Just in case you were worried that Once Upon a Time had lost its magic, along comes last night’s
episode. That was the best episode of the season to date, and I
loved it. You’ll also notice how little it had to do with the Frozen crew. This arc has had
its moments, but I’m glad it’s coming to a conclusion.
The flashback was used to introduce us to our new villains,
the Queens of Darkness. It also focused on Rumpelstiltskin and
Belle. Rumpel has been out hunting for another magical
element. This time, it’s a glove taken from Camelot that will point
to what someone loves the most. Rumpel intends to use it to manipulate
his enemies. However, when Belle is out hanging the laundry, she
spies a cute Dalmatian puppy and starts to follow it only to be
kidnapped. Rumpel gets the ransom demand in a shell dropped by a
crow. Can you see where this is going?
Rumpel can’t because he shows up and thinks he is just
facing Maleficent. He seems actually surprised when Ursula and then
Cruella show up. They use Belle to force Rumpel to give up the
glove. However, one Belle is safely back in his castle, he returns
and magically takes it back from the Queens of Darkness, telling them that he
will always get what he wants despite the fact that he is a villain and
refusing to work with them to get a happy ending.
Now, let’s get to the meat of the episode – the modern
portion of the story. There was lots happening as we wrap up the stories
they’ve been telling so far this season. Let’s start with Regina,
who restores Marian’s heart to the now no longer cursed woman. She
awakens and embraces Robin, but later down at Granny’s, Marian confronts
Regina. To my surprise, she tells Regina that she understands. While
to her no time has passed, it is obvious that Robin has moved on. She
will not force him to stay because of their marriage vows, but she is going to
try to win back Robin’s heart. So the love triangle is still
on. May the best woman win.
I thought they were setting up a sub-plot for the
second half of the season, but obviously I was wrong since Robin then confesses
to Regina that he’s made his decision. He is following his heart to
Regina. (And am I the only one who thought this was a dream
sequences by how stilted and clumsy the dialogue was?) However, what
looks like a real life dream come true for Regina quickly turns into a
nightmare when Marian, who the two have been watching play with Roland,
suddenly collapses. Seems the curse from the Snow Queen wasn’t quite
out of her system, and it has reached her heart now. There is only
one solution.
And so Regina must send Robin, Marian, and Roland out of
Storybrooke. As the episode began, Elsa had destroyed the ice
surrounding the town, however, Emma figured out (somehow) there is still a
residual curse on the town that will make it impossible for anyone who leaves
to return. So Regina knows this is goodbye. She sets the
trio up as best she can with money and directions, and then we get an emotional
scene as Regina and Robin say goodbye before he, his wife, and son leave town
for good. As soon as she steps outside, Marian recovers since they
are now in a land without magic.
Speaking of the Frozen
trio, they are trying to find a way home as quickly as possible. Gold
wants them gone as quickly as possible as well since Anna might have some clue
what he is up to. He figures that the sorcerer, who brought Ingrid
to our world, might have a portal back to theirs, and sure enough, he finds one
in the ballroom of the sorcerer’s mansion. He uses a controlled Hook
to deliver the news to Emma, who suspects that something is wrong with Hook by
how he is behaving. Still, they go to the house and find the
portal. Elsa and Emma say goodbye, and then Elsa and Kristoff walk
through. Before Anna goes, she asks about this kind Mr. Gold. When
she learns who Gold really is, she warns that Gold is up to something.
And boy is she right. Gold is still planning to
cleave himself from his dagger, kill Hook, and leave town with his powers and
Belle. He just has to wait until the stars align to look like the
sorcerer’s hat. In the meantime, he wakes Belle to have her start
packing for their trip to New York City. As she’s doing that, Henry
walks in looking for more clues to the author of his book. As he
pulls down another suitcase for Belle, he knocks some things over, including
the glove from the flashback. That unnerves Belle (as does Henry
calling her Grandma – and I’m with her on that one).
