Wow I think I ended up quoting half the episode in my notes. I knew I loved The Black Fairy and now I know why, I’m hoping we’re going to get a lot of parallel gifsets because they weren’t shy about drawing attention to how similar Rumple and his mother were in their choices. They both started with the best of intentions and then it all went downhill from there.

Spoilers for 6.19 The Black Fairy under the cut.

Rumple’s Backstory
Now we know why Malcolm hated him so much as a child! He blamed Rumple for the loss of his mother. The “love of my life” “dead because of him” and that also explains Malcolm’s downslide. He wasn’t always a drunk conman, he just spiraled into depression. Then when he had a chance to become Peter Pan and get a do-over then he jumped at it. No responsibilities, no reminders of what he had lost. He retreated to his childhood because only adults lose the love of their lives.

It’s horrible because none of it was Rumple’s fault but it’s understandable. I actually feel kinda bad for Malcolm now. He had responsibility for Rumple and should have pulled himself together, and tried to be better. Malcolm made bad choices but depression’s like that sometimes. Maybe he convinced himself Rumple would be better off, in a negative spiral like that it’s very easy to convince yourself of a lot of things. I’m guessing Rumplestiltskin had some kind of meaning, some kind of negative thing, long before it was Rumple’s name which is why Malcolm picked it – he did say it was perfect.

I totally called it with Fiona becoming the prophesied evil but I really like how that played out. The dialogue was excellent and Jaime Murray was incredible – “evil wasn’t born this winter, it was made” – I just really love this. I am a real sucker for self-fulfilling prophecies. That’s what happened to Rumple with losing Bae, and that’s what happened with Fiona and losing Rumple.

At the beginning I kept waiting for the reveal that she had been a fairy before and given it up, and her transforming into a fairy was kinda weird, but Tiger Lily said it was “impossible” so I guess a one-off thing isn’t so bad. Maybe that’s how fairies originally came about. Tiger Lily did say that Fiona had read more fairy-lore than most fairies.

“A boy would be born with great light magic. A child known as the savior” – excuse me while I scream! Rumple as a hero, as the savior – that is just so cool! I actually wrote a pretty crappy oneshot fix-it fic which resulted in Rumple becoming the savior in present day Storybrooke. Seeing him in that role on the show brought a smile to my face. Rumple was always meant to be the hero, and while he might be more of an anti-hero these days, I still see him as a hero. Knowing he was supposed to be the savior, it’s a great addition to his backstory – I love it!

“I need my power. If I sever his destiny we can be together and I can still be strong enough to protect him.” – that is like hearing Rumple talk in a way. “I promise you my son I will spend every moment of every day trying to find my way back to you” – Rumple made a similar pledge about Bae. That he would love nothing or no-one else until he found him. It really went full circle.

Present Day Gold Family
“I’ve already lost one son and I can’t lose another” – “He won’t, not as long as his mother draws breath” “He’s so lucky to have you” “Sometimes I feel like this is our families fate, parents and children always torn apart” – I have so many feelings about this. Curses on Emma (not really) for interrupting because I really want to know what Rumple would have said next as it felt like he wasn’t finished, and then I want to know what Belle would have said in response.

I really feel like Rumple and Belle are coming back together. They are more like how they were in 5B, where Belle acknowledged that “nobody would fight for their son more than his father” and she kinda said the same thing again in this episode. “Do you trust me Belle?” “I trust you’ll do what is right for him, for our family” – and she uses the modifier because Rumple does things she doesn’t agree with.

I think maybe Belle supports Rumple’s motives because usually he is trying to do the right kind of thing, but she rarely supports his actions. Rumple is ends justify the means and Belle very much isn’t. It’s only when it comes to their family, that she will support him doing whatever it takes, which is why it’s in regards to their family that she trusts him.

“A great evil is coming for my son and in that final battle he’ll be killed” – this is when I guessed that Fiona was going to be the great evil. This is basically still active but obviously I hope because she severed Rumple from his fate, that he doesn’t have to die. I think Rumple would die if necessary because he basically sacrificed himself to destroy the evil threatening the town at the end of 3A, when he killed his father. He definitely has it in him to do that.

“You chose your power over mine.” – “You sentenced me to a life of cowardice.” “Everything I did was for you, to protect you.” “It’s a vile and dangerous world son.” “because of villains like you and me” “then you know if my choice was wrong I did it out of love.” – “I became the dark one to save Bae from the ogres war. I wanted to sever Gideon from his fate so he wouldn’t hate me.” – I said I could practically quote half the episode. So many parallels and as I said at the beginning they weren’t shy about pointing them out. I suspect this will be important, maybe with Rumple making a different choice from his mother in the finale.

