Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 250 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT To Catch A Thief
By Cindy McLennan | Season 2 | Episode 19 | Aired on 2013.04.21
Enchanted Forest. Rumpy's Estate. As Belle sweeps the drawing room, she listens to Robin Hood screaming in pain. Soon, Rumpy finds her. He's carrying a bloody apron and looking for a clean one, but they're all still drying. Yes, and we're supposed to accept Belle's love for him. I just can't. Don't misunderstand. Belle isn't afraid to challenge Gold for torturing Robin, just for stealing a wand. That's part of what's frustrating. She knows how ruthless he is, and yet we're supposed to buy that she loved him so much that her kiss could have broken the Dark One's Curse, provided he let it.
Rumpy throws the dirty apron Belle's way, and orders her to clean it too, utters some threat about eventually killing Robin and then leaves. Alone, Belle makes her way down to the dungeon, brings Robin a drink and then frees him. He has a few bloody lash marks on his chest, but not enough that Rumpy should have soiled even one apron, never mind several. I'm not sure, but I'm taking this to mean Rumpy tortures his victim 'til he's a bloody mess, heals him and starts fresh. Robin worries that by freeing him, Belle is making herself a target. He tells her to escape with him. Belle can't, or Rumpy will turn his wrath on her people and land. She watches as Robin flees. We flash forward to...
Storybrooke. Mayor's Office. Gold demands to know what Regina has done to Belle. Regina plays obtuse, but finally admits she's given Belle her cursed memories. I sort of feel that, much like Charming when he woke first from his coma, when Belle was in the secret hospital basement (before the curse was broken), she had no memories or identity at all. And as it happened when Charming saw the windmill in Gold's Shop, the enchanted Rabbit Hole matchbook finally gave Belle a cursed identity. Does that sound right to you? Gold orders Regina to undo it, but she says she can't. Lacey is here to stay. Rumpy threatens Regina, but she is unafraid, because she knows he's on his best behavior, in order to win back his son. Regina rubs in the fact that while only true love's kiss can break the spell, in her current persona, Lacey doesn't feel the same about him. She mocks Gold for insisting he'll make Laceybelle love him. Gold mutters threats about coming suffering, but Regina blows him off, wishes him good luck and says, "Give my best to Lacey." Commercial.
Sidebar: Okay, why didn't true love's kiss work when Gold first tried it on amnesiac Belle? Is it because she couldn't remember him? I'm not sure if I like that rule. Snow was stuck in the sleeping curse, yet Charming's kiss healed her. I guess she still remembered him though. Magical convolutions give me a headache, so I'm moving on.