Ep 11. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Emma Swan, who is the Biological child of Snow White and Prince Charming has returned to the town of Storybrooke, Maine, after a long absence. She has to reconnect with her parents, although she cannot comprehend the complexity of the situation. Regina Mills, the mayor of the town, arranged for her son to be adopted by someone else when Emma gave birth. Emma is heart-broken when she learns this, to an extent where she decides to retain custody of Henry. In this episode, Emma is hired by Graham as his deputy in the Sheriff’s department of the town. She starts investigating a murder that has taken place on the outskirts of the town. The murder victim turns out to be a man who had come to town looking for Regina. During the investigation, Emma finds out that Regina and Sidney, her assistant, had framed the who they thought was responsible for the murder. When she brings this to the notice of Mayor Regina, she reveals that the man who was murdered was actually her former high school sweetheart named Daniel. The story behind the murder is that he had fallen in love with Regina but her mother disapproved of their relationship because Daniel’s mother was a stable hand, and not of royal lineage. So, Regina’s mother struck a deal with a genie to remove Daniel from Regina’s life forever. However, the acquisition of the genie wrought a curse; hence the consequences are binding. Emma pulls up confetti left in Regina’s past which leads her to court records from the adoption of Regina’s son, Henry. She learns the identity of Henry’s biological father and heads out of town to track him down. She retrieves his motorcycle helmet with Regina’s fingerprints and uses the same as evidence. Emma informs Regina that she knows the truth about the man who adopted Henry and his connection to Regina. This leads Regina to declare Emma hijacker by planting false evidence, leading her to arrest seemingly safeguarding the town from Emma’s alleged wicked ways. The episode ends with Henry attempting to prove to Emma, his real mother, that everything that he has tried to tell her all along is true. While Emma remains skeptical of the storybook tales and the world that Henry is carving out. The episode leaves much to the viewer's imagination and leaves a sense of intrigue and anticipation for the subsequent episodes to come. The encounter between Emma and Regina intensifies, and the plot thickens as Regina’s motives become less clear.