The numbers are in, and Once Upon a Time‘s first season 2 episode, which aired last night, had very strong viewership figures! Did it beat last year’s series premiere?

The first episode of season 2, entitled “Broken,” continued directly on from the season 1 finale, in which magic returned to Storybrooke and all the fairytale characters regained their memories from their former lives. In the premiere episode we were introduced to Mulan, Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip, while in Storybrooke the characters fought to keep Regina safe from a wraith – only for Emma and Snow to be sucked into a portal and returned to the fairytale land.

There was a lot of anticipation for this episode, and ABC released several teasing promos, including first looks at Prince Phillip and Captain Hook, as well as posters and sneak peeks.

And it looks like all the marketing efforts paid off! TV Line can report that the show came back strong, with 11 million viewers and a 3.8 rating.

While this is a strong increase from the season 1 finale, it was not enough to beat the original series premiere. But with only at 14% decrease, it is still very impressive. Plus, it beat all the non-sports programming in its time slot, so there is no cause to complain!

What did you think about the season 2 premiere episode? In next week’s episode “We Are Both,” we’ll learn more about Regina’s backstory, and see her first encounter with Rumpelstiltskin. It will air at 8/7c on ABC, and you can check out the promo here.

Hopefully we’ll also see more of Emma and Snow in fairytale land, where we assume they’ll join forces with Aurora and Mulan. You can read what the showrunners Adam Horowitz and Ed Kitsis had to say about the premiere and what’s coming up, and share your thoughts on the episode here or on the Hypable forums!