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For her New Enchanted Forest persona, see Cinderella. |
Jacinda Vidrio,[1] also known as J, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the first episode of the seventh season. She is portrayed by starring cast member Dania Ramirez, and is the cursed counterpart of Cinderella.
History
For events occurring after the breaking of the fourth curse, see Cinderella (Hyperion Heights).
After Regina cast Drizella's curse to save Henry's life, Cinderella becomes Jacinda, and she lives with her roommate Sabine in an apartment. As part of the curse, Jacinda has memories of dating a musician named Nick, who she remembers as her daughter Lucy's biological father, however, she eventually breaks up with him. She also has memories that her stepmother, Victoria Belfrey, serving her with a custody battle for Lucy, but as she was too afraid of losing, Jacinda decided to just let Victoria have Lucy's custody. On the way to work each morning, she passes by Bainbridge Island, which she dreams of having as an idyllic future home for herself and Lucy. ("Hyperion Heights," "Pretty in Blue," "One Little Tear," "The Eighth Witch")
One morning, Sabine takes too long in the bathroom, causing Jacinda to be late for work. Jacinda ends up running to work, where her boss Louie notes she is late again. She tries to explain, but Louie is not having it. She stands up to Louie when he is a jerk to another employee, and when Louie asks for an apology from her, she refuses. Upon receiving insults from her boss, Jacinda quits and returns home, where she tells Sabine of her plans to keep her resignation a secret from Victoria, who didn't want her to have custody of Lucy. She goes to wake up Lucy for the ballet lessons Victoria arranged for her, but she finds her daughter is gone. Jacinda discovers Lucy making a wish at the wishing well and learns Lucy apparently went to find her father. Believing her daughter caused trouble for a stranger, she goes to Roni's to apologize to the man, Henry, as well as return the laptop Lucy stole from him. As the two share drinks, Jacinda tells him about the quaint, island life she wants. Victoria, furious over Lucy sneaking out to see Henry, arrives to declare Jacinda an unfit mother and that her grandchild will start living with her from tomorrow onward. Upset by this ultimatum, Jacinda attempts to bring Lucy to Bainbridge Island to have a fresh start, only for her car to break down. She ushers her daughter to walk with her there, but Lucy refuses. Jacinda comes clean to Lucy about Victoria's demand, however, Lucy's concerns continue to rest on Henry and breaking the curse. Perceiving that her daughter's imaginative thinking is her way of escaping from their harsh reality, Jacinda asks her to believe in her just this once. Lucy agrees, and as she and her mother hug, Officer Rogers and Jacinda's stepsister Ivy show up to retrieve Lucy. Upset after learning Henry ratted her out, Jacinda confronts him for meddling, while Henry insists he never wanted to get involved in her family drama. Jacinda later goes back to her old workplace, where Louie agrees to rehire her. While sweeping the floor, she finds a coin and tosses it into the wishing well, unknowingly triggering the magical growth of a flower in the abandoned lot. ("Hyperion Heights")
Having been promised by Victoria that she will receive a ticket to Lucy's ballet recital, Jacinda comes to Belfrey Towers to get it from Ivy, but her stepsister reveals the recital has since been turned into a charity event with each ticket costing $550. Jacinda is shocked by the price, knowing that Victoria did it on purpose to keep her away from Lucy, as her paycheck is only $500. She begs her stepmother to be lenient with her since she is trying her best, however, Victoria coldly remarks that second chances are earned, not given. While at Roni's with Sabine, Jacinda is introduced by her roommate to the WorkBunny app as a way to find side job gigs and possibly earn the money she needs for the ticket. At Henry's arrival, Sabine leaves to let Jacinda talk to him. Henry apologizes for what he did, but Jacinda is unimpressed because an apology won't help her see her daughter, whose recital she can't even attend because of the $550 ticket. He offers to cover her admission fee, which she rejects due to not wanting to seem like a damsel in distress who needs saving. Later, Sabine sees an ad on WorkBunny asking for two servers for the charity event, which she and Jacinda are hired for, only to discover Henry was behind it. Although still reluctant to accept Henry's apology and his attempt to make up for his mistake, Jacinda is overjoyed to be reunited with Lucy prior to the recital. As Jacinda is engrossed with watching her daughter's performance on stage, Rogers seemingly follows through with Detective Weaver's orders and implicates Henry for theft of Victoria's bracelet. After the recital, Weaver asks all the event staff to turn out their pockets for a search in order to find who stole the bracelet. Jacinda, livid that he suspects one of them for stealing, gets into an argument with him. Before things turn physical, Henry intervenes, causing him to be bruised in the face by Weaver, who then demands to see what is in his pocket, but Henry reveals it is just his keychain. Later that night at Roni's, Jacinda gives Henry a beer as a peace offering and thanks him for giving her a way to see Lucy, despite her continued resistance against being like Cinderella, and that he took a hit from Weaver for her. She also finally accepts his apology, to which Henry asks her to sit with him, but she declines, stating she has a late shift to finish. ("A Pirate's Life")
