TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 4-18 - Sympathy for the de Vil

Gold just got his wish, and in the worst possible way.  Of course, it also might lead to the healing of the rift between Emma and her parents.

This is going to have to be short because I need to be in bed.  It’s been a long weekend.  An incredibly fun weekend, but a long one.

Our flashback finds us in Cruella’s realm, which was not the Enchanted Forest at this point but a world where the 1920’s is always alive.  She is locked as a child in the tower of her home and her mother uses her two well-trained Dalmatians to keep her there.

All that changes when the Author, aka Isaac, shows up looking for a story on the mother’s dog training.  We learn the mother has been married three times before she kicks Isaac out of the house.  However, Cruella hails him from her window and offers to spill the beans if he will get her out of the tower.

Isaac uses some magic ink (at least that’s my assumption since we never find out for sure), to get the key to free Cruella, who then reveals that her mother killed all three of her husbands.  Cruella has been locked up to keep that secret safe.  The two dance the night away and the author reveals his secrets, including magic ink to go with his magic quill.  He also uses his quill and ink to give Cruella the power to control animals.  They decide to run away together, but first Cruella wants to go confront her mother.

However, Isaac gets a visit from Cruella’s mother.  Her mother reveals that Cruella is really the one who poisoned the husbands.  And that’s why Cruella was locked up.  Isaac doesn’t want to believe it, but when Cruella’s mother returns to her home, Cruella uses her new power to turn the mother’s Dalmatians against her.  Cruella then kills the dogs and makes a coat from their furs.

Isaac shows up and figures out that Cruella is pure evil.  She even confirms it.  She had stolen the ink and quill earlier, but Isaac grabs it and goes to write something to control Cruella.  He manages to do it, but only after the rest of the ink is spilled on Cruella’s hair, giving her the black/white hair coloring we all know.  (I love how they worked to explain even that in their back story.)

What did Isaac write about Cruella?  We can’t tell you in the flashback.  We have to have that revealed at a dramatic moment in the present.

In the first scene of the present, we learned how Cruella and Ursula never aged when they reached our world.  The egg that Maleficent’s baby was in when the three got sucked into the portal to our realm had magic powers and the duo used it to keep from aging while they left Lily to die.  While she didn’t die, she did grow up as a result.  Maleficent is not happy to learn they (or at least Cruella) abandoned the baby and promises a slow death, but she makes the mistake of turning into her dragon form, thereby making her susceptible to Cruella’s power.  Cruella promptly puts Mal to sleep.

Regina plans to go to New York to help Robin Hood get free from Zelena/Marian.  However, to keep Gold from warning Zelena, she goes to Belle for help.  Belle then meets Gold in the forest.  We learn that Gold’s heart is almost all black and when it turns black, he will no longer be able to change or feel love.  He needs to author to reverse that for him.  Belle appears to be going for a reconciliation, but then she turns on Gold.  Turns out that Regina was controlling her the entire time.  She’s grabbed Belle’s heart and will crush it if Gold warns Zelena that Regina is coming to help Robin.

However, before Regina can leave town, Cruella kidnaps Henry (with the help of an enchanted Pongo) and demands a dead Author in exchange for a live Henry.  Gold isn’t happy to learn that Cruella and Isaac have a history together, but he intends to use that to his advantage.  Meanwhile, Emma, Regina, and Hook head out to hunt down Cruella and Henry while Mary Margaret and David hope to track down the Author and learn anything they can.

Gold sets up some magic sea shells that project Henry’s voice.  That way, when Henry runs away, it sounds like the voices are coming from all over the forest and the trio have to split up.  It is Emma, naturally, who finds Henry with Cruella holding a gun on Henry and the duo standing on the edge of the cliff.

However, David and Mary Margaret have learned what Isaac wrote all those years ago – Cruella can never hurt anyone again.  They race off, hoping to keep Emma from hurting Cruella since hurting an innocent person would start her on the path to darkness.  But they are too late.  Emma has used magic to throw Cruella off the edge of the cliff.  She saved Henry, but she killed Cruella as a result.

(Wow, and that was me trying to be fast.  I can’t do it, I tell you!)

Since Emma thought she was killing Cruella in self-defense/defense of her son, will that really lead her down the path toward evil?  That seems like a loophole to me, but maybe I’m just hoping.

Emma has now down something evil but something that she thought was right.  Will this make her more sympathetic to her parent’s side?  I certainly loved Hook and Regina trying to use themselves as examples of people who can change because of forgiveness.  I keep going back and forth on Emma and her reaction.  I think she’s being a bit harsh to her parents at this point, personally, but that could change next week depending on how they write it.  I really can see her point still.

Does Regina really have Belle’s heart, or is that a decoy from her vault?  I think I’d be reluctant if I were Belle, and since we didn’t see the actual heart being pulled out, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were a decoy.  But would you risk that against Gold?  I think it could be argued either way.

Anyone else notice the song that Cruella was obsessed with in the flashback?  An instrumental version of “Cruella de Vil,” of course.  Loved that touch.

So, we are down two of the Queens of Darkness.  Anyone want to take bets on whether Mal will last out the season or not?  And anyone else disappointed that, while Pongo was here, we never once saw Dr. Hopper while Cruella was around.  I figured that was a given since he owns Pongo.

How does Emma turning evil get Gold the ink he needs?  We do indeed need magic ink to go with the magic quill, which was only a suspicion last week.  Could it be the blackness of a hero’s heart that is the ink?  Just guessing; no idea if that’s right it.

I think that’s all I’ve got for the week.  As always, my comments (and I) would love to see what you thought and any theories you might have.