Souris

It's probably more a result of the writers not really knowing what to do with Belle, so they stick her as a babysitter.

Re: the press release Does this mean that Lily is the runaway girl that Emma befriends and is not actually in Henry's storyline after all? Because there's not another girl listed, and I don't think Elizabeth Mitchell could pass as a girl, even with the fuzzy Cybill Shepherd Moonlighting filter! I’m gonna guess Lily says she’s an orphan, but she actually has a father. Also interesting that Elsa’s parents are in this one, too. I don’t think that Hook and Rumple working together in ep 9 necessarily means he hasn’t told Emma the truth by then. Even if he’s told her the truth, he’s still under the constraints of Rumple’s deal so has to play it out. They could be trying to find a way out of the deal, but he still has to do what Rumple asks in the meantime. That's what I'm hoping, because I don't want it to be the Zelena lips curse all over again. Once was more than enough, thank you very much. I'm rather with RadioGirl that Hook will make some sort of sacrifice for Emma that will result in his "death" -- but either that will end up saving him a la "Frozen" or Emma's magic tears will do so.

I dearly want Rumple's hat plan to rebound on him in some negative way. Because he's an ass. And clearly if he ends up having even MORE power, he's far too powerful. I'd laugh if he and all his power got sucked into the hat. I'm sure that won't happen, though. I do suspect that "love as a weapon" will be revisited, but in a positive way.

I wonder if Maleficent is in the hat and ends up getting released for 4B? (I feel like we may have talked about this before....) Though how she would have gotten in there is a mystery. And how the box got from Anna in Arendelle to the honeymoon mansion is yet to be explained. I suppose they could say it came over in the second curse. I do love the idea of going into the Hat World for an ep or two. We could have a parade of magical beings. They could even bring in Zelena and Peter Pan for cameos, by saying their magical essence ended up there after they "died."

I don't know what sort of Twitter spambot just sent me this message but, boy, were they barking up the wrong tree! LOL!

E is for Evil, because that's what Rumple is.

Yes, it's utterly out of character. There is no way in my mind that Hook would go to Rumple for the hand. He knows better, and we know he knows better. But, again, they're sacrificing character for plot and plastic angst. I expected nothing else. Obviously Emma would believe him if he told her. The only good thing is that Colin and Robert play off each other so very well. Sven continues to be awesome. I dearly loved Charming's facial expressions after Emma came home from the date. Josh did great there. Again, the rewriting the book plot is STUPID.

So we had more foreshadowing tonight with Killian and death. Rumple said his deal with Killian would be in effect “until you die.” I think he’s going to have to die to end that deal. And Emma will have to bring him back, either with TLK or magic tears or some other aspect of her magic. I think Rumple wants to suck the Snow Queen, Regina and Emma into the hat.

Yes, he and Liz Mitchell were on "V" together. Since it happened on a Saturday, I'm doubtful there was filming happening.

After he stepped in front of the arrow to keep Snow from committing murder by shooting Regina, she was so touched that he would do that for her that she kissed him -- and the TLK worked that time, overcoming the effects of the forgetting potion and restoring her memory. You know, I don't remember if there was a TLK aura or not. Can anybody else say for sure? But since it broke the potion's effects, I always counted it as one.

I'd like to have a TLK with Hook and Emma before the end of the show, if for no other reason that to just go ahead and settle it. A TLK doesn't mean that the Happily Ever After is reached yet. Plus, not gonna lie, I'm impatient. Snowing had multiple TLK's before their marriage, and since Captain Swan has been paralleled with them fairly extensively, I'd say they're set up for multiple TLK's, too.

Shanna Marie wrote in Spoilers thread: I agree, I think the bulk of the True Love on the show has been presented as the couples working to be together rather than "Ta da! Fairy dust! You're fated!" Outlaw Queen being the exception. IMO, it's the willingness for the couple to fight for their love and overcome obstacles that makes it True Love, not that they were "meant to be." I don't necessarily feel as if Snow and Charming were fated to be true loves. They came together, fell for one another and made their love stronger and enduring by their actions and choices and sacrifices for one another. Ariel and Eric fell in pretty insta-love, but she did fight for him, else their love wouldn't have survived.

