The Present: Storybrooke
Life seems idyllic once again in the town of Storybrooke. People look cheerful, are going to school/work, and couples (those left, that is) are happily in love. Hook is brooding and full of angst, just how I like him.
He’s working with Belle, who is cheerfully optimistic, to find a spell to free the fairies from the Sorcerer’s hat. Regina is pining for Robin Hood, and Belle is crying over Rumple. And, Operation Mongoose, the search for the Author, continues at full force.
To their surprising luck, Belle and Hook do indeed find a spell to free the fairies from the hat, and, with the help of a mysterious linguistics professor from Oxford, they translate it into a readable format. Thus, the gang successfully frees the fairies and the usual chaos seems to be settling down for once in Storybrooke. That is…until a demon appears in the streets and proceeds to cause mass panic and terror. Apparently, the spell that set the fairies free also set this nasty piece of work loose. How are they going to get out of this, you ask? Well, to discover that we must go back about a week to take a look in on our chief mischief maker Rumpelstiltskin.
Present: New York City, Six Weeks Après le Midseason Finale
Since we last saw him, Rumpel has been squatting in the sassy Ursula’s apartment, consistently devouring her stock of Ramen, and trying to deal with his magic-less existence. All of this changes, however, upon his receiving a mysterious email that apparently indicates the time has come for him to put his next plan into action. And so, Rumple and a complaining Ursula go to Long Island to meet up with their old pal, Cruella de Vil.
They arrive at her house just as we see her white collar criminal husband being arrested and her beloved fur collection being repossessed. Cruella is just a tad upset, to put it lightly, as she clings desperately to her precious belongings.
An interesting revelation pops up here in relation to Ms. De Vil. She done a bang up job blending into normal human society since she arrived in the human world…she still has her mental patient hair style, wears those one-of-a-kind, outrageously tacky outfits that are always set off with at least one large item made of fur (usually her coat), and retains her iconic speedster with the license plate DE*VIL emblazoned from the rear bumper (OUAT made a slight mistake here – the license plate is originally DE*VIL, and they accidentally made it DEV*IL, but who’s counting?). Hopefully you’ve realized I was being sarcastic earlier. The woman couldn’t scream outsider any louder if she wanted to. Her one nod to an effort to be inconspicuous was to change her last name to Feinberg…yeah, real clever Cruella.
But, back to the recap. Rumple strolls in promising her he can get everything she’s lost back and more, as well as restore her magical powers (here’s an instance where my brain froze for a moment at the information being pushed on me – since when did Cruella de Vil have magical powers? Isn’t the whole point of her character that she’s normal in that department, but makes up for it with her over-the-top evil, malicious character and her crazy fashion sense? Ah, my world is being ripped apart!). And so, Rumple and the girls set off for Storybrooke in Cruella’s sick ride.
We catch up to Storybrooke’s timeline when the trio reaches the town line, beginning phase 2 of Rumple’s plan to get back into Storybrooke. The town of Storybrooke is currently under siege from the monstrous demon unleashed by the Sorcerer’s hat. The timing couldn’t be any better when Ursula and Cruella call Regina from Rumple’s cell phone. They begin by claiming they stole Rumple’s phone after beating him to a pulp in a dive bar. When that gains no sympathy, the two resort to insisting that they’ve reformed and wish to enter the town where they heard reformed villains get a second chance.
To Regina’s credit, she doesn’t buy a second of their malarkey, and is preparing to hang up on them, when they mention that they can hear the cry of the Chernabog (the current town menace). So, the women make a deal. Ursula and Cruella agree to help get rid of the Chernabog if Regina and Emma let them enter Storybrooke. Now, this great “help” is them giving Regina the simple information that the Chernabog will go after the person whose heart has the greatest potential for evil. Yeah…it’s not much, but enough for Regina and Emma to come up with a plan to get rid of the monster.
Hopping in Emma’s iconic bug, the two women lure Chernabog towards the edge of town, making the assumption that he’d likely go after Regina, as she was the Evil Queen. Just before she comes to the edge of town, Emma slams on the breaks.
Unable to stop his momentum, the Chernabog careens over the town line and into the magic-less world, completely disappearing. The town saved, Regina and Emma allow Cruella and Ursula into Storybrooke via Ingrid’s old scroll, despite their better judgment.
This would definitely be an example of the heroes being stupid in favor of upholding their honor (Good vs. Dumb TV Trope). And, there they go, falling right into this well-used plot trap. I think we can all guess where things are heading from here.
Entertaining Extras
Dangling Plot Threads:
-Cruella and Ursula use the same scroll to bring Rumple back into Storybrooke.
-Rumple is in fact the mysterious Oxford linguist who was helping Belle and Hook decipher the spell that freed the fairies from the Sorcerer’s hat. The email he received at the very beginning of the episode was actually from Belle, relating to his assistance in translating the spell that freed the Chernabog. So, it was Rumple all along who facilitated the villain’s smooth entrance into Storybrooke.
-Phase 3 of Rumple’s plan involves reviving a mostly dead Maleficent in the next episode.
-We find out from Blue that the Sorcerer is not actually the Author of the Fairy Tale Book…so who is it?
Important Revelations:
-After Cruella and Ursula are inside Storybrooke, they have a secret meeting with Snow and Charming, in which a stoic Charming gives his very best glare while a very serious Snow tells them, “no one must ever know what happened between us in the Enchanted Forest. And if you say one single word to anyone, especially Emma, you won’t have to worry about the evil queen. I’ll rip out your hearts myself.” What happened here?! Scary Snow is already making an appearance in the very first episode of the season!
-At the end of the episode, Rumple reveals
that Chernabog wasn’t chasing after Regina, but Emma! Is there an evil Emma plotline in OUAT’s future?
Questions:
-Since when does Rumple know how to work a computer? This is the first time I’ve seen him use one. Is he a computer wizard too? (HAHA)
-When we first see Storybrooke again, a scene of a middle school or high school class takes the stage for a moment. Mary Margaret happened to be teaching that class. The last time I saw her teaching, I’m pretty sure it was to elementary students. As she seems to be the only teacher in Storybrooke, does she get promoted to a higher teaching position every year the students move up a grade? Are there any other teachers? Is she qualified to teach older students? What kind of education are these children getting? All very important questions.
LOST Reference Alert:
On their way to Storybrooke, Rumple, Ursula, and Cruella stop at Mr. Cluck’s for food.
Historical Background Factoid:
-the devil, Chernabog, is a Slavic deity, whose name means “black gods”. Little else is known about him. However, you might recognize him from the segment in Fantasia set to the song “Night on Bald Mountain,” by composer Modest Mussorgsky. The theme behind the song is a witch’s sabbath or black mass. In the film, the devil Chernabog rises up from the earth to summon evil spirits and restless souls from their graves, who dance and fly through the sky until driven back by the morning. According to Disney wiki, Walt thought this guy was “the most horrible Disney villain,” and referred to him as Satan himself. He goes on to say that, “If all the Disney villains held a contest to see which was the most truly, purely, evil, Chernabog would just throw them into the fires of Hell.”
So, here’s a question: why didn’t OUAT consider using him as the next ultimate villain? What’s worse, the show doesn’t keep him around long. On top of that, the guy has real potential in the area of emotional development. If he’d been kept on, we would have found out that his aggression and generally menacing behavior stems from his strained relationship with his father. He could have been redeemed…Oh well.
Well, that’s all for today folks! I hope you enjoyed your time here! See y’all next week!
What are your thoughts on OUAT’s midseason premiere? Are you excited to see what mischief the Queens of Darkness get up to? What are your thoughts on having multiple villains? Sound off below…
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