So Sunday in prime time was a very emotional baggage filled. We have Emma admitting that she feels like she’s an orphan in Once upon a time, and in Witches of East End one of the main characters has to admit she has been lying to her daughters for their whole life about their heritage.

Once Upon a Time: Lost Girl

Once Upon a time on Neverland!

So we start this episode with the team basically wandering through the island with little sense of direction.  At one point Prince Charming nearly walks right into a bramble bush laced with poisonous thorns.  Distrustful of captain Hook, every time he suggest a way to go, Charming decides the party should go opposite.  When they reach the highest point on the island the expect to be able to see Peters camp however the island has grown darker in Hook’s absence.  Instead of risking exhaustion they make camp, and when emma hears the cries of the children that are lost she wonders from the group and encounter Peterpan on her own.  He tells her that he wants to help her find Henry and offers up a map that is blank, that can only be read if Emma admits who she is. She takes the map back to camp and admits that she’s  the savior but the map doesn’t show. Frustrated at this delay the Evil queen casts a locator spell and they follow  the map deep into the dark forest. Here the group encounters Pan once more armed with his lost boys. He tells Emma Cheaters never win and there is a small battle in which Prince Charming is cut. After pan pulls back,  emma and Snow White sit  and talk about the map and how frustrated she is that the map is not working. It is with her mother Snow White’s coaching she admits that since she came to the island she still feels like an orphan and that she feels like her parent abandoned her.  Meanwhile Rumpelstiltskin is searching for Henry and is given an choice leave Henry with Pan or die. He subconsciously conjures Bell, and wrestles with his inner demons that he doesn’t want to abandon Henry as he had abandoned his own son, and was abandoned by his own father. In the last scene we see him drop the last gift from his father  to the crashing waves below

So I liked the episode. My biggest complaint has to be in the flashbacks. They were so over done, it seemed like half  of the show was a flashback. I get it Snow White had to deal with figuring out her place after being awoke from the sleep spell. But did we really need all of that? Other than the flashback issue I felt like it was a good solid second episode. Not as great as the first, but in the next episode we get to meet Tinkerbell!!

For a preview of next episode check out the clip below

Witches of East End: pilot 

With Lifetimes new drama series we meet our witches an engagement party, the Beauchamp family, made up of mom Joanna (Julia Ormond), and sisters Ingrid (Rachel Boston) and Freya (Jenna Dewan-Tatum).  Freya is getting married to a man that she has been dating a little over a month, but admits to Ingrid that she was having a prophetic wet dream about another man she has never met.  Former Days of Our Lives star Eric Winter, who played Freya’s fiance, Dash, is a rich boy in town, is checking on his bride to be when his brother Killian (Daniel DiTomasso) shows up. Killian is the man from Freyas dream and she goes to confront him in the upstairs bathroom where they wind up making out. While doing so her white orchid that she was wearing in her hair turns red and the roses behind her burst into flames. After realising what she was doing she runs from the bathroom and back down the stairs, behind her  the flowers explode sending a cascade of slow falling rose petals.  After the party we begin to follow a cat  down the street for it to be hit by a car, but this is no ordinary cat, it is actually Joanna’s sister  Wendy (Mädchen Amick). Like a cat Wendy has nine lives she has came to warn her sister of impending doom. (Isn’t there always impending doom in fantasy shows?) A Doppelganger is in the house releasing a man from a painting that freya had magically put there.

You have the normal lifetime stuff in this series, hot rich guys, hot desperate women, and lies. For a lifetime show it is really interesting. A mother thats immortal and two daughters that die around age thirty, just to be reborn over and over again. Some of the parlor tricks seems to be a little overdone but that maybe have been their way of conveying how powerful the mom really is. I will admit it seems dvr worthy, It airs sunday nights at 10pm est so after this week it will be competing with Walking Dead for viewers. I would dvr this one and tune in to my regular programs.  For a first look take a look at the preview below

To Celebrate our Witches of East End premiere tonight we had witchy popcorn balls, these are not the easiest to make but definitely a good treat for halloween parties.

Witchy Popcorn Balls

Makes: 8 (4-inch) popcorn balls

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

16 chocolate wafer cookies

3 quarts popped popcorn

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter or

margarine

3 cups miniature marshmallows

3 tablespoons (1/2 of a 3-ounce box)

lime gelatin dessert mix

Green food color, optional

8 chocolate ice cream cones

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Orange sugar sprinkles, placed in a

small dish

Jelly beans, candy corn, licorice string

Directions:

1. Spread a sheet of wax (or parchment) paper over a work surface and place the wafer

cookies on it.

2. Spray a large mixing bowl with cooking spray and place popcorn inside.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in marshmallows and gelatin

dessert powder until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. If desired, adjust

color with a drop or 2 of food color. Pour over popcorn and mix well until coated.

4. Spray hands with cooking spray and press !rmly to form into 8 balls. Place balls on 8

of the wafer cookies. Press candy decorations into popcorn balls to form eyes, nose and

mouth.

5. Place chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl. Cover and heat for 10 seconds. Stir

chocolate to aid melting. Repeat as needed until chocolate is melted and smooth.

6. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon melted chocolate onto the top of each popcorn ball. Press a

few licorice strings into chocolate to form ‘hair’.

7. Dip cone edges into melted chocolate and then into orange sugar sprinkles. Place on

remaining wafer cookies to form witches hat. Place hats onto popcorn balls. Allow

chocolate to set for about 45 minutes before serving.

8. Serve or seal individually in plastic wrap for storage.