. Just imagine what was going through his head as Bae was pleading with him to go through the beanhole. Is that why he hesitated…because he knew what had happened in his own childhood? Oh, so many feels.
It really does put a whole new spin on that scene – Rumple’s cowardice is not JUST about power. It’s also about a massive sense of deja vu and trepidation. It doesn’t make the abandonment less, but it does make it more explicable and understandable.