Dr. Whale


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"You're not my prince."
 * This article focuses on Dr. Whale's Storybrooke persona. For his Land Without Color counterpart, see Victor Frankenstein.
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- Dr. Whale to David Nolan

Dr. Whale is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the third episode of the first season. He is portrayed by David Anders, and is the Storybrooke counterpart of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

History
For events occurring before the casting of the Dark Curse, see Dr. Frankenstein.

During the Curse
Mary Margaret Blanchard is seen out on a date with Dr. Whale. He jokingly makes a comment about her wanting fifteen kids, but Mary Margaret refutes this by saying she is a teacher to fifteen children. She goes on to tell him about how she wants everything in a relationship such as marriage and kids, but then she notices Dr. Whale is not even listening to her. Instead, he is busy ogling Ruby. Mary Margaret asks for the check, and the date ends on a bad note.

After Henry's insistence, she begins to read the storybook to John Doe, telling the story of how Prince Charming chased the thief and they fell in love. As she comes to the end of the story, John Doe suddenly grabs her hand. She calls for Dr. Whale but when he checks the readings he lies and says everything was steady. He suggests that she might have dozed off and imagined things, and then tells her to go home and get some sleep. Once Mary Margaret leaves, Dr. Whale calls Regina Mills and tells her what happened, including the fact that Mary Margaret was involved and that there was some minor brain-wave fluctuation. When David Nolan awakes and is discharged from the hospital, Dr. Whale is at his welcome home party that was thrown at Kathryn Nolan's house. However, David does not remember anyone there, which the doctor says is normal. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Whale runs into Mary Margaret at Granny's Diner and brags to her, "I'm a hell of a doctor, huh. No way he would have woken up on someone else's watch!" Mary Margaret is heartbroken that even though David seems to have feelings for her as she does for him, he goes back to Kathryn. In her misery, she takes comfort in Dr. Whale. Emma mistakenly believes the flowers sitting on the counter of the apartment are from Sheriff Graham, but Mary Margaret admits she and Dr. Whale had a one night stand. A few weeks later, when Ruby quits Granny's Diner and goes to the bus stop, Dr. Whale is shown trying to "help" her out. However, Ruby blocks his advances and insists that she is fine where she is, calling him a "lech" behind his back. Mary Margaret and Emma Swan approach him, and after a few gentle nudges from Emma, he leaves. Mary Margaret and Emma then take Ruby to Mary Margaret's house to stay for the night until she can find a job. When David is brought to the hospital after his trek in the woods, Dr. Whale discovers that he had an episode, similar to the experience after he had just woken up from his coma and went to the Toll Bridge. David discovers that he did not remember anything and that it was very likely that he could have murdered Kathryn. He becomes distraught, and the mayor Regina Mills barges in. When Emma demands what Regina was doing there, Dr. Whale explains that she was still David's emergency contact, to Emma's disbelief. Later, Dr. Whale lets David go unwillingly.

When Henry Mills is brought to the hospital after taking a bite of Regina's poisoned apple turnover, Dr. Whale is the physician that treats him. He tells Emma that Henry was not poisoned and that he cannot find a cause for Henry's reaction. It is then that Emma realizes Henry's belief about the curse was correct and magic caused his condition.

After the Curse
After Emma Swan breaks the Dark Curse, Dr. Whale leads a mob of angry townspeople to Regina's house, where he demands she come out. When she does, Regina asks if he will kill her. He responds by saying she must suffer first. He backs away when Regina attempts to cast a spell, but gets up in her face when the magic does not work. As he moves to strangle her, Emma interrupts him. When David pushes him away, Dr. Whale snarls at David that he is not his prince, but backs down. When asked by David who he is, Dr. Whale responds that is his business. While David is busy looking for Mother Superior, Dr. Whale asks him, "Are the nuns still nuns, or can they, you know, date? Don't say it's me asking." Leroy comes bearing bad news about what happens to a person when he or she steps out of town—their Enchanted Forest memories are lost. After witnessing Regina take back Henry at the town meeting, Dr. Whale is part of the group of residents who want to leave Storybrooke and forget their Enchanted Forest memories. However, David's speech persuades him to stay. Dr. Whale approaches David outside of Granny's Diner, and is hit by David for the fact that Dr. Whale slept with Mary Margaret while she was under the Dark Curse. He then inquires of David if the Enchanted Forest still exists, and if it does, do the other worlds still exist as well. David responds it is a possibility. Dr. Whale then breaks into Archie Hopper's office while he is in the middle of a session with Regina, and demands that Regina sends him back to his world, saying he must get back to his brother. When Regina responds she cannot, Dr. Whale storms out of the office.

