Once Upon a Time: Season Four, Episode Twelve

First Aired December 14th, 2014.

With the Snow Queen/Ingrid’s (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) plan stopped, everyone thinks the worst is over. However, Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold (played by Robert Carlyle) is putting his own plan into action.

His first move is to get Anna (played by Elizabeth Lail) out of town because she knows what he intends to do with the Sorcerer’s hat. He plans to be powerful enough to retain his magic once he and his wife, Belle (played by Emilie de Ravin), leave, although she believes they are going on a honeymoon trip. Hook (played by Colin O’Donoghue) is still under his control and is sent to convince Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) to use a portal to send the sisters back to Arendelle. Elsa (played by Georgina Haig) removed the ice wall, but Ingrid placed a curse on the town line. Anyone who leaves Storybrooke can’t return. Marian (played by Christie Laing) recovered from being frozen and gave Regina (played by Lana Parilla) and Robin Hood (played by Sean Maguire) her blessing. But when the freezing spell comes back, Regina realizes Marian’s only chance is to leave town where there is no magic. Robin and his family are resigned to depart, knowing they can never return and Regina again loses her chance for a happy ending.

If any Storybrooke residents had dreams of traveling and seeing the world, they’re in for some major disappointment. I noticed Henry (played by Jared Gilmore) wasn’t included in Gold’s plan anymore, presumably because the town survived the Shattered Sight spell. Gold was forced to leave Henry behind because if he kidnapped Henry now, his family would come after him. Once Marian gave her blessing for the Regina/Robin relationship, I knew there would be another obstacle thrown in their way. When is the show going to throw Regina a bone? It’s amazing she hasn’t had several relapses of being the Evil Queen again, considering that, no matter how good she is, she never gets her desired conclusion. That story book author must really hate her. I don’t know if he/she can be convinced to let her be happy.

Elsa and Anna use the portal to return to Arendelle, but not before Anna warns Emma that Gold can’t be trusted. Later, Elsa is shown preparing to walk Anna down the aisle after going back to the kingdom. Gold takes the hat to the clock tower and begins the ritual to make himself all powerful. Emma and the gang arrive to stop him but are quickly immobilized. Gold then takes the opportunity to kill Hook by crushing his heart. However, Gold is unable to finish the job because Belle found his dagger and commands him to stop. She discovers that he lied after finding a magical artifact she thought he had traded for her life, as shown in flashbacks. She makes him stop the ritual and teleport them to the town line where he tries to explain his actions. She refuses to listen and says she now realizes that, although he does love her, power is always the thing he will value more. She tearfully orders him to step over the town line, leaving him trapped powerless outside of Storybrooke forever.

I would have thought Emma and everyone would be invited to the wedding, but I guess cross-dimensional travel isn’t that easy. It’s fitting that Belle was the one who stopped Gold, considering how many times he has let her down. She was so easily manipulated by him this season too, so it looked good for her to finally wise up to his schemes. I hope she’s going to stick with her decision not to get back together with him this time. It seems that way, given that she banished him from town. Frankly, it would have been a good idea to have made him release everyone he captured from the hat first. Despite getting everything he deserved, it won’t be long before Gold finds a way back to Storybrooke to shake things up again. He’s one of the most popular characters on the show. If he was able to come back from the dead, getting banished from town won’t stop him.

Meanwhile, Henry found a house with a library full of blank books, including a copy of the story book. He decides the author probably lives there. Regina is thrilled and Emma offers to help them in order to give Regina her happy ending. Flashing forward six weeks, Gold is shown in New York City approaching a woman in an aquarium who’s revealed to be Ursula (played by Merrin Dungey). We’re told that she had aligned with Maleficent (played by Kristin Bauer van Straten) and Cruella de Vil (played by Victoria Smurfit) to steal the magical artifact from Gold in flashbacks. She mocks him for his defeat and he concedes that the reason he lost was because of the mysterious author. He then suggests teaming up with the ladies to find the author themselves, setting the stage for the second half of the season.

I wonder if this author thought his/her work would be so popular, although everyone wants to change the stories rather than praise them. I’m disappointed that he/she turned out to be in Storybrooke because most of these characters have never left town and entered the real world. They could have eventually removed the curse and traveled to New York or wherever to find him/her; that would have been a great storyline. Having several villains face off against the heroes should be fun, especially an old-school Disney villain like Maleficent who’s been MIA since season one. Although Cruella seems out of place since she’s not a powerful witch or anything. Her biggest crime was trying to skin a bunch of puppies. If anything, she should have a vendetta against PETA. Regardless of that fact, I’m really looking forward to the new episodes coming in March.

Quotes & Thoughts

“I’m not in the mood for a hope speech Emma.” “You have me mistaken for my mother. Besides, you don’t need a speech. You need a drinking buddy. Shots?”

I hope Gold and his new alliance of villainesses will give themselves a cool group name.

“I’ve learned the rules do apply to me, but also there’s someone who can change those rules. For now, let’s call him the Author.” “Pretentious, I hate him already.”

I wonder what other books this author wrote. That library was pretty full. Maybe he/she is someone famous like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling.

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