When Ethan Embry first careened his car into a stop sign at the edge of Storybrooke, fans didn’t just see a random driver. They saw a 90s icon. For a show built on the bones of nostalgia, casting the guy from Empire Records and Can't Hardly Wait felt like a meta-nod to the audience. He was supposed to be the "everyman." The outsider.
He wasn't.
In the world of Once Upon a Time Ethan Embry played a character that essentially broke the show's internal reality. Before he showed up, the stakes were mostly magical. You had fireballs, curses, and grumpy dwarves. Then came Greg Mendell, a guy with a smartphone and a grudge. It changed everything. It made the magical world feel vulnerable to the "real" world in a way that was actually pretty terrifying at the time.
Who Was Greg Mendell, Really?
We first met him as the "Stranger." For a few episodes in Season 2, he was just a nameless guy in a hospital bed. The town of Storybrooke was panicking because if a "normal" person saw magic, the secret was out.
But Greg wasn't normal.
He was actually Owen Flynn. If you remember the flashbacks, a young Owen (played by Benjamin Stockham) and his dad were camping in the Maine woods in 1983 right when Regina’s curse took hold. The town literally appeared around them. Regina, being Regina, tried to keep them. She wanted a family. She wanted to be a mother. When Owen’s father, Kurt, realized the town was a magical trap, he tried to run.
Regina had him arrested and eventually killed.
Owen escaped. He spent the next thirty years obsessed with finding his father and exposing the truth about the "unholy" nature of magic. By the time Ethan Embry takes over the role as the adult Greg, he’s not just a victim. He’s a zealot. He’s joined a group called "The Home Office," which we eventually find out is just a front for Peter Pan’s operations in Neverland.
Why the Fanbase Actually Hated the Storyline
Let's be real. If you were on the forums or Twitter back in 2013, the Greg and Tamara arc was... divisive. That’s putting it nicely. People kind of hated it.
Why?
Because it felt like a different show. Once Upon a Time was a fantasy epic. Suddenly, we were watching a tech-heavy spy thriller about "The Home Office" and Taser-wielding operatives. It felt "off." Tamara, Greg’s partner-in-crime played by Sonequa Martin-Green, was particularly effective at making fans' blood boil. They were the first villains who didn't have a tragic backstory that made you want to hug them. They were just cold.
Honestly, looking back, that was the point. They were the antithesis of the Enchanted Forest. They represented the cynicism of our world.
The Brutal End of Greg Mendell
Ethan Embry didn’t get a redemption arc. There was no "saving" Greg Mendell.
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When he and Tamara finally make it to Neverland with a kidnapped Henry, they think they're meeting their superiors to start the "Great Purge" of magic. Instead, they meet the Lost Boys. They realize they’ve been puppets for the very thing they hated.
The scene is still hard to watch. Greg demands to see his "Home Office" contact. Instead, the Shadow appears. It doesn't use a sword or a spell. It just reaches out and rips Greg's shadow right off his body. He collapses instantly. Dead.
It was a cold, abrupt end for a character that had been built up for an entire season. No final words. No reunion with his father’s spirit. Just... gone.
Why Ethan Embry Was the Perfect Choice
Embry has this specific energy. He’s naturally likable. Even when Greg was doing terrible things—like torturing Regina with high-voltage electricity—there was a flicker of that "Rusty Griswold" charm that made you want to believe he was just a hurt kid looking for his dad.
In interviews, Embry has talked about how welcoming the set was. He’s a guy who has done everything from cult classics to The Walking Dead. He knows how to jump into a moving machine. On the AfterBuzz TV show back in the day, he even joked about the "Disney-ness" of the death scenes and how he basically just spent his time looking for his dad.
He brought a grounded, gritty texture to a show that was often very "shiny." When he was on screen, the stakes felt "real-world" dangerous.
The Legacy of the "Outsider" Arc
Did the storyline work? It depends on who you ask.
For some, it was a necessary bridge to the Neverland arc, which many consider the peak of the series. For others, it was a weird detour into sci-fi tropes that didn't fit. But you can't deny that Once Upon a Time Ethan Embry left a mark.
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He was the reminder that magic has consequences. Regina’s original sin—the murder of Kurt Flynn—came back to haunt her in the form of a man who refused to forget. That’s good writing. It’s messy, it’s painful, and it doesn’t always end with a True Love’s Kiss.
Facts You Might Have Forgotten
- Greg's ringtone in the show was the Star Wars theme.
- Ethan Embry is actually married to Sunny Mabrey, who played Glinda the Good Witch later in the series. Small world.
- The adult Greg Mendell only appeared in 10 episodes, but his impact spanned the entire transition from the Curse arc to the Neverland arc.
- He used a special taser developed by "The Home Office" that could actually harm magical beings, something we hadn't seen before.
What This Means for Your Rewatch
If you’re diving back into Season 2, pay attention to the subtext of the Owen/Greg story. It’s actually a mirror to Henry’s story. Both were boys who "found" a magical town. One was welcomed (eventually), and one was hunted.
The tragedy of Greg Mendell is that he was right. Regina was a monster when he met her. She did destroy his family. He wasn't a villain because he was "evil"; he was a villain because he couldn't move past his trauma in a world that demanded he "believe" in the people who hurt him.
If you want to explore more of the lore, check out the official Once Upon a Time companion books or the "Neverland" tie-in materials. They add a lot of context to what "The Home Office" was actually doing while Greg was busy crashing his car in Maine.
Go back and watch episode 18, "Selfless, Brave and True." It’s the definitive look at why Greg became who he was. It’s arguably Embry’s best work in the series—raw, bitter, and deeply human. After that, his final moments in Neverland feel a lot more like a tragedy than a victory for the heroes.