Happy Birthday, Henry! Henry blows out his candles and his grampa, Mr. Gold, offers him anything in the shop for his present. Henry picks a wand and asks for a demonstration. Mr. Gold shows him, by turning Henry to porcelain. Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Neal all freak out and ask why he would do that. Mr. Gold calmly replies that he had to, because the seer told him that Henry would be his undoing. Then he shatters porcelain Henry!
Mr. Gold awakens suddenly, recovering from a pretty disturbing dream. Even The Dark One gets nightmares.
The next morning, Henry is alive and well, having a wooden swordfight with his father, Neal. Mr. Gold is watching them as Regina approaches, asking what his son is doing playing with hers. It sounds like Regina is the last to know the big news about Henry’s real father, and she’s not too pleased to find out that her adopted son is related to Gold. She assumes Gold planned this from the beginning—after all, he’s the one who found Henry for her—but for once Gold seems honest when he admits that this was NOT part of his master plan. Even so, Regina says that he’s too evil to ever win the affections of Henry or Emma or their happy, little family. After all, if he’s still struggling after finding his own son, who could bring the good out of him?
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Mr. Gold goes to visit Belle in the hospital. She still doesn’t remember him, but she’s happy that he’s alive—they haven’t spoken since that sorrowful phone call when he thought he was dying (see “The Miller’s Daughter”). She asks for his help in remembering who she is and he offers to do it in exchange for her helping him remember who HE is. He’s forgotten how to be that good man he once was and perhaps the two of them can find themselves together.
Flash back to Fairy Tale Land where Belle is sobbing in her cell. Rumplestiltskin tells her to keep it down—he likes some quiet contemplation while he spins straw to gold. He gives her a pillow, which she thanks him for, but it’s not to make her comfortable, it’s to muffle her sobs.
Suddenly some glass shatters and Rumplestiltskin realizes he’s being robbed. He enters his hall to find a hooded bandit with a bow and arrow trying to take one of his wands. Rumplestiltskin isn’t particularly fond of breaking and entering, so he warns the man he’s in some serious trouble. The man takes aim with his bow, warning Rumple that the bow never misses its target, because it’s enchanted (fans from season 1 might remember Rumple selling this bow to Snow White to help her kill The Evil Queen in “Heart of Darkness”). The arrow is loosed and does magically hunt down the teleporting Rumplestiltskin, but as with pretty much every other way someone has tried to kill The Dark One, it doesn’t work. He pulls the arrow from his chest and now the burglar is in REAL trouble.
Back in Storybrooke, Regina goes to pay Belle a visit of her own. Mr. Gold is off securing her discharge from the hospital when Regina strolls into Belle’s room. Belle tells her she’s packing up to go be with Mr. Gold, when Regina subtly pretends to find a cursed book of matches onto the floor. She asks Belle if it’s hers. At first, Belle doesn’t seem to recognize it, but when Regina asks her to take a closer look, Belle seems to remember what it is and where it came from. Regina’s just given Belle the memories of her cursed identity!
In his room at Granny’s, Greg and Tamara continue plotting and looking for magic. Tamara asks if he’s found his father yet, and he hasn’t. Then Greg asks if she’s brought “the package.” Apparently she’s bringing whatever it is into town that night.
Checking in with David and Mary Margaret, they drive Emma out to see the magically cloaked bean field. Emma even gets to reunite with the formerly giant Anton, who’s overjoyed to see her. Emma quickly puts together that her parents are planning to return to Fairy Tale Land, even Mary Margaret who thinks it may be her best shot at curing the darkness in her heart. Emma’s not so sure, but she keeps her doubts to herself.
When Mr. Gold returns to Belle’s room, he find her gone. He also finds the book of matches, leading to a seedy bar in town called The Rabbit Hole. Mr. Gold doesn’t seem too fond of the place when he asks the bartender if he’s a woman matching Belle’s description. The bartender points to the pool table saying he’s looking for Lacey.
Mr. Gold walks over to find Belle, now dressed in a revealing blue top, swilling booze and hustling locals at pool. He asks what’s going on and she explains she finally remembered who she was, and it’s Lacey!
