Mother’s Little Helper – ONCE291

Precious Gideon, Henry’s ghost writing, and Emma getting Frodo’ed. Plus, what is the Black Fairy’s plan now that she’s in Storybrooke? All these and more on our in-depth discussion of “Mother’s Little Helper.”

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This episode, apparently, was written by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, so it’s no surprise that it’s a really good episode. They tend to write really important good episodes. While not every single episodes they have is fantastic but, many times, when Kitsis and Horowitz are the main writers on an episode it’s a very important game-changer episode. The humor on this episode was fantastic and the pacing was so much better than last week, however, it was also conflicting. There were moments that were bad, and there were also moments that are good but seemed bad because we spent season after season in the dark realm of Once Upon a Time being brainwashed into believing things that are not necessarily true; things that have argued against but are now inseparable to the story.

Dark Realm (Flashback)

Presumably after battling the Blue Fairy, the Black Fairy flew back to the Dark Realm with her prize, baby Gideon. What makes baby Gideon more “precious” than Rumplestitlskin? Why did she go out of her way to steal Gideon when she didn’t even give her own son a chance to be her own apprentice? Was it because Gideon was tainted by darkness when he was born?

Although it was nice that it wasn’t shown, the way Roderick was taken and beaten by the Black Fairy seemed less chilling than how Gideon described it initially. Why did the Black Fairy not destroy the book in the first place? Was it because the book was a horcrux? Why did the Black Fairy only tell Gideon of his birthday when he turns 28 years old? Is Gideon’s 28th birthday significant to him? Is he another Savior just like Aladdin and Emma?

This is also the same scene when we saw the black fairy dust, where we got referenced back to season 1 when Snow White used black fairy dust to turn the trolls into something easily squashed in 1×03 “Snow Falls.” It was also the same phial that the Black Fairy put around Gideon’s neck. When Roderick convinced Gideon about helping him defeat the Black Fairy, he said that the Black Fairy used the dust to create and perfect the dark curse, so how did she lose it? There were so many good lines when they went to steal the orb, as well as traumatic stuff when Roderick got turned into a bug and actually seeing him squashed.

The sword, as it turned out, was the same sword that Neal pulled out before at Mr. Gold’s shop. It was also the same sword that the Blue Fairy created and used long ago to banish the Black Fairy to the Dark Realm. Did the Black Fairy knew that while it was used to banish her, it could also free her from being stuck in the Dark Realm?

Enchanted Forest (Present Day)

It was nice being reminded that Captain Blackbeard lost the Jolly Roger in Arendelle when Hook found him in the Enchanted Forest. What’s really the purpose of seeing Captain Blackbeard in the Enchanted Forest? Are they trying to touch as many realms to show which realms are being affected by the current threat? Or simply to see what happened to these realms after the last time it was shown? Will we see Hook bounce realm to realm in trying to go back to Emma? Did Captain Blackbeard really escape at all? Wasn’t it known that no one can leave Neverland just like that?

Storybrooke (Present Day)

Emma, for some crazy reason, invites Gideon into her home, which was also where things got confused. As much as we like Emma’s toughness, it was confusing when she said she will consider killing Gideon. The violence, in regard with this, reminds us of the people they’ve called villains. Plus, Gideon is Henry’s uncle, and Neal’s half-brother. What part of Gideon was said by him and which ones were said by the Black Fairy since she is controlling his heart all this time?

It was odd to see Emma dressed in a coat when she and Snow White went to ask Gold and Belle about the Black Fairy, yet it was nice because at least it was a red coat. It was also nice of Rumple to be so honest in sharing the truth about the Black Fairy being her mother. On the other hand, Emma sounded a bit arrogant when she said that she thinks she can handle should the Black Fairy come to Storybrooke. Then again, this wasn’t new about Emma since she once burst into Mr. Gold’s shop and threatened to punch him in the face.

Also here in the shop is when we learned that the dark curse and all the darkness that Emma ever faced was born from the Black Fairy.

As far as the curse, and Black fairy’s fixation on Emma, I feel like the dots connect up in an interesting way. (This might be a little scattered, but stick with me.)

