The Ogre Wars continue to plague the kingdoms. Rumplestiltskin arrives at the kingdom of Belle and her father, once again coming to the rescue! But, as usually, his rescues come with a price. And, unfortunately, it cannot be paid in gold. He wants Belle. Her pretty boy fiancé, Gaston (hahaha!), quickly steps in, but Rumplestiltskin does not want love; he wants a caretaker. They all strike him down and order him to go, but then Belle steps in and agrees to go, on the condition that her friends and family remain safe.
In Storybrooke, Mr. Gold repossesses the van of the local florist in exchange for an unpaid debt. Regina wants to talk with him, but he gently refuses. She insists, but he is relentless. Something is going on there…
In the diner, Emma and Mary Margaret talk about how Henry is doing. Emma hasn’t been able to see him because of the constraint Regina put between them. Then Ashley (Cinderella) walks in with her new baby, and plops right down at their table, blocking Mary Margaret’s view of David. Ruby quickly joins the conversation, and she decides to throw a girls night for Valentine’s Day. Emma receives a call from the station. Mr. Gold’s house has been broken into.
Rumplestiltskin leads Belle around his palace, and he shows her to her dungeon…I mean room. She then serves him a drink as he spouts off a long list of tasks she must complete. She looks very uncomfortable, and she accidentally drops a cup, which then chips.
Emma tries to interview Mr. Gold, but he is less than helpful. She reminds him that she can arrest him for withholding information. He finally agrees and gives the name of the florist. Mr. Gold is acting very strangely. Even more than normal.
Belle cleans Rumplestiltskin’s curtains as he sits at his spinning wheel. She is curious as to why he spins so often. He says it helps him forget. She is trying to open his curtains to let more light in, and she falls off the ladder, but he is there to catch her. An unlikely friendship is blooming!
At the sheriff’s station, Emma has a variety of items splayed out on her desk. They are all things that the florist allegedly stole. But, of course, Mr. Gold is not happy. He says there is still something missing.
Belle and Rumplestiltskin sit in his now-clean dining room. She suspects that the only reason he brought her there was because he was lonely. She also admits to have looked around the palace, and she finds children’s clothes. He admits that he lost his son and his mother. Since she is never again going to meet another person in her life, she wants to at least know his story. Just then, there is a pounding on the door. Gaston stands with sword in hand ready to fight for Belle. Before he can even finish his sentence, Rumplestiltskin turns him into a single red rose. He gives the rose to Belle. He asks her about her story and why she was willing to come to the palace in the first place. She was finally given a chance to show her bravery and heroism, and she tells him she had never loved Gaston. Rumplestiltskin is ready to make another deal. He tells her to return to town to get some more straw. When she comes back, he will tell his tale. He suspects he will never see her again.
Mr. Gold and David stand in line at the store. David holds two Valentine’s Day cards in his hands, and Mr. Gold is buying duct tape and rope. Suspicious! He is suspicious of David and his two cards, which David swears they are for one person. The next scene is Mr. Gold driving the florist’s truck with the florist in the back, tied in rope and silenced with duct tape. He is headed for the cabin in the woods. Aaahhh!!!
Belle is headed back into town when she is stopped by The Evil Queen. She offers to walk next to her. Being her usual, nosy self, the Queen inquires about Belle’s journey. She knows she is running away from someone. The Queen says a kiss born out of true love will break the curse her captor has on her. “True love’s kiss will break any curse.” Belle decides to return to the palace to break the curse on “the beast.” She reminds him that he owes her a story. He asks why she came back, and she says something had changed her mind. She proceeds to kiss him, and the curse slowly melts away. She tells him what the queen had said. The curse quickly comes back. He is very wroth and rips off a covering on a large mirror and talks to it. He tries to determine who is at fault: the Queen or Belle. He throws her into the dungeon.
Back in the cabin, Mr. Gold interrogates the florist, pressing his cane on the man’s throat. He beats him when he doesn’t give the right answer. Emma arrives and stops him.
Ashley and Mary Margaret sit around at the restaurant moping over their boy problems while Ruby makes her sweep across the room. Suddenly, Sean appears with a bouquet of roses and proposes to Ashley. She leaves with him, and Mary Margaret decides to leave as well. She stands outside in the crisp night air, and David appears next to her. He gives her his card, but he accidentally gives her Katherine’s card. She tells him that he should go home to be with Katherine. He promises that he won’t give up finding a way to be with her, and they go their separate ways.
Emma and Mr. Gold stand outside the cabin as the florist is loaded into an ambulance. She tries to figure out the real reason behind his attack because his reaction was too violent to be just about stealing. She arrests him after he tries to leave.
Rumplestiltskin frees Belle, but before she leaves, she tells him he’s a coward. He would have been happy if he had just believed that the curse could be broken. He says his power means more to him than she does. She doesn’t believe him, and she says he will regret the day he let her go.
Regina shows up with Henry at the station. She is allowing them thirty minutes together while Regina stays with Mr. Gold. It is time for them to have that conversation. He asks her if she has what he wants, and she replies that she does. She wants only one thing in return: his real name. He says that every moment he’s spent on this earth his name has been Mr. Gold. Regina asks about times spent in other places…hmm…. He replies, “Rumplestiltskin. Now give me what I want!” Regina hands him a chipped tea cup!
Rumplestiltskin sits at his spinning wheel as the Queen strides in uninvited. She has another deal for him, a certain mermaid! Hahaha! He tells her that she can keep trying, but she is never going to beat him. She says that she had nothing to do with “that tragedy.” Gaston had gone missing; her father had shunned her, locked her in a tower, and had men sent in to “cleanse her soul”; and she threw herself off the tower. He throws her out and places the chipped cup on a pedestal.
Regina is at the hospital, clearly with an agenda. She punches in a code and enters an incredibly secret area below the main hospital. She hands a rose to the nurse at the front desk. She walks back through the halls, stops in front of a room, lifts a flap in the door, and peers into the padded room. A crazed looking girl sits huddled in a corner and looks straight at Regina. Duh duh DUHN!!!!!!!!
I really liked this episode, which is surprising because Emilie de Ravin is not on my top ten. She just totally bugs, but she didn’t bother me as much as normal in this one. And I guess I really liked it because Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories. All in all, it was a great episode!
