“Once Upon a Time,” Season 1, Episode 2, “The Thing You Love Most” runs two parallel stories. In one, set in the magical land, the Evil Queen learns the price of revenge. In the other, set in the real world, Mayor Regina learns the price of messing with Emma.
Some spoilers follow.
In order to fulfill her vow to destroy the happiness of Prince Charming and Snow White, the Evil Queen has to retrieve the curse from Maleficent, another evil being. Having done so, she finds that it doesn’t work. What went wrong?
A consult with Rumplestiltskin reveals that the one missing element of the curse was that the Evil Queen had to cut out the heart of the thing she loves the most. This bit of information comes with a price, since the little gnome is going to want another favor in return. Of course if the curse works, he will not even remember the conversation.
Oddly enough there is someone the Evil Queen loves aside from her own desires. The elderly valet, who happens to be her father, will serve just nicely to provide the missing element to make the curse work. If she has any regrets about cutting out his heart, it doesn’t show too much. Revenge is all that matters.
Father’s name, by the way, is Henry.
In the real world. Mayor Regina and Emma start to play a cat and mouse game that involves false accusations and, at one point, a chain saw taken to an apple tree. Mayor Regina learns that the more she tries to run Emma out of town, the more determined she is to stay. This is very disconcerting, because time seems to have started up again. This suggests that events have been set into motion that will eventually lift the curse and cause all of the fairy tale characters in the town to remember who and what they are.
A meeting with Mr. Gold, aka Rumplestiltskin, turns things up considerably. Gold seems to know things, especially about young Henry, that he ought not to know. It looks like that request for a favor may be forthcoming after all.