Once Upon a Time: Darkness on the Edge of Town (4x13)

Yay! I missed this show terribly. Lots of great stuff happening in this one, but I do have a few little worries as we move forward. Let's dive in.

The flashbacks in the Enchanted Forest all center around Rumple and our three villainesses - Ursula, Cruella, and Maleficent. Ursula and Cruella have both been summoned to Maleficent's palace, but Maleficent insists that she didn't send for them. Rumplestiltskin then shows up and says he has a plan to use a Curse to get them their happy endings. The villains all go to a mountain with lots of protection spells around it. Using each of their special skills, Ursula, Cruella, and Maleficent get inside and give the orb containing the Curse to Rumple. He then reveals that he was just using them. He traps them in a cavern with the demon Chernabog. The Chernabog is supposed to go after the one with the greatest potential for darkness in their heart. The Chernabog goes after Maleficent, but Ursula and Cruella save her, and they escape from the cavern.

In the present day, Rumple has been living in Ursula's tiny apartment. The two of them go and find Cruella, who is losing all of her wealth as her husband is arrested. Rumple convinces Ursula and Cruella to both come with him to a place in this world that has magic - Storybrooke. When they get to the edge of town, Rumple concocts a plan that will get them all inside.

Inside Storybrooke, everybody has had a rather relaxing six weeks. Things have been peaceful. Belle and Hook have been working on how to get the Fairies and everybody else out of the magic hat. Hook is upset that he let himself be tricked by Rumple, and Belle feels similarly. They finally discover a way to free the trapped people from the Hat, and they go to Regina for help enacting the spell. Regina is in her office with Emma at the time.

They all go out to release the Fairies. The spell is successful, and Blue and the others are all set free. Unfortunately, so is the Chernabog. Regina asks the newly freed Blue to tell her about the author of the mysterious Book. Blue reveals that the Sorcerer and the Author are two different people, and she's not sure who the Author is. Nobody has ever seen him/her.

At this point, the Chernabog shows up. Emma and Regina blast it with some magic, but this only stuns it. Outside the town lines, Rumple tells Ursula and Cruella to call Regina on his cell phone. They do so, lying and saying that they stole the phone from Rumple after getting him out of the way. They tell Regina that they've turned over a new leaf and want to come into Storybrooke to prove that they've changed. Regina says no way, but then Ursula says that she has information about the Chernabog. In exchange for telling what she knows, Regina agrees to think about letting the two villainesses in to Storybrooke.

Now that they know the Chernabog will come after the person with the darkest heart, they assume that this will be Regina. They come up with a plan - if the Chernabog is a Demon of Magic, then they should be able to defeat it by tricking it into cross the town border. Regina and Emma drive towards the edge of town, the Chernabog attacking the car. They manage to fling the Chernabog over the border, destroying it. Mary Margaret and David aren't thrilled with the plan to let Ursula and Cruella into town, but Emma and Regina let them in, using the Snow Queen's scroll to help them across. 

Later, Cruella and Ursula come back and let Rumple in the same way. Rumple reveals that he set up the whole thing with the Chernabog - he was the one who gave Belle the information on how to release everybody from the Hat (he pretended to be a professor).The first phase of the plan is complete - now, they need to go resurrect Maleficent, who is apparently still somehow alive. Sort of. Rumple also tells Cruella and Ursula that the Chernabog wasn't going after Regina as the person with the darkest potential - it was going after Emma!

Mary Margaret and David go talk to Ursula and Cruella, threatening them not to tell Emma, or anybody else, about their past encounters.

I'll start with my one serious concern - do we have too many things going on? We're introducing this trio of villains, along with Rumple, and while in theory I think it's great, is there going to be enough time to really develop Cruella, Maleficent, and Ursula as separate and interesting threats? On top of that, there's this new secret about Mary Margaret and David's past, there's Emma's potential for darkness, Regina's search for a happy ending... as we start this second half of the season, I feel a bit apprehensive that we're juggling a few too many balls in the air. I guess I should wait and see how they handle it.

I'm so, so excited that Once Upon a Time is back, and I want to dive in to some of my favorite parts about this episode.

First of all, even if I worry that there's too much going on with all of these new villains, I'm still really excited about the possibilities. I liked the scene in the beginning when they all worked together to get at the Curse. It shows how each of their special skills will come in handy moving forward. Maleficent is my favorite for now, but I'm keeping an open mind.

I'm so, so excited about the new back story we'll be getting soon for Snow and Charming. I want to know what the hell happened between them and Ursula and Cruella! It must be something really bad, for Mary Margaret to be acting the way she is. Color me intrigued.

Regina and Emma's friendship was perhaps my favorite thing about this episode. I love the fact that there's real respect and trust between them now. Imagine if Emma had seen a sign of Regina's weakness (the picture of her and Robin) even just last season? Regina would have shut her out and maybe even lashed out. But now, we see that Emma is dedicated to giving Regina a happy ending. They're actually friends now, and I love it. Regina was willing to be the bait, and she magicked herself out of the car to keep Emma out of danger. How sweet is that!

Of course, it was totally obvious given the promotional materials that Emma was the one who had the darkest potential, or whatever. Still, even if it's a bit cliched, I'm freakin' excited! That's such a new direction to take this show. Emma has never been all "pure of heart" like her mother, but she is essentially good. Still, I can see how she might be corrupted, and it's going to be fantastic to watch.

Hook and Belle! A surprising duo. I loved their scene together at the library. It makes sense that Hook would be struggling over what he did while under Rumple's control, but of course it's Belle who has the most reason to feel ashamed and hurt. I think we could have an interesting friendship developing between the two of them, especially given the... um... rather rocky start to their relationship.

Hook and Emma! Yeah, even though this episode wasn't about them, there were still so many cute moments. Coffee and a kiss in the morning? Casual hand-holding? Dinner dates at the diner? As I was watching all of these moments, I found myself getting more and more nervous. The cuter and happier they are, the more terrible it's going to be when something goes wrong. I'm looking forward to more, but dreading the inevitable angst!

One last quick note: I loved seeing the Chernabog from Fantasia feature in Once Upon a Time. I love this show's ability to be really creative with its re-purposing of fairy tales, and the relationship with Disney is particularly cool.

I think that's all I've got to say. I'm so happy to have this show back at long last! More please!

8/10