- Title: Once Upon a Time – Changelings
- wiki: link
Refusing to lose another child, Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) threatens to speed-up Belle‘s (Emilie de Ravin) pregnancy while ordering the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) to kill Zelena (Rebecca Mader). Neither plan works out in his favor as Regina steps in to save her sister, and the Evil Queen’s decision to force a reluctant Gold’s hands means the Dark One watches as his newborn son is lost to him… at least for now. Babies play a major role in the flashbacks to the Enchanted Forrest as well, as time in Rumpelstiltskin’s castle reveals a bit more about the Dark One’s past including introducing his mother (Jaime Murray) which helps explain the character’s hatred of fairies. If the larger plan is to turn Rumpelstiltskin into a full villain once again, the groundwork is laid here by isolating him completely from family and friends and giving him a quest (finding his son) he will stop at nothing to achieve.
While the episode’s main story and flashbacks offer further insight to one of the show’s original villains, it’s the subplots which are likely to have larger immediate ramifications. In Gold’s shop Emma (Jennifer Morrison) discovers the sword from her vision offering another breadcrumb to her impending doom. And, with no genie to take them back to Agrabah, Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) makes an impetuous decision which it appears will have immediate consequences for those in Storybrooke as early as next week’s winter finale.
