Once Upon a Time: Her Handsome Hero (5x17)

I wasn't particularly happy with this one, although I do like some of the ideas it was setting up. And the subplot was good, so there's that.

Cons:

Today's episode was Belle-centric, which I don't have a problem with in theory, but I'm getting really, really annoyed with the Rumple/Belle situation, so... yeah. In the backstory, we learn that Gaston was actually infatuated with Belle, but when he tried to torture a young ogre to learn information about the ogre's position in the coming war, Belle loses respect for him. Still, in order to save her kingdom, Belle agrees to marry Gaston so that Gaston's people will help her father's people win the war. From there, as we know, Belle is kidnapped by Rumple, and Rumple kills Gaston. This plot thread wasn't terrible or anything, but I felt like it lacked complexity.

Gaston actually seems like a mostly okay guy, but then abruptly we're supposed to hate him for hurting the young and innocent ogre. And yeah, sure, Gaston should have waited for Belle to turn up with a magic mirror that would reveal if the ogre's intentions were good or bad. That would have been the kind, heroic thing to do. But Gaston is under the yoke of the same standard xenophobia and general brutishness that most other people would have fallen into as well. His position, that they should use the young ogre to find out the truth about the upcoming war, wasn't actually as evil as it might sound at first glance. I wish we could have seen a bit more moral ambiguity here, instead of making Belle the paragon of virtue, and then having Gaston's one big mistake totally erase his good qualities.

For that matter, Gaston's good side made me uncomfortable, because he was just a little... too good. I kept waiting for the big reveal about his evilness to come into it, but once the truth won out, it was a little lackluster.

Years later in the Underworld, Belle asks for Rumple's help in finding a way to free their baby from Hades. Her condition? He is not to use Dark Magic. She basically threatens to withhold the baby from him unless he does it her way. That's fine... but later, when Belle wants to find out about Gaston's unfinished business, she has Rumple use magic to open Gaston's locker. That was quite a hypocritical move, and I feel like the episode didn't go far enough in exploring that.

Pros:

I did like the plot back in the Underworld, though. Essentially, Hades promises to release Belle's baby if she lets Rumple and Gaston fight. If one of them pushes the other into the River of Lost Souls, Belle's baby will be freed. Belle refuses to let that happen, since she promised to try and help Gaston with his unfinished business. She tells Rumple what Hades offered, and Rumple, surprising nobody but Belle, decides to dump Gaston in the river. Belle shows up and stops him by getting the dagger and commanding him to let Gaston go. But when Gaston has been freed, he tries to shoot Rumple, and Bell pushes Gaston to save Rumple, accidentally pushing him into the river.

I love the idea that Gaston's unfinished business wasn't simply revenge against Rumple for killing him. It was this idea of goodness and heroism that Belle planted within Gaston. See, he tried to do things her way, coming to Rumple's castle to save Belle by himself, perhaps to reason with the beast. He ended up dead for his trouble, and now has realized that being a hero is about strength over one's enemies, rather than compassion and forgiveness. That was a really cool concept. If it had been fleshed out a bit stronger in the backstory, I would have liked it even more.

Belle was pretty good at being proactive and standing up for what was right, both in the backstory and in the present-day. A lot of Belle's storyline over the years has been reduced to Rumple's moral compass and cheerleader. Here, we see her riding off to find a magic mirror, following Gaston and her father's men into the woods to protect the ogre, and then years later in the Underworld, she takes the proactive stance when she tricks Rumple at the end. She tells him she does know who he really is, and loves him for it. She then kisses him, and uses that as a distraction to take the Dark One Dagger from him. That was pretty intense. Belle's not messing around!

I hope we can see the ramifications of Gaston being pushed into the river. Milah and Gaston, both former lovers of this particular duo, have now been sentenced to an eternity of misery. It makes me wonder if we're playing with the idea of Rumple corrupting Belle to Darkness, the same way we've seen other Dark characters being influenced to Light by their loved ones? It would be depressing to see Belle fall from grace, but it might be a cool avenue to explore.

I thought the main strength of this episode actually rested in its subplot. Emma has a dream wherein she tries to use a spell to wipe off the names of herself, Snow, and Regina from the gravestones, thus allowing them to leave the Underworld. Snow and Hook are with her, and suddenly a monster appears, and Snow is killed trying to see what it is. Emma wakes up, shaken from the dream, but believing it may have given her an idea of what spell to use to wipe the names off the gravestones. When she goes to the cemetery with Hook and Snow, however, the dream starts to play out exactly as she saw it. Scared for her mother's life, she tells Snow and Hook to run when the monster shows up. They all hide in Regina's crypt, until Regina herself shows up. She and Hook both think that perhaps Emma is just projecting her anxieties onto this situation, and that her dream really isn't a prediction of Snow's death.

Emma then admits that she's feeling guilty, like she failed everyone by getting them stuck in the Underworld. Everybody rushes to reassure her that they came down with her of her own free will, and Hook reminds her that Emma saved him. They go out to confront the mysterious monster together, knowing they can prevail. When they find the creature, it turns out to be... Red! Snow covers her up with her cloak, transforming her from wolf to woman again.

There were a lot of interesting things going on in this subplot. First of all, I love that Emma is struggling under this weight of guilt, but her friends and family come right out and let her know she has nothing to feel guilty about - they all love her and want to be there with her. Some things are worth the risk, and they're better when they're all together.

There was a really cute moment when Regina came down into the crypt and Hook, thinking it was the monster, rushes around the corner, dagger in hand. When he sees it's Regina, he lowers his weapon and says "sorry, love," and Regina makes some quip about his reflexes being better than his sense of fashion. I love the easy banter that these two have. As Regina said to Emma a few weeks back, the two of them really are very similar. They have an odd friendship born of a deep understanding of how dark the human soul can become.

And then there's that ending - It's Red! Or Ruby, or whatever we're calling her now. Next week's episode is called "Ruby Slippers," which is a clever way of bringing Ruby into the Wizard of Oz storyline, and is also a very good candidate for the Red/Dorothy shipper name that we're all going to be needing after next week, I'm sure. But I think I'll stick with the nascent Mulan Rouge, myself. In any case, Ruby's return can only mean good things, and I'm looking forward to seeing Mulan as well!

There was also a brief moment with Zelena and Regina, where Regina found out about her sister's past with Hades. Later, Zelena gets a delivery of a dead flower from Hades, which she seems to find romantic. I liked the moment when Regina was trying to be sisterly to Zelena. Of course her main motivation was to find out about Hades' weaknesses, but I do think Regina is honestly trying to help her sister in any way she can. If Regina deserved another chance, Zelena might too. I'm torn, because I do like Zelena as just a straight-up villain. Still, a redemption arc for her might be doable. We'll see!

I wish the main plot could have dealt with a few more complexities, but I wasn't overwhelmingly disappointed either. I think we're setting up some cool ideas here, and with Hades around as our villain, I'm still excited for the future of the season.

7/10