Replying in Relationship thread.

Well, yes, Henry is an idiot and would probably cry on cue if told it was for a heroic reason! But I wasn't thinking Rumple would want Emma's tears because of innocence, like he wants Anna's for, but for some other trait -- like her being the product of true love. (Henry's certainly not that.) If Hook and Emma are True Love, then if she's crying over him for some reason, seems like the tears of a product of True Love crying over her True Love have gotta be special and worth something in the magical world.

Hmm, the tears thing is interesting, since it's been brought up tangentially before. I wonder if Rumple might also want some tears from Emma, since she's the Savior and product of True Love. That could tie into whatever plans he has for Hook. And, yes, as much as I love Colin/Bobby scenes, the setup is just as character-nonsensical for Hook as I figured and feared it would be. It would take a much more desperate situation for Hook to make a deal with Rumple.

Given she lost her first to a curse and Snowflake briefly to Zelena it makes total sense she would cling. She's paranoid about him being taken away. I watched this ep with a friend who had never seen an ep. Oy, it is hella hard to explain all the relationships without a flowchart.

I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the Meet Market, but I figured it was more show-related than me-related. Maybe. I had the worst Once-dream last night. Basically, they killed off Hook a la Daniel and Emma went on a Regina-style rampage and started killing people, because they wanted to show how understandable and forgivable Regina's actions were. So Regina became the Savior and had to stop her. Also, at some point, someone may have turned into Illyria. So there was a bit of Angel, too. I've had other wacky Once theories come to me overnight, but never one that was a legit nightmare. Jeez, this stupid show!

Ep. 9 title. That’s a generic word to speculate about its meaning. Somebody falls into the hat? Fall in love? Fall of the glass shards after the mirror is smashed? Fall as in autumn? (There’s an Autumn Robber in the Snow Queen live-action movie.)

(I've been waiting for this one!) T is for the Towering Tum Tum Tree where Alice and Cyrus buried his bottle.

I found this bit of hashtagging whimsy hysterical while also being sadly probably more than a little true.

Obvious foreshadowing is obvious with Hook's line about being good at surviving. That's two of those in three eps. Plus Emma's expressed fear about all her guys dying on her. Will he be saved with Emma's magic or a TLK? Will it be the half-season cliffhanger? I can't even with all the "Emma values Regina's friendship" nonsense.

I can't see Hook working with Rumple for anything unless it's a dire situation involving Emma or Henry's life. I'd imagine that whatever is going on, Rumple is probably playing both Hook and Belle in some fashion. This is about the time shit is supposed to hit the fan for Rumbelle. The thing is, Hook KNOWS better than anyone not to trust Rumple, so it does a disservice to his character to have him do so. Which isn't remotely unusual on this show, alas, but it's frustrating. I do think somebody from the regular cast is going to end up in the hat. The only magical ones we know of are Rumple, Regina and Emma. Then there's a quest to retrieve that person. Honestly, I don't think anybody magical would go after Rumple. Belle would, but she's not magical. I don't want to spend an entire half-season in the Hat World, but an ep or two could be very cool. It's also possible that something goes awry with the hat in the half-season finale and Maleficent is released from it. Perhaps as our regular is being put into the hat, perhaps not. Maybe the Snow Queen goes in and Maleficent pops out?

Yeah. Obviously nothing good will come of this for Hook. I just can't conceive of him being in-character and yet working with Rumple without coercion. I'm worried Emma will end up in the hat, too. If they're doing something like that, I think that may take the Kai/Gerda storyline off the table for Hook/Emma. There was that random aside in one article where A/E said that we'd learn more about Hook's father this season. I suppose it's possible that they could say that Hook has some innate, latent, untapped magicality if they make his father some sort of magical being. Rumple might try to trap Emma in the hat, but Hook could jump in front of her and get sucked in instead. Then, Emma would be on the quest to save him. Just please no Henry getting trapped in the hat and #SaveHenryPart127. Detailed spoilers of scenes filmed yesterday. (It's a translation. Original is in French.) It makes it look even more like Hook, Rumple and Belle are working together. So odd.

I have fantasies of starting a #StopOUATBullying hashtag.

How do you really feel, BoPeeps? ;) No, seriously, good advice.