This Valentine’s Day-themed episode of “Once Upon a Time” is not only very Rumpelstiltskin-centric, but also really sad.
In Fairy Tale Land, Belle, the daughter of a king and fiancee to a prince, Gaston, decides to play the hero and save her family and her kingdom from war by agreeing to be Rumpelstiltskin’s servant forever. As she stays with him, she gets to know the human side of the deal-maker, learning about the son he lost due to his decision to become evil. Rumpelstiltskin begins to fall in love with her, but he decides to let her go, thinking that she’ll never return.
However, the Evil Queen gets to her first, saying that if she did return and kissed him, his spell would be broken, because true love’s kiss always breaks any spell. Belle returns to Rumpelstiltskin’s castle and does kiss him. The spell is broken, but Rumpelstiltskin turns angry, realizing this was a trap set by the queen and locks Belle in the dungeon. Basically, the battle for true love and ultimate power is being waged inside Rumpelstiltskin, and the lust for power wins out, causing him to spurn Belle’s love for him . She is kicked out of his house, and we find out from the Evil Queen that not only did her father shun her for her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin, but he locks her in a tower, subjecting her to horrible procedures in order to “cleanse” her, until she decides to jump from the tower to her death. Rumpelstiltskin realizes that it was his own fault that caused him to miss out on true love. In honor of her, he places the cup she chipped during her first day at the castle at the center of his collection of coveted items.
The storyline from Fairy Tale Land meshes with Storybrooke in a way we haven’t seen before–Mr. Gold’s property is stolen, and even though Emma finds his stuff, there is one piece that is still unaccounted for–the chipped cup from Fairy Tale Land. Mr. Gold goes in search of the king, who is now a flower delivery man named Moe French, and basically takes out all of his aggression on him for what he did to Belle in Fairy Tale Land, even though French doesn’t even remember what he did in his past life. Another instance of the blurring of the lines–Regina and Mr. Gold finally have a heart-to-heart about who they really are, giving evidence that these two characters (aside from Henry) are the only two that know about their true natures. Regina also gives Mr. Gold his cup, showing that she now has something that gives her leverage over him. Further proof of Regina’s leverage–she has Belle locked up in a padded room in the basement of the hospital.
Other goings-on in Storybrooke: Mary Margaret decides to end her relationship with David, finally realizing that having an affair just isn’t the right way to go about being together. Also, Ashley and Sean become engaged.
What did you think of this week’s episode? Give your opinion in the comments section below.
Written by: Monique Jones
