I think this is the first episode I’ve watched live since the first half of S7…
GENERAL: Great episode. I don’t much care for anything going on with Henry and the never ending curse but everything with Rumple and Alice (and Margo) was fantastic. I genuinely love the dynamic between Reformed Rumple and Alice. Definitely one of the best of the season.
9/10
LIKED
–Robert Carlyle….Robert Carlyle….Robert Carlyle. If you hate Rumple, love Rumple or something in-between, there’s no denying that Bobby Carlyle is a class above the rest in terms of acting. I will miss watching him in his many faceted Rumplestiltskin role.
–Rumple’s outfit in the Enchanted Forest. Nice seeing Rumple in a three-piece suit again.
–Alice’s blue EF cloak is lovely and I adore the larger than necessary bow. It’s very Alice.
–Everything about Margo and Tilly’s date was adorable. Why–whyyyyyyy–couldn’t the writers have introduced these two earlier and made them the whole focus of this season?? It’s like they embody all the best aspects of the best written ships on this show.
–“Always love a good loophole…”
–Jewelry of true love…the show likes to hammer home that particular motif.
–“Immortality is just another tower.” Rumple’s sacrifice to ensure that Alice gets to have a normal life, a happy life with the love of her life…it was beautiful. It was the Rumple I loved for so long.
–“All magic comes with a price; guess it was finally my turn to pay.”
–“Dark One and the Pirate…friends?” “Perhaps it’s time for a new story.”
MIXED
–That is an incredibly elaborate shrine to Belle. And seems to be appropriating certain aspects of Mexican culture in ways that make no sense.
–Rumple using the familiar pain of missing someone you love to manipulate and test Alice. It’s very Rumple–a desperate soul to the very end–but it’s also cruel.
–I think Regina is totally overreacting to all this. I get she’s scared for Henry and what happens if he wakes up but 1) this family always find a way and being indebted to Facilier is not the way to go and 2) she cannot possibly understand what Rumple is going through. There are some things only the Immortal Dark One can understand.
DISLIKED
–Disappointed that Rumple and Nook have met before and we didn’t get to see it; that would have made for some fun drama–even if the Hook/Rumple conflict has been overdone–as Regina et al try to convince Nook that this Rumple isn’t a villain.
–Regina calling Rumple/Gold “Weaver” and Rumple calling Regina “Roni” is weird. Weaver means nothing to Regina; Gold makes sense after six years in Storybrooke but everyone using these tertiary names for one another is just bizarre.
–Facilier would have been a fine villain on his own without adding the unnecessary Regina-as-lover complication. Like, what is even the point of this so called fling?