New Once trailer!

Less than THREE WEEKS until Once Upon a Time's fourth season premiere! And there's a new trailer with a few new clips! And this GORGEOUS screenshot of Belle (Emilie de Ravin) in THE DRESS. The Rumbelle feels! *dies*

Rumbelle

Things have been crazy this week...I haven't had much time to read or write. So I thought I'd share some of my latest Rumbelle/Once Upon a Time Pinterest finds. :) I love these crazy kids. And Robert Carlyle? *swoon*

Source: herm-mudblood.deviantart.com viaRuth on Pinterest

Source: Ruth on Pinterest

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com viaRuth on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com viaRuth on Pinterest

Source: Ruth on Pinterest

I think the last two are my favorites. :) Happy Friday, people, and here's to a weekend that has been far to long a time coming!

Belle promoted to series regular!

I was absolutely THRILLED to learn this morning that Emilie de Ravin has been promoted to a series regular for Once Upon a Time's upcoming second season. That means MORE Belle and Rumple! SQUEE!!! :)

Last week it was also announced that Meghan Ory, a.k.a. Red, has also been promoted to series regular -- it is wonderful to see the show recognizing its strengths in planning for season two!

Once Upon a Time 1.14: "Dreamy"

This episode of Once Upon a Time revealed the backstory of the surprisingly lovelorn dwarf Grumpy (Lee Arenberg), hinted at when he first met Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) in prison when she was caught trying to break up Charming's wedding. Every love story in this show is SO SAD! Anyways...the episode opens in Fairy Tale Land, with the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) taking a pink fairy (who actually HAS A NAME) to task for being a klutz with some precious fairy dust (apparently its magic "powers the world" -- if that is the case, I'm thinking they need to cut off the Evil Queen's supply...just sayin'!). The pink fairy is named Nova (Amy Acker), a sweet and flighty dreamer who longs to be an official fairy godmother. So this brings up an interesting question -- if Nova is low fairy in the hierarchy, so to speak, why does she have a name and blue fairy is just "Blue"? Silly. So we have Nova the dreamer -- and some of her lost fairy dust falls through the ether and lands on an EGG in the dwarf mines, and out hatches Grumpy. This is a whole other issue much more disturbing than naming characters after colors -- why do dwarves hatch, fully grown?? This sorta creeps me out...

In Storybrooke we learn that Leroy, the Grumpy that was, has done a superlative job alienating his FTL dwarf friends, sadness. When Mary Margaret arrives at the diner in a mostly futile attempt to drum up volunteers for the upcoming Miner's Day festival, she gets so desperate she attempts to recruit Leroy. And he pulls out the HARLOT card (yes, apparently the dissolution of David and Kathryn's marriage is STILL all her fault). While attempting to buck up Mary Margaret's flagging spirits, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) gets a call -- a call that turns out to be the news about Kathryn's wrecked car. She heads out to investigate and Sidney (Giancarlo Esposito) shows up and offers to be all helpful (and Emma BUYS IT *headdesk*) and use his "contact" at the phone company to pull Kathryn's phone records. OF COURSE that contact turns out to be Regina (Lana Parrilla). *sigh*

Meanwhile, Leroy is stomping about the Miner's Day preparations and gets glitter spilled on his head by a nun named Astrid who turns out to be Nova. It is, of course, love at first sight. Which brings up a whole slew of other questions -- like what kind of nuns do former fairies make? And why nuns? And does Leroy have any idea who weird it is to watch him make googly eyes AT A NUN?! Did I mention Astrid is a NUN??? Weird. Those issues aside, Leroy and Astrid immediately click because that's what happens when FTL true loves meet in Storybrooke. She affirms his dream to sail around the world, and suddenly he decides that volunteering to sell the nuns' candles at the festival is the best idea ever. Of course people are going to buy stuff from Leroy, he's going to intimidate them into it, right? *wink*

