A relatively decent episode.
I thought Black Fairy was going to cause the ground to shake when she pressed whatever it was after turning the crystals black. Would’ve been a nice setup for the joke “I thought the earth wasn’t supposed to move until the honeymoon” for CS. Unfortunately that didn’t happen on either front so slightly disappointed at that.
The flashbacks were okay, it wouldn’t have harmed the episode not to have them and that screen time could’ve been better spent for present day action but it is what it is.
I like the little domestic moments between the characters such as the Charmings looking at wedding venues, the CS pancake scene (though I do think the kissing went on a bit long). The show has been missing those kind of everyday elements which breathe life into the characters, instead focusing on plot and McGuffins galore.
The Black Fairy continues to impress. I think Belle might be the one to defeat her rather than Emma because of the thematic symbolism eg Belle going all protective mother over Gideon and the two “mothers” going head to head over their son.
Speaking of Belle, besides being criminally underused this season, it does kind of feel Belle cares a little more about Gideon being good rather than Gideon himself. All her scenes this half season seem to contain the refrain “he’s not evil”.
Also I think they’ve just signposted RumBelle’s fate at the end of the season. Belle’s line (paraphrasing because I can’t remember the exact line) “We missed out on so much with Gideon, that’s time we’ll never get back” suggests to me that they are going to de-age Gideon at this end of the arc and RumBelle will get their happily ever after raising him. At least they should get a HEA since the show couldn’t be bothered to show any of their good times on-screen so naturally their HEA will be off-screen.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix