Once Upon A Time – The Black Fairy

By: Kelly Kearney

A savior is born

We begin in a flashback to baby Rumple’s birth and his mother, who went by the name Fiona (Jaime Murray), before she turned to the darkness and became The Black Fairy. Along with his parents were Blue (Keegan Connor Tracy) and his fairy godmother, Tiger Lily (Sara Tomko), who informs the new mother that her son is destined for greatness. Rumple was born beaming with light magic and if the prophecy is correct, he will be the Savior.

Back in Storybrooke, Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas) sit bedside as Rumple (Robert Carlyle) tries and fails to wake Blue from her cursed coma. Even his magical dragon egg isn’t working and the man is out of ideas. Outside and mulling over his options, Blue awakens with news about the other half of the fairy wand. She knows where it is and before she gets to elaborate on “the middle of Storybrooke,” Snow morphs into the Black Fairy and whisks Blue away. Of course, where The Black Fairy goes her boy Gideon (Giles Matthey) is sure to follow and just like she pretended to be Snow, Gideon was disguised as David. Luckily, Belle grabs Gideon before he can join his evil granny while Rumple concocts a plan to save their son’s heart. If there was a way for Rumple to talk to Gideon without the Black Fairy’s influence, they could save him and find the wand. With a flick of the wrist, Rumple poofs Gideon, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and himself to Morpheus’ Dream World. Why did Emma have to come along for the ride? So, she doesn’t kill the evil duo before Rumple has a chance to save his son’s heart.

Life without magic, is truly wicked

Last week, Zelena (Rebecca Mader) made the choice to sacrifice her magic to help defeat the Black Fairy and now the former Wicked Witch may be regretting that choice when she’s faced with the ultimate evil: crib assembly. That’s right, the wickedest of witches is brought to her knees by a set of vague directions that would make IKEA proud. Zelena starts to wonder if she can’t do something as simple as putting Robyn’s crib together, how will she ever be able to protect her from the evils of the world? Seeing that her sister feels useless, Regina (Lana Parrilla) comes up with an idea that could help Zelena feel more in control of her life.

Over in the Dream World, Rumple assumes this is Gideon’s dream but after he recognizes the place where he was born it’s pretty clear this is Rumple’s Dream. In a flashback we’re in Rumple’s childhood home and Fiona’s telling Tiger Lily she is not happy about her son’s prophecy. She’s desperate to protect her son and no reassurances from his fairy Godmother are easing her worry. In a trick that Tiger Lily didn’t see coming, Fiona hands her son over and transforms herself into a fairy, something that shouldn’t have been possible. Now Fiona can use magic to protect her son, a boy who still doesn’t have a name.

Back in Storybrooke, everyone’s favorite bickering and twisted sisters are tackling a new beast; teaching Zelena to drive. With no magic and feeling useless, Regina bravely takes on the task of teaching her in a late 70’s green station wagon. The feeling of independence would do Zelena some good and if things in Storybrooke start to get shaky, she can take Robyn and Henry (Jared Gilmore) and get out of Dodge; Dodge meaning New York City and miles away from the Final Battle. Zelena is touched her sister would entrust her with raising Henry and it’s a nice moment between the two sisters whom are usually at each other’s throats.

Speaking of Final Battles, the key to Emma defeating the darkness and walking away with her life is that fairy wand. Snow figures out that the center of town is the town’s heart and nothing says heart (attack) like Granny’s grilled cheese.

With Light Comes Darkness

Every Savior must fight a battle against the ultimate evil, a battle they are destined to lose, and Fiona’s baby is no different. If her son is the light than who and where is his evil counterpart? Tiger Lily told the frantic mother that on the same day the savior child was born so was the ultimate evil. A crescent shaped scar is the only way to determine who this person is and Fiona is desperate to find them before her son must pay with his life. She decides the only way to save her son is to cast a forbidden spell, but first she must get something from the fairy’s vault. The fairy’s vault is not a place for mortals like Fiona, even if she tricked her way into getting a pair of wings.

