The Return
August and Henry meet outside the pawnshop to launch their plan: Henry will distract Gold while August sneaks in through the back and searches the workroom. Henry and Gold mirror each other (hands in pockets) as they greet each other. Henry proceeds to purchase a gift for MM. He concldes too quickly, however, and Gold catches August, redirects him when August pretends to be mixed up. Gold watches intently as August leaves (an interesting sidenote: August claims to be a map collector–Jefferson gave Emma much the same claim in the previous episode) .
Later in the pawnshop, Regina comes in for a fight, accusing Gold of breaking their deal to frame MM. In a low voice, Gold answers that he’s only broken one deal in his life. He delivered what he had agreed to: he made “something tragic” happen to Kathryn. Regina had assumed incorrectly that he had planned to kill Kathryn. A foreshadowing line: “Murder seems so much worse here, doesn’t it? ” Gold quips. “You can’t just turn someone into a snail and then step on them.” (Interesting word choice: he says “worse, ” implying a moral aspect, not “more difficult.” Has he gained some ethics since his early days as the Dark One?
During this discussion, he is holding a leather ball, which he eventually places on display.
When Regina tries to argue he cuts her off with the power “please.” She drops that argument immediately but frets that her part in the frame up will be discovered. She claims that Gold, as the creator of the curse, is equally culpable (she says that Gold created the curse for her–we will find out otherwise.) He quips again, “It’s about time you said thank you.” When she wants to know his motives, he refuses to answer.