tries to bring the town against David by implicating Ruby. Back in fairy tale land, Red finds a pack of wolves who adopt her into their family.

Director:

Anthony Hemingway

Writers:

Edward Kitsis (creator), Adam Horowitz (creator),

Stars:

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parrilla

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Ginnifer Goodwin	...	Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard
Jennifer Morrison	...	Emma Swan
Lana Parrilla	...	Evil Queen / Regina Mills
Josh Dallas	...	Prince Charming / David Nolan
Emilie de Ravin	...	Belle
Jared Gilmore	...	Henry Mills (as Jared S. Gilmore)
Meghan Ory	...	Red Riding Hood / Ruby
Robert Carlyle	...	Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold
Lee Arenberg	...	Leroy / Grumpy
Sarah Bolger	...	Princess Aurora
Alan Dale	...	Spencer / King George
Beverley Elliott	...	Granny
Annabeth Gish	...	Anita
Ben Hollingsworth	...	Quinn
Keegan Connor Tracy	...	Blue Fairy / Mother Superior

Storyline

In Storybrooke, the Dwarfs find a bounty in the mine which could bring Emma and Mary Margaret home. Then, when a murder occurs on a full moon, Spencer (King George) tries to bring the town against David by implicating Ruby. Back in fairy tale land, Red finds a pack of wolves who adopt her into their family.

---

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf

---

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2012 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kitsis/Horowitz, ABC Studios

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

User Reviews

Child of the Moon

If there's one thing I can count on Once Upon a Time to be, it's consistently inconsistent, and to be honest, it's really frustrating—astonishing, too, I'll admit, but mostly just frustrating. I tend to gripe about it week after week, I know, but it's becoming increasingly easier to feel put out by a show that, even after nearly 30 episodes and even more scattered glimmers of promise, has yet to discover an appropriate balance or a way of making its story—whatever that may be at this point—feel important. Because let me just say that right about now, I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should be asking, "Why do I even care?" Maybe that's harsh—obviously, I do care; I wouldn't watch and write every week if I didn't—but I'm disappointed that a season that initially held so much promise has reverted to tired ways. That's not to say it does everything wrong, nor do I mean to say that "Child of the Moon" was a terrible episode (I mean, I thought it was pretty bad, but it could've been worse), it's just that one of the biggest challenges faced by OUAT lies within appropriately dividing its time between its heaps of characters and worlds, a challenge I'm not sure it has the ability to master.

Whereas last week's "Tallahassee" strayed too far away from the goings-on in Storybrooke and a fairytale flashback, this week's episode does the exact opposite, relying too heavily on the latter with little payoff. I still stand by my praise of the season's sixth episode, despite having read some pretty negative reviews of it, but I will admit that I may have failed to acknowledge that its microscopic exploration of a moment in Emma's past could have been read as a bit of a snag in regards to the story as a whole, as well as in comparison to the other worlds and timeframes already existing within the show. I do believe, however, that it offered up a much-needed helping of character development/depth, as opposed to Sunday's which only succeeded in dangling those opportunities in front of us before snatching them away again.

And it's a bit of a bummer because "Child of the Moon" begins promisingly; after mining tirelessly, the dwarfs finally happen upon some diamonds they can grind into fairy dust—the final element Charming requires to bring Snow and Emma back home—and it seems as though the show may finally begin to develop as it needs to. But I guess the writers weren't quite ready for that because rather than focus their efforts on creating a plausible storyline that would allow for a more fitting conflict to plague Charming, they instead choose to maybe-not-so-subtly promote the newest Twilight installment with two Ruby-centric werewolf plot lines (and, yes, I'm being facetious—I'm not entirely sure that was what they were doing, but that's what it felt like!).

In this week's fairytale flashback, Red and Snow are on the run from the evil queen's men on a full moon night, and Red, unwilling to put Snow in harm's way during her transformation, decides it best they split up. After doing so, Red meets Quinn (Ben Hollingsworth), a fellow werewolf who leads her to a den full of others just like them with the promise that she will come to accept and control the wolf within her. Initially apprehensive, Red warms to the idea when she meets Anita (Mystic Pizza's Annabeth Gish), who, as it turns out, is her mother. Believing her mother to have died when she was young and taught by her granny to stifle her wolfish urges, Red chooses to reject what she's known of the past and agrees to allow her fellow wolves to teach her their way of life, a decision that ultimately allows her to fully control her human-to-wolf transformations. One day, however, Snow finally manages to catch up with Red (why it took her so long to do so is beyond me), and discovers she's been hiding out in the den all along. Red's joy over reuniting with her friend is short-lived when she learns Snow's been followed by the queen's men, who manage to kill Quinn before they themselves are slaughtered by the whole pack. Threatened by Snow's presence and the danger it could continue to bring, Anita urges Red to kill her, but unwilling to give up all of her humanity, she refuses and ends up killing her mother after a brief struggle because at the end of the day, Snow is her real family. Aw.

To read the rest of the review (IMDb form too short) visit: custodianfilmcritic.com/once-upon-a-time-2-7-child-of-the-moon/