Later, Regina goes to the mental ward at Storybrooke Hospital and finds a laboratory that has been smashed and destroyed. She finds Dr. Whale's bloodied arm on a surgical table and then finds Dr. Whale amidst the wreckage with a bandage tied loosely around his wound. She demands of Dr. Whale if he was able to bring Daniel back. Dr. Whale confirms this, but tells Regina that Daniel is now a monster. Later, he is seen recovering in a hospital bed inside the Hospital.

After being released from the hospital, Dr. Whale is seen walking down the street with a bloodied cooler containing his arm. He goes to Mr. Gold's pawn shop and enters. He puts the cooler on the glass counter in front of Mr. Gold and demands that Mr. Gold reattach his arm. Mr. Gold then inquires as to why Dr. Whale went to great lengths to bring Daniel back to life. Dr. Whale says that he thought if he brought Daniel back, Regina would be able to send him back to his world. Then he would be able to help his brother, even though he did not do it right the first time and things went horribly wrong. Mr. Gold then demands Dr. Whale say it, and Dr. Whale begrudgingly responds, "I need magic." At this admission, Mr. Gold reattaches his arm, saying that it is a pleasure doing business with him as always, and calls him "Victor". At the Storybrooke General Hospital, the arrival of the ambulance is being called over the intercom because of an injured Outsider but he just sits in a secluded room, drinking whiskey ignoring the ambulance calls and the calls for his very own presence. Outside the door, Dr. Whale can hear people searching for him.

When a fight is about to break out between Gold and the group because he worries about Belle's condition, Whale arrives and intervenes. He assures Gold that she will be fine.

While discussing the impacts of an outsider in town, he arrives to tell the group that Greg Mendell is bleeding into his chest cavity. Emma tells him to fix it, but unsure of his abilities he walks across the lobby to Mr. Gold who has just come down a flight of stairs. He implores Gold to fix the man with magic, but Gold refuses stating that he owes neither Whale nor any of the group anything. He informs the group that the driver saw him using magic, so he tells them they should be hoping that the man dies instead of trying to save him.

The group relocates to a private room where they discuss the possibility of allowing Greg to die in order to spare the town from the outside world's potentially harmful curiosity. They decide they should save the man and deal with the implications of his arrival when the time comes. They notice that he is highly intoxicated when Greg's cell phone gets a call.

He is next seen examining a watch he found among Greg Mendell's possessions and he stands in the hall staring at it reminiscing of his brother. David approaches and asks him why he is not in surgery. He assures David that he is not drunk, and David assures him that they must save the outsider no matter what he has seen.

However, he runs away from the hospital and stands at the Storybrooke Dock ready to commit suicide. However, Ruby used her wolf-like scent and speed in order to track down and save him. He shares his heartache with her. He tells her that he has always wanted his name to stand for life, but instead everybody associates the name Frankenstein with a monster. While magic does come with a price, he believes that science comes with a price as well. Ruby tells him that she has issues with her past life as well. She tells him that they have a chance to start anew and he should take it, that there is still time for him to do good.

He returns to the hospital. Emma, Mary Margaret, and David are glad to see the doctor has come back to perform the surgery on Greg. Whale then leaves the group to perform his task. When he encounters Ruby in the hallway, Whale tells her that Greg will survive. He thanks her, and the two go out into the lobby where he shares the news with Mary Margaret, David, Emma, and Leroy. He tells them that Greg is ready to talk.

Trivia

 * The name of his Storybrooke counterpart refers to movie director James Whale, who directed the movies Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
 * At one time, he appeared to be pursuing a relationship with Mary Margaret Blanchard, despite his apparent boredom during their first date. He sent her a bouquet of flowers after it is stated that he and Mary Margaret had a "one night stand".
 * Unlike most known characters in Storybrooke, Dr. Whale is not a native of the Enchanted Forest, but another realm. Frankenstein/Whale's presence confirms that Regina was able to bring people originally from other magical realms to Storybrooke through her curse.
 * In the traditional Frankenstein stories, there is always an angry mob out to destroy Dr. Frankenstein's creation. In the episode "Broken", Dr. Whale leads an angry mob.
 * Dr. Whale tells Mary Margaret he's never done what he was supposed to do. That is curious since his counterpart was supposed to abandon science in order to join the army, but he chose otherwise.

Appearances
Dr. Whale Dr. Whale Whale Dr Whale Dottor Whale