TV Spoilers & Speculation Corner: 04/04/12

This week, we have spoilers for Once Upon a Time and Supernatural:

Once Upon a Time (Sunday nights, 8pm, ABC)
By Heather S. Vina

ABC released the press release for the episode “The Return”, which is to air April 22″

“MR. GOLD ATTEMPTS TO UNCOVER AUGUST’S TRUE IDENTITY, AND RUMPELSTILTSKIN AGREES TO LET HIS SON FIND A WAY TO TAKE AWAY HIS EVIL POWERS AND TURN HIM BACK INTO THE LOVING FATHER HE ONCE WAS, ON ABC’S ONCE UPON A TIME:

“‘The Return’ – Mr. Gold attempts to uncover the true identity of August, Emma confronts Regina about her involvement in Kathryn’s disappearance, and David tries to apologize and reconcile with Mary Margaret. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Rumpelstiltskin agrees to comply and do whatever it takes if his son can find a way for him to safely give up his powers and turn back into the loving man he used to be, on Once Upon a Time, SUNDAY, APRIL 22 (8:00-9:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Once Upon a Time stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold, Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David, Eion Bailey as August, Jared Gilmore as Henry Mills, and Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper.

“Guest starring are David Anders as Dr. Whale, Anastasia Griffith as Kathryn/Abigail, Keegan Connor Tracy as Mother Superior/Blue Fairy, Meghan Ory as Ruby/Red, Giancarlo Esposito as Sidney/Magic Mirror, Beverley Elliott as Granny, Dylan Schmid as Baelfire, Conner Dwelly as Morraine, Greyston Holt as Jim/Frederick, Gabe Khouth as Mr. Clark/Sneezy, Michael Coleman as Happy, Mig Macario as Bashful, Jarod Joseph as Billy, Christina Gooding as Mute Maid and Michael Roberds as Donkey Driver.

“‘The Return’ was written by Jane Espenson and directed by Paul Edwards.”

SpoilerTV has pictures up for “The Return”, and the promo is up on YouTube. This looks like a good August, Gold/Rumpelstiltskin episode!

And my theory that August is Rump’s son still stands, even more so, now!

SpoilerTV also has some behind-the-scenes pictures of the episode “The Return” up. Looks like this will be Pinocchio and Gepetto’s backstory! I wonder if we will find out where Pinocchio is in the real world?

William Keck announced that “#trueblood‘s Pam #KristinBauer will be back as Maleficent in May on #onceuponatime.”

Barbara Hershey told Zap2it that she won’t be back this season, but may be back next season. If the show is renewed, of course!

Kristin at E!Online had a tidbit up about the show with a spoiler about Regina:

“Tressygirl: Dying to know anything on Once Upon a Time! My favorite show right now!
“You will find out that someone you thought was dead is totally not in the next episode! Place your bets now, my friends, ’cause the dead man (or woman or otherworldly being) will pop up at the end of the next episode. Also, Regina is tooootaaallly gonna sleep with someone, being the evil ho-bag she is. You know who it is, right?”

It had better not be August! Come on, Once, don’t ruin another character just to prop up this unrelentingly evil and unenjoyable character!

Finally, the ratings are out for this past Sunday and the show has dipped again. It received a 2.8/8 (down from 2.9/8 last week) in the demos and 8.36 million viewers (down from 8.82 last week).

Supernatural (Friday nights, 9pm, CW)
By Paula R. Stiles

Spoilers are down a bit this week as we go into a three-week hiatus (The show comes back on April 20. This week’s repeat is “Shut Up, Dr. Phil”). First up is the CW promo for the next episode, 7.19. It indicates that the episode will be a haunted-house story with a situation similar to the one in “Ghostfacers!”. Bobby also appears. There is one brief bit where Dean says, “Bobby?” with Sam standing next to him. Then there’s a quick cut to Bobby asking, “You can see me?” While it looks as though the brothers are seeing Bobby and vice versa, keep in mind that these promos are usually and deliberately misleading, and the three of them don’t appear in the same frame. It’s also ambiguous whether Sam sees anything. They could be cuts from two entirely different scenes.

