With the last episode we got into the depths of Regina’s manipulation, while looking at her history with Sidney Glass, the reporter of Storybrooke. We saw that she really is just that evil; manipulating the genie of the lamp, who loves her, into killing her husband. This week the story was Beauty and the Beast, and I was curious to see how that is relevant to the current ongoing story.
Story Time
A town frets as they are being attacked. They speak of someone promising to save them, but never showing. Suddenly, there is loud knocking at the door, but to their surprise, there is no one there. Behind them, Rumplestiltskin laughs. He tells them he heard them, “Help! Help! Can you save us?” He promises to help them for a price, typical of Rumplestiltskin. His price is the daughter. The man refuses, and one of the soldiers, named Gaston, tells him she is his finacee. The men tell him to leave, but the daughter stops him and says she will go. The father says that Belle should not go, but Belle tells him she decides her own fate and will do it so that everyone lives. Rumplestiltskin reminds her that it is forever, and she will be the caretaker to his house. Her father calls Rumplestiltskin a beast, but Belle still goes with him.
When they arrive at Rumplestiltskins castle, he shows Belle to her “room”, which is a dungeon where she is locked up. Later on, he tells her she will serve him his meals, clean the castle, do his laundry, bring him straw to spin and skin the hides off of the children he brings to her. The last one makes her drop a cup, chipping the side. He laughs, telling her it was a joke.
We later see as Rumplestiltskin spinning straw while Belle cleans. She asks him why he spins so much, to which he replies “I like to spin the wheel. It helps me forget.” “Forget what?” “I guess I forgot!” making Belle laugh. She struggles to open the curtains, which he tells her are nailed shut. She finally rips one open, falling off the ladder as she does. Rumplestiltskin catches her. He tells her to keep the curtains open, he could get used to light in his castle.
Some time passes, as all the curtains are open, Rumplestiltskin sits down with the tea Belle has served him. She asks him why she was asked to come. He replies that the place was filthy, but she thinks its because he was lonely. She explains to him that as she was cleaning the upstairs area she came across his sons clothing. Rumplestiltskin tells her that he lost him, like he lost his wife. Belle looks at him, “So you were a man once.” She asks if she can get to know him, seeing how she’ll forever be with him. Rumplestiltskin tells her that she just wants to know his secrets when there is a loud knock at the door. Rumplestiltskin leaves Belle behind to check the door, where Gaston stands. Before a sentence is out of Gaston, Rumplestiltskin turns him into a rose, which he gives to Belle, saying it was a townsman selling roses. He asks Belle why she gave up her life to be with him forever, and she explains that there is very little chance of a woman being the hero. She wanted to be brave, to save her village. She also explains that Gaston was an arranged marriage, she wasn’t really in love. “Love is layered. Love is a mystery to be uncovered.” He tells her to go into town to get more straw. She looks at him surprised, asking if she is really allowed to leave, and does he trust her to come back. But Rumpletstiltskin tells her that he suspects he’ll never see her again.
Belle walks down a path to town as the Queen passes her by. The Queen stops the carriage to apologize for them splashing her, which Belle says that it is fine. The Queen then tells her she needs to stretch her legs, and that she will walk with her. The Queen remarks that Belle is moving quite quickly, either from a lover or master. When Belle is quiet, she smiles, saying a “Lover and a master. Interesting.” Belle tries to explain the complicated situation, but the Queen has already figured it out. She tells her curses can be broken, but she would never tell a girl to kiss the man who holds her captive. But the Queen does explain, “True love’s kiss will break any curse.”
Rumplestiltskin watches from a high tower, which he runs down from just as Belle returns from the town. Belle sits at his wheel, telling Rumplestiltskin he promised her a story about his son. Surprised, Rumplestiltskin asked her why she came back. She says, “I wasn’t going to. Then something changed my mind.” They kiss, which you can see visibly changes him. Confused, Rumplestiltskin asks what is going on. Belle, excited, tells him to kiss her again. She tells him any curse can be broken. Angered, he shoves Belle away. He asks who told her that. Belle, confused, tells him he doesn’t know, it was a woman. In a fit of fury, Rumplestiltskin rips the curtain away from a mirror, pointing at it and yelling. “You! You turned her against me! Do you think you can make me weak? You think you can defeat me?” Belle asks, “Who are you talking to?” to which Rumplestiltskin replies, “The Queen! Your friend, the Queen. How did she get to you? I knew this was a trick. I knew you could never care for me.” Belle stammers, confused. She tries to argue with him, but Rumplestiltskin continues to spit out angry words at her, telling her to shut up, until finally he ends with, “Because no one could ever ever love me!” He throws her in the dungeon for what she has done. While she is there, he returns to the room where he smashes the cabinets and tea tray, except for the chipped cup from her first night with him.
Time passes, and Rumplestiltskin returns to the dungeon where he locked Belle up. He tells her to go. Belle calls him a coward and tells him that he is one no matter how thick he makes his skin. Rumplestiltskin tells her that his power means more to him then she does. Belle looks at him, “You just don’t think I can love you. You’ve made your choice. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” She leaves, leaving him in the dungeon alone.
