Everything in this episode leads up to the final moment when Mary Margaret and David kiss at last — more evidence that the curse over Storybrooke continues to grow weaker.

It’s a Snow White/Prince Charming episode all the way, interrupted only by a brief appearance of Storybrooke’s mysterious stranger.

Mary Margaret goes to the diner every morning at 7:15 to catch a glimpse of David, who stops by every day at that time. She doesn’t know the reason David is there is to catch a glimpse of her. Awwww. When she finds out — in the most romantic setting imaginable, a cabin deep in the woods during a storm — she and David almost kiss, but she stops because she thinks Katherine, David’s wife, is pregnant.

Later, after finding out that Katherine isn’t pregnant after all, they finally kiss. Regina sees them, and scowls.

The story also features a bird (city-dweller that I am, I kept on thinking “pigeon,” but I assume it was meant to be a dove) that we are told mates for life. It was separated from its flock and will be doomed to a lifetime alone without love, unless Mary Margaret can find the other birds and bring them all back together. She does find the flock, but the poor dove is so weighed down by all its symbolic significance that it can no longer lift itself off the ground. No, I kid. The dove gets reunited with its love-for-life, just as Mary M and David get reunited with each other.

In Fairytale land, though, Snow White and Prince Charming don’t fare as well. Just as Snow had given up, she gets a note from Prince C saying he can’t get her out of his mind, and that if she meets him within two days, he will run off with her and forget about the wedding to the proto-Katherine.

Getting there isn’t so easy, but once she escapes from the King’s dungeon, she meets the King himself, who earlier told Prince C that “love is a disease.” Nice guy. He sets a tricky trap for Snow. Unless she tells Prince C that she doesn’t love him, the King will kill not her, but the Prince.

Snow White, having no choice, does the King’s bidding. Prince C cries, and Snow goes off with the seven dwarfs. Prince C decides to call off the wedding anyway, and comes looking for Snow White, but it’s too late. She has taken Rumpelstiltskin’s “forget your love” potion, and no longer knows who Prince C is.

The other thing that happens in this episode is that the Mysterious Stranger teases Emma about how much she wants to know what is in his Mysterious Briefcase — and then he opens it up after all, revealing an ancient manual typewriter. He says he is a writer, but I have my doubts.

LOST references

The Apollo candy bar is back, bigger than ever, in the scene where Mary Margaret is grocery shopping. This is the third episode where an Apollo bar appears. Also back is Alan Dale, who used to be Charles Widmore, as the hard-hearted king.

Questions

David is still married, right?

In earlier episodes, Mary Margaret has been adamant about not getting involved with a married man. This time, she draws the line at not getting involved with a married man who has a pregnant wife. Once she finds out his wife isn’t pregnant, then she feels free to show her love — even though he is still married and living with his wife. What do you make of this?

The kiss

I thought they were going to make us wait at least until the end of the season to see Mary M and David kiss. Were you surprised it happened in this episode?

The Mysterious Stranger

Any guesses on who he might be?