Once Upon A Time – Changelings

By: Kelly Kearney

Gold Is Up To His Old Tricks

This week’s episode of “Once Upon a Time, was all about Gold (Robert Carlyle) showing his true colors. Last week, when he threatened Belle (Emilie de Ravin) over their unborn son by saying, “Rumpelstiltskin takes children, not the other way around,” he was warning his wife that there are no limits to which he would sink to be close to his son. With Belle insisting he keeps his distance, Gold kidnaps Novice Fairy (Jacky Lai), which is step one of his plan to change his son’s fate and be a part of his life. With the fairy tied up in the basement of some factory, the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) materializes and asks what her partner in crime is doing. Gold sprinkles a magic aging powder over the woman and says Novice will be a message to the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy). Then, he switches the subject to Zelena (Rebecca Mader) and asks if the Queen has killed her like he asked. Its obvious Gold is manipulating the Queen to do his dirty work when he says Belle never really accepted him for who he was and if the Evil Queen wants her happy ending with him, she will get on with the sibling killing or she can find herself a new evil playmate.

Message heard Loud And Clear

Using the fairy to send a message to Blue worked, but the message was more a warning for Belle. If she doesn’t take him back, he will use this magic to speed up her pregnancy then snip his fate with the shears and maybe even take him from Belle forever.

Apparently, Gold has a history of stealing children as we learn in a flashback of Belle’s time in the Enchanted Forest. Rumple stole a random child to use them for his own misdeeds and Belle was shocked that her captor could be so heartless. Not too phased by her outrage, Rumple goes on to admit he didn’t even give the newborn a name since you don’t name things you have no intention of keeping. Rumple had plans for that baby and his inquisitive maid promised to find out what they were and stop him before the baby could be harmed.

Back in the present, Belle is in the library when she discovers a mysterious book with a message inside to “follow the strand,” followed by a long red ribbon that leads her to her adult son (Giles Matthey) in the dream world. The ribbon represents his fate that Gold plans on snipping and the answer to stopping him is inside Belle. After that vague answer, Belle goes to Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and tells them about the book. Instantly, Hook notices it’s written in squid ink. Squid ink can stun Gold long enough for the sheriff and the pirate to steal the golden shears and stop him from hurting Belle and their son.

Genies, Like Magic always come with a price

Across town, Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) is giving Jasmine (Karen David) another one of her famous hope speeches about finding Agrabah with the Genie lamp Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) found. Just like magic, a Genie’s help comes with a price that Snow and her father wound up finding out first hand. Apparently, she forgot about that because she urges Jasmine to use the lamp to find her home with some good old fashioned hope to light their way. Later, when they try to summon the Genie, nothing happens but his golden cuffs appear and Aladdin says the genie must’ve been freed. Then, he puts the cuffs on himself and disappears into the bottle, hoping to find out what happened to Agrabah. Aladdin is the savior so he is prepared to pay the price for this magical quest.

Evil vs. Wicked

Just like Gold requested, the Evil Queen shows up to Zelena’s farmhouse to enact Gold’s revenge, but before she gets the chance to rain down the sisterly death blows Regina poofs in to save Zelena’s life. Regina uses the only tactic she can stop her evil half by ripping her own heart out and squeezing it as a warning she means business. Before her evil half can escape, Regina demands to know why she is trying to hurt Zelena and when Gold’s name is mentioned, Regina tells the Queen she is being played. That stops the Queen in her tracks and she poofs away, leaving Zelena grateful for Regina’s big save. Unfortunately, she didn’t do it out of sisterly love. Regina says she saved her because that’s what heroes do, but she can never forgive her for playing a part in Robin’s death. It looks like these two won’t be embracing those family feels anytime soon.

Across town at Gold’s pawn shop, Hook distracts the “Crocodile” while Emma stuns him with the squid ink and searches for the golden shears. While looking, the savior has another one of her crippling visons and this time notices something new, a red jewel on the hilt of the sword that kills her. The savior wonders if something in the shop sparked her vision this time. As her magic becomes weaker with every peek into her future, Rumple unfreezes and heads to the library to confront Belle. Silently creeping up behind his wife, Gold tells Belle that squid ink won’t work on him as he is more powerful than ever. Belle tries to escape after he shows her the aging potion and swears she will never go back to him. Gold says he never thought she would because he is unlovable. Maybe if he can change their son’s fate, he can start over and the boy would love him. She reminds him that magic comes with a price and asks if he is willing to risk her life for it. That does it and Gold backs off from his wife and finally puts her life ahead of his needs.

The Black Fairy

In a flashback to the Enchanted Forest, Belle finds a book in Rumple’s library that’s written in the fairy’s language, which makes sense since Rumple tells her he plans on using the baby to lure the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) to him. Fairies are supposed to protect babies, but the Black Fairy turned evil and instead of protecting she stole them to give her magic a boost.

Out in the woods, Belle watches on as Rumple summons the Black Fairy but before she can abscond with the infant, Rumple stuns her with squid ink. He flashes the Dark One’s dagger and demands she answer one question: If she steals babies than why did she abandon her own? Shocked, the Black Fairy puts two and two together and realizes Rumple is her son and he has some serious mommy anger issues! She laughs at him because he should know the answer, she chose power over love – it’s a family trait. While mother and son are having a tense reunion, Belle sneaks up and takes the baby. With no baby and no interest in her sniveling Dark One son, the Black Fairy leaves and Rumple is left with a pain that even Belle couldn’t understand.

To Give Him His Best Chance

Back in Storybrooke, and thanks to an angry and embarrassed Evil Queen, Belle accidently drinks the magic aging potion sending her into instant labor. At the convent under a protection spell and with Emma and recovered Novice by her side, Belle gives birth to a healthy son whom she names Gideon. In the hardest decision of the new mother’s life, she asks Blue to be her son’s godmother and to raise him far away from his father’s clutches and influence. Blue agrees and as Rumple breaks the convent’s curse, he sees Blue fly away with his son. Distraught, he swears he was never planning to hurt Belle and asks her what she named their boy. Belle refuses to tell Gold so he will never find him.

Beaten down, Gold heads back to the shop to find a gloating Evil Queen that reminds him that payback is a bitch. He embarrassed and used her and in the end, he failed. Gold tells her that if she wants to see failure to look in the mirror. Threating, he warns the Queen that he plays a long game of vengeance and she is just his pawn. His comment certainly stings her ego, but the Evil Queen laughs it off by saying, “I hear fairies make wonderful mothers,” which enrages Gold and he smashes up his shop.

With Belle’s baby safe and Rumple’s plans thwarted, Emma and Hook check out Gold’s shop (or what’s left of it after his tornado of anger) to search for anything that could’ve sparked her visions from earlier. Immediately Emma sees it, the ruby jeweled sword and is now more determined than ever to find its owner and stop them before her visions become her reality.