S05.E06: The Bear And The Bow

[KingOfHearts]

 

Because we've never seen an episode with Belle and a throw away character being brave? Holy crap.

I can't believe I'm saying this... but the one with Anna was a better episode.

 

This is late news, but I find it funny the writers have added yet another kingdom to the Enchanted Forest realm. Merida was there with Belle within hours. Even then, it's split into clans. How does their world not have constant turf wars with all the territories so smashed up together?

 

 

I knew the inevitable Merida/Belle storyline would be so boring and useless.

At least Belle's adventure with Anna was halfway relevant, since she was off to get memories back of her mother's death and it tied into present day. Here, no one has their memories and Belle's adventure added nothing to anything not-Merida.

Edited November 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Curio]

Why couldn't we have spent an entire episode of fun adventuring with Team Hook/Charming/Merlin/Belle/Lancelot/Merida instead? Those first few minutes of Hook and Charming being all badass and taking out the guards combined with Belle using her book smarts and Merlin using his magic was the most exciting this show has been all season. That's the kind of adventure I want to see on screen, not 40 minutes of whatever the hell it was Merida/Belle were doing in the Enchanted Forest or Belle/Rumple were doing in Storybrooke. It's like these writers know they can write good material, but purposely choose not to. 

 

This episode lost its track the second Merida decided to whack Belle on the head and the infinitely more interesting #ItHappenedOffscreen storyline of Hook/Charming/Merlin/Lancelot walked away into the woods never to be seen again. I was practically yelling at my screen to follow those four instead because I knew the inevitable Merida/Belle storyline would be so boring and useless.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Curio

[elle]

Maybe someone who saw Brave knows - Why is Merida the Queen after her father dies? Shouldn't the oldest of the brothers be King? If the boys are under age - well then great! Annoint him King and the clans men can apoint themselves regents and do the actual ruling.

 

I hate all the retro con - Rumple injured himself to stop Baelfire from losing his father, not cowardice, remember the prophecy peaple! Emma took the darkness to save Regina, not everyone. And why wasn't the darkness set loose the 1st time Gold "died"?

I hate retro con too!

 

Merida is the first born of the ruling clan, so she is next in line to the throne.  However, the movie made it quite clear that Queen Elinor, her mother, was the one keeping things in order.  I find it hard to believe that the younger generation would have sent her into exile; even harder to believe that they would band together (agree on something) to usurp the throne.

 

And another thing, I also can not see the "three wee devils" from the movie growing up to be the passive captives shown here.

 

But, hey, it is this show

Edited November 2, 2015 by elle

[sharky]

This episode lost its track the second Merida decided to whack Belle on the head and the infinitely more interesting #ItHappenedOffscreen storyline of Hook/Charming/Merlin/Lancelot walked away into the woods never to be seen again. I was practically yelling at my screen to follow those four instead because I knew the inevitable Merida/Belle storyline would be so boring and useless.

Yes! There were hot men in fairy tale outfits doing swash buckling and hero stuff and action! And then they go stumbling off in the woods, ignoring the fact that one of their companions is missing, and I have to follow Belle around for an hour. Yuck. Where's the action and intrigue and fun in that?

It seems like the only reason they did that was to make Rumple brave but why? Who cares? If it was to pull the sword, they couldn't have come up with a different idea that included one of the main cast? Emma in all of her Dark Swan glory could've tried to scare Rumple into being brave. And hey, that would mean more Dark Swan! You know, the FOCUS of this season! Or even use Arthur for the training and reveal that he really is shady that way. This is the second half season in a row where they just throw a bunch of Disney characters in for the hell of it. Sometimes it's OK to edit yourself a bit and make cuts.

[Shanna Marie]

In the "world coming to an end, film at eleven" category, here's a strange thing coming from me: aside from the opening prison break scene, the highlight of the episode was Regina's reaction to getting Merlin's voice mail.

 

So that says something about the episode if one of my favorite moments was Regina.

 

I did like Zelena. I liked Hook calling Belle out on the difference between Rumple and Emma and the fact that they are NOT just the same. For a moment, I had high hopes that Belle might have finally realized that she loved an idea of a person who didn't really exist, that the man behind the beast in Rumple was no prize. But they'd never do anything that daring. We have to be back to status quo right away.

 

The standard for "hero" has always been low. Remember, Regina first got called a hero when she stopped doing the spell she started to kill Snow and Emma, and later was pretty much redeemed and considered a hero by all for stopping the spell she had planned to use to kill everyone in town. If stopping your own evil spell makes you a hero, then not fleeing across the town line and then tossing a bag of magic powder at a bear to save someone in a situation that you had nothing to do with starting makes you worthy of Valhalla.