In the Dream World, Rumple and Emma realize they have more in common than they thought. Both were raised without their parents, but Rumple insists his case was different. At least Emma’s parents loved her and gave her a name, Rumple was dumped nameless and unwanted and he won’t shed a tear when Emma kills the old black bat. As the two saviors play a little game of, “who got the short end of the family straw,” Gideon shows up and he’s thankful his father is trying to save him. Unfortunately, he has no idea where The Black Fairy hid his heart. There is one way to get to the evil woman and if Rumple is brave enough, it could work. The secret that has The Black Fairy shaking in her shoes is the truth about who Rumple is and why he was abandoned.

With Emma playing “the ghost of Christmas past,” with Rumple in the Dream World, Regina, David and Snow ransack Granny’s looking for the splintered piece of wand. The center of the town might be the diner but the heart must be the old wolf’s jukebox because behind it is where our heroes find the missing half they’d been searching for. Of course, the wand is useless without the savior and the Black Fairy shows up to mock their fruitless venture. Regina has no intention of handing the wand over to the black gnat and a standoff ensues. Like most of Regina’s fights, they take it out to main street where the Black Fairy proceeds to toss the mayor around like a rag doll. Thankfully, Zelena never learned the difference between the gas and the break because she saves the day and Regina by running down The Black Fairy in her green station wagon. You can’t do that on a broomstick, can your greenie? A little hit and run isn’t enough to stop the determined fairy and she poofs herself to safety and out of the cross hairs of the angry Mills sisters.

The Painful Truth

In the Dream World, Rumple’s decided to face his painful truth if it means he can save his son from his evil mother. Looking into the past, Rumple sees his Fiona and Tiger Lily take his infant self into the secret vault of the fairies. Tiger Lily thinks they are working on a spell to find the crescent scarred child, but it’s all a trick because Fiona has her heart set on a curse, one that will banish every child from their land. Tiger Lily tries to stop the crazed woman and in the process gets her heart ripped out, which brands a crescent shaped scar on Fiona’s wrist. Evil wasn’t born, it was made and this time it turned a worried mother into the ultimate evil, an evil that is destined to take the life of her own son.

With the truth as his weapon, Rumple hunts down the Black fairy in Storybrooke, only he doesn’t have the whole story and dear old mom has no problem filling him in. Yes, he was born the savior but that’s not why Fiona abandoned him. In a flashback to the secret fairy vault, Blue snatches Tiger Lily’s heart from Fiona and offers the woman the golden shears and with it she can snip her fate and keep her son safe. Too bad for Rumple and his family’s addiction to power because his mother turns the shears on him, cutting out his light and separating him from his fate. There was no way Fiona was going to give up her new-found fairy powers, so she took the easy way out and claimed it was the only way to save her son. Blue, who had to uphold the laws of her people, banished Fiona from their land for stealing her wings and Tiger Lily’s heart, leaving behind her nameless and motherless son. While the story is sad, it does little to sway Rumple into forgiving the woman even though she seems to sincerely want it. He resents her for the childhood he had and even more for what she did to Malcolm (Stephen Lord), his father. In a brief flash to the past we see Blue and Tiger Lily deliver the nameless former savior to his father. Salty over losing his wife over their son’s fate, Malcolm has nothing but contempt for the child and curses him with the name Rumpelstiltskin.

The episode ends with a betrayal when Rumple tells the town his mother has been banished and won’t be coming back. He even hands over her heart to Emma, as proof she’s gone for good. He’s the town’s hero and even Gideon gets his heart back, which certainly pleases Belle (Emilie de Ravin) whose always had faith in her son. The town celebrates their unlikely savior and Rumple admits everything he’s ever done was to keep his family safe.

Safe is exactly how everyone feels now that Emma no longer has the final battle looming over her head. That’s why it’s not a surprise that the wedding is back on and Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) asks Henry to be his best man. Henry agrees and the rush to the alter is a go and it’s a good thing because The Black Fairy is alive and well and plotting with her son! The heart Rumple had was not his mother’s and while Gideon is safe, the Final Battle will go ahead as planned. Nothing says “THE END” better than an interrupted wedding and a fight to the death!