There’s only so much the writers can cram into one episode. Reunions, dragons, magic, double-crossing…it’s a lot to fit into a single episode. So, I wasn’t at all disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much screentime Belle and Gold actually got. I thought the writers were just going to have Regina tell Mr. Gold about Belle, and then BOOM. THE END. 😯 So, for them to have 2 reunion scenes and mutal exchanges of “I love you” was more than I could have asked for. 😀
The first scene in the shop was my favorite scene of the entire episode. Mr. Gold was so genuinely shocked and releaved to see Belle again. Tears in his eyes, having to touch her to see if she was real…it was too perfect. 😥
I’m also not too concerned about their love story as a whole. Like others have noted, the writers are in love with love. They mention true love in almost every episode. We’ve already seen that Belle is the key to breaking Rumpel’s curse. And in the end, I think she’s going to be the one to save him.