[AmeliaBedelia]

I just don't understand why A&E are so scared of the main cast that they have to resort to gimmicky guest characters all the time. I mean, we have Dark Swan this season.

 

This is my main issue with the show. I tune in to see Emma/her family/the town. I don't want to watch an episode that devotes most of the airtime to temporary characters. I remember feeling that way during the Hansel/Gretel episode in season one. As time has gone by, it has only gotten worse. I am less forgiving now because the show is getting long in the tooth and probably only has one or two seasons left. There is still so much story left to mine in regards to Emma's relationship with her parents. Stuff I have been wanting explored since 2x01 and am still waiting for. Even baby do-over could be used to create drama/tension/humor. Instead, we get stories about angry Merida and shady King Arthur. It's annoying and makes the writers appear lazy. At least this fandom has excellent fan fic writers. I often find myself reading some on Sunday nights to cleanse the palate and remind myself why I like these characters in the first place.

[snarkybelle]

Why couldn't we have spent an entire episode of fun adventuring with Team Hook/Charming/Merlin/Belle/Lancelot/Merida instead? Those first few minutes of Hook and Charming being all badass and taking out the guards combined with Belle using her book smarts and Merlin using his magic was the most exciting this show has been all season. That's the kind of adventure I want to see on screen, not 40 minutes of whatever the hell it was Merida/Belle were doing in the Enchanted Forest or Belle/Rumple were doing in Storybrooke. It's like these writers know they can write good material, but purposely choose not to. 

I know.  I want to delete this episode from my DVR but Killian and Charming were so hot taking out those guards so I just can't.  Then Merlin comes sweeping in with his hand wave and I melt.  I need to watch the first few minutes over and over, then fast forward to the magic mushroom scene.  

[mtlchick]

Is it too late to get them Frozen princesses back?  Or at least for Elsa to freeze Merida for a very long time?  Because Merida is really not doing it for me.

[KingOfHearts]

More repetitive dialogue in this episode.

 

Rumple: "That's because none of them are me." Charming said the same line in S1 at Lake Nostos. 

Merida: "... dank prison" Zelena described her cell as 'dank' in 4x20.

[YaddaYadda]

I want to delete this episode from my DVR

 

The episode was gone 5 minutes after it was over, and I regret nothing. In this situation, YouTube is my friend.

 

And yes, these idiot men just got done releasing 2 people held prisoner by Arthur. Two women disappear in a kingdom that is hostile to these people, and we're all good? What the hell were they talking about that was so interesting that they didn't even notice that Belle and Merida were gone? Did Merlin with his seer powers reassure them that they were fine and will be back by lunch tomorrow? WTF!

 

This is like last week when Emma and Regina were going about their business, not remotely worried about Robin or Hook or Henry, knowing what Arthur had just pulled with Snowing. You just sent your son on his way to meet with a girl whose father is one of the king's knights. What if he'd been kidnapped, and held for ransom, like say, I don't know, the dagger?

 

Arthur is an idiot! That's what he should've done instead of demanding the dagger. 

[MaiLuna]

Quite a boring episode. I thought Rumpel was more heroic when he asked for Merida's heart back instead of when he saved Belle. Saving the one you love isn't as heroic as saving a stranger. I'm glad Belle had some spine back when she left Rumpel at the town line. Merida needs some anger management lessons.

It was the 3rd episode in a row where I didn't dislike Regina so that's good. Keep it up.

Can we have more scenes like the opening one? Please and thank you. What I did like about the episode is that almost everyone did something useful. Regina made the spell, Charming figured out Arthur burned the mushroom, Henry was able to speak with Merlin, Rumpel pulled out the sword, Belle was smart, Merlin used cool magic, Hook was badass breaking into the dungeons. If only we could have Bandit Snow back too.

 

I liked the scene with Zelena too, specially her pointing out that Emma doesn't want to be alone.

[retrograde]

Merlin's out-of-office message cracked me up. Don't know if there are any other Australians on this board (and if there are, they probably don't get the latest episode for a few weeks?), but all I could think of was this.

[CalamityBoPeep]

 If stopping your own evil spell makes you a hero, then not fleeing across the town line and then tossing a bag of magic powder at a bear to save someone in a situation that you had nothing to do with starting makes you worthy of Valhalla.

 

God, I miss "Vikings".  Is it 2016 yet?

[bmoore4026]

This episode can be summed up as "Take drugs, kill a bear, Rumple is still annoying".

[elle]

Merlin's out-of-office message cracked me up. Don't know if there are any other Australians on this board (and if there are, they probably don't get the latest episode for a few weeks?), but all I could think of was this.

Oddly,for me it hearkened back to the movie Brave, as the woodcarver in that movie set her cauldron on auto reply.  I was surprised to see the show use it with Merlin.