So as evening near, Gold goes up to the tower with Hook to
unbind himself from his dagger. Emma and Mary Margaret show up to
try to stop him, only to find themselves frozen by Gold. However,
when he goes to crush Hook’s heart he can’t do it. That’s because
Belle has shown up and grabbed the dagger to stop him. (I was a
little unclear if she snuck into the tower or if she switched them earlier in
the day. But that probably doesn’t really matter.) She
then orders Gold to let Hook and his heart go and to unfreeze Mary Margaret and
Emma. And then she orders Gold to take the two of them to the town
line.
It’s there that a tearful Belle tells Gold she has seen that
his is all beast. She kept lying to herself that he had given up his
love for power, but she has finally seen the truth. And so she
orders him to leave town.
Meanwhile, Henry comes rushing in to find Regina drinking at
Granny’s with Emma. He has something to show them back at the
sorcerer’s house. It’s a room full of books like his only blank
pages, so obviously our theory that the sorcerer has written the book is
correct. Emma also learns about Operation Mongoose, and she says
she’s in. She is going to help track down the sorcerer and talk him
into giving Regina a happy ending.
We also get a quick scene as Anna is getting ready to
marry Kristoff that lets us know that they have defeated Hans and his
brothers. I'd love to know how, but it is really not necessary. As
disappointing as this arc has been, I'm still glad they let us know this before
moving on.
And for the final scene, we skip ahead six weeks to find
Gold walking the streets of New York. He goes to the aquarium where
he finds Ursula, who is working at feeding the fish. He wants her
help teaming up to go to the sorcerer and demand he give them, the villains,
happy endings. Ursula is immediately in, and Gold announces they
have two more stops to make before they head back to Storybrooke.
Fade to black.
Ursula a villain? I mean, I know she was in
Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid,
but when we first saw her last season, I actually didn’t think she was all that
bad. It seemed like she was protecting
Ariel as she told Regina to leave Ariel alone in the future. Then again, that might have been just because
Ursula had her own uses for the mermaid.
I wonder if they will address this or not.
They have not yet touched on how Maleficent is still
alive. The last we saw of her, she was
in dragon form under the library, and Emma was killing her to get the vial of
True Love in the first season finale.
Then again, we just assumed the dragon was dead. Maybe she isn’t. Gold seems to know where she is, so I’m sure
that have that covered.
Obviously, their take on Cruella is going to include some
magic. She was in the Enchanted Forest
after all. I can’t wait to see how that
works.
We have to wait how long for the next chapter? See you March 1st. And in the meantime, keep checking back to
see what else I’m talking about on my blog.
Totally agree about this. This episode and the one called Sorcerer's Apprentice were the two best episodes this season and I think it's because there was very little about Frozen in either of them. I am glad they wrapped things up with that and we got to see that they took back Arendale and Anna getting married (loved her dress and look). I'm also glad Anna got to tell them about Gold before she left!
ReplyDeleteI was also glad that Belle finally came to her senses and realized what Gold was up to. I was beginning to wonder about her! I know she's not that dense! It's so sad that it worked out this way. When they first got married it all looked so good - but alas, villains who won't (or can't) change just can't seem to get their happy endings. And poor Regina. I did like Emma and her coming together toward the end. \
So looking forward to the 2nd half of the Season with this lot. Looking forward to seeing how Gold finds Cruella and Malificent and what they are doing and are like wherever they are. Gold had no money when he stepped over the line, and no power. Guess he's been living on the streets. And my daughter is wondering how in the world they are going to explain Cruella being a part of this group.
I really love what they are doing with Regina this season and the relationships she is building, reluctantly at times, but still building, with Mary Margaret and Emma. Plus they are contrasting her so well with Gold. I hope this continues.
DeleteYes, that was a great scene when Regina and Gold were talking in the car. Summed their two outlooks up very nicely!
DeleteThe quieter moments are so wonderful this year. I wish we'd bet more of those.
Delete