In this episode, Emma Swan and Captain Hook climb a beanstalk to find a compass, while flashbacks show how she met Henry's father.
Snow White/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), Mulan (Jamie Chung), Aurora (Sarah Bolger), and Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) arrive at the base of the beanstalk.
Hook explains that the magic beans were cultivated by a race of giants who used them to plunder other lands until they were defeated by men led by Jack.
Emma and Hook reach the top of the beanstalk where they are able to knock out the giant (Jorge Garcia) with the magical powder and begin their search in his treasure chamber.
Emma also convinces him to hold Hook prisoner for 10 hours, whom she handcuffed to a pole in case he planned to betray her.
After 10 hours have passed, Mulan begins to cut down the beanstalk, but Snow fights her even after being told this was Emma's request.
Eleven years ago (around 2001) in Portland, Oregon, a teenage Emma steals a yellow Volkswagen Bug which turns out to have already been stolen by a man who was hiding in the back seat.
They eventually decide that they would like to settle down together, and Emma chooses Tallahassee by closing her eyes and pointing at a random location on a map.
August convinces Neal of the existence of magic by showing him the contents of a box (which remain unseen by the viewers), and then explains the curse and Emma's destiny.
This may be a reference to the sleeping spell used by the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz when the protagonists are crossing through a poppy field.
This episode features, in great emphasis, at least 6 references/locations to the TV series Lost: The flashback scenes took place in Portland.
This outing would see another increase in the ratings, scoring a 3.5/8 among 18-49s with 10.15 million viewers tuning in, giving the series its best numbers since the second season premiere.
"[4] The Huffington Post's Laura Prudom gave it a good review: "After the last episode's hit-and-miss introduction to Frankenstein, this week's 'Once Upon a Time' felt like a breath of fresh, top-of-the-beanstalk air."
The fairybacks serve the same purpose as Lost’s flashbacks/forwards/sideways, attempting to flesh out the human side of these characters, but the fairy tale environment actively works against that goal.
I don’t know if there have been any episodes that have been as negatively affected by this show’s lacking visuals as 'Tallahassee,' which features some incredibly sloppy green screen work.