Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin and Belle
WARNING: SPOILERS!!
I watched the Season 2 Premiere of Once Upon A Time this previous Monday morning(I got up at like 4:00 something A.M. to watch it since I'd missed it Sunday evening) and I am finally getting to writing a review on the episode.
And WOW what an episode!! We got Rumplestiltskin/Belle scenes, the Charming family being awesome, and a really epic twist at the end of the episode. I've been waiting for this all summer; I kept up to date on the various Facebook pages, looking at sneak peek(okay, fine, spoilers) the creators put our for the fans and interviews with the cast. Some of the most exciting developments for me involved Emilie de Ravin(and Meghan Ory) becoming a series regular and the fact that we would find out what had happened to Rumplestiltskin's son, Baelfire after he got sucked into a portal out of the Enchanted Forest.
The episode ends up with a unnamed man traveling through New York City to his apartment which is filled with old things. While trying to shut the window against the rain, he drops his phone. Just as he looks down he sees a bird arrive with a postcard that has one word on it: Broken. On the back, it reveals it comes from Storybrooke. This is rather interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing who this man is- some people are speculating it is Baelfire, Henry's Father, or a grown up Peter Pan. As for me, I'll just wait and see who he is. The creators have said that we will find out a lot about him in the first nine episodes so hopefully we'll gain some insight soon.
The episode then cuts to Fairy Tale Land and shows Prince Phillip and Mulan riding to an abandoned Castle where Princess Aurora is sleeping. Prince Phillip awakens Aurora but things soon prove to be different then in the Fairy Tale, when Prince Phillip tells Aurora that they have worse things to worry about then Maleficent. When I watched the episode, I wasn't too much interested in the FTL aspect of the story but at the end of the episode I am very happy they put it in there; you shall see why later on in the review ;).
We then go back to Storybrooke where last season left off- with an ominous, magical smoke engulfing the town(released by Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold). The Storybrooke scenes in this episode were so awesome, especially since the Curse is now broken and everyone remembers who they once were. We see Snow White/MM and Charming/David reunited with Red/Ruby, Granny, and the Seven Dwarfs who they haven't technically seen in twenty-eight years. This scene was great and I can't wait to see more of the characters interactions in our world. After this reunion comes another, even larger one- the one between Snow, Charming, and their now-grown daughter, Emma(who is the same age as them). I loved this scene a lot- I give a round of applause to Ginnifer Goodwin for such a realistic performance; it was exactly how I would see it happening in real life- she definitely seemed like a mother which is pretty impressive since she isn't one as of yet. I also love how Jennifer Morrison, who we see in a later scene, showed Emma's confusion, bitterness, and understanding in the fact that she has found her parents and they aren't anything like she'd pictured. They then try to figure out who created the magical cloud and why they haven't returned to Fairy Tale Land.
Then the scene changes to Mr. Gold/Rumplstiltskin and Belle where we left them at the finale- by the well where the former released magic into our world. He asks what happened to her, since for many, many years he'd thought her dead. She tells him that she was abducted and held in captivity ever since. He guesses correctly that is was Regina. Furious that Belle was alive all this time and held against her will by Regina, he says that he will not let Regina's cruelty stand. Alarmed, Belle asks him to promise her that he will not act on his hate and kill Regina and if he does, they can be together. After a moment, he promises.
I'm not a sucker for romance at all(in fact, they usually gross me out or I find it annoying) but I absolutely love these two. The actors are perfect in their roles and the creators/writers did such a good job in making them who they are. My favorite part of this particular scene was when he touched her cheek and called her sweetheart before promising to not kill Regina. I usually don't like this kind of thing at all, but here it works and it does work quite well.
The story quickly escalates as an angry mob, lead by Dr. Whale, attacks Regina's house. Regina tries to use a spell on the angry people but when she does, it doesn't work. Right before she is killed or hurt, Emma, Snow, and Charming arrive to save her from being killed(they'd been told by Archie that her house was getting attacked). They take Regina to the Sheriff's office and lock her in one of the cells. They demand to know why they didn't go back and Regina tells them that the land they'd lived in was long gone. This had been hinted at by the creators but of course they had a little twist which I will bring up at the end of the review ;). After the Charming family leaves, Mr. Gold appears and tells her that magic works differently here before saying that he won't kill her and let something else do it instead since he promised Belle he wouldn't do it. He then presses a medallion to her palm which we saw curse Prince Phillip in an earlier scene after a wraith had attacked him, Mulan, and Aurora(Mr. Gold had gotten the medallion out of his shop while he was getting a new outfit for Belle*I liked that scene too*). Mr. Gold then heads out to the woods and summons the wraith before returning to his pawn shop. There he meets up with the Charming family(minus Henry who is with Red) and Emma yells at him about screwing her over. I really enjoyed this scene- I'd been wondering how they would show Emma's anger towards him since I expected her to and the way it was written and acted was exactly what I wanted to see! It left me feeling very satisfied which I enjoy since it doesn't happen that often(I loved how Emma wanted to punch him in the face XD).
The next scene, where Belle comes out from the back room after the Charming family was an even greater scene. I loved Mr. Gold's "Hey" when she comes out. I also love Belle's expression when she comes out and accuses him of lying to her(she heard him say he'd brought the wraith-which created the storm outside-to take care of Regina) and not having changed. He then makes a snarky remark and visibly hurt, she storms to the door with Mr. Gold calling that he is sorry. She gives him a withering glare before slamming the door and going out into the storm....in a strange town......with a Dementor-I mean Wraith-on the loose....in a short dress and high heels...yes, one of Belle is also a badass XD. A lot of people got really angry at Mr. Gold for being rude and while I'll admit, it was very rude, everyone says something they regret two seconds later(which he did) so, since I've said worse, I'm not going to crack down hard on him about that. Besides, I loved the acting and I just can't get over how the slammed the door- it was so epic! :)
After this we go to the Fairy Tale clip of Aurora and Mulan we saw released as a sneak peek(another scene in FTL happened earlier, but I already mentioned it, so yeah). Mulan and Aurora realize that when Prince Phillip left to 'collect firewood' he was actually leaving to give himself to the Wraith since he was marked. Mulan races after Phillip to help him and Aurora follows despite Mulan's rejection to the idea.