[mjgchick]

Emma not flinching when Zelena (Wrongfully) admitted she killed Neal cracked me up.

[Bluerang1]

We deserved this filler episode because the first five have been moving the plot along which NEVER happens.

 

I also found the Arthur thing odd because did Regina really not think about Henry first before? I guess it was just used to expose shady Arthur.

[Rosiejuliemom]

Once Upon a Time 101: Let's take a 60-minute break from all the main action to show a completely irrelevant storyline about a side character in the middle of the season. That won't disrupt the flow of the story at all.

 

The only important thing to come out of this episode was the last 30 seconds.

 

This! It might not have been so bad for me if the other show I watch tonight didn't do the Exact! Same! Thing! Last week were the emotionally-charged (I may not care too much for Henry, but I did feel for him) break your heart episodes and tonight's were just...borderline dull. Story momentum has been successfully been killed.

 

Maybe I would care more about Once!Merida if I liked Brave less. I'm still not too keen on the fact that Fergus is dead and Elinor is apparently banished. I did like Merida hugging the triplets, though. That was cute.

 

I feel for Zelena craving onion rings. When I was pregnant, I would've eaten cheese fries for every meal if people had let me.

 

Speaking of Zelena, no matter what the writers say, I will never agree that she killed Neal. She warned him that there would be a high price to pay for resurrecting Rumple. Not her fault that he was too stupid to figure out the concept of a life for a life.

 

Arthur still sucks.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Rosiejuliemom

[Curio]

We deserved this filler episode because the first five have been moving the plot along which NEVER happens.

 

No audience member should ever "deserve" filler of anything. If you're going to make me sit through 60 minutes of television, then those minutes better be meaningful and not oh-I-guess-we-need-to-give-our-main-cast-a-break-by-telling-side-character-stories-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-everything-else-that's-been-going-on bullshit.

[Rumsy4]

Merida's story is not even tangentially relevant to the plot. This is way worse than the Frozen!Anna takeover in 4A. This episode did not make me like the character more or even care. I don't know if it is the actress, because Merida seems very one note. She is not a dynamic character one can empathize with. And I was rolling my eyes during the slow-motion scene where Merida's arrow magically zips through the other three which were fired a clear 10 seconds before she even raised her bow.

[Souris]

God that was boring. I don't give a rat's ass about Merida's story. They wasted a TON of time on that pointlessness. I also don't care about Rumple & Belle in the slightest.

 

I guess Kay must have been REALLY awful if Arthur & Rumple were able to pull the sword.

 

The opening scene with the group rescuing Merlin was the ONLY good bit in the ep. Zelena is too over-the-top for me to enjoy her scenes ever. At least the SB group know now that Arthur is shady.

[SiobhanJW]

Well that was boring.

On a positive note, I loved Hook's little head shake when Belle was trying to make Emma look as bad as Rumple, like "Belle, she took on the darkness as a sacrifice and technically hasn't even killed anyone yet, just stop with the comparisons."

Oh yeah. I laughed really loudly when Belle compared Emma to Rumple. Rumple was the dark one for hundreds of years and did REALLY bad things when he was, and made sure to hold on to it by any means necessary. Emma's been dark for what a week? There is absolutely no comparison.

 

I usually don't complain about the show and just watch and enjoy it. But I don't really care about Merida and her backstory. Not at all. Not one bit. So much potential in this Dark Swan arc that you waste it on her backstory. The best parts of the episode was with Charmings/Hook/Regina/Henry, I wanted more of that.  

[legaleagle53]

The episode was gone 5 minutes after it was over, and I regret nothing.

 

Regina?

[Dianthus]

Sadly, the sneak peek for this ep really was the best part of it. Thank Dog Henry doesn't blame Emma for the whole Violet sitch. I thought the idea was that Belle was concerned for Rumple while he was out of commission, but still angry at him? Didn't see that at all here. Comparing Emma to Cora before, and now Rumple? Bugger that. Rumple as the big bad Hero who's gonna take down the Dark Swan? Take that shit and peddle it somewhere else!

[kili]

God that was boring. I don't give a rat's ass about Merida's story.

 

Ugh. This episode. They showed the only good bit in the sneak peak.

 

I still can't get over the fact that they want us to believe that none of the rest of the rescue party noticed that Merida and Belle were missing. I can't believe that Merida thinks that it is better to brain somebody (you can die that way)  and expect them to help you with spells  rather than to just ask for help in  the first place. I can't believe that Merida's clan seems to have no members. I can't believe that Belle would think it is a good idea for two people go in amongst a 100 hostile people with no plan. I can't believe all those hundred people gave up when Merida turned out to be a good shot.

 

I can believe that Belle would still help out Merida after being brained because that's just how Belle rolls.