Not long after, the Queen pays Rumplestiltskin a visit. She wants to talk to him about a mermaid problem she is having, but Rumplestiltskin dismisses her. He tells her that she will never be more powerful then him. The Queen then mentions Belle, calling her a tragedy. Rumplestiltskin looks at her and questions what she is talking about. The Queen tells him that after she returned, her finacee Gaston had gone missing. Her father blamed her, shunned her, cut her off and locked her in a tower. He sent clerics to save her soul. In a fit of madness, Belle had thrown herself from the tower, killing herself. As she walks out the Queen tells Rumplestiltskin that his place is getting dirty, he needs to get a new girl. In sadness, Rumplestiltskin puts the chipped cup on a pedestal.
Real Time
Mr. Gold scolds Mr. French, (who is Belle’s dad in “story time”) and takes his van after he defaults on a loan. Mr. French tries to plead with him that it is Valentines Day, he can pay tomorrow. Regina looks on with a smile in the background, but when she tries to capture Mr. Gold’s attention she is shot down. She tries repeatedly to have a conversation with Mr. Gold, but he ends it all with, “It’s going to have to wait, please.”
In Granny’s diner, Ruby waits on Mary and David, who are sitting at separate tables but talking to each other. Emma comes in, who doesn’t ask Mary about Henry but Mary knows this is what she wants to know. Mary tells Emma that Henry is fine, although misses her terribly. Ashley comes in with the baby, saying how lonely she is without Shawn around. He’s working two jobs trying to provide for the family. Ruby convinces all of them that they need to have a “Girls Night” for Valentine’s day, although Emma gets out of it because of her job, which pages her then.
Mr. Gold notices the front door open at his house, grabs the gun from his side table. He hears noises in the next room, pointing the gun, Emma turns around to point the gun back at him. She explains that one of the neighbors saw the front door open and she came to investigate. He tries to dismiss her, he already knows what was taken, but she stands firm that as Sheriff she has to stay involved. Mr. Gold tells her it was Mr. French, and leaves to reclaim his things.
Later on, Emma calls Mr. Gold to the station, where she has gotten his belongings. She has not recovered Mr. French, to Mr. Gold’s displeasure. She is also missing one thing, one very important thing, which Mr. Gold decides to get on his own. He runs into David at the drugstore as he buys duct tape and rope. David was holding 2 greeting cards, so Mr. Gold comments on how complicated it must be to have two valentines, which David tries to explain away the situation and just didn’t know which card to get. In the next scene, we see Mr. Gold driving Mr. French’s truck, with Mr. French tied up and duct taped in the back. When he stops the van, he holds a gun to Mr. French, telling him to get into the cabin. He tells him he doesn’t let people get away.
In the cabin, Mr. French tries to explain, but Mr. Gold chokes him with his cane. He tells Mr. French that all he wants to know is where the item is, and who told him to take it. Mr. French stammers, causing Mr. Gold to beat him with his cane, screaming at him, blaming him. “It’s your fault!” Emma grabs the cane from behind him, telling him that is enough.
After doing shots with Ruby, Ashley sits depressed at “Girls Night.” She tells Mary how lonely she is, “What’s the point of being together if you can’t be together.” She gets up to leave, when Shawn appears, with roses. He proposes to her, which of course make her cry and say yes. Mary Margaret looks happily on and leaves, running into David outside. He hands her a Valentines day card, but unfortunately it was the one he had intended for Katherine. Mary tells him that they need to find another way, which David promises that he will. They wish each other a Happy Valentines Day and go their separate ways.
Emma arrests Mr. Gold after the beating, also for obstruction of justice when he won’t tell her why he was doing what he did. Later, as he sits in holding, she tells him he can give up his favor for half of her pastrami sandwich. Regina comes in with Henry, saying that they have 30 minutes to see each other because she needs to talk to Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold laughs, that Regina really wanted that conversation. She says that she has what Mr. Gold wants, after she had “suggested” to Mr. French what to take. She’ll give him what he wants if he tells her something. He asks her what does she want to know. She tells him she wants to know his name. He tells her it’s Mr. Gold, and it has been since he’s walked this earth. She asks him, “What about moments spent elsewhere?” He smiles, and replies to her that his name was Rumplestiltskin. She hands him the chipped cup, not understanding its importance. He calls her “Your majesty” when she does. “Nothing between us will change” to which she replies, “We shall see.”
Regina goes to the hospital where she brings the nurse a rose for all of her hard work. The nurse informs her that no one has been in to see her, ever. Regina goes to a cell in the back, to look in on a dark room. We see Belle sitting, light shining on her from her barred window.
This episode finally shows that Mr. Gold is the only other person besides the Queen who knows what really is going on, which is really exciting to me, because I think it moves the story forward. I love the interaction with Belle, with the depths of the Queen’s evil. I still want to know more about her and Rumplestiltskins relationship, and if he really is more powerful then she is. It was exciting to see Emilie de Raven as well, who I think did a great job as Belle.
Next week it looks like we get to see the Mermaid that the Queen wanted Rumplestiltskin to deal with, and a little more on David’s Story Book story.
What did you think of Rumplestiltskin and Mr. Gold’s anger this episode? How do you feel about him knowing everything that is going on? Do you think that the plot is moving forward, or do you feel that it is in a standstill?
If you missed the previous episode be sure to read our ‘Once Upon A Time: Fruit Of The Poisonous Tree ‘ recap.