Back in FTL, Grumpy-who-will-be is christened Dreamy by his special dwarf pick axe and gets the low-down on dwarf living --  no love, no women, no kids, just concentrate on mining the magic diamonds that are ground in to fairy dust that power the planet. Best part of this sequence? Dreamy and his dwarf brethren marching off to work whistling a familiar working song. :) So Dreamy does the whole mining thing for a while until one day the woman of his dreams, Nova, shows up to pick up a batch of freshly-ground fairy dust, and Dreamy has to save her from wasting dust TWICE ("my hero!"). Dreamy finds her klutziness adorable, and she drops a not-so-subtle hint that they should go "watch fireflies together." *wink,wink,nudge,nudge* This goes completely over Dreamy's head, so he gets all moody over dinner at the pub, and surprise, surprise, Belle (Emilie de Raven) is there to give him some advice -- he's in love. Now, while I loved seeing Belle in her iconic blue and white costume, I am sorta annoyed that her second appearance in the show felt somewhat wasted. I want Belle & Rumple scenes, dangit!! Belle's advice about being in love does raise an interesting question, though -- is this scene pre- or post- getting kicked out of the castle by Rumple? Thoughts?

In Storybrooke Leroy is all gung-ho to sell the nuns' candles which is apparently their only source of income. Thanks to Astrid's flightiness (ordering twelve dozen tanks of helium instead of just twelve -- why the heck do nuns need helium anyway?), the nuns are on the verge of being evicted by their landlord Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle). Mirroring the friendship we've seen earlier in FTL, Leroy and Mary Margaret band together to SAVE THE NUNS! and try going door-to-door to sell candles, but that pesky harlot tag gets all the doors of Storybrooke slammed in their faces. But Leroy is all "never say die" and decides to sell Mr. Gold his boat for the rent money, only of course Mr. Gold is all "I can't stand nuns, let's kick 'em to the curb." (Big win here being Mr. Gold in a sharp suit, yay!) Leroy's at his wits' end when Astrid shows up with a pie to thank him for his help, and when the truth of the matter -- that not a single candle has been sold -- is revealed, it appears that Leroy and Astrid are farther than ever from reclaiming their happy ending (hello, we still have the NUN ISSUE).

Wrapping things up in FTL, Dreamy's decided to say to heck with a dwarf's life and sail the seven seas with Nova, until Bossy dwarf (Ken Kramer) plants doubts in his mind that dwarves are incapable of love, and then Blue shows up and drops the bomb that if Nova forsakes her calling she'll LOSE HER WINGS (I suppose that's better than disbelieving children making fairies drop dead, right?). Basically if you are part of either of these two groups, don't buck the system. *sadness* However, I've got to say it was a bit of a refreshing change to have a FTL romance hit the rocks thanks to someone other than the Evil Queen. After breaking the bad news to Nova, Dreamy returns to the mines with a new, harsher edge, breaking his first axe and getting rechristened with the name Grumpy by its replacement. GRUMPY NEEDS A HUG.

In Storybrooke Leroy and Mary Margaret are having a pity party until he has a moment of zen -- life shouldn't be about letting your failures or regrets define you, but instead about holding on to the good memories, and building from that. Leroy is all inspired to CARPE DIEM and takes a pick axe to a transformer, knocking out the power. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda cheered. I'm a total sucker for big moments like that. :) So now every one of those Storybrooke ingrates want to buy candles and in the blink of an eye Mary Margaret and Leroy sell out. THE NUNS ARE SAVED, because everyone decides to use candles instead of, you know, fixing the transformer. A grateful Astrid is all chummy and BFF-y with Leroy, and apparently CANDLES is the way back from the whole tramp stamp thing for Mary Margaret since Granny (Beverley Elliott) offers her OWN CANDLE so Mary Margaret can light hers (oh the symbolism!).

So all's well that ends well...almost. There's a suspicious phone call from David (Josh Dallas) to Kathryn the day of her disappearance (on the oh-so-conveniently provided phone records from Regina's lackey, Sidney), and Regina is all fake-worried-friend up in arms about Emma doing her job and not showing bias towards her roomie. Emma knows she must DO HER DUTY and goes to the festival to bring David in for questioning. The shock and horror of seeing Charming hauled off in the back of a police cruiser is BEYOND WORDS. Anyone not in Regina's camp has to know somebody's gonna get railroaded, right? *sigh*

On the whole I'm a little ambivalent about this episode. Grumpy and Nova were sweet but overall this ep felt more like filler than critical backstory. And the whole dwarves-hatching-from-eggs and fairies-turning-into-nuns thing kinda weirded me out. :P I did, however, like seeing Leroy and Mary Margaret take some tentative steps toward re-establishing their friendship in the Storybrooke world. Thoughts?

