I’m a little behind on television watching, so here’s a review for something that happened more than a week ago!

The episode’s name is The Shepherd, the series is Once Upon a Time. In following with the tradition of one character per week, this week we turn our gaze on Prince Charming / David Nolan (Josh Dallas). Turns out he’s not really Prince Charming, but rather the result of … Well … It’s complicated. Here’s the brief run-down of the story over in Fairytale:

Josh Dallas as Prince Charming

Early in the episode, we’re introduced to King George (first appearance by a Lost alumni; Alan Dale), a king that has a son, but not very much gold. His son, of course, is Prince Charming. Things are looking good, and he’s about to head out to slaughter a dragon for King Midas (Alex Zahara) in exchange for riches, but – alas! – he’s killed by some brute.

Enter Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle), who seems to have a finger in everybody’s pies in this series. He reveals that the Prince was not really the King’s own sun, but rather that he was one of a pair of twins that he arranged to get for King George when it was discovered that his wife was barren. So the creators of the show have decided to merge The Prince and the Pauper with Prince Charming, which makes for a pretty interesting concept. Maybe we should stop calling him Prince Charming and start calling him Pauper Charming?

Anyhow, Rumpelstiltskin goes over to the farm where the other twin lives and arranges to have him take the Prince’s place. All said and done, he kills the dragon and is married off to Abigail (Anastasia Griffith), the woman we saw him with in the coach when Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) attacked. It kind of makes a lot more sense now; considering how Prince Charming wasn’t a Prince at all when he first met Snow White.

And here’s the brief run-down of the story over in Storybrooke:

Josh Dallas as David Nolan

Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David Nolan (Josh Dallas) are falling in love, but he’s torn between what he wants and what he should do. She’s decided that she has to do the right thing and pushes him away – until he leaves his wife for her, at which point it’s all right to pursue a relationship with him. Then, thanks to some strange manipulation by Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) and The Mayor (Lana Parrilla), he recovers his original memories and realizes that he should probably stay with his wife after all. Mary Margaret is not all too pleased by this turn of events and ends up sitting with Dr. Whale (David Anders) at a pub, sharing a drink as he tells her about the importance of not doing what’s expected of you.

The episode is all about choices. Pseudo-Prince Charming chooses to leave his mother’s farm to save it, just like David Nolan chooses to stay with his wife after having chosen to be with Mary Margaret. In fact, it’s not just a question of this episode being about choices, it’s about how some choices are made for us and how some choices are simply impossible to make either one way or another. Rumpelstiltskin also stands as a character that reminds us that even though we have a choice, the various choices we make have costs associated to them. We close one door for good by walking through another.

Robery Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin

Speaking of Rumpelstiltskin, he’s definitely up to something that we should keep a closer eye on. He’s made deals with everybody, it seems. He also doesn’t seem to be in on it with the Evil Queen / Regina (Lana Parrilla), but has an agenda of his own. His shop is full of interesting items as well, making me kind of curious to see how he got some of them. Also, remember that he was in a ‘magic-free dungeon’ when the curse hit; maybe it didn’t affect him as much as Regina thinks?

Also; I’m probably not alone in being curious over who Dr. Whale is supposed to be, as he’s one of the few characters that we haven’t seen in Fairytale yet. I’m sure he’s going to turn out to be a character of some significance, but I don’t know who he could be. Any thoughts out there?

Last, but not least, fantastic acting from everybody involved. Josh Dallas, Robert Carlyle and Ginnifer Goodwin continue to be the biggest reasons to watch this show, as Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is beginning to fade more and more into the distance, becoming more of a framing device than an actual main character somehow. Henry (Jared Gilmore) was hardly even in this episode, giving maybe two or three lines of dialogue in an ultimately pointless scene. I’m really warming to this show and find it to be one of the highlights of my television-viewing; but I’m a little concerned about it, too. It feels like the kind of show that might not live past its first season, and I wouldn’t want to see that happening.

How did you like Once Upon a Time – Season 1, Episode 6?