Once Upon a Time: Siege Perilous (5x03)

Well... my heart is broken, let me tell ya. That was some serious angst, and some excellent plot twists. I'm beyond excited for whatever comes next. That being said, there were a few things that didn't live up to my exacting standards.

Cons:

In Camelot, we spend most of our time with Arthur and David, as the two of them go on a quest to find a toadstool that will help them communicate with Merlin, who is still trapped in a tree (or as a tree, I'm not really sure which). The chemistry between Arthur and David was pretty much non-existent. I think they were trying to set up some bromance vibes, but it didn't really work. It would have made Arthur's betrayal a lot more poignant if we could have felt some real sense of camaraderie between these two.

Belle spends the episode angsting away about Rumple's fate, but at the very end she sees that the rose's petals have reconnected with the flower. Rumple is awake! Too bad he's not where she left him. The truth of Rumple's location is awesome, but Belle's quiet waiting around is not. I wish I could feel invested in Belle/Rumple, but I just can't.

On top of all the other chaos, the dwarves seem to be grumbling a lot about their miserable lives. They want Mary Margaret and David to do something about their troublesome daughter. That's fine, but burgeoning dwarf insurgence is more a distraction than a viable plot point right now. We'll have to wait and see where they go with this.

Pros:

Arthur is a bad guy! At first, I was of two minds on this. I mean, some things are sacred, and you don't just turn Arthur Pendragon of Camelot into a villain. But ultimately I think this is an awesome twist. From the very first time we met Arthur, I was wondering if there was more to him that met the eye. I thought perhaps there would be a twist like this. I'm actually relieved - because if Arthur was supposed to be another hero, then I'd have to criticize the acting. But just like Ward from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the reveal about his evil doings is actually what saves the character!

There are so many things I love about this twist. First of all, Arthur's villainy hits you in stages. First, you think he's just hiding the toadstool from David. (David thought it was lost in the swamp, but it turns out that Arthur swiped it). This isn't necessarily the action of a totally evil individual. He doesn't know if he can trust David, and he probably has good reason to feel that way, honestly. He's trying to put Camelot first. But then, later in Storybrooke, we learn the true extent of Arthur's villainy. He stages a robbery with the help of his servant, and then makes his servant drink a poison to kill him "for the good of Camelot." That's so twisted! I can't wait to see what else Arthur is going to get up to.

The other thing I love about this twist is that we learn Lancelot is not really dead. Throughout this episode, we get bits and pieces of the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere storyline. Apparently Arthur and his wife have patched up all the damage, and Arthur genuinely wishes Lancelot the best. He seems really distressed to learn that Lancelot was dead. But then... turns out that's not true! Lancelot turns up and warns Mary Margaret that things are not as they seem in Camelot. Color me intrigued!

This was really David's episode, in many ways, and I loved that. He doesn't want to be remembered only as the guy who kissed a sleeping princess awake. He wants to go on quests and be a hero. Arthur appears to believe in him as a hero, but as we quickly see, this isn't necessarily a good thing. Fortunately, David has Mary Margaret to believe in him. I loved the moment in Storybrooke, when David found the toadstool. Mary Margaret just says "you did it!" But David looks so happy and adorable. He just wanted to do something to help his daughter, and he finally did!

Robin and Hook had a few scenes together, where they commiserated over their awkward love lives. Robin admits to being happy about his new baby, but he's obviously distressed that Zelena is the mother. Hook has his own problems, obviously, what with his girlfriend being the Dark One. Their friendship is a recently burgeoning one, but I really enjoy what I'm seeing so far.

So... Hook and Emma are breaking my heart. Emma invites Hook to his ship and tries to convince him that they can still be together, despite Emma being the Dark One. She points out that Belle and Rumple made it work. Hook refuses to fall for her games. When he asks her what's behind the mysterious locked door in her house, Emma doesn't answer. Hook knows that she's not the same woman she was. Emma asks her if he loves her, and Hook - breaking everybody's hearts - says that he loved her. Past tense. Emma disappears, leaving Hook his ship. This whole thing was obviously tragic. But Hook just probably saved Emma, even if neither of them realized it in the moment. Think about it - if Hook had given in to Emma, Emma would have had no incentive to find the goodness within her once more. She could have had it all - her sexy pirate boyfriend, and the power of the Dark One. But maybe now that she's forced to choose, she'll eventually choose correctly.

Of course, all of this gets even more heartbreaking when you realize the real truth - Emma was manipulating Hook the whole time, trying to find something that had touched Rumple back when he was still a man, before he became the Dark One. She needed this to wake him up, and she succeeds. Now that he's not the Dark One, now that he's a blank slate, Emma can turn Rumple into a hero so that he'll be able to pull Excalibur from its stone. This is so fascinating! It's quite the reversal from what we've seen before - this time, Emma will be pulling the strings, and Rumple will be the one being manipulated.

I need to take a moment to praise Jennifer's acting. She's doing such a good job of showing us the hints of the old Emma Swan underneath the new villainous exterior. She's completely different, yet still recognizable as herself. Great work!

Comedy shout-out of the night: when David and Arthur are trying to figure out who stole Arthur's stuff, they look for a helpful object in Gold's pawn shop. Arthur takes a goblet and pretends that it's a magical object in order to fool a confession out of somebody. But Belle points out to David that the cup is just a normal cup - it was for Doc's party. It says "Doctober Fest" on it. That made me laugh out loud!

I'll wrap things up by saying that this early season has been really excellent. Dark One Emma Swan has reinvigorated this show in ways I didn't know it needed. I can't wait for next week!

8/10