So, Black fairy was banished to that realm. (She was banished by Blue, right? Was this stated? Or just implied?) Anyway, her banishment probably meant that she was tethered to that realm by magic, and could not leave it for long.

So the sword did not exactly open a portal, but instead cut the bonds tethering her to that realm.

That sword was made by the Blue fairy. Black fairy was tethered by Blue’s magic, and it was Blue’s magic combined with savior magic that freed her. (Done by blood, undone by blood… oops wrong show.) Done by Blue undone by Blue.

But she couldn’t do that until there was a savior! (Did she try with Aladdin? Is that why he had the savior shakes? If so then Jafar actually stopped the black fairy back then, by giving Aladdin the shears!).

Ok, so how did Black fairy know about Emma as the savior in the first place? Lets try this:

Black fairy wants to use magic to free herself from the dark realm. How does she go about doing this? First, she makes the dark curse, which is designed to transport folks to a different realm. Does she use this to escape? No, and she probably never planned to. (There’s probably nothing she loves enough. Or at least nothing she is willing to sacrifice.)

Instead, she leaves the curse out for someone else to use. Now, what exactly does the curse do? It transports people and places them under a curse, and at the same time it creates a “Savior” who is destined to break that curse.

So Black fairy creates the dark curse, which when used by another gives someone (Emma) savior powers. Savior powers are what Black needed to steal in order to escape. She creates the curse, the curse creates a savior, and then she uses Emma to escape!

— Sci-Fi Girl

This could mean that when Rumple said that everything Emma ever faced was born from the Black Fairy, he could actually be telling the truth.

Rumple told Emma “All the darkness you’ve ever faced was born under one twisted soul; the Black Fairy.” So does mean she created the Dark One powers? I think she did and she cursed the Holy Grail before Nimue drank from it with plans to turn her into the first Dark One. If she created the Darkness; she indirectly turned her son into “a beast” which basically makes her the Enchantress from Beauty and The Beast.

— Aaron

Since the Black Fairy created the original Dark Curse I think we can assume that she is interested in taking away people’s happy endings. Perhaps this once happened to her. I imagine that for the final battle she is working on a new improved version of the Dark Curse. She might be planning to snuff out the light like the Dark Ones did or to take away everyone’s happy endings like Regina. The new Dark Curse might send everyone to the Dark World. If the new Dark Curse requires the heart of the thing you love most, it might mean the death of Gideon. All that being said I think the new Dark Curse might somehow turn light magic into dark magic. This would be a creative way to hurt the heros and the Black Fairy seems to like that.

— Gareth

Meanwhile, Regina is in her vault, trying to break the sleeping curse and undoing everything her other half did in the past including getting Dr. Doolittle out of his cage and freeing the Dragon out of the mirror. Henry, on the other hand, started ghost writing.

Emma’s line about the clock was off. At first it sounded cocky, but the look on her face did look nostalgic. Maybe her tone was supposed to be casual and supposed to show that they’re not trying to kill each other now? Then again, at least he handed the sword.

At the Sorcerer’s mansion, however, the obvious intersection that is imbued with magic, it makes sense to reference it as to where to make a portal. Was the candle burning the napkin significant? Gideon later said that Hook’s return is supposedly impossible now, was it because the napkin got burned? On the other hand, the spell page laid out on the left side said Lorem Ipsum, instead of the usual The Golden Bird story.

The giant spider bursting through was super freaky, and the spider manipulating Emma from another room while she turns herself over and over on the floor, as well as the actual cocooning was disturbing. However, it was nice of Rumplestiltskin to come at the right time to save Emma, and even cooler to see him and Emma use their magic together to vanquish the spider. Emma said that Gideon can’t be said, can he?

We got a couple of screenshots of Henry’s writing before he passed out and one looked like an all-seeing eye, and a rabbit. Possible translation to the writing, however, looked more like Gregg shorthand, where one symbol might meant “fearing” or “feeling.”

It was also nice going back to the hospital basement and see Nurse Ratched again, as well as the Native American looking guy, and Isaac.

