Once Upon a Time: Beauty

First Aired October 27th, 2017

Rumpelstiltskin/Gold/Weaver (played by Robert Carlyle) and Belle (played by Emilie de Ravin) prepare for baby Gideon’s first birthday and Gold surprises Belle with plans to travel so she can see the world. In the present Weaver talks with Tilly/Alice (played by Rose Reynolds) and it becomes apparent she’s broken free of the curse.

Lady Tremaine/Victoria (played by Gabrielle Anwar) learns of this and tries to force Weaver to make Tilly take pills to ‘cure’ her, when he refuses she threatens to lock him up for being a dirty cop. Henry (played by Andrew J. West) tells Regina/Roni (played by Lana Parrilla) about the pain of seeing his wife and daughters graves. She tells him not to be afraid to move on and to connect with Cinderella/Jacinda (played by Dania Ramirez).

Flashbacks show Gold and Belle happily together and at an enchanted bridge, Gold attempts to renounce his power to live as a mortal with Belle but when it doesn’t work she vows to help him find a way. Many years later Gideon (played by Giles Matthey) prepares to leave for university and Gold feels guilty he and Belle spent those years trying to save him, but she insists their life was full of adventure. In the present Ivy/Drizella (played by Adelaide Kane) is forced to take Lucy (played by Allison Fernandez) trick or treating but a bored Lucy runs off. Weaver finds Tilly and she rambles on about how she can ‘finally see’. Weaver thinks she’s having a manic episode but she is determined to wake him up too.

Lucy’s trick or treating (mis)adventures was like a plot from a family film and easily the least interesting part of the episode. But an episode devoted to Gold’s character did not disappoint and provided lots of action and drama. We’ve seen Belle and Gold bounce from being lovebirds to her never wanting to see him again but after many tries they seemed to have made it work. But of course getting rid of his power is no easy task, and given how many times he’s chosen power over love we’re left wondering if Gold would finally break down Belle as the episode unfolded.

Meanwhile in the present Tilly has finally woken up but given that she sounds more like the Mad Hatter it’s no wonder Weaver can’t take her seriously. People have temporarily woken up from curses before, but given how stale most of the content in the present is we’re dying for Weaver to remember who he is. But even if he doesn’t watching him run around with an awake and manic Tilly is the best thing that’s happened in the present.

Jacinda learns that Ivy lost Lucy and is furious, Henry offers to help look so that Jacinda doesn’t leave her job and get fired. Weaver gives Tilly a sandwich laced with her pills and she tries to desperately make Weaver remember before the pills take her memories away. In the past, Gold and Belle travel to the Edge of Realms looking for answers, but since time moves differently they are there for many years but live out a happy life. However Belle gets sick from old age and reveals that the answer was Belle had to die to motivate Gold to find his mortality and join her later in death. Gold and Gideon bury Belle and Gold goes in search of a ‘guardian’ who can take his darkness, he goes to another realm and meets Alice.

Henry talks with Ivy and learns that she’s very lonely and craves her mother’s approval because she has no one else and he encourages her not to be afraid of reaching out to others. Tilly shows Weaver the chipped cup that belonged to Belle but when that doesn’t jog his memories she takes his gun and, using his real name ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ shoots him and he has a vision of Belle.

Ivy is lonely and wants to make friends; Henry’s advice should have been to stop treating people like dirt on her shoe; it’s surprising how many friends you can make that way. Also what boss in the world could get away with firing an employee who went out to find their missing kid? When you first watch Belle’s death seems sad but really she got her happy ending; a happy life with Gold free of his Dark One curse. Gold will now have to face his own mortality but having already lived a full life with Belle he achieved his dreams, but as is always the case with Once this won’t come easily. Now he has to find a guardian to take his darkness away (where was this guardian before?) which explains how he ended up with Henry and the others. Not even the chipped cup was enough to restore Weaver’s memories and Tilly’s backup plan was to shoot him, not very subtle but it did the trick. Hopefully Tilly will wake up again soon because her crazy brought a jolt of life to the narrative.

Weaver wakes up in the hospital but covers for Tilly by saying a robber shot him and Tilly, now on her medication is deemed ‘stable’. Ivy returns Lucy to Jacinda and allows them to go trick or treating together. Victoria visits Weaver in the hospital to berate him but he brushes her off and calls her ‘dearie’ implying he’s recovered his memories. When Weaver used the word ‘dearie’ the present narrative completely shifted. If there’s one thing you can count on Gold for is getting things done and with his memories back he can quickly get everyone else out of their curse comas. Victoria better watch her back because there’s no greater enemy than the Dark One.

Quotes/Thoughts

“If you don’t want to take her let me do it.” “And risk mother finding out I did something to make you happy? I’d rather eat carbs.”

Roni made a drink called a Poison Apple; a little on the noise but it did look tasty.

“Moving on doesn’t mean we forget the dead. And if you loved once, well then you owe it to yourself to at least try and find happiness again.”

How come when characters age their hair turns grey but they look almost the same? They should add a few wrinkles or something.

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