I should have known they'd find a way to work Mickey Mouse into the story somehow! :) Let's start with a plot summary, and then we'll move on to what I thought.
So, remember that mysterious box thing that Rumple saw in the house where he and Belle honeymooned? Well, turns out it's pretty important. We start with the Apprentice, who is guarding a vault, when the Dark One enters. Not Rumple - a previous Dark One. This Dark One tries to get to a box, being guarded by the Apprentice. Turns out, there are wards around the box to prevent anyone from opening it if he or she has accepted darkness into his or her heart. No Dark One will ever be able to open the box.
We then flash forward to Anna, as she finds Rumplestiltskin. She has come to ask him about her parents. Rumple reveals that Anna and Elsa's parents did indeed come to see him, but he refuses to tell her why they had come, unless she agrees to a deal. Rumple tells her to slip the contents of a vial into the Apprentice's food. Anna goes to the Apprentice, but she can't bring herself to put the vial into the man's food, since of course she believes it's poison, and doesn't wish to harm a nice old man. Anna returns to Rumple and lies, saying that she's completed the task. Rumple then reveals that the vial actually contained an antidote to a poison that the Apprentice had already consumed. Since Anna didn't give the Apprentice the antidote, he turns into a mouse.
Anna and Rumble go to the Apprentice's cottage, where he tells Anna that the whole thing was a test - since she's now confronted the darkness within her (by considering poisoning the old man) and then turned away from it (by choosing not to), she'll be allowed to open the box. However, Anna says she never even considered poisoning the man, so she never confronted the darkness. At this point, Rumple says that due to the contract Anna signed, she will now spend forever as his prisoner. The only way free? To kill Rumple. Anna considers killing him, but she can't bring herself to do it. Now, she's confronted her inner darkness by considering murder. Rumple has what he needs from her. He is able to use Anna's teardrop on his dagger to take the box.
Rumple now holds up his end of the bargain, telling Anna that her parents came to him wanting to find a way to take Elsa's magic away from her. They were afraid of it. Anna is heartbroken to hear this. Rumple reveals that inside the box is the Sorcerer's Hat, which has the ability to collect people's powers. It can take away limitations in Rumple's own magic, like the fact that he's controlled by the dagger. Anna realizes that she can't let him have that kind of power. The Apprentice, in mouse form, leaps down from a rafter and bites Rumple on the hand, allowing Anna to get the dagger. While she has it, she commands Rumple to give her the box with the Sorcerer's Hat in it, and to send her, and it, back to Arendelle. Rumple is forced to do so. He gets his dagger back, but he loses the hat.
Back in Arendelle, Anna reunites with Kristoff, and she tells him the bad news: Elsa is the reason that Anna and Elsa's mom and dad left Arendelle. What is she going to tell Elsa?
Back in Storybrooke, Emma asks Hook out on a date. Hook threatens to tell Belle about the fake dagger unless Rumple gives him his hand back. However, the hand comes with a warning, that it will change him back into the man he once was. Emma and Hook go on their date, but it does seem as if the hand is having ill effects. When Will runs by at the restaurant and spills wine, Hook overreacts, latching on to Will with his hand and forcing him to apologize. However, the date still goes well. Afterwards, Hook finds Will trying to break into the library and he punches him, He is horrified by his lack of control.
He asks Rumple to take the hand back before he does something terrible. Rumple says that he put the real dagger back, so now Hook has no leverage. The only way to lose the hand and get his hook back is to make a deal with Rumple. The deal? Help Rumple track down the Apprentice. Hook does so, and Rumple uses the Sorcerer's Hat, which it turns out he does have, and takes the Apprentice's magic, sucking him into the hat. He then tells Hook that he has the whole incident on tape, so Hook is now forced to do what Rumple wants, or Rumple will show Emma the tape of Hook hurting an old man. He takes Hook's hand away again, only then revealing that the hand is not cursed - Hook was just psychologically fooled into behaving with the darkness that's still within him.
Will breaks into the library to get Alice in Wonderland, a special book from his past, and Emma has to come down to arrest him. Will won't say why he took the book, though. Henry tries to help Regina find a way to save Marian, but so far Regina is stumped. Henry also offers to continue helping with Operation Mongoose. He figures that Rumple must know who wrote the book of fairy tales, because he's a villain who got his happy ending. He decides to ask for a job at Rumple's shop after school to do some undercover detective work.
