Cons:
Most of this episode is about Belle and Rumple, with a little dash of Emma and Hook thrown in. That's all fine, but there are also two little subplot things that are shoved in awkwardly and don't seem to move the story forward.
First of all, the Evil Queen tries to kill Zelena, on Rumple's orders, but Regina saves her. Why? Because she's a hero now, and heroes save people, even people who might not deserve it. Regina tells Zelena that she'll never forgive her for Robin's death. Zelena has been beyond useless as a character all season, and this moment just cemented that for me. I thought we were going to go with co-parenting sisters who could learn to heal old wounds and be a family again. That would have been decently entertaining to watch. But no. Regina gets a million chances to change her ways, while Zelena does not. And I can't blame Regina for not forgiving Zelena, since Zelena doesn't seem at all repentant. What a poorly handled character!
The other subplot is Aladdin and Jasmine's. Jasmine and Snow briefly talk about their work at the school, bringing up that plot thread for the first time a while. Then Jasmine reveals that Aladdin has the Genie's lamp, but that she's nervous about using it to get back to Agrabah - what if there's a price to pay? Snow encourages Jasmine to be a hero. But, it's a moot point. The Genie has already been freed from the lamp. Aladdin decides to imprison himself, turning himself into a Genie so that he can help Jasmine get home.
Cool idea in theory, but why on earth are we squeezing all of this in to an already full episode? Why can't Jasmine and Aladdin have any screen time to grow and develop as characters? They're not as useless to the story as Merida was, but they keep getting this awkward sidelined treatment. I hope we can have an episode focused on them in the near future. Honestly, Aladdin as the Genie is a really awesome idea, and I'd love to see it get some time to grow.
Pros:
The main plot is pretty strong, which acts as a good counterweight to the missteps in the subplots. In the flashback, we see Rumple steal a baby. Belle, who is currently his prisoner, doesn't want to let Rumple sacrifice the baby for his plans, but Rumple locks Belle up and takes the baby away. The Blue Fairy frees Belle in time for her to go and see what Rumple needed with the baby: he wanted to summon the Black Fairy, and evil woman who steals children. When she shows up, Rumple asks her why she bothers to steal babies when she gave away the only baby that was really hers. That's right! The Black Fairy is Rumple's mother.
This flashback wasn't necessary in the sense that we already understand Rumple's fear of abandonment and desperate need to be loved. But in another sense, this flashback worked quite well to solidify our understanding of Belle and Rumple's dynamic. Belle, upon seeing Rumple and his mother, immediately understands his pain and desperation. All the while, however, she holds on to her sense of higher righteousness, and knows that it's wrong for Rumple to use an innocent child as a pawn. The more we see of Rumple during the time when he kept Belle as a prisoner, the more and more I'm certain that Belle deserves better!
In the present-day, Belle discovers that Rumple plans on using a potion to speed up her pregnancy so he can take their son. In a really impacting scene, Belle actually talks Rumple out of going through with it. She says that if he does, he might succeed in stealing their son, but he'll lose Belle forever. Is that a price he's willing to pay? Apparently not. What I loved about this scene is that it suggested that Rumple still has hope. It didn't necessarily suggest that Belle would come back to him if Rumple did the right thing, but she effectively kept the door slightly ajar. This fits with Belle's personality. She's always going to root for Rumple to do the right thing, not only for her sake and her child's sake, but for his sake.
Of course, the Evil Queen is bitter because Rumple doesn't seem to really want to be with her, so she goes ahead and poisons Belle's drink with the potion. Belle's pregnancy is accelerated, and she gives birth to a baby boy. She now has to make an impossible choice: she asks the Blue Fairy to take her son, Gideon, far away to protect him from Rumple. This was so heartbreaking, for so many reasons. First of all, we know that Rumple actually did choose to do the right thing. Secondly, Rumple's path to darkness became all the more solidified when he lost Bae, who gets several mentions this week as Rumple contemplates losing another son. Now that he has, what lengths will he go to to get this child back? It doesn't bear thinking about. Also, Belle is such a beautifully selfless person. Her heart is broken over what she thinks Rumple has done, and her heart is even more broken over having to say goodbye to her child.
Throughout the episode, we see Belle speak to her grown child in the dream world once or twice. These scenes have the purpose of giving some personality to the infant that Belle is giving up, making that goodbye all the more poignant. The scenes also suggest something sort of... odd about the future. Why does Belle get to talk to her future offspring like this? And can we totally trust what he's saying to be true? He did wake Belle up with True Love's Kiss the first time we saw him, but then again we know that True Love is no guarantee of ultimate goodness. I'm just saying, there could be more than meets the eye, here.
Emma and Hook get to help Belle out throughout the episode, trying to stop Rumple from fulfilling his plan, and when Belle starts giving birth anyway, they help to protect her and stay with her during this difficult time. This was a nice way to give us some time with Captain Swan, but also reinforce the lovely little friendship that has developed this season between Hook and Belle. He calls her "love" a couple of times, which I find absolutely adorable in every way.
Emma also unlocks the next piece in the mystery of her impending doom. While in Gold's shop, she has another vision of her death. She notices that the sword that kills her has a red gem on the hilt. She and Hook go back to Gold's shop later on, and Emma finds the sword. Now that she has the weapon meant to kill her, she hopes she can figure out who the figure is underneath the cloak... and how to stop her destiny in its tracks.
This is a much better example of how to use a brief subplot to advance a major arc. Unlike with Aladdin and Jasmine, it made sense for Emma and Hook to be in this episode. Their focus was on Belle, but when another puzzle piece falls in Emma's path, she continues to think about her own problems as well. Also, the scene where Emma falls to the ground and Hook rushes to her side is super adorable. Give me all the panicked boyfriend Hook, please.
That's all, folks.
7.5/10
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