Despite being separated from Lucy, Jacinda begins exchanging letters with her daughter, with each of them leaving them in the wishing well. On one day when she prepares to drop a letter into the well, Victoria arrives with a demolition team to tear down the garden and begin constructing new condos. Jacinda asks her not to for Lucy's sake, as the girl loves the garden and its flowers, but Victoria states it's too late and simply asks her to leave or risk getting buried in the rubble. Jacinda goes to Roni for help, and the bartender finds out through a building manual that it is possible to stop the demolition if enough people sign a petition to keep the garden intact. After Jacinda collects at least 100 signatures, Victoria offers a deal she cannot resist: a new condo for her and Lucy if she burns the petition. Wanting to be with her daughter, Jacinda sets the papers on fire, but her actions disappoint Lucy, who vows she would rather be apart from her mom if she is going to give up. Roni advises her to consider how much she is willing to give up to Victoria to do that, as the woman will take away everything from her if she lets her. With this in mind, Jacinda persuades the residents of Hyperion Heights to resign the petition again and publicly acknowledges Lucy's persisting belief in the garden as the reason why she is fighting for it too. She then rallies the community into showing solidarity against Victoria's plans by beautifying the garden with more planted flowers. After the rally, Jacinda and her daughter have ice cream with Henry, who mentions that he has to work on a story about the garden. Henry says goodbye to Jacinda, but as he is walking away, Lucy rushes to hand him the piece of the glass slipper she found in the mines. While Lucy meant to give it to Jacinda, she states her mom no longer needs it since she's already becoming a hero and Henry needs it as a reminder that he'll find his true love even if he thinks she is gone. After finishing her talk with Henry, Lucy runs back to her mom, who engulfs her in a warm hug. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
Arriving out of the elevator, Jacinda has Lucy's Halloween costume and candy bucket in hand as she approaches the reception desk to pass them to Ivy. She reaffirms her understanding that she is not allowed to see Lucy, but upon finding out Ivy is not thrilled about having to babysit the girl, she offers to take her stepsister's place. Ivy declines, not wanting Victoria to find out she allowed it. At work, Jacinda serves a meal to a family of four who are dressed as the Incredibles. She longingly looks at the children before being shaken out of her stupor by Henry, who jokingly asks if the Scary Fries on the menu are Exorcist or Gremlin level scary. After Jacinda answers his question and prompts him about whether he wants to order anything, Henry nervously tries to ask her out but Jacinda's attention is diverted when she sees Ivy snooping outside. Ivy admits she doesn't know where Lucy ran off to and asks for her help to locate her before Victoria finds out. Jacinda blames Ivy for not relenting to her request earlier, while Ivy criticizes her for not getting her life together. The two stepsisters continue to trade verbal barbs, with Ivy mocking Jacinda for hanging around Henry, whom she dubs her "baby daddy", as Jacinda sneers at Ivy for having no friends. As Jacinda is unable to leave her job to look for Lucy or risk being fired, Ivy leaves to search on her own. Jacinda moves to follow, deciding her job is not worth it, but Henry persuades her to let him do it instead. She provides him with a list of possible places Lucy may be, and with help from Ivy, Lucy is found visiting a haunted house. That evening, Lucy is reunited with Jacinda, who learns of Ivy's part in tracking down her daughter. In a rare act of kindness, Ivy mentions there is an hour of trick-or-treating left and suggests Jacinda, Lucy, and Henry should go altogether. Henry, however, decides not to as he doesn't want to get in the way of some mother and daughter bonding. Jacinda inquiries about what Henry was trying to ask her earlier on, but he lies, stating he wants her to read his blog post about the garden when it's published. ("Beauty")
While Jacinda is at work, Sabine visits to inform her that Victoria raised their rent and of her new beignet business idea that'll help them earn big money. Jacinda believes the plan is too risky, especially since she has her job and Lucy to think about losing if everything backfires, but Sabine persuades her to take a chance by going after something to make their dreams of success a reality. Within the day, Sabine's beignets draw in many customers, during which Lucy helps them create a firefly logo for the pastry bags. Jacinda, excited by how quickly their business is growing, imagines setting up a stand at the farmer's market, however, Sabine dreamily envisions having a food truck with a jazzy and sophisticated atmosphere. However, things take a bad turn when a fire breaks out, prompting Jacinda to make a feeble attempt to put it out, but she then escapes as Sabine follows her out shortly after pulling the fire alarm. After the fire has died down, Jacinda yells at Sabine for getting her to pursue this crazy venture with the hopes that their lives could get better when it won't. Sabine, realizing her dream cost both her and Jacinda, gives her a box with ten months of rent money to use until Jacinda can find a new job and also agrees to move out of their apartment. With some convincing from Lucy, Jacinda realizes she was wrong about Sabine being too optimistic and naive about her dreams. receives Rogers' help to locate a food truck at an impound lot, which she buys using the rent money that Sabine gave her. Afterwards, Jacinda apologizes to her, having realized she has been the one to help lift her up when life gets her down. Further recognizing that Sabine also needs the same from her, she shows her a food truck that they can use for their future business. ("Greenbacks")