My biggest problem is actually a part of my biggest commendation. Which is sort of confusing. I'll squeal about the Hook/Emma date in a minute, but first I have to say... was Emma just a little bit dense in this episode? She's usually so perceptive and suspicious of everything. She's a wonderful detective. But in this episode, Hook shows up with his hand restored to him, and even though Emma knows Rumple was the one to restore it, and even though she knows Rumple always makes a deal, and she knows Rumple and Hook's past, she just shrugs it off? And later, the hook is back and the hand is gone, and that raises no red flags for her? I wish she could have been a bit less oblivious here.
I have to say... the effects in the first scene were pretty abysmal. I think this show should get away from using green screen effects when at all possible. They don't have the budget for it. Or something. In any case, it's pretty terrible.
Then there's the whole thing about Hook's hand... was it cursed, or not? Because I can totally believe that Hook still has some darkness within him, but I find it hard to believe that he would lose control so quickly and so obviously. Hook really seemed frightened that his hand was acting without his control, so it bothered me that there was no curse after all. It was a bit confusing.
But mostly, this was all pretty praise-worthy!
The back story with Anna and Rumple was very enjoyable. The actress playing Anna is doing a great job portraying this character, who has a lot of strength, but also a lot of innocence. I loved the twist with the poison/antidote. I actually didn't see that coming. And then Rumple being forced into a position of weakness as Anna had the dagger. That was also a great moment for both of these characters. Of course, the Sorcerer's Hat is hilarious. That's Mickey's hat from Fantasia! One of the most iconic Disney images! They're doing a good job of not belaboring the reference, though. It's a tiny bit eye-roll worthy, but mostly it's just awesome. Here's my question, though... is Rumple really trying to get out from under the yoke of the dagger? Why does he want even more power, if he's truly reformed?
I loved seeing Anna and Kristoff reunite, too! They're so sweet! I think this dilemma about Elsa is quite interesting. It seems as if her parents wanted to help her be more "normal," which is horrifying for a lot of different reasons. Rumple doesn't usually lie when a deal has been struck, so we can bet he's telling the truth about this. But still, we don't have all the information. What was in that bottle that their parents sent out to sea?!
Then there's back in Storybrooke. Emma is being followed by the Snow Queen, while Elsa, Mary Margaret, and David continue to search for signs of Anna. I like how, even in an episode that focused on Hook, we're still weaving in the larger story. Still not totally convinced about the mysterious-past plot line, but they're building it up really well, so we'll see.
I also adored Henry's little undercover plan. That scene with Rumple at the end was really adorable. Although... I was surprised that Henry was willing to exploit Neal's memory to get Rumple to agree to have Henry around. Still, this should be fun as we move forward. I'm still loving this new, not-evil Regina!
Then there's the central plot: Hook and Emma. The date was so. cute. Everything from Emma asking him, to the picking up at the door, to the Lady and the Tramp restaurant, to the hand holding... and that kiss. The cutest moment was probably when Hook asked Emma out again. He has this sweet, innocent expression on his face when he asked her. And then she just kisses him, and says "goodnight, Killian," in this adorable little voice. Earlier, I complained that Emma was a bit dense in this episode, but I did truly love seeing her this way. She's enjoying herself, fully, with this man that she has strong feelings for. It's really refreshing to see this softer side to Emma. It was adorable that she didn't notice the lack of the hook at first. It shows us that Emma likes Killian for Killian, and that his hand or lack thereof never concerned her. Very sweet.
Of course, Emma's parents were the comedic highlight of the episode. Mary Margaret takes a picture of Emma, and then stays up after the date to ask for details. Sounds like my mom, actually. So great. And David's discomfort with the whole thing was also pretty spot-on. Elsa got one of the best lines, though. When Emma comes out with her dress on, she reacts with a smile and the following line: "Is that just the corset? Where's the rest of it?" That was pretty funny.
Rumple and Hook's scenes were also excellent. The tension between these two old enemies is always simmering under the surface of their conversations. When Rumple says that he'll hurt Emma if Hook hurts Belle, I actually got chills. Don't mess with the Dark One. Also, I love that Hook still calls him Dark One, no matter what.
Not sure what Will is doing here, but I still like him! Hopefully they can tie him into the story a little bit better. Right now he's pretty random.
I'll leave us there. More Hook is always a good thing, but I'm hoping maybe we can shift the focus to some other characters in future? I miss Regina!
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd really appreciate hearing what you think!