Just as the Wraith is attacking Regina, by taking her soul(told ya, it's a dementor), the Charming family rushes in, PC/David hitting the wraith with a chair and Snow White/MM makes a flamethrower and scares the thing off with it. Regina wants to know why Emma the rest of the Charmings saved her and Emma tells her she made a promise to Henry to protect her since he loves her and does consider her his Mom(I really appreciated this since I have an adopted brother as well as two adopted cousins and I know that the adoptive mother is the actual mother since they raised them.) :). Regina takes them to city hall where they can try and send the Wraith back to FTL- and into oblivion. They plan on doing this with Jefferson's(the Mad Hatter's Hat). However, when Emma mentions Jefferson, Regina pretends to not know who she is talking about(she was lying, to those who didn't understand). They set up the hat and Regina tries to activate the magic but it doesn't work. Then the Wraith comes in. This is had to be one of my favorite scenes on the show(besides the Rumplestiltskin/Belle ones) on the episode! It was so awesome how Charming/David and Snow/Mary fought off the Wraith with a on-fire BROOM! While the scene is going on it goes back t o Fairy Tale land a few times and shows Prince Phillip's demise by the hands of the wraith(I liked how Mulan offered to take his place since she wanted him to be with Aurora; it was very selfless of her, especially since she liked him too).
The climax with the Charmings/Regina's fight against the Wraith was so incredibly epic! :D It was so cool when Emma touched Regina's arm, magic suddenly came back to her and the hat began working. Then, comes the really great part(yeah, I keep saying that, I know XD) where the wraith is coming towards the hat and is about to hit Regina when Emma shouts at her to look out and pushes Regina out of the way; then, she follows the wraith into the hat. Yelling that she can't loose her daughter again, Snow White leaps after her. Charming tries to follow but the hat stops working, the portal closes, and the hat appears to be destroyed. The acting in this scene was so amazing it seemed real- the action was also very cool and I enjoyed watching it. I can already tell this season is going to be better than last years which is saying a lot since season 1 was amazing in itself :D. David/Charming then demands Regina where they are(he was so good in this scene) but after he says he should have killed her, she pushes him against the wall and makes large roots come out and begin to strangle him. Luckily, Henry comes in and that gets her to stop("Mom?" "Henry what are you doing here?" *that little bit of dialogue was so funny XD). David/Charming then takes Henry with him, after a distraught Henry tells Regina to get Emma and Mary Margaret back because until she does, he doesn't want to talk to her.
The episode then goes to Mr. Gold in the back of his shop on a spinning wheel. This scene is probably my favorite of the episode(it's about my favorite characters, so of course it is). I think it was really nice how they had Belle walk in awkwardly, saying "Hi" and he responds with the "Hey" we saw him use earlier; I like how Belle makes him more human*like his son did* and more like his old, non-cursed self.
The scene involves Belle and Rumplestiltskin talking briefly about how he may or may not have gotten what he wanted before Belle sees that he, in fact, kept the Chipped Cup she'd broken the first day they met. It was a scene I'd been looking forward to seeing and it definitely didn't disappoint- the reactions were what I wanted to see. I think it was interesting how normal Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold is around Belle; it's a lot like i was in Skin Deep where we get to see that bit of humanity that mostly vanished when he took on the Dark One's powers in Desperate Souls. Someone on Tumblr pointed out that we see several different versions of him in this scene and I couldn't agree more :).
The best part of the scene was when he tells Belle that she must leave because despite what she hopes, he's still a monster. A lot of people didn't like it when he said that and at first, I was thinking 'What?' like Belle, but now I get it. He is trying to do good and make the right decision; he knows what kind of person he is and believes that Belle deserves better than the likes of him- a monster. This shows that he does really care for her; he always lets her go even when it hurts him. Belle, being her self, tells him that that is the reason she must stay. Some people didn't understand what she meant when she said that, but I get it. It means she wants to get him to the point where he doesn't believe that anymore; she can see the little bit of humanity kept alive by his desire to find his son and his love for her and wants to bring it out in him. This pairing looks like it's having a good start so I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds :).
After that we see a quick scene with Charming promising Henry that he will find Snow and Emma. Then it cuts to Fairy Tale Land where Mulan and Aurora are laying Prince Phillip to rest. Mulan then hears a noise and the two go investigate it; they find out it was coming from where the wraith appeared. Aurora asks what it is and Mulan replies that it was the thing that brought the wraith and caused the chain of events that killed the Prince. We then see an unconscious Snow and Emma among-st the rubble. This shows that, unlike before, the fairy tale land segments of the episode happen AFTER the Storybrooke parts instead of before like they did before. We also find out that(A little bit earlier) that a section of FTL survived the curse and is still around. Now we have three timelines that the story will be following and I can't wait to see everything reveal itself! :D This is promising to be a very exciting and different season. I am so glad they broke the curse and completely turned the series, and the audience, on its head.
So all in all, this was a great episode; not as good as the amazing Skin Deep, of course, but very good and an awesome opener to the series. I can't wait for the rest of the season, especially episodes revolving around my favorite characters(The Crocodile looks especially good) :D. This season's theme is regret and redemption so I hope to see a lot of that regarding our villains this season; I can already see it happening. :D
May the Force be with you...Always :)
Jedi Shena Tokala out