In Fairy Tale Land, Belle is sweeping up when Rumplestiltskin walks out with a bloody apron, saying he needs another one. He’s clearly torturing the robber as punishment. When Rumple leaves, Belle sneaks down to the dungeon and frees the imprisoned man, sending him on his way. The man asks if she’ll come with him to escape Rumplestiltskin’s wrath, but she has to abide by her deal with him or her family will be killed.
Back in Storybrooke, Mr. Gold storms into Regina’s office, demanding to know what she’s done. It becomes clear that she gave Belle her cursed memories and he insists she helps him. Regina reminds him that no one has figured out a way to restore the true memories of someone who crossed the town line. Gold resolves to break the curse with True Love, but Regina seems pretty skeptical that he’ll ever convince Belle—now Lacey—to fall in love with him.
Mr. Gold goes to find some help at Granny’s Diner. He needs someone who knows how to get some True Love. He needs Prince Charming. So he finds David and explains the situation. David doesn’t seem too keen on the idea of helping Gold out seeing as how he just convinced Mary Margaret, his wife, to murder someone (see "The Miller's Daughter"). Gold counters with the offer that, for the first time ever, he will owe David a favor. David agrees. His first bit of advice is to show Belle the man she fell in love with. That could be tricky.
In Fairy Tale Land, Rumplestiltskin returns home to get back to work torturing the burglar when he finds the empty cell. He’s furious and screams at Belle, saying that she only freed him because she naively thinks the man was a hero, stealing from him for some noble cause. She insists that she freed him because what Rumple was doing to him was wrong. This upsets The Dark One even more and he decrees that he is going to hunt the robber down and kill him with his own bow. And, to teach Belle a lesson, he’s making her come along and forcing her to watch.
Back in The Rabbit Hole, a handsome local man hits on Lacey at the bar, or at least tries to. She shuts him down pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Mr. Gold and David walk in. David convinces Gold not to beat the man senseless and gives him a pep talk. While Lacey is looking for some tunes on the jukebox, Mr. Gold asks her out on a date. Lacey says people in town are afraid of him, but he asks for her to give him a chance. She does and agrees to go on a date. Maybe there’s hope for these two lovebirds after all.
Over at the pier, Emma is reading up in Henry’s book of fairy tales when Regina walks over. She tells Emma she heard about Henry’s father. They’re combative as usual and Emma advises Regina that she had better change her ways before she “loses Henry for good.” Regina asks what she means by that and resolves to find out. Did Emma just accidentally spill the beans?
That night, Mr. Gold takes Lacey to Granny’s Diner for burgers and iced tea—Belle’s favorite. Lacey orders something else. She once again brings up Mr. Gold’s ruthless reputation, and he does his best to convince her he’s not that guy. Lacey says she sees him as a man that wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s relieved to hear her say that and she replies “you can’t truly know what’s in a person’s heart until you truly know them.” Mr. Gold is startled and spills his tea—Belle once said those very same words to him. Lacey heads to the restroom to dry off, leaving Mr. Gold hopeful that this whole True Love thing may actually happen.
Flashing back to Fairy Tale Land, Rumplestiltskin and Belle are in an enchanted carriage on their way to find the robber. Belle says that she doesn’t believe he’s truly so evil, that there must be something he cares about more than power. He tells her he’s also quite fond of his possessions. Dejected, she says he’s “as dark as people say.” “Darker, dearie,” he replies. “Much darker.”
The carriage stops and Rumplestiltskin hops out, meeting a man at a crossroads. We recognize the man as the same one who hit on Lacey in The Rabbit Hole in Storybrooke. The man asks what Rumple’s doing in his woods and Rumplestiltskin tells him of tracking a thief there. The man knows how Rumple is looking for and will tell him in exchange for, let’s say some “private time” with Belle. Rumplestiltskin proposes a counter-offer. He magically takes the man’s tongue out and holds it up for him. In exchange for returning it, the man will tell him everything he knows about the thief and his whereabouts. The man quickly agrees, admitting that the man Rumple is after stole the woman he loved and made a fool of him all over Nottingham. It becomes clear that the man speaking to Rumplestiltskin is none other than the infamous Sheriff of Nottingham and the thief Rumple is after is Robin Hood!
