Recap: ONCE UPON A TIME The Love Between Dark Ones Was Strained

Episode 510 “Broken Heart”

Coming off the last episode, which was dismal, this one was a lot better. It answered a few questions. And Colin O’Donoghue’s performance was wonderful, even adapting some of the mannerisms of Rumpelstiltskin as the Dark One, though he seems to be the only one without the skin condition. Unfortunately, they made Merlin seem like some helpless wimp in this episode. It seemed like there was a whole lot of hand-of-the-writers in this episode in that regard, but it was probably just to bring the story to an end, with the next episode being the mid-season finale. And as a side note, as odd as the relationships in this show tend to be, apparently, Lancelot’s mother is the Lady of the Lake. Figure that one.

In the process of being reborn as a Dark One, Hook was reminded of his rocky past with Rumpelstiltskin. As a Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin is the voice in his head promising his chance at revenge. He openly resented Emma for turning him into what he had become. Both being Dark Ones, they not only both saw the imaginary Rumpel, they also deceived each other throughout the episode. Though at a point, Emma did give Excalibur to Hook so he could control himself.

At Granny’s Diner outside of Camelot, Merlin was leaving the message that the others saw later in Storybrooke when the Dark One, that being Hook, walked in and interrupted. Hook planned to cast a dark spell that would return everyone to Storybrooke. To do so, he had to crush the heart of the one he loved most. He refused to crush Emma’s. But being a Dark One, Nimue still lived inside of him. By crushing Merlin’s heart, Nimue would be crushing the heart of the one she loved most. And Arthur took the assault way too easily. The world’s greatest wizard was outsmarted and overpowered by someone who had dark powers for, like, a day and a half. Seriously? Then Hook sent Excalibur back to the stone. At least the part about Excalibur being back in the stone was explained well.

Emma’s recourse was to take Hook’s memory of being a Dark One. But she couldn’t stop there. She had to take the memories of everyone who knew he was a Dark One. She added the memory loss to the spell. Then the purple cloud took them and all of Camelot.

In Storybrooke, Emma’s magic was negated by the arm band put on her by Zelena. And everyone had trouble trusting her. Especially Henry. That paid off wonderfully a bit later when Henry helped Emma find all the dreamcatchers Hook stole containing everyone’s memories, including Emma’s which he had just taken. He also removed the bracelet negating her magic.

Zelena has her baby back. Regina and Robin decided to let her have the little girl. Regina hoped that her child would do for her what Henry did for her and make her a better person. Zelena did have one of the best lines ever, which she said to Robin: “Once you go green, you never go Queen.” Classic!

Instead of killing Rumpelstiltskin, Hook gave him a fighting chance by challenging him to a sword fight on Hook’s ship. Since Rumpel’s sword couldn’t kill him, all he would have to do is get Excalibur from Hook. They didn’t show as much of the fight as I would have liked thanks to commercials and more story. But it was entertaining. Just as it looked hopeless for Rumpel, he managed to get the sword from Hook. And in his newfound heroism, he let Hook live with the knowledge that Rumpel got the best of him. It will come back to bite later due to the use of the hook to cut Rumpel’s arm. But on the bright side, he no longer has the limp. Hook healed him for the fight.

After, Rumpel went back to meet Belle … who dumped him. I’m thinking that Hook may have her heart and made her do it to hurt Rumpel just like Emma did with Violet. But we shall see. There’s still another episode this season left to explain it.

So now a lot of loose ends have been tied up and questions have been answered. And everyone finally got their memories back. But the darkness in the Dark Ones still remains. And if that wasn’t enough, Rumpelstiltskin had died and come back to life. He’d been to Hell and back. As such, his blood was all Hook needed to summon the boat from the underworld driven by a cloaked figure … Nimue! And she came back with all of the past Dark Ones … in the flesh! Now it’s set up for a nice showdown.

All in all a great episode, though I am quite a bit dissatisfied with how Merlin was used. Hopefully the mid season finale will keep up the intensity, and even offer some sort of tie-in with the last episode that might redeem it slightly.