So, we now know what is in the Mysterious Stranger’s mysterious box, but until he opened it for Emma, it reminded me of JJ Abram’s explanation of the wonder he (and we all have) has with The Mystery/Magic Box. I mentioned this in the podcast, and I wanted to share the video of it:

Anyway, for a moment the Mysterious Stranger’s box was a Mystery Box. Mystery, withholding information, etc (thus mysterious) is central to Once Upon a Time.

We discussed this in the First Thoughts podcast episode on 7:15AM