In this episode, it’s explained what that artifact
Gold/Rumpelstiltskin was so interested in was.
Turns out it’s a magical sorcerer’s hat, and it’s something previous
Dark Ones have been searching eons for (Hi, Dark One Zoso) because if the
current Dark One managed to capture enough magical power within it, it could
help grant them immunity from being controlled via the Dark One’s dagger. Because it was under the protection of a
sorcerer’s apprentice (are we speaking of THE Sorcerer’s Apprentice? The walking brooms would suggest yes), none
have succeeded. As one might suspect,
Dark One Rumpelstiltskin also has tried to obtain this artifact in the past,
which is shown during the episode’s flashback, when Anna sought him out per Ruth’s
instructions in order to ask him what her parents had been looking for. Because Dark One Rumpelstiltskin never did
anything for anyone unless there was something in it for him, he tells Anna
he’ll only tell her what she wants to know if he runs an errand for him. The errand involves her going to the cottage
where the Apprentice was currently living and spike his tea with an mystery
potion. Anna, true to her nature,
decides not to do so, particularly after meeting the Apprentice and assessing
him as simply a kindly old man. When she
goes back to Dark One Rumpelstiltskin, he’s all ‘haha, joke’s on you,’ as the mystery potion wasn’t poison as Anna,
and the viewers, were led to believe, but an antidote to something the
Apprentice had previously drank. Since
he didn’t drink the antidote, the Apprentice turns into a mouse, giving Dark
One Rumpelstiltskin the opportunity he needed to enter the cottage and make off
with the magic sorcerer’s hat. He then
reveals to Anna that the contract she signed stated that, because she didn’t
give the Apprentice the antidote, she now is essentially his prisoner. (WHY DO THEY NEVER READ THE CONTRACT?!) However, Anna isn’t giving up without a
fight, and even in the form of a mouse, the Apprentice has still apparently
maintained human awareness. By working
together, they manage to get the hat away from Dark One Rumpelstiltskin and
Anna, inadvertently discovering the power of the Dark One’s Dagger, uses it to
command Rumpelstiltskin to send her and the hat back to Arendelle, also
ordering him to never harm her or her sister ever again. And to turn the Apprentice back into a
human. To which I say, you go,
girl! Anna might not have had the
foresight to actually read an obviously shady person’s contract before signing
it, but the fact that she knew enough to throw in all those conditions when
getting Rumpelstiltskin to send her home really shows how clever Anna is. This girl was leaving NOTHING to chance, and
for that, she has my utmost respect.
However, Anna’s return home is not as joyous as she’d hoped, as Dark One
Rumpelstiltskin had informed her that her parents had been searching for
something to remove Elsa’s ice powers, and she’s left wondering if she should
tell her sister or not.
The Storybrooke subplot starts off with what looks like a general
filler storyline, but it very quickly shifts into a huge character moment for Killian. It begins when Emma,
encouraged by her conversation with Killian the night before (in which he
ensured her that he was a survivor,) decides that it’s time for her to stop
beating around the bush and asks him out on a date. It’s really awesome how she’s clearly
discussed her plans with Henry beforehand, as evidenced by the fact that he’s
standing with her before she goes into Granny’s to see Killian. It’s the sign of a good mother when she takes
her children’s feelings into account before she dives into the dating pool
again. While I did think it was a bit
odd how Henry admitted he wasn’t that excited about the notion of Emma and
Killian dating, considering I’d gotten the impression that Henry liked Killian,
I suppose it does make sense. After all,
it hasn’t been that long since Neal died for real, so I could see Henry feeling
like it was too soon for his mother to start dating again. (Then again, it wasn’t as if she and Neal
were actually together when he passed away, and I never saw any indication that
Emma was considering changing that.) But
Henry admits that he’s willing to put his trepidation aside, simply because he
wants his mother to be happy. This kid
is really on his way to being a very mature young man, and I highly appreciate
that. Which brings me to the moment when
Emma actually asks Killian out, resulting in his visible shock. While it was really funny how he was so taken
aback by the fact that Emma asked him out so directly, he completely missed the
dartboard, I am a bit disappointed we couldn’t see his facial expression at
that precise moment. After all, how long
has he wanted to be with this woman? And
here she is, coming right up and asking him out on a date. Whatever his facial expression might have
been, he composed it very quickly and, after a bit of banter, he accepts her
invitation, on the condition that she allows him to plan the date, a condition
that Emma readily accepts without any real argument.
Flash-forward to the evening, when we get to see Emma’s choice of
dress for her date. Remember the dresses
we’ve seen her wear in the pilot for her fake-date with Ryan? Or what she wore for her date with Walsh, the
Wizard-Turned-Monkey? Both times, she
went for the hot dresses, first with the eye-catching red number and then with
the sexy black dress. This time, she’s
selected a tastefully soft feminine dress.
