Once Upon a Time – Mother’s Little Helper

By: Kelly Kearney

The Handsome Hero

Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Gideon (Giles Matthey) team up for a little savior work to take down the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) in Mother’s Little Helper. And like most things in Storybrooke, it’s never as easy as they thought it was going to be.  For one, Gideon is having major issues moving on from his childhood and his revenge on the woman who kidnapped him.

In a flashback, we get a look at what Gideon the child went through at the hands of his evil grandmother. A young boy is reading to his best friend Roderick (Grayson Gabriel), from Belle’s (Emilie de Ravin) book, The Handsome Hero. Roderick warns him to be careful as he doesn’t want their captor to know he has that book. It’s not that the Black Fairy has a problem with her captors learning to read, she has a problem with the power that book has. It’s the only reminder of the boy’s family and to top it off, it preaches heroism and overcoming evil – two things she would rather him not learn. Of course, The Black Fairy does find out Gideon has the book, a book she had previously hid from him. As punishment, evil woman mocks the boy for thinking he is a hero like the character in the book and then turns on Roderick, threatening his life. Upset but frightened by what the woman might do, Gideon stands down proving her right that he is no hero.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma is convinced there’s no hope for Gideon and tells is parents as much. She regrets letting the man live, especially since he’s tried to kill her a few times and now has her Pirate MIA to parts unknown. She’s over this mini Rumple and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) agrees, offering to take Gideon out because nothing says mother/daughter fun times like killing the dark ones only offspring. Obviously, telling Gideon’s parents their child is a lost cause doesn’t go over well and Belle begs the savior to give him a chance and not hurt him. Emma, who has proven she can handle anything, isn’t prepared for the news Rumple (Robert Carlyle) drops in her lap. It turns out that The Black Fairy is his mother and any darkness in Gideon is a direct result of her meddling.

What Happened to Henry?

While Emma is dealing with the town’s newest “big bad,” Regina’s (Lana Parrilla) trying to undo some of her evil half’s damage by reversing the Charming’s sleeping curse, but so far she’s had no luck. Henry (Jared Gilmore) offers to help and as he’s writing down a list of potion ingredients, he goes into a trance and starts writing in some other language all against his will. Not surprisingly, Regina freaks but she can’t snap her son out of it and it looks like the Black Fairy’s reach goes a lot further than even Gideon expected.

Speaking of the winged evil granny, we flashback to Gideon’s 28^th birthday and thanks to his kidnapping and perhaps a touch of Stockholm syndrome Gideon has started calling the woman “Mother.” Mother shows up just as her boy’s party was about to kick off with some bad news that somebody stole the key to her vault. There will be no birthday celebrations because she demands Gideon find the thief and make them pay. Back in the present, Emma and Gideon strike a “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” kind of deal wherein Emma promises to help take down the Black Fairy if Gideon hands over the savior sword and the golden shears. He agrees and a partnership is struck between this bizarre tag team of saviors.

As Emma is making friends with her enemies, Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) is doing the same to get back home. The Pirate is on the search for a magic bean to open a portal back to Storybrooke and that leads him to his old nemesis, Blackbeard (Charles Mesure). The animosity between the two has not died down since last they did battle, but eventually they stike a deal. Blackbeard wants Hook’s ship for the bean so the Jolly Roger is used in a high stakes card game between the pirates.

What a Tangled web we weave

While Hook’s fighting to get home, Emma’s getting tangled in a web she never saw coming. As the two plot on how to get rid of the Black Fairy, the evil woman somehow catches wind of it and sends a magical spider the size of an ogre to stop them. This eight legged, terrifying nightmare has Emma and Gideon running when they realize its impervious to their magic. While trying to come up with a Plan B, we flashback to Gideon’s quest to find his new Mother’s key. He questions the Black Fairy’s other captors and threatens to turn them into rats if they don’t come forward with culprit. When no one volunteers, Gideon grabs a random worker to use as an example that he means business when his long lost best friend Roderick stands up and admits he stole the key! Roderick was taken the night his mother found Gideon reading Belle’s book and the boy hadn’t been heard from since. Now he’s alive and telling Gideon he knows how to stop the evil fairy and asks his friend for help.