We also have the official synopsis for 7.19:

“#Supernatural 7.19 synopsis (April 20). “Of Grave Importance”

AN OLD HUNTER FRIEND RECONNECTS WITH SAM AND DEAN – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) get a call from Annie Hawkins (guest star Jamie Luner), an old hunter friend, asking for help on a case. When they arrive in town, they find out Annie has disappeared. They trace her last whereabouts to an old abandoned house that is haunted by a powerful ghost. Tim Andrew directed the episode written by Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming.”

I do like the premise. The show’s haunted-house episodes always seem to be their creepiest and I loved “Ghostfacers!”. Not loving the spoilers about the old flame, who seems totally unnecessary at this point in the season (and will probably be totally dead by the end of the episode, so why get invested in her?). Really not loving the writing team, as I have yet to like any of their episodes and at least three of those episodes have been actively disliked by fans. Plus, the director last did “Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!”. Hmm. We’ll see.

Not sure how to take Bobby’s return, as spoilers below indicate Dean’s magic lamp – sorry, haunted flask – will still be a plot element in 7.22. So far, this storyline upgrade has been clumsily handled.

There have been tweets all week from Guy Norman Bee for 7.22 (which he’s directing), including an exterior shot; an interior photo of Jensen Ackles in the red leather jacket, holding what looks like either Bobby’s flask or a large cell phone with an antenna on top; another closeup of him in the same jacket; and a photo of Bee posing with Jim Beaver (who was not in costume). Bee was coy about Beaver being on set and whether or not he was the “guest star” filming with Ackles and Jared Padalecki. I don’t really see why Beaver would be up on set unless he were filming, but I guess we’ll see. Further speculation is that either Mark Sheppard (rumoured to be in town) or Misha Collins is the guest star. Keep in mind, folks, that there can always be more than one special guest star in an episode.

There’s a producer’s preview from last week of Bob Singer talking about 7.18.

The title change of 7.23 from “Get Dick” to “Survival of the Fittest” has been confirmed (or, alternatively, “Get Dick” was never a real title, depending on whom you ask. If it was, expect that it got changed because it was highly spoilery). Bob Singer is directing and Sera Gamble’s name is not listed in the producers’ credits. Neither is the episode’s writer. Make of that what you will, though I really hope we don’t get another self-indulgent, out-of-touch season finale from Eric Kripke. If Bob Singer did it, that might work. Or Bob Singer and Sera Gamble (who generally does well when collaborating). Or even Ben Edlund.

Late edit: Zap2it is reporting that Sera Gamble has stepped down as showrunner and is being replaced by Jeremy Carver. He’ll also stay on board Being Human over at Syfy, at least as executive producer. Those of you who have been following my Being Human reviews might have some idea of how perky this makes me (some of what Carver’s been serving up for Sally and Aidan on Being Human for Dean? Yes, please). To catch you up – Carver’s last writing credit on Supernatural was “Point of No Return”. Safe to say he likes the character, Dean Winchester, then.

EW blew it with a spoiler claiming Bobby was unlikely to return in Jim Beaver form last Friday and also put odds on the Impala’s return. Unless there are technical issues going on with the cars they use, I’d be very surprised if the Impala does not return by the season finale. Speaking of Jim Beaver, he has a podcast interview at the TCM site. He talks about Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa, The Searchers, The Lion in Winter, and Peter O’Toole (no spoilers).

Finally, ratings were back up for “Party On, Garth” with a 0.7/2 in the demo and 1.78 million in audience. Live+7 had its usual rise, this time from 0.7 to 1.1 for the March 16 episode (“Out with the Old”).

We’ll be back next week with more spoilers. Stay tuned and check out our reviews of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Event, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, and Supernatural.