Once Upon A Time season 2 episode 13 review: Tiny

This review contains spoilers.

2.13 Tiny

Can we talk about how much we love Jorge Garcia? 

It takes some real chops to take a character we hardly knew before and make him not only instantly lovable, but also the highlight of an entire episode. Tallahassee, though one of this season’s best offerings, was just a lot of yelling and clomping around for Garcia. His talent his put to better use this week in Tiny, which is a good thing, because the episode doesn’t have much else going for it. 

Why is the giant, Anton, so likable? I suspect it’s because he is a familiar picture of insecurity. It’s hard not to compare Anton to Garcia’s character Hurley from Lost: sincere, good-hearted, downtrodden. He’s an anchor to reality on an island full of freaky smoke and freakily good-looking people. Likewise, OUaT is populated by living legends with swords, magic, and grand motives. But despite being a giant, Anton doesn’t have to get shrunken down to start looking a bit like looking in a mirror.    

When he finally goes out looking for his place in the world, Anton has the bad luck of running into Charming’s douche brother and his bed buddy Jacqueline, AKA Jack, of beanstalk fame. Making Jack female was an interesting and very Once-ish twist, but she doesn’t do a whole lot other than bully Anton. The Prince is more of an active player than she is. It makes you wonder why the story isn’t called “Jack and Charming’s Douche Brother and the Beanstalk.” 

Regina gives Anton an Alice in Wonderland mushroom so he can grow back to giant-size and terrorize Storybrooke, so I guess that means she’s officially evil again. It’s getting hard to keep track. Sadly, the camera cuts away from Anton both times he changes size, so we don’t get to see it happen. Though judging by the werewolf effects in Child of the Moon, maybe that’s a good thing.     

Rumple is off to New York to find his son, and he spends the whole episode looking distraught, possibly because he is getting on a plane in a show created by Lost writers.  =The Finding-Bae thread is all buildup and no payoff this week, unless you count the part where Rumple wails on that poor defenseless toilet cover dispenser. We also see Belle being crazy again and the stranger being shifty and making ominous references to having seen Rumple’s magic again. Also, Snow and Charming have several conversations that serve no discernible purpose. Again. 

For all its flaws, though, Anton made this episode worth the watch. He greets life’s challenges with an understandable pessimism, but pushes beyond it and gives voice to the cheerful personality we knew was under there all along. He’s taken a place in Storybrooke as resident bean-grower, so hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of him. 

Next week has something to do with Cora plotting, Emma chasing people, and some person with a big crack in her face instead of eyes. That’s about all I can tell from a commercial with so many flash transitions, but the man with the deep voice promises “the biggest bombshell yet.” I don’t know about that, but it’s a Rumple-centric episode so it should be some quality entertainment. 

Read Kylie's review of the previous episode, In the Name of the Brother, here.

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