Once Upon a Time: A Bitter Draught (6x02)

Hm. Some things are going in interesting directions... but I have to be brutally honest. There are a lot of things I'm not too happy with here.

Cons:

The C-plot story of the week concerns the Count of Monte Cristo. I really liked it, but it ended too quickly. I'll get there in a minute, but I wanted to have more time with this character. I hope that some of the other characters from the Land of Untold Stories can stick around a bit more.

Emma is still hiding things. I already complained about this last week, so I'll keep it short: I'm sick of watching Emma retreat back behind those walls. When is she going to realize she can trust her family completely?

Zelena is annoyingly inconsistent. Do we really have to watch her flip-flop over and over again? You know what would be more interesting? If the Evil Queen showed signs of the good Regina, just as the good Regina still has signs of the Evil Queen. That way, Zelena could feel a connection to the Evil Queen because she wants to help her, or something. But this way, we just see Zelena going back and forth between good and evil. It's not interesting anymore!

Rumple & Evil Queen? Yuck. I don't have much more to say about this. The Evil Queen shows up in Rumple's shop and they have... a moment. Ew. Not a fan. I mean, I don't want Rumple anywhere near Belle, but I'm not down with this whole "Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin have sexual tension" thing either. Ick.

Pros:

The brevity of the Count's plot aside, I did really like the flashback stuff. Edmund is tasked with killing Snow and Charming in exchange for information from the Evil Queen about who killed his fiance. He nearly poisons them, but at the last minute he can't go through with it because an innocent handmaiden named Charlotte also would have tasted the poisoned wine. Rumple shows up and poisons Charlotte, in order to assure himself that the Count will never again be tempted to take an innocent life just for revenge. Rumple, after all, needs Snow and Charming very much alive. And procreating. Ick again. Rumple says that if Edmund takes Charlotte through to the Land of Untold Stories, their stories will pause, and Charlotte won't die as long as she's in there.

Cue present day - Hyde has taken everybody out of the Land of Untold Stories. Charlotte has died. And... the Evil Queen has taken Edmund's heart. He goes after Snow and Charming, nearly killing them. Regina shows up to fight him. She is forced to kill him in order to save Snow and Charming, which delights the Evil Queen, who shows up and announces that Regina will always have darkness within her, and that the good guys are going to tear themselves apart once their stories finally play out.

I really liked the tragedy of Edmund's story, and I love what we're doing with Regina's journey. Last season, when Regina split the Evil Queen off from herself, I said that this was what I wanted to happen. Regina needs to confront the darkness within herself. She can't pawn off all the bad stuff she's done onto somebody else. Also, the Evil Queen is hamming it up to perfection. I can't wait to see how she's going to meddle in everybody's lives to try and get them to turn on each other.

The key example this week, of course, being the Evil Queen's suggestion to David that his father's death might not have been an accident. This is an exciting part of David's backstory that we haven't seen yet, and I'm really looking forward to it. As much as I liked our brief detour into the Count of Monte Cristo, I'll admit that I'm looking forward to more focus on our leads. Regina's story has had a solid start this season. Now David's past is being thrown in to the mix!

As repetitive as Emma's journey might be, I do adore the fact that she's seeing Archie and trying to get help sorting through everything that's happened to her. And now, we get a much more solid explanation for Emma's silence. It's not just that she's afraid of being vulnerable, although that is a big thing she needs to work on. Actually, it's more about Emma's worry that the cloaked figure who kills her in her vision might be Regina herself. Archie asks her if Emma is worried about Regina, or the Evil Queen. And... Emma isn't sure. Now this could be a really interesting tension. As far as Emma and Regina have come, if Emma doubts Regina's ability to stay on the good side, things could turn real ugly, real fast.

Belle and Hook had a very lovely, albeit brief, subplot. Belle needs a place to stay now that she's left Rumple and is back in Storybrooke. Hook offers the use of the Jolly Roger. When Belle asks why Hook would be willing to incur Rumple's wrath, Hook says that he's trying to make amends for his past behavior. He says he has never been able to forgive himself for laying a hand on Belle all those years ago. Belle, being the forgiving goddess that she is, graciously accepts Hook's offer of sanctuary and remarks that he's changed a lot since then. This is gorgeous, because it so perfectly parallels Hook with Rumple. Hook knows he has done terrible things in the past, but he has sincerely changed, and he proves it not only by altering his future behavior, but by acknowledging his past behavior and apologizing for it. Rumple, on the other hand, has just decided that he's evil by nature. No point in trying to change.

That's where I'll stop for this week. I'm seeing a lot of moving parts this season that I really enjoy: Regina grappling with the darkness inside her, Belle standing up for herself with Rumple, Emma attempting to thwart destiny and learn something new about herself. But I'm also seeing signs of weakness: Emma's repetitive refusal to confide in her loved ones, Zelena's flip-flopping characterization, and unfortunately short-lived visits by our guest characters. We'll have to see which side wins out!

7/10