Meanwhile, back at the Sorcerer’s mansion, Gideon is continuing what the Evil Queen initially wants everyone to do—tear themselves apart. Also, in this scene, Gold said that Gideon needs help, but Emma and Snow White, are both dead set against trying any more. No schemes to trap him and talk to him? Imprison him without killing him? Of all villains they’ve refused to kill, this is the one they should actually try to help. Instead, they just wanted to set up a conflict between Emma and Rumple.

How about if the Black Fairy wants to die? She’s at least several hundred years old according to clocks in the EF and our realm. Time in her realm runs so much faster, though, that from her point of view she’s millions of years old. A long and healthy life is good, but imagine being cursed with eternal youth.

— Gaultheria

Does the Black Fairy simply want to die?

The Black Fairy is definitely the villain of all villains.  She makes both Cora and Peter Pan look like model parents by comparison.

We also found out that the Black fairy actually invented the dark curse.  How much do you want to bet that she’ll try to re-enact it again?  Why else would she want to get rid of Emma so badly?  I don’t think it was just to open the portal.  She doesn’t want the curse to be broken.

— Meredith of Everett, WA

When she said what was going to happen, why is the sword tied to Emma’s life force? How did the sword know when Emma is dead or dying? What if the sword sucks the hero out of the Savior? Was the spell that Emma enacted actually was to tether her life force to the sword and not to summon the spider?

What a funny Hamilton joke that Isaac threw at the town line and it was also ironic how the minivan had a license plate “WED-1901”, which stands for Walter Elias Disney, born in 1901, which they referenced before as a former Author.

about Rumple’s comment in the pilot about ‘the final battle.’  Re-watch the beginning of Season Two.  Rumple knew that Regina wouldn’t be able to do magic right away.  He also knew there would be a lot of angry people wanting her dead.  And he probably assumed that Snow and Charming would also be angry enough that they wouldn’t protect her.  So he assumed that there’d be a battle as soon as everyone remembered who Regina was.  No one (including myself) predicted that Regina would ever make peace with the Charmings.  So that might have been the battle he was referring to.

— Meredith of Everett, WA

When you used a phrase such as “the final battle” it demands to be something big, epic and end of story. However, they keep scaling back that affected the entire realm before and those superlatives got limited later on. Is this really the final battle that Rumplestiltskin talked about back in the Pilot episode, or has it already been done? Does this final battle mean the end of the series or a potential 7th season with limited episodes?

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Spoilers

• Still trapped in Neverland, Hook aligns himself with Tiger Lily in 6×17, “Awake”
• Meanwhile, Regina works to break the sleeping curse that David and Snow are under, while Gold denies The Black Fairy, which brings the two of them to a fearsome impasse
• In flashbacks, we learn what Snow and Charming sacrificed in order for Emma to fulfill her destiny as the Savior.
• “Awake” was written by Andrew Chambliss & Leah Fong and directed by Sharat Raju.
• Guest starring for 6×17 “Awake” includes Lee Arenberg as Leroy/Grumpy, Beverley Elliott as Granny, Raphael Sbarge as Archie Hopper/Jiminy Cricket, Tony Amendola as Marco/Gepetto, Jaime Murray as Black Fairy, Giles Matthey as Gideon, Mckenna Grace as Young Emma, Sara Tomko as Native American Woman/Tiger Lily, Eric Keenleyside as Sir Maurice/Moe French, Gabe Khouth as Mr. Clark/Sneezy, David-Paul Grove as Doc and Faustino Di Bauda as Sleepy
• Promo for 6×17 “Awake” focuses on Snow and Charming and the fact that Zelena and Regina works some spell on them
• There was also a scene of Snow and Charming going through a door and what looks like jumping around time, with Rumple warning them about changing the past, and that it could change Emma’s future and destiny, ending with the sleeping curse being broken
• Hook might get home by the end of the episode, with Tiger Lily in tow
• No photos and script teases as of the moment for 6×17, “Awake”
• Ginnifer Goodwin sat with Entertainment Weekly for an interview and said that “the prospect of a true happy ending is not necessarily scary to everyone in Storybrooke.”