“You’ll do your worst? Because I will always do my best.” – Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper
Whether it was last week’s absence of an episode, or a sign of the potential character and story growth that can be promised, Once Upon a Time has taken on a whole new feel, making it seem like a brand-new show. This week’s Jiminy-centric episode tells the story of how the cricket becomes a conscience – or rather, how the conscience becomes a cricket.
Jiminy’s parents were travelling swindlers, and despite their insistent upbringing, the timid young man yearns for a life of his own. When he turns to Rumpelstiltskin to find an escape, his parents turn their trade on him, and use the imp’s magic against the kind family who offered them food and shelter. Jiminy is torn at having turned the kind couple into marionettes, and when he realizes that his actions left a young boy orphaned, he is visited by the Blue Fairy, who offers him the chance to make amends for his past. He escapes his family in the form of the cricket we know him as, taking up the cause of helping the young boy – Geppetto – stay on the right path.
Back in Storybrooke, Archie – Jiminy’s alter-ego – is confronted by Regina to put an end to Henry’s vivid belief that everyone is a cursed fairytale character. When an earthquake timely coincides with Emma’s appointment as town deputy, Henry takes it upon himself to investigate the source of the quake: a decrepit mine which may hold evidence to prove his fairytale ideals. Archie follows him in, believing himself responsible for pushing Henry to such extreme measures, and rediscovers his conscience by seeing in Henry his own childhood, which he doesn’t remember exactly.
Emma and Regina are once again competing to uphold their motherly duties in trying to save Henry from the mine shaft, though Regina’s interest in the matter extends beyond saving her son. The mine is The Evil Queen’s own personal depository for relics from the town’s past, though it isn’t apparently clear what, if anything of importance lay at the bottom of the shaft.
Following up on the story of the newly awakened John Doe, it appears as though David and Mary Blanchard are rediscovering the chemistry they shared as Prince Charming and Snow White. Although David is apparently married, he doesn’t remember his wife, or the life that he’s being forced back into, and instead expresses his interest in Mary after spending time with her at the hospital, which scares her into submitting her resignation. Although she shares his feelings, she’s been warned by her new housemate, Emma, not to get involved in someone else’s marriage. Whoever Emma is referring to must be Henry’s biological father, though the question remains whether or not he will be an integral part of the story.
Some stats and info about Once Upon a Time, “That Still Small Voice”
TV SHOW – Once Upon a Time
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 5
AIRED ON – November 27th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – ABC/Disney+
GENRE – Drama, Fantasy
CREATED BY – Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis
CAST – Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle, Jared Gilmore, Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Colin O’Donoghue, Emilie de Ravin, Rebecca Mader, Beverley Elliott, Sean Maguire, Lee Arenberg,
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.