 

If Belle so willingly set up Merida to face her fears, why didn't she do the same for Rumple? She should have set him up for some ridiculously one-sided "face your fears" exercise. Instead, Emma had to set one up.

 

How lucky is it that Rumple's safe always contains the one thing you need? This time, it looked like it only contained one thing and it is exactly what they needed. Either the safe is like Hermione's beaded bag or it's like one of those replicators on Star Trek TNG. Rumple should order some tea, Early Grey, hot from it.  

 

I have only seen clips of Brave. Are Merida's brothers mutes or something? They never said one word or seemed to be following along with the proceedings at all.  

 

How many arrows fit in Merida's quiver? When one is going to face hundreds of men, is it a good idea to split 4 of them doing target practice?

 

Zelena was kind of fun. Arthur was stupid. He should have just stuck the toadstool in his pocket.

 

I hate shows that have characters tell us nothing. "If you get this, things must be dire and I must blather on about how I should give you an important message until I run out of time to actually give it". Thanks Merlin. I'm glad Charming nearly died getting the toadstool so we could get that helpful message.

Edited November 2, 2015 by kili

[Delphi]

My tv broke, so I only got to see bits and pieces. But, yeah, yawn. The wardrobe was on point though. Belle looked lovely.

That fairyback though...that was rough. I honestly didn't realize that it was a Camelot flash back. I thought they were telling, yet another, episode where Belle went on an adventure and blah.

I didn't mind the cgi bear but, I'm not fussy when it comes to cgi.

I didn't hate Henry, so that is good.

Ugh, but Arthur you are. The. Worst. Ever.

I'm about ninety percent sure that Rumple will be the dark one again by the end of this arc though, but perhaps with good. Or like a balancing force. I doubt they'd keep him powerless. But what do I know, I didn't think Zelena would be Marion.

[InsertWordHere]

The episode was gone 5 minutes after it was over, and I regret nothing.

 

Regina?

Regina wouldn't have just deleted this episode though. She would have deleted this episode's husband, its infant daughter, its father, whole seasons of episodes entirely unconnected to this episode, probably the dvr it was recorded on, along with all evidence that this episode was even made (which might not be such a bad thing), just because this episode dared to displease her. 

[kitticup]

Ok for me the absolute worst thing about this episode is Rumple being set up as the truest greatest hero who lived. If A&E really go that route, it might be the straw that breaks the camels back. He should not be the one who stops Dark Swan given all the stuff he is done. Rumple always chose to be dark. He did not chose to be good. The apprentice cleared his heart. Neither he nor belle get to be self-righteous. Belle's desire to make Emma seem as bad as rumple is another case of false equivalents that A&E love to do.

I will be so disappointed if we are supposed to root for Rumple when he fights with Hook on the Jolly Roger. I can't accept Rumple as the hero.

I feel bad about Merida and the actress who plays her. I think the casting team did a great job with finding Amy but she is falling flat. She is irrelevant and taking away from more important stories. I want to see the core cast and see them working together or understand what is happening with Emma. I hate that A&E give us filler that goes nowhere every half arc. It happened in Neverland, wicked, frozen. Only exception is the author arc -- that was a mess from the beginning and I ended up liking the Ursula and Cruela centrics and very little else. Merida reminds me of Mulan. I didn't like Mulan until much later.

Edited November 2, 2015 by kitticup

[KingOfHearts]

 

I have only seen clips of Brave. Are Merida's brothers mutes or something? They never said one word or seemed to be following along with the proceedings at all.

In the movie, they're just portrayed as too young to talk.

 

Fun fact: This episode title, "The Bear and the Bow" was the original title for Brave.

 

 

I hate shows that have characters tell us nothing. "If you get this, things must be dire and I must blather on about how I should give you an important message until I run out of time to actually give it". Thanks Merlin. I'm glad Charming nearly died getting the toadstool so we could get that helpful message.

Or like when Rumple told Emma that the fate of all her loved ones rested on Excalibur. The forced vagueness to conceal Excalibur's true purpose and nature is forced at this point.

 

This arc seems less and less about Emma herself the more episodes we go into it.

Edited November 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[SiobhanJW]

This arc seems less and less about Emma herself the more episodes we go into it.

I feel like that seems to always happen. It always looks like oooo we are going to get an Arc about Emma. But it just ends up being an Arc about Rumple or Regina instead, and she's just the support. 

[KingOfHearts]

 

I feel like that seems to always happen. It always looks like oooo we are going to get an Arc about Emma. But it just ends up being an Arc about Rumple or Regina instead, and she's just the support.

So far this seems like the Camelot + Merida arc, with the main characters just kinda mixed in once in a while. Sort of like 4A... Belle & Princess adventure included. (That is if you call sitting in a boat, picking up a spell and watching from the sidelines against your will an 'adventure')

 

Even Regina doesn't seem to have any focused plot this season and that's huge.