Rushing into the bar, Jacinda borrows a box of tools from Roni to begin fixing up the food truck. Henry offers to help her, but Jacinda gives him the brush off, leaving Henry confused about her reaction until he finds out she is keeping her distance because she saw the photos of himself and Ivy on social media. As Jacinda is working under the truck, she hears the stereo being switched to a song by The English Beat before she rolls out to see Henry standing with the stereo propped over his head. She nonchalantly asks about why he is playing that song, and when he rambles about his love for 80s music and his penchant for making mixtapes, she remarks how little sense he is making. Seeing as she isn't getting the hint, Henry awkwardly explains that, in his experience, mixtapes worked as an icebreaker when he wanted to ask a girl out. He goes on to clarify nothing happened between him and Ivy and that, in fact, Jacinda is the one he can't stop thinking about. Jacinda, while impressed by his forwardness, reasons that she is too busy with a new business and being a single mother, though Henry proposes he has nothing but time for whenever she wants to go on a date. Jacinda prompts him about going on a date with her now as he helps her fix the truck and remarks that mixtapes always work on girls. As Jacinda turns away, Henry revels in the successful date by pumping his fists in the air and managing to resume a normal stance just as she passes a wrench to him. Jacinda then turns the volume up on the stereo again before joining Henry under the truck. ("Wake Up Call")
After Jacinda and Henry manage to get the electrical system on the food truck to start running, they celebrate by getting drinks at the bar. Jacinda mentions being stuck without a paycheck until the truck business can actually begin, but luckily, Roni agrees to help supplement her income by hiring her as a bartender. As the pair grab a table together, Ivy continues pushing Roni to separate them and prevent true love's kiss from happening. While on a work shift with Roni, Jacinda excitedly tells her about her upcoming date with Henry and the possibility of working on regaining custody of Lucy. Falling in line with Ivy's previous warning to her, Roni subtlely convinces Jacinda that pursuing a new relationship with Henry won't look good in the eyes of social workers if she intends to get her daughter back. Jacinda then decides to cancel her date with Henry and tells him that she picked up another shift. Henry suggests they could do something next weekend, which Jacinda says maybe, however, she sounds unconvincing. As she walks off, Henry dejectedly watches her go, as a guilty Roni notices his reaction. Later, Henry informs Jacinda and Roni about Victoria being arrested for holding a woman captive. Realizing this means Victoria no longer has custody of Lucy, Jacinda happily embraces Henry over the news and then goes to Belfrey Towers to pick her daughter up. However, she learns social services will be taking in Lucy instead as they have not yet reviewed the case to determine where her daughter should go in Victoria's absence. Lucy begs her mother not to let them take her, but Jacinda has no choice in the matter. ("Eloise Gardener")
At Lucy's foster home, Jacinda visits her daughter and tries to reassure her that she is figuring things out so they can be together again. Sabine proposes getting help from a certain lawyer, specifically Nick, Jacinda's ex who recently graduated from law school. Jacinda refuses as this would mean drudging up her messy past with him, though Sabine convinces her to take the risk if she means to do everything and anything to get Lucy back. Jacinda gets in contact with Nick, telling him that she will drop off all the custody paperwork after her work shift, however, Nick ends up showing up at the bar, where he and Henry develop a rapport over their shared music tastes until Henry unceremoniously finds out Nick is Lucy's biological father. Nick explains he wanted to get caught up with the paperwork in time so they could go over it during their meeting in the evening, so Jacinda gives it to him. After Nick's departure, Henry expresses surprise over the man's connection to Lucy and how successful he is, which Jacinda downplays it as she didn't know either and was out of contact with him for years. Later, Nick changes his meeting location with Jacinda to a new restaurant, prompting Jacinda to pretty herself up in the hopes of getting on his good side and showing she is a responsible adult. Sabine suspiciously wonders if she is, in fact, falling for Nick again, which Jacinda stubbornly denies. During the date, Nick questions her about a missing document in the paperwork that shows Victoria won custody of Lucy. Rather than tell him the truth about how she forfeited the case and let Victoria have her daughter, Jacinda tells him she misplaced it. After the date, Jacinda and Nick show up at the food truck, where Henry has just gotten the engine to run. Henry, hurt at seeing them together, tosses Jacinda the truck key and leaves, but she catches up with him, insisting nothing is going on with her and Nick. She confesses she was trying to impress Nick is because she is too ashamed of how she lost Lucy to Victoria. Henry persuades her to be honest with Nick if she is serious about regaining Lucy and suggests perhaps now is not the right time for them to date. She follows his advice, and after Nick reunites her with Lucy, she introduces him to her daughter. Jacinda makes a mixtape for Henry but finds out he left on a trip with Roni. ("Pretty in Blue")