“Thank you for fighting for me” “I’d do anything for you son” – that hug, that desperate look, poor Rumple. Honestly all the awards. Some battles are harder than others and I actually really liked that Emma acknowledged that. As it turns out they have being the savior in common but they always had more than that but it’s been years since we’ve seen it. “You and I are people who are really bad at being vulnerable” – personal, emotional battles can be harder than the most grueling and deadly of duels.

Then when Emma said “You did good, savior” at the end and even though I knew it wasn’t over and that there was going to be some kind of twist because of filming spoilers, I was still really happy at that moment. Although I suppose Rumple pulling a fast-one is why Emma et al don’t trust him, and badmouth him all the time. Here they thanked him, it felt quite inclusive, Emma acknowledged their shared duty in a way, and of course it was all a lie. I really hope Rumple knows what he’s doing.

It’s not just his frenemies he lied to either and it’s obvious that Rumple feels guilty about that. “Well it’s over now, the black fairy will never again be a problem for us.” “I’m proud of you, you did what you said you would, you fought for this family. you saved your son.” “I’ll make a promise to you Belle, and to you Gideon. It may not always seem apparent at the time but everything I do is always for you, to keep you safe.” – this was really ominous, it’s like he’s begging them to understand, begging them to forgive him.

He’s clearly made a choice because he believes it’s best (though we don’t understand why yet) and he’s terrified they won’t understand. Although really I wish he would let them in on his plan. I strongly believe that if Rumple told them, and explained everything, then they wouldn’t be angry. I think Belle gets angry about the lying, even more than whatever shady plan Rumple is doing. She doesn’t expect him to be perfect, she just wants him to be honest. However, yet again Rumple has made a bad decision and left Belle and Gideon ignorant (and sleeping) while he’s out doing shady stuff. I wish he wouldn’t do that. Just tell them the truth!

Other Stuff
“Talking donuts” – swanfire callback – love it! Everything would have been better with Neal but at least he’s not completely forgotten. He’s mostly forgotten by everyone but Rumple normally, so it’s always nice to see little snippets like this.

“When the final battle comes how am I going to protect my daughter?” – you know I don’t usually feel for Zelena and the talk of her “sacrifice which saved them all” is a bit much but her priorities are in the right place. Also I liked that she refused to use Regina’s magic as a crutch. That could just be Zelena being ferociously independent but either way, it’s a good sign I think.

Actually I liked Zelena throughout this episode to be honest. Her learning to drive a car was hilarious and when she ran the Black Fairy over I just thought this was brilliant. It was one of those little moments when the show doesn’t take itself too seriously and I do enjoy those. I wasn’t thrilled by the sisterly bonding because Henry is Neal’s son, and Zelena killed him, so Regina asking Zelena to take care of Henry was kinda creepy.

However “the thing about battles is not everyone makes it through” – at least Regina is thinking about Henry’s safety for a change. Trying to get him out of harm’s way is leagues better than dragging him along to the underworld. Henry is a kid and while he has a good heart, he doesn’t belong in the battle, so even if Zelena is just the best of a bad set of options, at least Regina is trying to protect her son.

I absolutely loved Regina vs the Black Fairy face-off. Couldn’t we just have had those two fighting for an entire episode? Perhaps instead of the musical next week? Seriously I loved their fight, it was just far too short.

“We should have a safeword or something” – show being self-aware, again I really enjoy these little quips. Emma used to joke about things sometimes like “the wicked witch, she’s real too?” but we haven’t seen that so much lately. Speaking of Emma she’s been looking a bit more like her old self, and much happier, last couple of episodes. It’s always hard to believe the show when actions say one thing and their dialogue says another, because I tend to believe what I can see, not in their words.

However, with Emma looking better, then it’s easier to swallow the decisions she’s making in regards to Hook. I still don’t like what they have done with Hook as a character, I still don’t think he’s right for Emma, and Hook’s dialogue really makes me cringe sometimes. I sometimes wonder actually if the writers intend for it to sound like it does, because it rarely sounds good. Anyway, Emma is looking better and she definitely was more like herself when she talked with Rumple in this episode, so that was good to see.

Conclusion
Basically oh Rumple what did you do and why? I know he’ll have a good reason but I’m still worried about the fallout from it. Perhaps it was to do with Gideon’s heart. I mean Gideon didn’t know where it was and Rumple said that if Emma defeated the Black Fairy, then they would never find it and “Gideon would be lost forever” so perhaps Rumple made a deal with the Black Fairy. He would pretend to have defeated her, and in return he got Gideon’s heart.

Now that he has Gideon’s heart, then the Black Fairy doesn’t have anymore leverage (that we know about) so he can destroy her at the first optimal moment. I’m hoping that was it. Maybe he had to give up the wand as insurance so he needs to steal it back first? Rumple is king of buying time so this all makes sense. We’ll find out soon enough I guess!