Edited November 2, 2015 by KingOfHearts

[Mathius]

I feel like that seems to always happen. It always looks like oooo we are going to get an Arc about Emma. But it just ends up being an Arc about Rumple or Regina instead, and she's just the support.

It's happened three times now: 3B, 4A, and 5A.

Give 4B some credit here, at least it was obviously all about the villains to begin with.

So far this seems like the Camelot + Merida arc, with the main characters just kinda mixed in once in a while. Sort of like 4A... Belle & Princess adventure included. (That is if you call sitting in a boat, picking up a spell and watching from the sidelines against your will an 'adventure')

Even Regina doesn't seem to have any focused plot this season and that's huge.

People here REALLY jumped the gun on this one, declaring back in the second episode that the new guest stars were being used right this time, to help support the core cast rather than the other way around. But NOPE! Not what's happening. It's the same "new toys over old ones" prioritizing as always. Let's face facts: this is never gonna change. It's the show's way now.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Mathius

[KAOS Agent]

Well I'm glad I chose to watch the World Series over this one. What a waste of my time.

 

- Do you know that I spent 25 seconds of my life watching and waiting for an elevator door to open?

 

- I'm confused how Belle's message to Merida about how she didn't need magic just faith in herself and her skills translated to Rumpel using magic to solve his problems, which then made him a hero. I'm kind of wondering if there isn't a bait and switch going on here because that was way too easy.

 

- Loved Emma giving Zelena onion rings. But no, Zelena, you didn't kill Neal and Emma borrowing Violet's heart does not qualify her for the seventh level of hell. Also, why the hell would the story of that be spreading through the whole town? Why would you share Henry's pain like that? Ick.

 

- I'm not even going to talk about the dysfunction of Rumbelle. Sad!Rumpel cries and Belle's right back in his arms. And bonus, he's a hero now. He's so totally going to fuck that up though, so I guess I can look forward to that.

 

- I have no words for Belle equating Emma's reign as the Dark One with Rumpel's. 

 

- With both Belle & Zelena's comments I can't tell if this is the writers not being able to make Emma do something truly horrific, so they just think if they tell us Emma is the worst thing ever, we're supposed to believe it or what. It's not working if that's the plan.

 

- Oh right. Merida was in this episode. 

 

- And Team Storybrooke gets the idiot ball this week. I also think Merlin's message is a fake.

Edited November 2, 2015 by KAOS Agent

[Blue Plastic]

I'm still confused as to why Arthur even "allowed" the Brain Trust to get hold of the magic mushroom in Storybrooke.  None of this stuff with the cauldron tonight would have even happened if Arthur had hidden the mushroom better a couple of episodes back.  And then tonight the idiot doesn't think to check that it got burned up by the fire.  You have to be pretty dim indeed not to be able to get one over on Snowing + Regina!

 

Okay, it’s a sad, sad episode when I’m glad to see Zelena.  And, boy, was I very, very glad to see Zelena.  After all, she wasn’t Merida or Belle.

This was scary, but I almost felt the same way.  I don't know about anyone else but I pretty much despise Zelena and all her scenery-chewing, yet I almost felt relieved to see her tonight.  That was weird.  It's getting pretty bad if there are characters that I find more tedious than Zelena.  Oh, dear.  Some of it might have been that we got a few moments of...oh, what's her name...let me think...she's supposed to be a/the main character and there's supposed to be a story arc about her going on right now.  Um...uh...oh yeah, Emma!  That's her name!  I think she was actually IN that scene with Zelena!  Wow!  Maybe that's why I enjoyed it more!

 

Stupid show, stupid writers.

 

Is it too late to get them Frozen princesses back?  Or at least for Elsa to freeze Merida for a very long time?  Because Merida is really not doing it for me.

They really need to get Elsa to do this.  It'd be for the safety of Storybrooke.  That girl is dangerous.  I liked Brave but the way Merida has been portrayed on this show has killed it for me.  Viewers are supposed to give her a pass because her brothers were kidnapped in the flashbacks and she is being controlled by Emma currently.  But the way she went about trying to "train" Rumple was way too harsh and doomed to fail, which she'd know if she had any ability to back off and control her anger a bit, and hitting Belle (even though I can understand the impulse sometimes!) and kidnapping her was inexcusable.  Plus the whole thing with splitting arrows upon arrows and trying to beat the other clans all by herself was just a bunch of poppycock.

 

Belle just has no sense of self-preservation.  She lets Rumple manipulate her for all this time, for one thing.  For another, she should have had spidey senses a-tingling from the shady way Merida was acting right before she clocked her.  Everything Merida was doing was in the movie/TV show "Handbook of Signals That I'm in Danger and Should Run Away Now."

