Spinner Rumple – He meets Milah, who is probably running from something or in some kind of a bind because it’s hard for me to imagine she married for love and human Rumple never had money. Or did he? Maybe the spinsters (fairies in disguise of course) gave him money, which attracted Milah, but then Rumple lost the money in some foolish or kind-hearted manner. Anyway they marry, they have Baelfire, Milah leaves, Rumple becomes The Dark One, Baelfire gets dropped down the beanhole… all pretty much as it was on the show.
I always thought that maybe she was pregnant and needed to get married fast to someone who was somewhat stable and reliable so she does a whirlwind courtship with Rumple marries him without telling him she was pregnant and then looses the child. Now she is stuck with someone but figures that he is stable and reliable with a somewhat good future ahead of him. They have a happy life for a few months until he is called to war and she becomes pregnant with his child and the rest stays the same.
Rumple finds Baelfire much like he does on the show and Baelfire is shot by Tamara and Neverland happens and Gold dies to save everyone (though I still think we need a better explanation as to why he thought he had to die with Pan, I mean it was beautiful, but reasons?). Rumple is brought back and here’s where it all kind of spins out… do I want Baelfire to die here and then be brought back by Zeus later after everyone goes to Hell to save him (a plot that might actually make more sense then the reason those chose to use) they could even trade Zelena’s life to Hades for Baelfire (since Hades seemed to like her) or do I want something else to happen? What if there was a way that say Belle found that would allow Bae and Rumple to separate and live and would somehow cost Zelena her life?
I would have had Rumple’s main motivation for helping Emma go to the underworld be that he has thoughts of rescuing Bae. I think this was his thought but we really did not get to see it played out because heaven forbid we should worry about the Neal/Emma/Hook triangle. That is what ruined everything. I could care less that Emma ended up with Hook what I care about is that in the process Rumple and Henry never got to explore their relationship with Bae. The story would have been so much more intense with Bae alive.
his is tricky because I love Rumple, I love (Disney movie) Belle and I absolutely adore Skin Deep, but most of the Rumbelle story in Storybrooke is so messed up! I wanted them to be together and stick up for each other and not lie to each other all the time. But the show could never quite get it right and while I’ve tried to put my finger on why, I’m still a bit baffled. The main problem seems to be that Rumple is still keeping himself apart from the rest of ‘the family’ and doing bad things (well he is The Dark One). Writing wise I think the reason Rumple did so much villain stuff after season 3 is that the writers needed someone from the main cast to be a consistent villain they could use to interact/team up with any arc villain they might toss in and they’d already put a lot of eggs in the basket of adding Regina and Hook (who really had no teeth as a villain against all those magic users anyway) to team hero. Storyline wise I guess it could all make sense if you remember that The Dark One is an entity in it’s own right and it might be all Rumplestiltskin the man can do to keep it from killing everyone. Or you could use Rumple’s addiction to magic after two hundred years of non-stop use. But basically I don’t know how to fix Rumbelle after season 3.
I think the main problem from season 4 on is that they don’t EXPLAIN why Rumple is doing the things he is doing. They gloss over it and never explore his psyche. I mean he has just lost his son and was imprisoned completely powerless for a year. He is going to back slide from this. In his mind he is thinking that I sacrificed myself for the good of the town (Belle and Bae) and what happens my son dies and I am imprisoned and powerless. After this he is going to go after power and try to cleave himself from the dagger. I mean if he is not connected to the dagger no one could ever control him again and therefore in his mind he can protect the one’s that he loves (Belle). Because at heart Rumple believes that when he is powerless he looses the ones that he loves, that is why he wants power. And of course he is not going to tell Belle because he knows she will not approve of him killing Hook to do it. We should have seen all of this and his doubts and fears that went along with the plan. We should have seen how he is worried that he will loose Belle if she finds out what he is doing. We should of seen some conflict between Rumple and Belle where Belle is asking Rumple to let her in and he is pushing her away because he still does not trust that she will not leave and that she does love him. Unfortunately what we got is Rumple “Me Need Power” and Belle asleep. They could have easily played this out a different way but chose not to.
Season 4B we should have seen Rumple draw lines in the sand with the Queens of Darkness which we were hinted at but did not get to directly see. We needed him to protect Henry and make sure Regina did not get hurt.
Season 5A we had Belle waffling back and forth which I understand but at the same time Belle has everything she ever wanted Rumple to be a good, decent, honest, man without the curse and she rejects him. He is in a vulnerable state right now with trying to deal with the fact that he no longer has all this power and he has the one person he loves rejecting him and Hook taunting him. We should have seen some of this conflict within him, some of the doubts that he felt, some of the now she sees me for who I really am the man behind the beast and does not want me. It would have made his taking the dark one powers back more understandable.
Season 5B was actually a fairly good season for Rumbelle especially her Handsome Hero which felt like the old Rumple and Belle working together, fighting, debating about good and evil, but trying to see each others point of view or at least trying to work with each other despite their different point of views. Then we have Belle being OOC and going to Zelena (the person who killed Rumple’s son!!!) and asking for advice???? I can see why she put herself in a sleeping curse because Belle like Rumple when panicky is impulsive.
How we explain 6A is beyond me. They were both HORRIBLE!!! The only thing I can say is that I think Rumbelle works best when they are there to support each other and instead in 6A you have both Belle and Rumple both panicking and therefore doing impulsive and damaging things to each other. Instead of Rumple supporting Belle about her doubts and fears of her pregnancy he panics and tries to overprotect. And instead of Belle being supportive of the doubts and fears of Rumple that his second son is going to Hate him you have her panicking and lashing out at him which in turns makes him be even more overprotective. It is a vicious cycle which was completely unhealthy. As for Rumple and EQ I am pretending it did not happen because it really never should have. It was one of the most stupidest things OUAT has ever done right up there with Zelena and Robin pregnancy. It made no sense and was completely idiotic.
6B would have been better if we saw more of Belle. They made a lot of headway in 6B with Rumple and Belle working together, being strong for each other, and supporting each other, but after all the damage of 6A we really needed to see more of this. More of them talking about everything that has happened and trying to understand each other. More time. Instead we got episodes that did not matter like Aladdin and Hook on a journey to nowhere and just yelling about nothing.
I am glad they ended up together and really glad that they improvised the last scene and made it their own. After all the Rumbelle fandom was put through the last few years and hearing over and over and over again that “Rumple is a difficult man to love” without no explanation as to why he was doing the things he was doing it was nice that they had the finale moment and that they made that moment special for us fans.