This week's episode of "Once Upon a Time" revealed the tragic love story of Grumpy, one of the Seven Dwarves, that was hinted at in a previous episode.
Grumpy's (Lee Arenberg) lost lady love turns out to be clumsy fairy-in-training Nova (guest star Amy Acker), who dreams of one day being a fairy-godmother. The Grumpy everyone is familiar with certainly didn't start out as a rude, pint-sized curmudgeon; originally named Dreamy, the newly hatched — yes, hatched from an egg — dwarf is different from his work-focused brothers.
Dreamy encounters Nova while she is attempting to gather the new year's supply of fairy dust mined by the dwarves. After, Dreamy manages to save the fairy dust from being incinerated because of Nova's clumsiness, the two begin an endearingly awkward flirtation. Nova drops subtle hints that she'd love for Dreamy to join her later than night to watch the fireflies, but Dreamy — only being a year old — doesn't pick up on her hints.
Later in the evening, Dreamy is at the pub with his brothers, feeling confused about his feelings for Nova because he was explicitly told that dwarves cannot fall in love. Enter Belle (guest star Emilie de Ravin), who is clearly mourning her own (supposedly) unrequited love for Rumpelstiltskin. She tells Dreamy that he is in love and he needs to seize his chance to be with the one he loves. Dreamy listens to her and goes to be with Nova, and the two concoct a plan to sail away together and see the world.
However, the course of true love never does run smoothly, and Dreamy is interrupted by his boss and Nova's boss, the Blue Fairy, on the way to meet her. They tell Dreamy he will never live up to his purpose in life as a dwarf, and Nova will never achieve her dream of being a fairy godmother if they run away together.
Dreamy feels guilty enough to agree with them, and when he meets with Nova, he tells her they can't run away together. He tells her he would only keep her from achieving her dream and being happy, but Nova insists that he makes her happy and she loves him. Dreamy coldly looks her in the eye and tells her dwarves can't love, leaving her crying on the hillside. Dreamy returns to the mines as a changed dwarf and takes up the name Grumpy.
In Storybrooke, Grumpy and Nova's counterparts — Leroy and Astrid — meet. However, Astrid is a nun, so it's a relationship that is pretty much doomed to fail. The episode sees Leroy team up with Mary Margaret to try and sell enough of the nun's candles for the Miner's Festival to impress Astrid and help the nuns afford to make their rent payment to Mr. Gold.
The two town outcasts don't have much luck, and Leroy resorts to trying to sell his sailboat to Mr. Gold to make enough money to make up for the candles. Mr. Gold seems interested enough at first, until he learns the money is for the nuns, prompting Leroy's question: "Who doesn't like nuns?" Apparently, Mr. Gold and nuns don't get on well.
After disappointing Astrid, Leroy takes drastic measures. He knocks out the power to the town square, prompting the necessity for candles. He and Mary Margaret sell the whole lot, and Leroy gets his moment with Astrid. It also seems like the citizens of Storybrooke are beginning to forgive Mary Margaret.
Another storyline in this episode was the investigation into disappearance of David's now ex-wife, Kathryn. Emma heads the investigation with assistance from disgraced town reporter Sidney Glass. There's very little evidence to determine exactly what happened to Kathryn and who might be responsible, but falsified phone records from Regina and Sidney place David at the top of the suspect list. The episode ends with Emma reluctantly taking David in for questioning in front of the entire town.
The next episode of "Once Upon a Time" airs next Sunday, March 11 at 8 p.m. EST and is entitled "Red Handed."
In this week's episode of "Once Upon A Time," the viewers learn how the dwarves were born and got their names.