 

Belle:  No, Rumple and Emma are not on the same level of evil.

 

Zelena:  No, Emma is not the same kind of mother as Cora.  She's made mistakes but she is not Cora.  Besides, you've got no room to talk, lady.  You're not exactly full of sweetness and light, so what makes you think you're going to be such an awesome mother who will never do anything to alienate your future child?

[Serena]

I also think Merlin's message is a fake.

I think it's real, but it was obviously recorded long ago (pre-Merlin being treed, IMO) and is thus irrelevent to the situation.

[KAOS Agent]

It seemed fairly certain to me that Nimue is the Dark One he was trying to kill in the last episode, so Merlin's kind of an idiot for not changing his voicemail. But it's definitely a misdirect and the idiots of Storybrooke are immediately going to go into Emma killed Merlin mode and completely ignore shady Arthur and his reasons for not wanting them to contact Merlin.

[PixiePaws1]

did I miss something? ???

Finally FINALLY they have Merlin right there and no-one interrogated the hell out of him???

He is right there and reminding Emma not to pull out the sword and five minutes later she does (via Rumple)!

WTF??

....so so angry that it looks like Emma really would have let Merida murder Belle...I hate you writers!

I now have an idea why Emma needs Zelena's help but have to wait for the spoiler discussion to be opened.

Edited November 2, 2015 by PixiePaws1

[Writing Wrongs]

To quote Spike from Buffy: "You made a bear!"

Merida's plot is so unnecessary. More Camelot and Dark Swan, please.

 

I enjoyed the Zelena and Emma scenes. I find Zelena batshit crazy funny and even she didn't want to get caught up in the Dark Swan drama.

 

I can't believe Regina and Co. were so stupid to leave Arthur alone. Sigh.

[ImogenLeFay]

I didn't mind the episode, though I'm not impressed by Merida or her storyline. But I mostly liked Belle apart from her "Emma and Rumpel are exactly the same - though that scene gave us everybody showing that absolutely nobody but Belle cares about Rumpel's fate. And I think in both past and present, Belle was the bigger hero, not Rumpel and definitely not the character from a movie called "Brave" that needed Belle to trick her into facing her fear...

 

Regina being motivated by somebody doing something as horrible as ripping out hearts will never not be precious. And by that I mean nauseating.

 

I actually loved the scene between Emma and Zelena. Didn't care much about all the "Emma, you're SOOO evil", but I liked their chemistry and banter. I wouldn't mind those two teaming up.

 

But seriouly, show, stop telling me how Emma is so horribly evil. What has she done that we know of? She took Violet's heart, she took Merida's heart and controlled her, trying to have her kill Belle - make that fail at killing Belle, because she needed Rumpel to come to the rescue - and smoke-teleport around a lot. Sure, ripping out people's heart is bad, but nobody blinks an eye when Regina does it, so I don't see how that makes her so evil.

I'd get that they don't want to show Emma do completely evil things so they can redeem her later. But then they need to stop talking about how she is so evil that she's rivalling the evillest characters ever. It's like when they sent Regina to pretend to be evil and join the QoD last season, and they're horrible horribleness was to do shots and play chicken on the rails.

[Worsel]

 

I still can't get over the fact that they want us to believe that none of the rest of the rescue party noticed that Merida and Belle were missing. I can't believe that Merida thinks that it is better to brain somebody (you can die that way)  and expect them to help you with spells  rather than to just ask for help in  the first place. I can't believe that Merida's clan seems to have no members. I can't believe that Belle would think it is a good idea for two people go in amongst a 100 hostile people with no plan. I can't believe all those hundred people gave up when Merida turned out to be a good shot.

I think one of my main gripes about the writing is that the show is portraying Merida and Belle as irritating and/or unintelligent.  Merida is portrayed as angry and abrasive, of course it would be difficult to like a character like that without showing some other redeeming value (and being a good shot with bow and arrow won't cut it for me.)  Belle has always been portrayed as headstrong and impetuous, so I guess going into a fight without a plan is true to form, but this runs counter to the description of her as being intelligent.  Why oh why can't they write smart, capable female characters who use their wits to win the day?

 

And I love the comparison of Rumple's safe to the Star Trek replicator.  Makes total sense to me.  

[Curio]

Was anyone else confused by the dramatic camera zoom-in on Hook at the end of the episode? It was after the gang had received Merlin's voicemail, and then someone mentioned something like, "What did Emma do?" And then the camera did that epic zoom-in on Hook's character like that line was supposed to mean something extra important to him. But it seemed out of place here because we already know Hook is upset about the whole darkness issue, so was there something I missed that made it seem like this somehow affected Hook's character more than the others? (Besides the fact that it's his True Love they're discussing?) Because there wasn't any huge or shocking news to come out of this, so the weird dramatic zoom-in on his character seemed kind of random and misleading.