Back at Granny’s Diner, Mr. Gold is still patiently waiting for Lacey to return when he begins to suspect something may be amiss. He wanders back to the restroom and finds it empty. Where’s Lacey?
In Sherwood Forest, Rumplestiltskin and Belle are searching for Robin Hood when suddenly they spot the man. They see him run to a cart, the stolen wand in-hand. A sick woman is in the back of the cart, but as Robin runs over and passes the wand over her, the woman is healed. Belle tells Rumple that the thief was stealing for a good reason. Rumplestiltskin doesn’t care and he uses magic to trap Belle in the dirt to force her to watch. Belle points out that she was right about the thief and she’s right about him—there IS good in him. Rumplestiltskin seems to doubt that as he draws back the bowstring. At the cart, Robin Hood lifts Maid Marian down, and Belle spots that she’s pregnant. Belle says that Rumple is not the kind of man to leave a child fatherless.
Something seems to change in Rumplestiltskin as he looks on at Robin and Marian. Perhaps Belle IS getting through to him. Then he fires an arrow from the enchanted bow. So perhaps not. But then the arrow strikes the cart. Robin and Marian race off.
Belle asks what happened and Rumplestiltskin says he missed. She points out that the bow is magic and never misses its target. He tries to suggest perhaps the magic simply wore off, but then Belle hugs him and thanks him for doing the right thing. It looks like the beauty has begun to win over the beast.
Mr. Gold is searching for Lacey in Storybrooke when he finds her in an alley making out with the Storybrooke version of the Sheriff of Nottingham. He pulls the man off and the Sheriff instantly recognizes Gold and runs away. Mr. Gold asks Lacey if she’s all right, but it becomes clear that Lacey WANTED to make out with that guy. He asks what went wrong, their date was going so well. But Lacey isn’t attracted to this sweet, gentle Mr. Gold. She says Belle may have loved him, but she is NOT Belle.
Across town, Regina spies David and Mary Margaret dropping off Anton and the dwarfs at Granny’s. She uses some magic to illuminate the tire tracks from David’s truck and uses them to track down the hidden bean field. She suddenly realizes what’s going on and she doesn’t like it.
Mr. Gold is walking back to his car when the Sheriff of Nottingham stops him to apologize. He had no idea that he and Lacey were still together. Gold admits that they’re not, which gives the Sheriff renewed hope of making his move. Unfortunately, that sets Gold off. Weeks of repressing his darker tendencies come boiling over as he magically removes the man’s tongue once again, “so no one will hear him scream” and then begins beating him with his cane.
In Fairy Tale Land, Belle and Rumplestiltskin have returned to his manor. He shows Belle a giant library filled with books. She’s overjoyed and asks if he did this for her. He tries to keep playing the mean boss, but she sees through it. She tells him she’s glad that he’s not the man she thought he was. It seems to be the first moment Belle began to love him.
Back in Storybrooke, Mr. Gold is ruthlessly beating the Sheriff of Nottingham when Lacey rounds the corner. She watches, transfixed for a moment by the savage beating until Gold turns around. Lacey says it seems like the reputation she’d heard about him was true after all. He is not who she thought he was, and she’s glad. She tells him “you really are as dark as people say.”
“Darker, dearie,” he replies. “Much darker.” Then he resumes beating the Sheriff as Lacey watches on.
Neal brings an exhausted Henry back to Emma’s and the two of them have some time to chat. They wonder who August was trying to warn them about when he said “Storybrooke isn’t safe” (see “Selfless, Brave and True”). On the outskirts of town, those people are meeting. Tamara and Greg meet up and she opens a trailer to reveal “the package.” It’s Captain Hook, and they’ve got plans for him!
Written by FreakZilla on Oct 17, 2014