This week’s episode of Once Upon a Time brought us many jaw-dropping moments. From Belle’s thirst for adventure, to Rumple’s plan to break the memory curse, fans were rewarded with a night of fairytale fun: despite Hook’s wicked — and nearly deadly — plans in Storybrooke. Read on for all the spellbinding details from “The Outsider.”
Fairytale Land Friends: We first see Belle sitting in her iconic blue dress, enjoying a book and a beer. (What a perfect way to spend an evening!) She’s watching the men of the town get all riled up about some beast known as Yaoguai, and with the encouragement of Dreamy and the gift of fairy dust, Belle decides that it’s time she stops just reading about adventures and actually takes part in one.
The fellas begin to make fun of Belle for the books she brought along on their journey. But little do they know, her books actually hold the key as to the whereabouts of the Yaoguai. She leads the boys astray to the lake and then takes off to the cave in the mountains where the monster is really hiding. When she approaches the cave, a huge fiery dog/lion type of thing charges after her, but a well-placed arrow scares the monster away from our dainty book lover. Who shot the arrow? Mulan!
Mulan has been tracking the Yaoguai for weeks but with Belle’s help they were able to track it down once again. Belle set off alone this time and when the fiery beast charged towards her, she dowsed it with water and followed her instincts to sprinkle a little bit of fairy dust on it. Surprise! The Yaoguai was actually Prince Phillip cursed by Maleficent. Belle introduces Phillip to Mulan and sets the two of them off on another adventure without her. “I have another beast to face,” she firmly reveals. After only two minutes on her own, Regina finds Belle and locks her away before she can return to her beloved beast. Belle screams at Regina, “I’ll fight for him, I’ll never stop fighting for him!”
Storybrooke Struggles: The episode opens with Rumple at the Storybrooke border ready to use Smee as a giunea pig to test the memory-wiping curse. Rumple discovers that if you pour a special potion on an object that is near and dear to the person’s heart, then they will be free to come and go as they please with their memories enact. Rumple has enough potion left to enchant one item, and even though she is a bit bummed that she cannot come along, Belle is thrilled that Rumple has found a way to leave Storybrooke and find Bae.
The townspeople are all attending Archie’s funeral and mourning the loss of their wise friend, but little do they know he’s actually being questioned by a super sexy Hook. Henry is super depressed that his friend and psychiatrist is now gone, so Emma attempts to cheer him up by giving him Pongo. Now with four people and a dog under one small roof, Snow suggests that she and Charming start to look for a place of their own. While searching for their new dream house, Charming makes it clear that despite the ogres and a destroyed house, he’d rather return to Fairytale Land then stay in Storybrooke. “Isn’t it worth it to fight for what we want?” He says. Snow sadly replies, “Unless we don’t want the same thing…” (Noo! You two can’t do this to us!)
Belle is walking in the Storybrooke library, and looking mighty proud of all the hard work she’s put into the place. But who is waiting for her? Hook of course! Belle instantly recognizes the pirate as the man who broke into her cell in the Queen’s dungeon, and knows that he is still bad news. ““You want to kill Rumplestiltskin!” she yells. Hook snarls, “Right now, I’ll settle for you,” Belle locks herself in the library elevator and then uses her cell phone (Hey! When did they get those?!) to call Rumple. Rumple rescues his lady, tells a skewed story as to why Hook wants to kill him, and returns to see that his store has been ransacked and the scarf he intended to enchant is now missing. Hook has guaranteed that Rumple is once again trapped in Storybrooke.
Belle once again uses her book-smarts and realizes that Hook arrived in town by using his ship. After finding the invisible vessel, Belle discovers and rescues Archie telling him to help Rumple find her on the ship. Belle begins to search for Rumple’s scarf, but Hook stops her and tells her the whole story about how Rumple actually killed his wife Mila by ripping out her heart. “He ripped out her heart and crushed it in front of me! He’ll do anything to hold onto power,” Hook growls. But Belle’s faith in her man is unwavering and she says that the knows that Rumple’s heart is true.
Rumple comes aboard the ship and instantly starts whacking Hook with his cane. (The whole thing just looked kinda silly.) Belle then begs Rumple to stop before he kills the pirate yelling, “No, there’s still good in you! I’ve seen it, I’ve always seen it. Show me I’m not wrong!” Rumple spares Hooks life — or should we say heart — and tells the captain to get on his ship and sail until he falls off the face of the earth. (Oooh, good one!)
The episode ends with a surprise visit from the real Archie (he’s alive!) and the psychiatrist tells Emma that it was Cora who took him hostage and she was only posing as Regina. Uh-oh! Looks like Emma has a huge apology that she needs to give to one really pissed off mayor. At the town’s border, Rumple and Belle are saying their sweet goodbyes as he crosses over the border with his enchanted scarf ready to find his son. Belle sweetly says that she will be waiting for him when he returns and just as they are about to share an oh-so sweet kiss, Hook shoots her and the librarian tumbles across the town line. She’s fine but her memories are lost for good. Hook, quite pleased with himself scream, “No you finally know how it feels! Well go again crocodile do your worst!” Just as Rumple is about to blast Hook to pieces, a car speeds across the town line, hits Hook and crashes into a tree. Judging by the out-of-state plates, it’s now clear that an outsider has arrived in Stroybrooke!
What did you think of tonight’s Once Upon a Time? Do you think Belle will ever get her memories back? Who do you think was driving that car? Cast your spell in the comments below!
Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneAguilera
[Photo Credit: ABC]
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