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So we finally finished The Terrible and uh… in addition to the red scarf, the Ingrid/Anna/Kristoff scene had major Manhattan vibes for me. The manner in which Anna tugged off the necklace (and then tossed it in the fire) and then the way in which Kristoff barged in in her defense…

The red scarf harkened back to Manhattan of Emma finding Neal, so it was fitting Elsa used it to find Emma. Anna’s snowflake necklace is a parallel to Emma’s swan necklace. Both are imbued with true love, albeit different kinds. Elsa will use snowflake necklace to find Anna. I sorta hope that means something for the swan necklace though I don’t expect much if anything with these writers. It’s so odd because I seem to see what are clearly written parallels everywhere, but maybe that is because my brain is trained in pattern recognition. Yet knowing these writers, I don’t want to get my hopes up.

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And when Emma doesn’t go in the hat, he’s feeling a loss because for a few hours he believed that he was going to get all that power in one simple go. But tells Hook that he’s going to find “another way to fill that hat with the power it needs.” I’m not sure he’s going to try it on Emma twice…and that, to me, also says that it was a good opportunity but that he’d rather not hurt Emma directly if he doesn’t have to.

I don’t think Rumple would attempt to take Emma’s magic again, but not because he doesn’t want to. I think he’s just too smart for that and doesn’t want to get caught. Emma’s onto him after that last attempt to suck her into the hat, and Rumple doesn’t want to go up against Emma directly because he knows how powerful she is. Rumple may target Emma’s brother as this “other way” of filling the hat with magic, since I predict baby Neal has magic.

I think Rumple would hurt Emma to get what he wants, and that he’s always seen her as a means to an end to get whatever he wants. He made her the savior of a curse he created to locate Baelfire. This wasn’t even the first time Rumple made a threat against Emma, since he was about to get physical with her when she wasn’t going to tell him where Neal was until Neal returned to his apartment. Neal wasn’t about to let his father harm Emma, whom he never stopped loving.

And yes, I get that his long-term motives for evil before Neal’s death made a lot more sense than what we know of his motives right now. The fact that DQ suggested there’s more he wants than just his freedom, that it’s beyond the boundaries of Storybrooke, makes me wonder. I don’t believe world domination is what he wants…power, yes. I keep hoping that what he really wants, though, is a way to bring his son back–that the hat is offering him that in the end. I still believe the writers are going to make me sympathetic to whatever his goals are (and I already am to his desire to be free of the dagger and keep his power, even if the methods are evil).

Speaking as a big fan of Neal and of Emma, if Rumple is tying to bring Neal back, doing so by harming Emma is a really terrible idea. Neal forgave Rumple for abandoning him as a child, especially when he realized his dad had been abandoned too. Neal watched his father die a hero. Neal thanked his father for showing him what it meant to make a sacrifice, just before Neal died so that his father might live and to protect Emma and Henry. Rumple murdering Emma to bring his son back would be unforgivable in Neal’s eyes. It would never result in the happy reunion for father and son that Rumple craves. I would’ve thought Rumple being such a clever man would know this. Neal would probably kill his own father before letting him harm the mother of his child.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Belle’s been through a LOT since S1. The Belle we saw in Skin Deep, even counting her loss of her mother and disastrous adventure with Anna, hasn’t been through nearly what our current Belle has been.

This may sound strange, but I actually enjoyed seeing a slightly darker version of Belle and seeing her inner doubts. Her soliloquy in the mirror was excellently done and revealed how complex Belle as a character is. It actually humanized her some, since she always came across as having perfect morality. Seeing she has the same inner struggles as a lot of the other characters was actually a nice change. Seeing her use the dagger on Rumple was I think her darkest moment to date. As a consequence of being in a relationship with Rumple, Belle has been targeted and controlled by others such as her own father, Regina and Hook. So I can understand how all of those negative things like being controlled would make her want to control someone else for a change. Even though she loves Rumple, I think that living with the dark one is giving her serious temptation when it comes to seeking to control him. Belle isn’t above doing something which we’ve previously only seen villains like the duke, Cora and Zelena do.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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I really don’t think Charming is in danger of being killed off. Then again, that’s what I thought about Neal, too. 🙁

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Wait, what? How is Belle darker?  Between the two of them, Rumple’s heart has to be pitch black compared to Belle’s, who I expect to be bright red.  Plus, you know, she told the truth about everything she did in Family Business. Rumple’s been lying to everyone and he’s done far worse than Belle this season.

I didn’t claim Belle was darker than Rumple. What I meant was that Belle is darker than her previous self. Belle from S1 never would’ve sliced Rumple’s neck with a dagger or sought to control him with it. In that way, Belle is experiencing darker moments in her own character than we’ve seen from her previously. Of course, she immediately expressed remorse and regret and confessed, something Rumple has yet to do about his duplicity. Of the two, Rumple’s behavior is clearly way worse. As I wrote, this is the darkest version of Rumple I’ve seen since he first lost Bae and murdered Milha.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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Emma and Elsa were wearing the yellow ribbons at the end of 4×8 so this doesn’t really comes as any great surprise.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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It’s not that I don’t see good in Rumple anymore. I said this upthread with regards to something else, but I don’t have amnesia. I still remember MY Rumple…the one I’ve argued for and defended. And that’s what makes this all so GOSH DARN FRUSTRATING. I might sound like a bitter fan but it’s getting harder to see LOGIC in his choices. He wants to be free from the dagger–ok. But WHAT NEXT?! What comes after this? What is this bleeding bloody plan. /flips a table.

