Wow, that episode. On the one hand, tons of retconning (trying to make Hook look better in the flashback, ugh) and OOC-ness (having Milah and Gold sort of resolve things and then him ‘kill’ her AGAIN, the whole sketchy second born deal which may or may not be incredibly OOC for Spinner Rumple, YMMV), on the other hand…they essentially rebooted Rumplestiltskin’s character arc to be once again about making terrible decisions related to a child, and there is a tiny, TINY part of me that can kind of respect that. I feel like it’s Adam and Eddy recognizing that this is Rumplestiltskin at his most compelling.
I completely agree. It re-centered his story in a horrifying way that makes me *head desk*, but it re-centered it. It seems clear to me that A and E recognize that Rumple’s entire story was being a father so maybe killing his son was a stupid idea!