ONCE UPON A TIME: Rumpelstiltskin Learns the Truth about “The Black Fairy”

By Meredith Loftus

Rumpelstiltskin Learns the Truth about “The Black Fairy”

In the latest episode of Once Upon A Time the heroes of Storybrooke band together in order to defeat the Black Fairy. Rumple, Emma, and Gideon travel into Rumple’s dream realm to find the location of Gideon’s heart while the rest of the team looks for the remaining pieces of the wand that can send the Black Fairy away from their realm for good. When the Black Fairy confronts some of the heroes at Granny’s, Regina squares off with her, only for Zelena to drive in (yes, we said drive) and save the day.

Meanwhile in the dream realm, the key to defeating the Black Fairy is found while uncovering the real reason why Rumple’s mother abandoned him. It turns out that Rumple was originally prophesized to be the Savior. Fiona, his mother, did not want to give up her magic so she used the golden shears to cut away his fate of being a Savior. When he returns to Storybrooke, Rumple faces his mother, the Black Fairy, and seemingly lets her off the hook. The rest of Storybrooke is preparing for the wedding of the century, while the Black Fairy and Rumple are about to begin the final battle.

A Cruel Cycle

Evil isn’t born; it’s made. From the beginning of this fantasy drama Once Upon A Time has been able to tap into the darkest of characters and pull out their humanity. Not every character is wholly good or purely evil. The show has allowed us to dive in and discover how the darker characters got that way. There is light and dark in all of us, such in the way that is for the Black Fairy. In “The Black Fairy” we see how Fiona follows the pattern of other parents in the series who chose magic over parenthood. It started innocently enough. Fiona was afraid of her son’s fate that comes with being the Savior. She put off giving him a name until she could guarantee that her son would be safe from the great evil with the crescent mark. She became a fairy to have more access to magic. The more she learned about magic, the more obsessed she became with it. It got to the point where she created the Dark Curse that would send her newborn son, as well as the rest of the children in the realm, to the land without magic in order to save him. When Tiger Lily tried to stop her, she exposed the crescent mark that formed on Fiona’s wrist. She became the great evil against which she was trying to protect her son. Then when she was given the option to cleave herself from her own fate, Fiona became too attached to magic that she sacrificed Rumple’s light destiny for her own sake.

This should all sound very familiar. The same beats played out with her husband, Malcolm, as well as her son, Rumple. Malcolm was angry that Rumple was responsible for his wife’s undoing that he spent much of his time chasing to reclaim the simpler days of his youth and later traded his son for eternal youth to become Peter Pan. As for Rumple, instead of becoming the Savior, he became the Dark One and later got separated from both of sons after he chose his power over them. This family has a certain addiction to magic and power that it destroys the very things they want to love and protect.

Rumple gets the answers he has been searching for his whole life, but it now leaves him at a crossroad. His mother took his fate into her hands and seemingly denied him a certain destiny, plus she stole his newborn son away from him. On the other hand, he was not abandoned the way he thought he was all those years ago. He sees his life story reflected back in the Black Fairy. No matter what, a part of him is still that child just wanting to be loved by his mother. So for now, he has made a choice. He has aligned himself with the Black Fairy in order to get back Gideon’s heart and protect his family. However, don’t write off the Dark One just yet. He has been on the road to redemption again this half of the season. Plus, he is the master manipulator of the realms. There may be a big heroic moment from the other savior ahead.

The Stakes for the Final Battle

The final battle is coming. The Black Fairy and Rumple are going to kick start it at some point during next week’s musical episode for Emma and Killian’s wedding. There is quiet before the storm. In order to keep things light for the penultimate episode, we are going to look at some of the stakes for the battle ahead now.

Regina is not known for being an optimist. She tends to have contingency plans in her back pocket should the worst happen. With the final battle looming, she creates her newest back up plan for the thing she loves most: Henry. Regina asks her half-sister, Zelena, to take Henry with her and Baby Robyn to New York City to start over should she lose her life. It’s incredible because for most of the season she has pushed Zelena away out anger and pain from losing Robin Hood. In the last episode, Regina and Zelena start to make the repairs in their relationship after Zelena apologizes for the damage she caused and sacrifices her magic in order to stop the Black Fairy. Henry might lose most of his family from the final battle but Zelena’s redemption gives Regina hope that she can now trust her with her son’s life moving forward.

As it was mentioned at earlier, Rumple is going into this final battle seemingly on his mother’s side. By surface-level deception alone, he risks losing Belle and Gideon again after lying to them yet again. However, Rumple has taken the initiative in doing the right thing and trying to save his son. He has a track record for doing the right thing through the wrong means. For instance, he placed Blue in a coma to keep Gideon from staining himself with murder. Rumple was originally destined to be the Savior and destroy the great evil in the final battle. He may not be the current savior, but this is definitely set up for Rumple battling his mother and really being the one to end this once and for all.

Worth Mentioning

• Line of the episode goes back to queen of sassy one-liners, Zelena, taking on the Swedes: “I didn’t name it. IKEA did.” Also, it was so fun watching Regina attempt to teach Zelena how to drive. That’s taking sister bonding to a Fast & Furious level.
  
• We need to talk about the incredibly sweet moment that Killian asked Henry to join Operation Best Man. This wasn’t out of any obligation or trying to win the teen over. These two have really been through a lot together, from working together to save Emma in Operation Light Swan to their latest adventure on the Nautilus. Henry is Emma’s first true love, so for Killian to want him to stand by his side on a day that is meant to celebrate true love… cue all the tears!
• Remember in the last episode where Snow and Charming agreed to stop wedding planning until the Black Fairy was defeated? Well apparently they did because the wedding is the next day. Did they agree on a venue? Are they going to use magic to get everything ready? This raises more questions than answers, but we need to get to that wedding so I guess I’ll let it slide this time.
• At the beginning of the season, the golden shears were introduced as a tool to cut yourself from your current destiny. It’s impressive that they managed to have relevance all season, especially when Fiona used it on Rumple when he was a baby. Kudos.
• Is Blue still the Black Fairy’s prisoner in the mines? Won’t that ring some warning bells if she is not at the wedding the next day?
• Blue told the heroes that the other piece of the wand was in the center of Storybrooke, which really meant the heart of it. While I’m not surprised that the wand was in Granny’s, it’s interesting that she chose to keep it under the jukebox. I guess the real heart of Storybrooke is a song in their heart, which we shall hear lots of that singing in next week’s musical episode. Prepare for fun songs, sweet moments, and lots of fun!