 

This zoom-in camera technique made sense during the Season 4 finale when the camera zoomed in on Hook right after Emma became the Dark One because that's the director's way of telling the audience that he's the most affected person in that scene and he'll play a large role in the upcoming arc. But here, it seemed like an easy directing technique to make the boring scene seem like it was important, when in reality, it was just another vague conversation about Dark Swan and it's clear that the writers are just treading water at this point until they get to the juicy plot in their finale.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Curio

[Serena]

Was anyone else confused by the dramatic camera zoom-in on Hook at the end of the episode? It was after the gang had received Merlin's voicemail, and then someone mentioned something like, "What did Emma do?" And then the camera did that epic zoom-in on Hook's character like that line was supposed to mean something extra important to him. But it seemed out of place here because we already know Hook is upset about the whole darkness issue, so was there something I missed that made it seem like this somehow affected Hook's character more than the others? (Besides the fact that it's his True Love they're discussing?) Because there wasn't any huge or shocking news to come out of this, so the weird dramatic zoom in on his character seemed kind of random and misleading.

 

This zoom-in camera technique made sense during the Season 4 finale when the camera zoomed in on Hook right after Emma became the Dark One because that's the director's way of telling the audience that he's the most affected person in that scene and he'll play a large role in the upcoming arc. But here, it seemed like an easy directing technique to make the boring scene seem like it was important, when in reality, it was just another vague conversation about Dark Swan and it's clear that the writers are just treading water at this point until they get to the juicy plot in their finale.

Maybe it's the director's way of indicating "here, we promise we're done with random side characters, come back next week and we'll get back to the people you actually care about!"?

[kili]

I can't believe Regina and Co. were so stupid to leave Arthur alone. Sigh.

I wish the show would do a better job of merging EF magic with modern "magic". This is the second time Arthur has gotten away with stuff that could easily have been foiled had they left a video recording device around. Why not have a security camera in her vault that Arthur would not be aware of? Why not use the security camera we know exists in the station house and they used the last time somebody disappeared from a cell (Zelena) when Grif disappeared? It would be kind of cool to give those without magic the ability to get the upper hand if they used technology in that way.

 

Barring that, at least have Regina drop a mirror in the room so that she can watch what Arthur is saying to Merlin. Even if you implicitly trust Merlin, why not listen in because two people can remember an important conversation better than 1?

 

Finally, I begin to see why Arthur wants to kill Merlin. The dude never gives a straight answer when 5 cryptic ones can confuse the matter more. Content free voice-mails when you have something critical to say seems to be his modus of operandi.  Now that you've got a grown up Emma, why not explain the deal with the sword instead of  just reminding her that he was once a creepy Usher? I suppose that we are supposed to give up ever expecting an explanation about how that happened because "Magic!".  He could appear as a creepy Usher, but he couldn't appear to give a rational explanation of anything ever. That's just how "Magic Calvinball" works. And we won't find out about why she shouldn't have the sword until the plot needs for her to know because Merlin would just keep something that important to himself.

Edited November 2, 2015 by kili

[PixiePaws1]

did anyone else want to hit Merlin brutally about the head?

Emma is battling the Darkness...clearly on borrowed time...Arthur has been outed as not having Emma's best interests at heart and what does super sorcerer do?

Give her the same vague 'ooh don't pull the sword or bad things will happen' rubbish! ! Like he's warning not to fill up on lunch then go swimming straight away.

I would have thought something along the lines of:

'Whatever the hell you do, DON'T pull the freaking sword out of the stone! Or you die, your parents die, your baby brother dies, the man you love dies, your kid dies all in excruciating agony and the entire freaking universe goes down in a tsunami of evil.'...might be a lie but might have got the point across.

Bloody prophecy crap......!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Confession: i have a soft spot for Brave because a friend of mine was the hair model for Merida. But I can say that after six episodes, I am so done with this version of Merida. Instead of being spunky and sassy (as she was in the movie), she's an irresponsible dick who assaulted and kidnapped Belle to force her to do magic for her. "I'm a hit first, ask questions later kind of lass." Translation: "I'm an asshole."

 

Our heroes came off as complete morons this week. "Hey look over there!" CONK! Then somehow Merida throws Belle over her shoulder and absconds without anyone noticing even though this all happened in the space of about three seconds and they must have been within earshot.

 

These are the same geniuses who see nothing at all suspiscious about Arthur saying, "Oh, you want me to contact Merlin with this magic mushroom? Sure, okay. Just, uh, can you guys give me some privacy to do it? I'm totally not going to do anything shady." I mean seriously, when David said, "Arthur's right. Let's give him some privacy!" I thought he was being sarcastic. But nope, just stupid.

