A force to be reckoned with

Once Upon a Time

Season 1 episode 8 –   “Desperate Souls”    

Over the hills and far away, a man sat with his son spinning straw. It’s a menial task but one he does well. The man is trouble. His country is at war and his superiors are asking a terrible price. They are asking for their children, they are asking for his son. The man, a coward by choice and reputation, fears for the life of his young boy. The boy is brave, he’ll fight but the man won’t let that happen. The man has faced the terrors of war. He has felt the fire that burnt and scarred and twisted him into the mess of a man he was today. He will not let them take his son. Hard time makes desperate men of everyone, right?

With that, let’s discuss.

“Desperate Souls” I think was my favourite episode since the pilot.

Were the links between the two-worlds a little heavy handed in places? Yes. 

Did I not have a clue how the Sheriff race between two applicants with absolutely no police training between them was actually possible? You betcha.

But overall, if you suspend belief about some parts (seriously, no law enforcement experience) this episode worked for me and it’s mostly because of the one man. Well, one man, two characters.

So far in the life of Once Upon a Time (or OUAT for those of you playing along at home and don’t want to type the whole thing anymore,) Rumpelstiltskin, has been a magnificent, mischievous, manipulative and mysterious figure, who in has had his twisted fingers in everybody else’s stories since the beginning of the show. In this episode however, we got to look not only at the man behind the nymph but his Storybrooke counterpart Mr Gold as well.

In one world he was a broken down, sorry-excuse of a man manipulated into a cursed identity and in the other realm he was a powerful man, able to put in place a masterful plot in order to gain a better favour from a fair, now more influential maiden, who unfortunately couldn’t see it coming through all her hair extensions .

To breakdown this episode, let’s look at two of the most desperate souls this episode:

Emma Swan- Because they  have decided to stick with the whole “Graham’s dead” thing, Miss Swan’s mission in episode 8, to take Storybrooke’s police department back by force and what’s more powerful a force then someone really, really desperate. In one corner we have Emma Swan, deputy of two days and attempted good guy. In the other corner we have Sidney Glass, a reflection of Regina’s control of the town. There is no third corner.

Good luck Storybrooke.

Henry, currently playing the part of the littlest boy blue, is still devastated over Graham’s death (you and me both buddy) and has come to the conclusion that evil will always win because good plays fair. Emma, not sure how to proceed with this week’s foiling of whatever Regina wants to do, gets a surprise visit from the one and only Mr Gold, who is more than happy to lend a hand.

Some fairy dust, some hopes and wishes and a little loophole in the carter finding later and presto Emma is back in the Sheriff race. While we know that Emma is probably the best person for the job, the currently brainwashed townsfolk are not so sure. It’s not until a mysterious fire in Cruella de Vil’s Regina’s office and saves the ungrateful Mayor’s life does she generate some positive buzz.

 

But alas, a scheme is afoot. Because Emma is pretending to be a police officer she comes to the correct conclusion that Mr Gold, first name unknown, set the fire in order to make her Storybrooke’s newest hero. Emma, who is trying to show Henry that good can win without cheating, comes clean about the pawn shop owner’s treachery and by doing so convinces the amnesic fairytale characters to think “yeh, she’ll do.”  

Emma, all awash with half-felt joy is in for a major surprise. Mr Gold, predicting that she will take the hero’s path, orchestrated the whole thing. It wasn’t enough that should stood up or saved Regina, she needed to be seen standing up to someone more powerful and hated, Mr Gold himself. Why did he do this for her?

Remember years back when Emma promised him a favour in return for not taking Cinderella’s baby (this show!) well it’s not Emma Swan he needs the favour from, it’s Sheriff Swan. See what he did there?!

But how did he know that she would do everything he thought that she would? He knows how to recognise a desperate soul?

How did Mr Gold get so smart?

Rumpelstiltskin: Mirroring in some ways Emma’s tale, this episode we saw how Rumpelstiltskin got his groove. A runner away of war, all Rumpelstiltskin wants to do is save his son, Baelfire (Dylan Schmid) from conscription to fight the ogres (seriously this show!) and due to his panic and fear, he follows the advice of Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif: they call him the “old beggar,” but I know the truth) who gives him instructions on how to control the magical and evil magical mastermind, the Dark One, whose power is used to control the people.

It was a bad idea to trust Wormtongue, ask Theodoen. Instead of gaining control of the Dark One, the beggar in disguise, you become the Dark One. While his son and the general public are horrified, Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t seem to mind the upgrade. However, if you listen closely, on a quiet night, you can hear the cries of panic coming from the first borns of Fairytale land, past, present and future.

Now, how did the Dark One know that Rumpelstiltskin was the man for the job? He knew how to recognise a desperate soul. See what they did there?

Anyway, that was good. I enjoyed that. If they keep making episodes like that I might just forgive them for killing off Graham. Maybe, probably not, no.