Once Upon a Time season 6, episode 3 “The Other Shoe,” shatters the illusion that Cinderella and her stepsisters were always enemies.

Once Upon a Time dives deeper into the origin of Cinderella’s name and her meet-cute with Thomas in season 6, episode 3’s story of the week. The familiar story of the evil stepmother looms large, but her stepsister Clorinda gets some slack.

In this iteration Clorinda and Ella wither under the watchful gaze of the stepmother. Clorinda plays the part of doting, distrusting daughter well and feeds into the narrative of her mother’s desires. However, she falls madly in love with Thomas’ footman Jacob and plans to run away with him.

Ella, luckily has a way for her to escape for good with the assistance of a key that will lead them to the Land of Untold Stories.

Tales of magic and escapism propel nearly all of the stories in Once Upon a Time‘s universe. Unfortunately, they do not always present themselves at the right time. In Ella’s case, the key imprisoned Clorinda with her mother in the Land of Untold Stories where their misery played on until this curse brought them to Storybrooke.

Death is nothing new for Once Upon a Time. However, season 6 has only 3 episodes under its belt and already cold-blooded murder has cropped up twice. First with Regina killing the Count without the use of magic last week and this week both Ashley and the stepmother sought to shoot the other with a shotgun.

While the fairytale element of this series never prevented the show from tackling dark issues and situations, these two recent events seem jarring in the context of Storybrooke.

No one dies in this scenario as Emma finds a way to overcome her tremors and heal Ashley in the knick of time. With the stepmother serving time and the sisters reunited I’m left to wonder what Gus’ is up to these days.

It’s time to make a deal

Rumpel really needs to magic up an entourage of Deal or No Deal suitcase presenters. David cuts straight to the chase in his dealings with the Dark One — what will it cost for information about his father’s coin? In this case, the price on the coin is transporting a message from Rumpel to Belle.

Fulfilling his end of the bargain, David leaves Belle with a reminder of the father Rumpel always dreamed of being and he walks away with a piece of family history. The coin left in Rumpel’s possession is from a man found stabbed at the scene of a cart wreck.

While this does not change the fact that David’s father is dead, it does stir something in David’s gut. Vengeance, not justice, begins to burrow its way into David’s mind. For Snow, who in this episode finally admitted that a “normal” life is just as wonderful as an “epic” life, this means that David could bolt at any second for the next grand adventure.

The creators of the show mentioned this summer that Neal’s physical presence on the show is immaterial. What is he going to do? He is a baby! But his overall presence is still an important factor for Once to take into consideration. David considers Snow’s proposal, wondering if she is truly feeling a connection to small-town cursed life. And for now that is exactly what she wants for her family.

Mary Margaret is no longer in the picture, but Snow White still wanted the cozy life, serving her kingdom and protecting its residents long before a curse put her in charge of a kingdom of elementary school children. Needless to say the entire situation will change once Emma comes clean about her visions, but for now Snow needs to keep her attention focused inwards on the people living in the loft.

Father of the year

The Once Upon a Time writers are laying on the imagery of Captain Swan’s happy home life extra thick in “The Other Shoe.” Look at it.

Adorable. Sparing with Henry? Even more adorable.

Emma’s future with Hook seemed to be heading for a walk down the aisle at the close of last season when the final shot featured the two framed in front of a bridal shop. Emma’s visions and belief that her fate is sealed hold her back more often than they move her forward.

Archie tries to push Emma into a space where she can tackle her issues one at a time. The burden of her visions are causing her to put her life on hold. Emma struggles to find the work life balance because her life is her work. Up until Henry came around, Emma fought to keep herself in work and not in any committed relationships outside of that because of the pain of losing Neal.

Now, the threats of her “work” life, the one where she serves as the Savior are not the result of a choice she made. Instead of actively picking up a new client, Emma gets sideswiped by other people’s crises daily. From something as simple as conjuring a shoe to the more complicated healing fatal wounds, Emma is now a person the town leans on for support.

Emma internalizes a lot of her emotions. The fear of sharing too much of herself with someone is deep-seeded, but she is working on it. Her sessions with Archie are working towards a goal– do not be afraid to take control of your life. And Emma does make one small step in this episode towards that endgame by asking Hook to move in with her.

Stray Observations

• Dopey is not only free from being a tree, but he is getting his masters! “We got him out weeks ago.”

• We need an entire episode dedicated to Zelena/Regina/Evil Queen face-off. Their story needs a bit more attention for it to boost care levels.

• Frankenstein + Jeckyll = The buddy sitcom idea I didn’t know I was waiting for all these years.

Watch Once Upon a Time season 6, episode 4, “Strange Case,” Sunday, October 16 on ABC.