 

On the plus side, Belle looked great this week. Her red outfit was cute and hey, she wasn't wearing a skirt the size of a postage stamp. I loved when she got out of the car and walked away from Rumple. I thought great, they're finally breaking up for good! I did crack up when she first got out of the car. She was walking like she was drunk.

 

Merlin, if you know the dark one is coming after you, GET TO THE POINT in your Princess Leia voicemail. Quit wasting time!

[Arnella]

I agree with all your points good and bad.

When Merlin said that only Nimue could help them, I just groaned.  NO, you don't need a stranger (no matter how story book famous) to save you and never have.  You have the freakin' Evil Queen, (conveniently powerful and inconveniently powerless) Blue Fairy, and the centuries of knowledge and manipulative genius of (new minted "hero") Rumplestiltskin.  When he was powerless in the real world, he was still able to corral 3 evil queens. Not to mention, he was the Dark One for centuries so is uniquely qualified to help.

Please just look inside yourselves and stop stupidly running around, chasing after somebody else to solve your problems.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Arnella

[Shanna Marie]

Thinking about this ... Rumple taking Belle across the town line might actually have been the most heroic thing to do, if you're defining heroism as acting for the greatest good, regardless of personal cost. Getting Belle out of town would have kept Emma from being able to use Merida to hurt her, and it would have kept Rumple from being turned into a tool Emma could use to get the sword. Emma getting the sword is generally considered (given what they know at the moment) a very bad thing that could be used to snuff out all light magic, so it's bad for everyone. So Rumple was right. His sacrifice was his self image and his reputation because everyone would think of him as a coward. Would Belle being out of town, where she couldn't be used as any kind of hostage, really have left the rest of the group in a serious lurch?

 

So when you really think about it, Rumple may have been a coward, but Belle was acting out of a worry about how it would look and a desire to be part of the group. Yeah, she made Rumple get over his cowardice and take action, but where did that get them? Emma now has the sword, and she already had the dagger, so Very Bad Things could happen. But I guess it's all okay because Rumple gets to call himself a hero?

 

Also, I don't see how Emma taking Violet's heart is now seen as the worst thing ever. Violet's still alive. She doesn't remember this happening. Henry wouldn't have known it happened if they hadn't found the dreamcatcher. The "damage" was undone, since Emma gave Henry the chance to look like a hero and win Violet over. There have been absolutely zero consequences of that action. Even if they don't realize this was necessary to free Merlin (assuming that was a good thing), it's nowhere near Cora killing Daniel levels because Daniel is dead, and that couldn't be fixed.

[YaddaYadda]

I think that the message from Merlin was either old or fake as well. Maybe the message if an old one, was supposed to go out to the Apprentice who is now conveniently dead. He would've known exactly what that was about, and when it happened.

 

I like that the all powerful Merlin is scared of the Dark One. Isn't he supposed to be the only one who can destroy the darkness? 

 

A better question is why make such a big deal about Merlin if you're barely going to use him? This has been so disappointing. The difference between Merida and Merlin is that Merlin already belongs in the Once mythology which Merida doesn't.

 

I can't wait for take 2 of Merida's backstory, because once clearly wasn't enough!

[Curio]

"Mommy, can you read me a bedtime story?"

"Sure! Once upon a time, there was a magical white swan. But one sad day, that swan was cursed and became a dark and evil wizard."

"Exciting! Tell me more!"

"And then a redhead and a brunette went on an adventure to Scotland and shot some bow and arrows."

"Wait, what? Who are they? I've never heard of them before. What happened to the swan?"

"Don't worry about the swan...it's still there. Don't you want to hear about the bear that attacks the brunette?"

"Does it have anything to do with the swan?"

"Not really."

"Then why is the story you're reading me called The Dark Swan?"

"Must be a typo."

Edited November 2, 2015 by Curio

[kirkola]

I agree.  He was without magic when Belle kicked him out of Storybrooke and he still was strong enough to plot and recruit the Queens of Darkness. This doesn't fit with what they are showing now.

Except that he was still the Dark One when he got kicked out of Storybrooke and sent to NY with the Queens of Darkness.  A Dark One without magic is still pretty dangerous.  When Emma took on the Dark One mantel, Rumple awoke from his coma remembering the sniveling coward he was before the Ogre's War (before killing Zoso).  All Dark One-Emma managed to do was remind Rumple that he still had the memories of the Dark One and could be the hero (ie not a coward).  So the question is...did Emma do this to give Rumple what he needed to remove the darkness from her, or is Dark One-Emma really so egotistical to think that adding Rumple to the "good" side won't change things?