By: Kelly Kearney

Rumple’s Little Problem

The episode begins with surprising short haired Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) engaging in a late night pow-wow with two uninvited guests; the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) and Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer). It seems the two villains are looking for a missing cameo necklace, at least Hyde is as the Queen is there to do what she does best – flirt and tempt the struggling Dark One. Gold tries strong arming Hyde when he refuses to strike a deal for the necklace but to his surprise, Hyde cannot be killed.

At Emma’s (Jennifer Morrison) house, the Charming’s are eating what the savior describes as a breakfast fit for a Romanian power lifter, when Regina and Jekyll (Hank Harris) walk in to announce the news. The Queen broke Hyde out of the asylum and is on the loose.

While Team Heroes digest this Hyde news, we learn a little more about Jekyll, his serum and that mysterious cameo Hyde wanted. In a flashback, Jekyll is desperately trying to earn a membership spot to the academy. With their sponsorship, his serum he’s working on could offer a cure to many struggling with their evil impulses. He’s talking to his friend Mary (Elizabeth Blackmore), the owner of the sought after cameo, and it’s clear that Dr. Jekyll has feelings for the woman. He tries his best to convince Mary and her father, Dr. Lydgate (Jonny Coyne), of the serum’s necessity but Lydgate calls it dangerous and rejects the doctor’s plea for sponsorship. Jekyll is livid and that’s when the Dark One enters to tells the doctor to take the serum himself. If Jekyll can prove his experiment works then he will also get Mary’s attention in the process, it’s a win-win. The desperate doctor drinks the serum and thus unleashing his evil half.

Moving Forward

Hook and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) seem to be searching for a piece of normalcy in this crazy world of theirs, regardless of whichever “Big Bad” the town is facing today. Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) is packing up his one and only treasure chest to take to the savior’s, but before he goes he leaves Belle (Emilie de Ravin) with a gift – a sea shell she can use as an S.O.S. if she’s ever in trouble. It seems these two have buried their past and are trying to build a friendship. Before Hook can go, Rumple shows up to warn them of Hyde’s escape and his sudden interest in the red headed librarian. Belle is tired of paying for Rumple’s past and doesn’t seem interested in his concern. Rumple doesn’t take any chances and traps her on the Jolly Roger with a protection spell. Hyde can’t get to her and Belle can’t leave, making her once again a prisoner at Rumple’s hands.

While Hook and Belle are trapped on his ship, Snow is trying to get back into her cursed profession teaching. She runs into a new colleague, Sharin (Karen David), and the two instantly hit it off over Snow’s favorite topic – birds.

At the lab, Emma lets everyone in on Rumple’s protection spell and Regina wonders why Hyde would go after Belle? With Jekyll still working on his magic serum, Emma thinks Gold might be able to help. Regina offers to go and ask her Gold for help. Jekyll gives Grumpy (Lee Arenberg) a taste of his own medicine when he rudely orders the dwarf to fetch him lunch. Grumpy is no errand boy and tells the doctor as much.

As Jekyll “hangrily” continues with his work, we see more of his past with and the evil Hyde. After Rumple convinced Jekyll to drink the serum, he debuts his other half, whom he ironically names Mr. Hyde – meaning the hidden half of Jekyll. Hyde does his best to charm Dr. Lydgate and by charm I mean blackmail the doctor into agreeing to offer Jekyll his support. He does; however, charm Mary who is smitten with the dark and brooding Hyde. It looks like Rumple’s idea worked and the other half of Jekyll is doing what the weaker half could not.

Embracing One’s Whole Self

Just like the Queen, Regina notices how Gold’s new hair highlights his eyes and the two go back and forth about their changed appearances. What exactly is the untold story between these two? Gold admits the Evil Queen contacted him and agrees to help Jekyll defeat Hyde. The two frenemies go to the lab only to find Jekyll and Grumpy, knocked out and the lab trashed thanks to the Evil Queen and her partner Hyde. Luckily, Jekyll saved a sample of his serum and Regina cautiously asks Gold to do his magic. Instead, he rips Jekyll’s heart out explaining that he struck a deal with the Evil Queen for protecting Belle. Then, he orders her to pour the serum onto his Dark One dagger, tosses Regina the doctor’s heart and leaves to take care of Hyde. Before he goes, Rumple reminds Regina that she can no more hide from her evil half than he can.

While Regina tries to decipher what Gold meant, Snow’s trying to figure out why her students lost interest in learning. She can’t seem to make her students care about Newton’s Law of Gravity. That is until Shiren tells her she can’t be the best at her job until she embraces who she is. Bandit Snow and Mary Margaret are both a part of her and until she realizes it she won’t be living up to her fullest potential. Snow listens and uses bandit Snow’s archer to get her students excited.

On the Jolly Roger, Hook and Belle are surprised when Jekyll tells them the Evil Queen set Hyde free. Hook takes off to help Emma, leaving Belle and Jekyll to chat about his past love Mary only the story has a much darker ending then you’d expect. It looks Like Mary fell hard for Hyde and when Jekyll wakes up in Mary’s bed (having no recollection of how he got there) Jekyll is furious that Hyde stole Mary from him. The two start fighting which leads to Jekyll pushing Mary out the window to her death. The only thing left of Mary is the cameo he ripped from her throat, so he quickly drinks the serum in hopes Hyde will pay for his crimes. The story gives Belle the feeling Jekyll is up to something. In a flash, the doctor attacks Belle, hoping to enact revenge on Rumple for convincing him to take that serum all those years ago. Belle tries to call Hook on the sea shell, but it shatters and she stabs Jekyll with a shard. Before he can finish off Belle, Hook saves the day by pushing Jekyll onto the pointed end of a harpoon, killing him and Hyde. Regina shows up and assumes Gold killed Hyde with his dagger, but he tells her a horrifying truth; the only way to kill their doppelgangers is for the original half to die. Regina must die in order to stop the Evil Queen

Later, Regina tells Emma the news that not only does she have to die, but just like Jekyll she has the capacity to turn evil, even though she separated herself from the Evil Queen. Emma thinks she’s too strong to let that happen, but Regina makes her promise that if it happens the savior will kill her. Emma halfheartedly agrees in much the same way Regina did when Emma requested Regina to stop her in Camelot.

One Day, You’ll Need me

With Hyde dead, Gold takes down the protection spell to a seriously peeved Belle. She’s tired of everyone having to pay for Rumples past misdeeds and wants to know why all of this happened. Finally, he tells her the truth that he went to Jekyll because his dark self was falling in love with Belle. He’d hoped Jekyll could help him remove that part of him because love, dearies, is always weakness. In the end, Hyde couldn’t separate his loving side any more than Jekyll could his evil and Mary paid the price, but Belle won’t be Rumple’s price. She tells it’s over and he reminds her that their son will be born with the mark of the Dark One and there will come a day that she’ll need him. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise. And an eerie one at that. The episode ends with a huge reveal when we learn that Shiren is actually Jasmine and she came to Storybrooke in search of the other savior, Aladdin!

Can Belle escape her past with Rumple and keep their son safe? Can Regina fight the darkness and find another way of dealing with her evil half? All these questions and more will be answered next week on “Once Upon a Time.”