HeyJaredStorybrooke Circus: A Once Upon A Time Podcast
Every fairytale has a beginning. If Once Upon a Time meant something to you, this podcast is an invitation back to the magic.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
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- Sep 15, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
103. Merida and Flashbacks and Bears, Oh My | OUAT S5E9 (opens the original)
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A story that never leaves its own past can still tell you everything about the present. On this week's Storybrooke Circus , we review Once Upon a Time S5E9, "The Bear King" — the series' only all-flashback episode! Merida inherits her dead father's unpaid magic-helm debt, recruits a debt-collecting Mulan and a wolf-cursed Ruby to track it down, and spends the whole hour making a case for leadership that doesn't need magic to be feared. Episode Review starts at 49:00 S5E9: The Bear King _________
102. Two Births and a Funeral | OUAT S5E8 (opens the original)
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Emma finally runs out of good options, and the choice she makes to keep her family alive is something none of us saw coming on Once Upon a Time. In this episode of Storybrooke Circus , Steph and I break down Merlin's grim ultimatum under Arthur's orders, the full-blown magical showdown that follows, and the fallout of Emma's last-resort plan. Meanwhile, back in Storybrooke, Zelena's pregnancy speeds toward the finish line and Hook turns interrogator, grilling the Dark Swan for answers she's nowh
101. Merlin's Ex Becomes the First Dark One | OUAT S5E7 (opens the original)
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Turns out the entire Dark One curse started because a guy fell in love with a woman holding a magic cup he told her not to drink from. Sound familiar? Once Upon a Time really said "let's do the forbidden fruit thing again, but Arthurian." In this episode of Storybrooke Circus , we break down Merlin and Nimue's 1,000-years-ago origin story, the exact moment she becomes the very first Dark One, and how none of it stopped Emma from needing to summon a literal warlord out of her own subconscious to
100. BONUS - Once Upon a Milestone | OUAT Bonus (opens the original)
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100 episodes. One rewatch. Zero regrets (mostly). We're celebrating The Storybrooke Circus's 100th episode the only way that makes sense — with cake-tier chaos. Social Media Guru Steph joins as cohost for this milestone, and I sit down with romance author Melissa Kendall to talk fairy tales, storytelling, and why we're all still obsessed with happy endings. Plus — a surprise video tribute from you, the listeners, that I absolutely did not see coming. It's an episode about gratitude, good company
99. Merida's Big Lesson in Bravery | OUAT S5E6 (opens the original)
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Merida spends a whole flashback proving she's brave enough to save her own kingdom without magic. Cool lesson. Shame nobody in Storybrooke got the memo. In this episode of Storybrooke Circus , we break down Dark Swan's plan to manufacture a hero out of Gold, Merida and Belle's flashback mission to save her brothers with nothing but skill, and Gold pulling Excalibur from the stone. It's an episode about two very different tests of bravery—one earned, one forced—and what happens when the person se
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