Here is my frustration with Rumple’s current trajectory. Even though I think Rumple doesn’t really want world domination (he’s way too subtle for that in my estimation), any ultimate plan he might have doesn’t seem justifiable to me. Even if Rumple had some greater plan like to resurrect his son, his attempt to murder Emma and countless others to do so would never justify it. And I just can’t see clever Rumple being so daft as to resurrect Neal at cost of killing Emma, the woman Neal loved and died protecting. That doesn’t make any sense, because Neal would never forgive his father for that crime. So even if we discover what comes next, the means won’t justify the ends in my eyes. No one messes with Emma and gets a pass in my book. The problem is that Rumple hasn’t learned his lesson, despite all the progress he seemed to have made when he sacrificed himself to save his loved ones from his father.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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I think firstly, that Rumple is consciously pushing Belle away. Multiple times he could have confessed but he didn’t. He’s in this descent into madness and knows it and I think it’s his way to push Belle away from it. Without her there to be his little spark of hope and reminder of the man he still has buried somewhere inside, he’s free to wallow in his evilness. Let the Dark One take over. I think he’s tired of the fight and after Neal dying he’s ready to let it reign. He’s always thought Belle will leave and this is his self-fulfilling prophecy.

I agree with this assessment of Rumple. He never expected Belle to stay with him and he still doesn’t. He offered her his hand in marriage, but did so under false pretenses; the very minute he was ready to commit he gave Belle good reason to leave him. I think he is concealing full darkness of his nature from her because secretly he revels in his power. He wants to keep it, because he is terrified of losing it. I don’t think he’s afraid of death, since he already died. But he is afraid of being controlled like he was by Zelena, and here Belle just sought control him with a dagger. Her attempt to do so solidifies in his mind that he was correct to give her a fake dagger rather than the real one. Also, in order for one to change, one must first want to, and I don’t think he does. He may have been willing to sacrifice himself to save his loved ones, but since he was resurrected and controlled by Zelena, something has changed. He’s the darkest version of Rumple I’ve witnessed since he first lost his son and killed his first wife. I think Rumple even fears his own darkness, that it will consume himself and his new wife. That is why he gives Belle reasons to leave him, why he is making a case against himself, giving Belle every cause to walk out on him.

I think Belle should leave him. Not divorce, but they need a separation. She needs it. We as viewers need it. I can’t see any rational person finding out all the stuff Rumple is putting her through and staying with him. And Rumple needs it,. He needs to not use Belle as a crutch. All this self-love lecturing we’ve been getting lately, he needs to learn this, too. I think the reason his curse has never been broken by TLK is because he doesn’t want it broken. Yes, magic works differently in our world. Blah, blah, blah. But he’s holding a part of himself back. He always has reasons. I think Belle leaving him might be the only thing to knock anything back into him. Certainly her being with him isn’t doing either of them any good. It’s not a healthy relationship.

That is what I think right now. I think this marriage has become toxic to Belle. She tried to control her husband with that dagger, knowing full well that Zelena used the dagger on him to keep him enslaved. That is not the same lovable Belle we met in Skin Deep who tried to free Rumple with TLK. This is a much darker version of Belle. I believe that is in part Rumple’s dark influence over her. Despite his best efforts to keep Belle at bay, he is implicating her in his lies. He is using his wife as his alibi in a murder and using her good word to vouch for him by letting others believe she has the real dagger. The problem then isn’t just that Rumple is lying to Belle, using her, and manipulating her. The problem is that he is also dragging her down and his darkness is starting to get to her. The reflection Belle saw in the mirror makes her see the worst in Rumple; the problem is, the dark version she sees of Rumple is an accurate version of him because he is the dark one.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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I’m very curious how they are going to incorporate her since she comes from a land without magic and isn’t that much of a threat unless you have a pet with beautiful fur.

Yeah, I don’t see what Rumple would want from her unless it’s knowledge from the outside world. Ingrid suggested that what Rumple wants is beyond the borders of SB, and Cruella de Vil coming from the outside world could have information about something Rumple desires. (What that is, I haven’t any real idea though). Yet, I’m not sure what would draw Cruella to SB other than Pongo fathering puppies. Rumple wanting the power that Maleficent and Ursula have though makes sense. Maybe Rumple will use Hook to try and suck them inside that sorcerer’s hat.

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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“Darkness On The Edge Of Town” sounds to me like something/one will be coming into town as opposed to anyone leaving. Weren’t they filming in downtown Vancouver a week or so ago? And at an aquarium. So I think we’ll see someone outside of town in 410/411.
Maybe it just refers to Maleficent and setting up what her arc is gonna be?

You could be right about the title referring to Big Bads coming to town. It’s now been confirmed that Cruella de Vil is coming to SB. She seems like the type to come from A Land Without Magic versus the EF, so maybe she arrives in town from NYC. Maybe she is a mean directer of a fashion magazine, but why she is in town is a mystery to me. Might have something to do with Rumple collecting power, since spoiler images reveal him conversing with Cruella de Vil and Ursula of all people. Add to that the confirmation that Maleficent will be teaming up with those new female villains and you have a clique of mean girls. The evil trio will become Rumple’s Devils (a play on Charlie’s Angels).

"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy

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