Once Upon a Time 1.12: "Skin Deep"

"Skin Deep" is probably my favorite episode of Once Upon a Time to date. Not only does it introduce the Beauty and the Beast story to this world, which is a close second (if not tied for first) to Sleeping Beauty for all-time favorite fairy tale in my book, but it adds tremendous, fascinating layers to one of the show's most intriguing characters -- Rumplestiltskin the master trickster and deal-maker. I freely admit, when I learned that the show wasn't introducing a Prince/Beast character, instead using the whily Rumple to fill the Beast role, I was terribly concerned -- and honestly a bit disappointed. But all of my worries proved unfounded as this chapter of the enigmatic Mr. Gold's backstory is one of the show's most captivating hours of television.

The episode opens in Fairy Tale Land, where the master of yet another castle (seriously I would love to know if FTL is one big kingdom, because sometimes everything in Fairy Tale Land seems curiously disconnected) -- the aptly named Sir Maurice (Eric Keenleyside) -- receives the news that a nearby town as fallen to an Ogre attack (which brings up another question, is this a widespread problem in FTL?). Anyways, Maurice is pinning his hopes for deliverance on, of all people, Rumplestiltskin (I'm guessing Rumple's rep hasn't gotten around yet?). Rumple's price is Maurice's daughter, the lovely Belle (Emilie de Ravin), as he claims to need a housekeeper for his estate (REALLY?? Kinda lame reasoning but whatever...). In a nod to the fiesty, noble origins of her literary and filmic predecessors, Belle overrides all objections to the deal and agrees to go willingly with Rumple, because she and only she is the mistress of her fate.

Speaking of this story's antecedents, I loved seeing a "real-life" version of the gold gown made famous by the ball scene in the animated film. However, seeing Belle so exquisitely attired makes me wonder where exactly she ranks in FTL...a princess? a high-born lady? Also lifting the name of Maurice was a nice touch -- and his Storybrooke counterpart, a hapless rose seller in debt to Mr. Gold, shares a lot of personality characteristics with his scatter-brained animated counterpart. And I loved seeing Sage Brocklebank, better known as Buzz McNabb on Psych, as Belle's suitor Gaston -- but his appearance on the show was woefully underused (though I did like the no-nonsense way Rumple went about dispatching his "rival" ha!).

I'm going to try and cover the Storybrooke developments in this episode for everyone except Mr. Gold relatively quickly, since I'm all about Mr. Gold as far as this hour is concerned. :) Valentine's Day is fast approaching, which makes things sticky for Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas) since they want to be together openly but can't, all thanks to that pesky issue of his wife. Ashley (Jessy Schram), a.k.a. Cinderella, makes a welcome return appearance -- she's happier now that she's reunited with her baby's father, Sean (Tim Phillipps), but he's so busy picking up extra shifts that they hardly have any time together, much less plan a wedding (side note: factory work is quite a come-down from a prince gig, hmm?). In an attempt to get over the romance blues, Ruby (Meghan Ory) suggests that she, Mary Margaret, and Ashley enjoy a girls' night out.

The girls' night really only ends well for Ashley, as Sean unexpectedly shows up and proposes (will a rift in the earth open up to swallow the couple if they try to tie the knot, and make their happy ending official? only time will tell!). Ashley and Sean's commitment to work at their relationship has Mary Margaret distinctly dissatisfied with carrying on with David in secret -- a point that is driven home by David accidentally giving her the wrong Valentine's card, the one intended for Kathryn. Note to David: YOU CANNOT MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY. The biggest effect of the curse on Charming appears to be wishy-washiness! :P

While all of these Valentine's Day shenanigans are going on, Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) returns to his home to find out that he's been robbed, and in response to Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) attempt to be ironic, he replies "Yeah well, I'm a difficult man to love." ANGST! OHMYGOSH I LOVE ANGST! Back in FTL, which let's remember is the best thing about this episode (gah! so good!), Belle has been settling into life at Rumple's castle. While I miss Belle's bookish tendencies, the show more than compensates for it by the way in which Belle refuses to be cowed by Rumple's manner (or lack thereof). While attempting to rip open some curtains (which Rumple had nailed shut, gotta love his thoroughness), Belle falls from a ladder and Rumple catches her AND THEY HAVE THIS MOMENT and this is the point where I just DIE because I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