Back to Hook, who’s a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Blackbeard is desperate for the Jolly Roger and cheating at cards seems in line with a pirate’s life.  Hook uses his wit to trick his enemy into opening a portal to find the ship that just happens to be docked in Arendale. The elder Pirate has no intention of letting this ship go so the two tumble through the portal to parts unknown.

Speaking of unknown, Henry has no recollection of his weird possession and like any good Mom Regina wants to get to the bottom of this. The ex-Evil Queen takes her son to the only man who may have information about this, Isaac (Patrick Fischler), who’s currently cooling his author’s pen at the local Storybrooke asylum. Regina wants answers, but Isaac wants his freedom…and a sports car, a trip to the big Apple and Hamilton tickets. Regina scoffs at his demands and attempts to leave, only to have Isaac break down and admit the author’s powers are taking control of Henry. He offers no other advice until Regina agrees to his demands.

Back in Gideon’s past, he and Roderick talk about the day the Black Fairy tested her boy’s heroism by sending his friend to be one of her mining slaves. Gideon’s keeping his friend safe for now and admits he was weak and anything but, “The Handsome Hero.” The apology shows that Gideon isn’t all dark and maybe there’s a bit of good in there and Roderick agrees. He tells his friend it’s not too late to change things, all they need is the savior and she can defeat the Black Fairy. Unfortunately, this savior is in another realm, a realm where currently Gideon and said Savior are being stalked by some Charlotte’s web nightmare! The two are webbed off by the man eating, magical beast and that’s when Gideon shows his true colors. He throws Emma into the human sized web, trapping her and leaving her vulnerable to Gideon and his goal; to kill the savior. Tangled and struggling, Gideon takes the savior sword back and admits he summoned the spider, leaving her there to be arachnid lunch. With Emma tied up in webs, the dark traitor heads to the clock tower with the sword, ready to wreak havoc on the small town and that’s when Rumple finds Emma and frees her. Emma is safe thanks to Rumple’s good timing but there is more to this story than even the Dark One knows. In a flashback, we find out that the quest to find the key and its thief was just a test the Black Fairy used on Gideon and he failed royally. She approaches him and Roderick as they’re trying to summon the savior, forcing Gideon to throw black magic at the woman which she angrily dodges. As punishment, the evil woman turns Roderick into a spider and squashes him under her boot as a lesson to Gideon to never disobey her again. She goes a step further when she rips his heart out, controlling Gideon and every move he makes.

There’s no Place Like…Neverland?

When using a magic bean to open a portal, all one must do is think of the place they want to go and magic does the rest. Unfortunately for Hook, he wished for home and wound up in Neverland rather than beside his beloved Swan. As soon as Hook realizes where they are the two pirates try and outrun the deadly lost boys only for Hook to get stabbed in the back or should I say clocked over the head by Blackbeard! With Hook temporarily knocked out, Blackbeard steals their only escape, a row boat, and leaves the handless pirate to fight the lost boys on his own.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma is having a hard time getting through to Rumple about his son. She tells him, along with Snow and Belle, that Gideon needs to die before he hurts anyone else but Rumple’s not on board with that plan. He just saved Emma’s life and this is how she repays him? By threatening his only living son? Where’s that famous Charming hope speech and the belief that no one is all evil? With Snow and Emma ready to take the Rumbelle child out, The Black Fairy’s plan to tear the town apart is working. Little does the savior and friends know that Gideon is being controlled by the very woman he claims he wants to destroy! In the clock tower, which we will call Storybrooke’s ground zero for all things evil, Gideon seems relieved that his granny’s plot failed. Even with the Black Fairy controlling him, Emma survived which should have stopped her from breaking free from her realm, or did it? Just as Gideon is relishing this small defeat, the Black Fairy shows up in the tower to claim her victory. How did she enter this realm if Emma is still alive and well? Easy, Emma was on the precipice of death and it was just the mojo she needed to slip into this world undetected.

Speaking of slipping in and out of worlds, Regina comes through for Isaac, at least the sports car part of his bribe, as there is not enough magic in the world for her to score Hamilton tickets and Isaac leaves her with an eerie foreshadowing of what’s to come. Henry’s problem is all their problems and its resulting from his beloved book. The book is nearing its final chapter where the savior fights a battle to end all battles and with that, Isaac leaves the Mills family with some advice: Get out of town before the final battle or pay the ultimate price.