It’s like she knows she doesn’t have to worry about impressing Killian
with her past dress choices. Because
he’s already completely sold on her. But
that’s nothing compared to what Killian did to prepare for the evening. First off, say goodbye to the full pirate
regalia, which he’s never really been
seen without before, with very few exceptions.
We’ve already seen him making an effort to acclimate himself into
Storybrooke, from his obvious attempts at educating himself on the modern world
and even owning a cellphone. Now he’s
gone and gotten himself in modern-day attire.
Not only that, he’d also gone to Gold to get him to restore his missing
left hand, which Gold has kept preserved in a glass jar (because that’s not
creepy at all), simply because he wanted the opportunity to possibly hold Emma
with both hands. Okay, how can you not
find that totally sweet? Plus, it really
gives us a hint about an unspoken factor to Killian’s state of mind. While he never hesitates to give off an air
of unyielding self-confidence, the fact that he did this does suggest that the
whole one hand thing leaves him with secret feelings of insecurity, which he’ll
probably never willingly admit to. It’s
like he feels his missing left hand somehow makes him less of a man, and
therefore makes him completely unworthy of a woman like Emma. Of course, it’s clear to the viewing audience
that his actions in reclaiming his left hand, while they were romantic and
touching (albeit a teensy bit foolish, as Killian knows perfectly well that Gold cannot be trusted to legitimately grant him any favors, considering their history), was also completely unnecessary, as Emma doesn’t notice he’s got his
left hand back until Mama Snow points it out to her. This shows that Emma doesn’t care if he’s got
a hand, a hook or even a bare stump. All
she sees is Killian. And while I know
the chances of the show writers seeing this post is extremely slim, I would
still like to request that they give us a scene in a future episode that shows
Emma convincing Killian to allow her to see him without the leather cuff that
covers his left arm and hides his scarred wrist. Because there is no way a scene like that
would not be emotional in all the right ways.
After they leave the loft apartment, where Snow and Charming are
currently at work at helping Elsa by going through the town’s census books to
see if they can determine if Anna was ever picked up by the curse that created
Storybrooke, we see Killian has taken Emma to a previously unseen Italian
restaurant (Wow, a new Storybrooke location!
Yay!). At first, Emma is still a
bit hesitant to completely put her responsibilities aside for the evening,
voicing her lingering concerns about Mystery Ice Cream Lady, whose Storybrooke
name is later revealed to be Sarah Fisher, and how she’s sure that the new Big Bad knows
her personally somehow, but Killian manages to get her to simply enjoy
herself. It’s probably a safe bet that
Emma did enjoy the evening, but we don’t get to see much of the date
occurring. All we can really determine
was that at some point, Killian gave her his new leather jacket to help her
stay warm on the walk back to the loft apartment. But Emma did admit the date helped take her
mind off of the threat Mystery Ice Cream Lady posed. She also practically stated she would have
invited Killian for ‘coffee,’ if it were not for the fact that the loft was
also occupied by her parents, baby brother and house guest Elsa. (Many fans speculate that ‘coffee’ is the new
‘taco time.’)
Unfortunately, while the date did end wonderfully, complete with
Killian making himself completely vulnerable again when asking Emma for another
date in the future (with Emma not objecting at all), and a really sweet
goodnight kiss, there was still a dark shadow lurking over Killian’s head. When they were still at dinner, the date got
interrupted when Will Scarlett, who is also at the restaurant, spotted the two
sitting there and tried to sneak out undetected. (Because he did make off with the ice cream
shop’s register money last episode, after all).
Since Will is by no means a ninja, his attempt to slink past Emma and
Killian without being seen results in him accidentally colliding with a passing
patron, which ultimately results in a waiter spilling a glass of wine on Emma’s
dress. Killian’s reaction to this is,
well, a tad extreme but it was still understandable. A man should always defend his lady’s honor,
after all. And Killian has always been a
man of honor. But when his head caught
up to his knee-jerk reaction, Killian is visibly shaken. When he got his hand back, Gold told him that
there was a curse on the hand on account of how it belonged to the old full-pirate
Killian. At the time, Killian had
dismissed Gold’s warning as just another one of his tricks, but his impulsive
action at the restaurant has placed a seed of doubt into his mind. His anxiety only increases after the date had
ended and he once again runs into Will when the former Merry Men member was
trying to break into the town library.
When Will refused to heed Killian’s attempts to talk Will out of his
breaking and entering, Killian once again reacts violently. At this point, Killian is REALLY scared. Because what if his cursed hand makes him do
something really horrible, like hurt the people he cares for? In desperation, he goes back to Gold to try
and get him to remove his hand again.