So I have no idea how long, exactly, Belle was at Rumple's castle, but the point is it was long enough for them to build a wonderful little rapport and, perhaps most critically, for Rumple to not do the creepy psychotic laughing thing he does so often that drives me INSANE. So Rumple, because he has a boatload of issues and because he will look a gift horse in the mouth if you'll excuse the expression, reaches the point where he'll test Belle, sending her on an errand to fetch more straw for his spinning wheel, all the while fully expecting she won't return. And perhaps she would've run -- but seriously who is going to run from a guy like Rumple who is so CLEARLY REPRESSING A HEART, right? En route to the straw store (ha!) Belle meets the Queen (Lana Parrilla) -- and seriously does this woman get around or what? -- or else FTL is the size of Rhode Island. I can't decide. The Queen gets all chummy and plants the idea in the love-conflicted Belle that perhaps her employer is cursed, and OF COURSE all curses can be broken by true love's kiss.

And this is where things get heart-breaking. Filled with hope Belle returns to the castle and Rumple is absolutely adorable in how he WON'T admit he's happy she came back. *swoons* She kisses him and HE STARTS TO TRANSFORM! And I love this because I'm all about redemption stories! But this of course freaks the heck out of Rumple because if he becomes a normal man again he loses his powers. He goes completely off the rails then, accusing Belle of being in league with the Queen in a plot to destroy him and throws her in a prison cell. Oh the DRAMA, I can't TAKE IT PEOPLE!

Rumple ends up kicking Belle out into dark cold FTL, because power means more to him than love ever could. And this is why we love Belle, people, because she is so freaking NOBLE throughout the whole ordeal, leaving Rumple to his tortured aloneness. *sigh* A few days (weeks? who knows with this show) later, the Queen shows up and starts needling Rumple about Belle, dropping the bomb that her father kicked her out and she committed suicide. WHAT THE HECK, right?! This sends Rumple over the edge (again), and he throws a fit which is just HEART-BREAKING and then he sets a tea cup that Belle chipped (hellloooo CHIP!) as a memorial on a pedestal, his most treasured possession.

Back in Storybrooke, Mr. Gold has been arrested after Emma finds him beating the living daylights out of Belle's flower-selling Storybrooke father. Here's the thing -- I am not condoning vigilantism -- but holy cow seeing Mr. Gold in a rage over whatever the Storybrooke equivalent of driving Belle to suicide is -- the emotion and passion Carlyle puts in that moment is kinda hot. And here's where I might as well admit on the blog what I had a discussion with my friend Kaye about shortly after this episode aired -- I've always found Mr. Gold/Rumple kind of strangely hot. I have this problem with the random (apparent? assumed?) villain (see Chauvelin from The Scarlet Pimpernel). I think it has something to do with Mr. Gold's penchant for really sharp suits, unflappable (albeit cold) manners -- even in FTL Rumple wears sharp vests and his posture is to die for. Seriously. I really can overlook the scaly skin. Amazing!*

 

In jail Regina buys a few minutes of one-on-one time with Mr. Gold by giving Emma permission to (finally!) spend some time with Henry (Jared Gilmore). And this moment gave me chills -- she returns the chipped tea cup she arranged to have stolen from Gold's house only after he tells her is real name. When he breathes that word, "Rumplestiltskin," and all of their cards were on the table -- oh well-played Once, well-played. (The icing on the cake is, of course, the revelation that Belle is being held prisoner in like the friggin' basement of the Storybrooke hospital. BOOOOO REGINA!!!!)

 

I find it absolutely fascinating that this show has chosen to give viewers such hope for Rumple's character. Frankly after the whole Graham debacle they could reveal that Snow did in fact do something truly horrible to Regina, but I STILL wouldn't care because SHE CRUSHED GRAHAM'S HEART DANGIT. But Rumple -- oh goodness, the possibility that he has a happy ending out there if only he can bring himself to accept it, oh that is a tantalizing hope. Tread carefully, Once writers -- I am extremely emotionally invested in how this storyline turns out. I suspect that this story will be carefully parsed out over the course of the show -- and I hope, oh how I hope that Mr. Gold lives up to the promise hinted at in this episode.

 

Seeing as this is one of my favorite episodes, even though I'm a few weeks late I'd love to discuss. :)

 

*I'm really glad my Robert Carlyle/Rumple/Mr. Gold fascination is out in the open. :P