Monday, October 22, 2012

Once Upon a Time 2.04: "The Crocodile"

“I came because you’re right about me. I am a coward. I have been my entire life. I tried to make up for by collecting power. But power became so important that I couldn’t let go, not even when that meant losing the most important person in my life. I have lost so many people I love. I didn't want to lose you again without you knowing everything.”
- Mr. Gold

So I have to say I was intrigued by this week’s episode. We meet Captain Hook and see how he relates to Rumpelstiltskin. And I must admit, the actor they have playing Hook is gorgeous and pulls off guyliner way better than Johnny Depp. Anyway, “The Crocodile” begins with Belle getting a really expensive-looking necklace from Rumple. They share a tender moment until Grumpy bursts in demanding his axe back. Rumple gets cranky and threatens to kill Grumpy with the axe. Belle begs him to stop and when he turns, he’s full-on imp. Belle sits bolt upright in bed. It was just a dream. She sneaks downstairs to see that Rumple is busily spinning straw into gold in the basement. She confronts him about it in the morning and he brushes it off. She doesn’t accept his non-answers and storms off. Meanwhile, the fairytale land that was, we finally meet Rumple’s wife, Milah. Rumple has to go off to the tavern looking for her when he finds Bae home alone. She’s busy schmoozing with some pirates, including our handsome Captain (who currently goes by the name Killian Jones). It’s only after Bae shows up looking sad and pathetic that Milah goes home. She tells Rumple she wants a life of adventure but she’ll try to make things work between them. Unfortunately, the next morning, Rumple gets a knock on his door. A neighbor gives him the bad news that Captain Jones and his crew have taken Milah aboard their ship and they’re about to set sail. Rumple goes to the docks and begs Jones to let her go. The Captain’s response is a duel. But Rumple being the coward he is, doesn’t fight.

When Rumple realizes Belle has absconded, he heads to her dad’s flower shop for a chat. Mo doesn’t know where his daughter is but he’s pissed that now neither of them have a beat on her whereabouts. We jump down to the mines to see the dwarves and Charming trying to mine fairy dust. Things aren’t going especially well and pretty soon, Charming and Henry head out. We end up back in the fairytale land that was where a guy in a red hat (aka Vincent from Eureka) joins Rumple and makes a proposal. He can get Rumple a magic bean to go after his son. All he wants in return is eternal life. Rumple offers him youth and he’s down for it. Rumple is about to dismiss the bar maid when Captain Jones saunters in. I think Rumple (even as the Dark One) needs some liquid courage. Just as the bar maid sets the mug of beer down, we cut to Ruby putting what turns out to be Belle’s 3rd glass of iced tea on the table. They have a cute little bonding moment where Belle admits she needs a place to stay and Ruby suggests since Belle likes books, to check and see if they can reopen the library. Belle is scoping the place out (it’s still all boarded up) when red hat guy shows up. He’s acting rather sketchy by asking if she has any spare change or if she’s meeting someone. Then he nabs her.

Back in the fairytale land that was, Jones and his boys are drunkenly leaving the bar when Rumple strategically bumps into the Captain. In short order, Rumple’s announced himself and challenged Jones to that long-overdue duel (Jones say Milah is long dead). They meet the following day at dawn and Rumple is quite handily kicking the Captain’s ass. But a quick death by sword is too good for our handsome swashbuckler. Rumple has to rip his heart from his chest (as we’ve seen Regina and Cora do in the past). And not surprisingly, Milah appears and looks horrified at what her husband is doing. She offers him a trade, the magic bean for her and Killian’s lives (she’s of course fallen in love with him). Rumple says he wants to see the merchandise before he agrees to her terms. On the boat, she shows him the bean but tosses it to Killian before Rumple can get his hands on it. When Milah admits she never loved Rumple, he rips her heart out and crushes it to dust. Jones lashes out at Rumple, only to lose a hand (and thus Captain Hook is born). Rumple gets back to his hidey hole onto find the hand he lopped off doesn’t actually have the bean. Once he’s got his hook all in place, he ungags red hat (aka Smee) and they set off for Neverland using the bean.

In Storybrooke, Rumple has resorted to asking Charming for help. Rumple thinks since Charming has lost the people he loves, he will be in a position to help Rumple. They stop by Granny’s and Ruby agrees to help. She can track Belle by scent thanks to her wolfish qualities. They lose the trail at Mo’s flower shop. Smee had been working for him to reunite father and daughter. The reunion is short-lived however, when Belle admits she fell in love with Rumple. So Mo has sent Belle across the town line. Charming and company realize just in the nick of time that they’re sending Belle under the line via the mine tunnels. They have people patrolling the line to make sure no one accidentally goes over so Mo and Smee had to get creative. Rumple uses magic to pull Belle back just in time. Ruby is pretty impressed with the whole display. She’s grateful for the rescue but tells him and her father she doesn’t want to see either of them again. Later that day, Belle gets the key for the library and as she’s exploring her new home, Rumple appears. He’s given her the key (and the librarian apartment if she wants it) and more importantly he explains why he brought magic to Storybrooke and why he was using magic the day before. She’s not ready to take him back yet but she is willing to maybe go for a hamburger sometime. I have to admit this whole scene made me cry. I mean hamburgers shouldn’t make me cry but it was just so sweet.

We end this week with Captain Hook spying an island. Cora appears and she holds up the jar of wardrobe ash. The Captain is dubious of her swirly shiny dust but Cora promises it will get them to Storybrooke where they will find the ones they’ve been searching for. They really are going to be a lot of trouble.

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