While Jacinda has breakfast with her daughter before preparing to send her off to school, Lucy asks if they can invite Henry over to share their good news with him. She hesitates, not wanting to say Henry is away and tells Lucy that they can figure something out tomorrow. After Lucy has gone to get her schoolbag, Jacinda spills the beans to Sabine about Henry's leaving although she has no idea why he's gone to San Francisco. Later, Victoria shows up to formally relinquish Lucy to her. She explains she had been testing Jacinda at the time she had challenged her in the custody battle all those years ago hoping she would fight back, but Jacinda had not. However, Victoria is pleased Jacinda got Nick's help with regaining Lucy and persuades her stepdaughter that being locked up has made her realize Lucy belongs with her mother. Jacinda remains a little skeptical of her stepmother until Nick verifies the paperwork is legit, to which she ecstatically hugs him before the pair unexpectedly share a kiss. She pulls away, telling him she didn't mean to do that, and Nick apologizes for misreading her signals. Jacinda admits he wasn't wrong but that she is grateful towards him and what she actually wishes for is for him to have a relationship with Lucy. Sometime after, Jacinda sees a downtrodden Lucy return home, but when she goes to see what is wrong with her daughter, Lucy suddenly passes out in her arms. ("One Little Tear")
As Lucy is wheeled into the hospital into intensive care, Jacinda stays by her side as Sabine tries to reassure her that her daughter will pull through. Jacinda decides to phone both Henry and Nick to inform them about Lucy. Henry misses Jacinda's call, but he eventually phones back and learns what happened, causing him to rush back to Hyperion Heights and to Lucy's bedside. When Henry expresses a desire to do more for the comatose girl, Jacinda encourages him to read his novel to Lucy as it always gave her strength whenever she needed it. Later, Jacinda falls asleep in the hospital room while Henry continues reading to Lucy and is so distraught over her nonresponsive state that he attempts true love's kiss, but Lucy remains unconscious. ("The Eighth Witch")
Jacinda continues to stay at her daughter's bedside, and later, Doctor Sage approaches her after attempting to find out the cause of Lucy's condition but reports the results are inconclusive. In the meantime, the doctor asks Jacinda and Nick to submit their blood samples to test for a genetic match between them and Lucy in case there is an emergency where a donor is needed. While Doctor Sage gets a drink from the vending machine, Jacinda asks if she has found anything from the results yet, and the doctor assures her she'll come to her when she does. Jacinda takes an Apollo bar from the machine as she tells Henry how unreal the situation is, and then notices he has a band-aid on his arm. Henry explains he took the blood test even though there's little chance of a match between him and Lucy, but that he would've done the same for his own family. When Jacinda then asks what it was like to lose them, Henry offers his reassurance that she won't lose Lucy and her daughter will wake up eventually. After Victoria sacrifices herself to the Resurrection Amulet, her life is traded for Lucy's revival. As the girl opens her eyes, Jacinda and Henry are elated by her return and keep her company as she eats. Later, Doctor Sage receives confirmation through the blood test results that Henry is Lucy's biological father, however, someone poisons her and steals the results. ("Secret Garden")Family
| Unknown | Cecelia † | Marcus Tremaine † | Victoria Belfrey † | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jacinda Vidrio | Henry Mills | Anastasia | Ivy Belfrey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lucy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
- Solid lines denote blood relationships
- Dashed lines denote marriage relationships that result in offspring
- † denotes the deceased
Trivia
Etymology
- The name "Jacinda" is a variant form of "Jacinta",[2] which is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine form of the name "Hyacinthus".[3] This name is the Latinized form of the Greek name "Hyakinthos", which is derived from the name of the hyacinth flower.[4] The hyacinth is Cinderella's associated flower in the series.
- The surname "Vidrio" is Spanish for "glass".[5] This references Jacinda's New Enchanted Forest counterpart, Cinderella, who wore glass slippers.
Character Notes
- According to her hospital records, Jacinda's phone number is (206) 555-0163.[1] ("Secret Garden")
Production Notes
- According to Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, Jacinda is "a single mother who is struggling to keep her family together, keep her life together and keep her head up against many obstacles. So she's finding herself once again being Cinderella to the world where she feels like she is constantly cleaning up her mess, but yet she can never get ahead".[6]
Appearances
| Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
| "Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears |
| "A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
| Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