Gold agrees on the condition that Killian helps him with a little
task. While Killian refuses to even
consider it at first, trying to consider alternative options to get rid of the
cursed hand, Gold eventually worms his way into Killian’s head, making him
think he has no other choice. In the
end, Killian reluctantly goes along and ends up helping Gold track down the
Apprentice, who is now living in Storybrooke, resulting in Gold trapping the
Apprentice inside the Sorcerer’s Hat.
So, now that that’s done with, Gold removes Killian’s left hand
again, replacing it with the hook. But
then he’s all ‘haha, I got you now!’
as he’s magically altered the security tape from the Apprentice’s house to make
it look like Killian acted alone (much like he did with the security cameras at
the Sheriff’s Station to hide his involvement in Zelena’s death.) He threatens to show the altered footage to
Emma and everyone else if Killian doesn’t agree to be under his employ for
future misdeeds. Once again, Killian
attempts to resist the blatant blackmail, but Gold, counters that by telling Killian that the hand was never cursed, and every violent
action he committed with it in place was all his doing. As you can imagine, this doesn’t exactly mesh
well for Killian, as he has yet to overcome his internal feelings of
self-loathing, and Gold clearly knows that. So his words really
throw another log onto that particular fire.
You REALLY feel so bad for Killian this episode. It’s so very like Gold to take advantage of
Killian’s tattered self-esteem for his own personal gain. And it’s such a shame because it’s obvious to
everyone else that Killian has changed for the better. As for the violent tendencies he displayed
during the episode, I don’t think anyone should hold that against him because
a) how do we know Gold wasn’t lying about the hand NOT being cursed after all
and b) even if it wasn’t, Killian immediately
pulled back the second he realized what he was doing and was so horrified by his actions, he allowed
himself to enter into a desperate deal with Gold just to get rid of the hand he
believed was cursed. Really think about
that for a moment. The only reason why
Killian still has his trademark hook after this episode was because he couldn’t
bear the very thought that he might end up doing something he couldn’t ever
take back. Such as hurting the people he loves, like Emma and her family. That alone should be proof enough that
Killian is a good man. Now, if only we
could get him to believe that.
As for Will Scarlett, he does break into the library where he passes
out drunk only to be found by Belle the next morning. As a result, he ends up waking up in a prison
cell at the Sheriff Station, where Emma grills him on what he was doing, as he
was found clutching a copy of the Alice
in Wonderland book as well as an illustration of what I’m guessing is the
Red Queen? I’m gathering this was a
reference to the fact that Will Scarlett was a star player in the Wonderland
spinoff, and it’s indicating that he wants to go back there. I wonder if he’s tried going to Jefferson,
since I’m sure their paths crossed at one point. (Yeah, I’d take any excuse to see Jefferson
and Grace again.)
Snow and Charming were just comedy gold in this episode with their
reaction to Emma’s date with Killian.
They were acting like the typical parents whose daughter was going off
to prom, with the mother whipping out the camera to take pictures of the
daughter in her dress and the father giving the stink eye at the guy taking his
daughter to prom. They even wait up for
Emma to return home. Those two already have the parenting thing down, so they won't have a problem when their real-life son gets older.
There was also a small subplot with Regina and Henry, in which they
further discuss the issue of the mysterious Author, and their plans to track
him down and convince him to write a happy ending for Regina. It ends with Henry deciding to go undercover
and get a job at Gold’s shop, because Henry’s logic is that Gold has managed to
obtain his happy ending when he married Belle, even though he’s classified as a
villain. Yeah, Henry. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin only just lost the son
he’d been trying to reunite with for CENTURIES.
He’s totally gotten a happy
ending. As for his marriage to Belle? Well, let’s not forget that Evil Queen Regina
believed she got her happy ending for 28 years until Emma arrived in
Storybrooke. Did that ‘happy ending’
last? Yeah, didn’t think so. It’s starting to bug me with how they’re
trying to demand happy endings in this season.
What was it that Prince Lir said in The
Last Unicorn? ‘A happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.’
The final moment in the episode has Charming discovering that there
is no record of Sarah Fisher/Mystery Ice Cream Lady in any of the town’s census
records. Which means she didn’t end up
in Storybrooke because of the curse but came there on her own accord. That of course leads to the question of how
she wound up in the Land Without Magic.
At this point, only a small handful of people accomplished that feat
without being brought over by the Dark Curse: Emma and August/Pinocchio
via a magical wardrobe, Killian with a magic bean and Elsa, who had been
trapped in the urn. And those were
rare/one-shot occurrences. So how did
Mystery Ice Cream Lady manage it?
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