Once Upon a Time: Season Four, Episode Fifteen

First Aired March 15th, 2015.

Regina/the Evil Queen (played by Lana Parilla) goes to meet with Maleficent (played by Kristin Bauer) and the other Queens of Darkness. She tells them she was never good and was simply acting out of self-preservation and claims she wants to join their group.

They obviously don’t believe her and put her through tests to see if she is truly evil. These tests mostly involve lots of drinking and setting things on fire. However they keep Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold’s (played by Robert Carlyle) return from her. Gold is ready to put the first phase of his plan into action and Maleficent recruits Regina to help. Flashbacks show how Regina and Maleficent first met, when Regina went to find Maleficent to train her during her early days as a sorceress. After she was beaten by Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Maleficent fell into a deep depression and began using drugs. She lost the ability to turn into a dragon. Regina tries to snap her out of it when the king shows up to arrest them. The fight rekindles Maleficent’s rage and she kills them all and decides to go after Briar Rose’s daughter, Aurora (played by Sarah Bolger).

Maleficent becoming a drug addict made me wonder how other Disney villains coped with their losses. I also wondered if there was a rehab center somewhere for villains to get clean when they hit rock bottom. The Queens of Darkness could probably benefit from A.A., considering they drank everything in the bar.

I would have thought they’d make Regina kill someone or do something actually evil to prove herself instead of property damage and binge drinking.

Sometimes I wish there were subtitles depicting how long in the past each flashback takes place because so many take place around the same time and it’s hard to keep track of the chronological order.

Now that Maleficent’s backstory has been fleshed out, I want to learn the backstories of Ursula (played by Merrin Dungey) and Cruella (played by Victoria Smurfit) and how they have been tweaked.

Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) thinks Regina’s plan is too dangerous but agrees to give her backup. The plan is to kidnap young Pinocchio (played by Jakob Davies) because as an adult he may have had information about the Author. Emma follows Regina and Maleficent and tries to stop Regina from taking him but Regina insists she’ll protect him. Regina takes the boy and ditches her phone so Emma can’t track them.

Meanwhile, Gold disguises himself as Captain Hook (Played by Colin O’Donogue) to speak with Belle (played by Emilie de Ravin). Gold/Hook convinces Belle to give him the dagger that controls him under the pretense of hiding it from the Queens of Darkness. He also takes the opportunity to ask about her new relationship with Will/Knave of Hearts (played by Michael Socha) and is heartbroken to hear she’s happy without him. Gold/Hook tells Belle that to keep the dagger safe she can’t tell anyone he took it, or even discuss it with him.

Emma might be a great actress but there’s no way she could have made those women believe she had turned evil.

Regina’s exasperated reactions to everyone meeting her in public places in large groups when she’s supposed to be undercover were funny, yet when Regina is going on a dangerous mission, that’s when everyone decides to hang back.

Gold was obviously hoping to hear that Belle still had some romantic feelings for him but now sees she is putting him behind her. He’s not the kind of person to step aside and sooner or later he’s going to go after Belle and make her be his wife again whether she wants to or not.

I can’t believe Belle fell for that line about not discussing the dagger with Hook ever again. Belle really is way too gullible and the longer it takes for her to realize what happened the worse it makes her look.

Maleficent and Regina take Pinocchio to Gold’s cabin where Gold reveals himself to Regina. Gold knows that Pinocchio doesn’t remember his knowledge of the author because he was reverted to being a child. Using his magic, Gold ages Pinocchio back to an adult (played by Eion Bailey) to torture and interrogate him. Turning Pinocchio back into a man was necessary not just because his older self probably had information. People generally would be less uncomfortable watching a grown man being tortured instead of a child. I hope he does know something about the Author. I’m dying for any scrap of information.

Quotes & Thoughts

“I said we needed to meet covertly. Now I see you’ve brought the entire Charming softball team and their pirate mascot.”

Maleficent’s real world outfit looks dated, like something people wore in the 1920’s.

“You want to bury treasure where no one can find it? Leave it to a pirate.”

Going through all of that back and forth aging must be hell for Pinocchio’s state of mind.

If you enjoyed Manny’s return to Storybrooke, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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