In "The Bear and the Bow," Rumplestiltskin is inspired to become the hero everyone needs.
In Once Upon A Time’s “The Bear and the Bow,” we get a few steps closer to finding the answers to our questions, but in return, we are left asking a few more.
In Camelot, roughly five weeks before everyone has lost their memories, Merlin (Elliot Knight), David (Josh Dallas), Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and Belle (Emilie de Ravin) break into Arthur’s (Liam Garrigan) dungeon and set Lancelot (Sinqua Walls) and Merida (Amy Manson) free.
In present day Storybrooke, Regina (Lana Parrilla), Hook, David, Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Belle all want to use the Crimson Crown — the magical mushroom they can use to talk across barriers — to talk to Merlin in a different realm. But there’s a catch: they need someone chosen by Merlin to drop the mushroom in the potion. The first person they think of is Arthur. Based on Arthur’s reputation, he isn’t trustworthy. I hope they have someone else in mind in case this backfires.
When Merida returns with Emma (Jennifer Morrison) to her campsite in the middle of the forest, she finds that Rumple is gone. Merida doesn’t know what more she can do. She is incapable of turning Rumple into the hero Emma wants. Emma has another plan though, “Find Belle and put an arrow through her heart.”
Back in Camelot, Merida distracts Belle they break away from the group. This was Merida’s plan all along for she raises a rock above Belle’s head and knocks her unconcious. Merida is adamant on getting her brothers back. Belle says she could’ve asked for help and she would have. Merida says, “I’m more of a hit now and ask later kind of lass.” They set off to find a way to rescue Merida’s brothers.
In present day, Belle is looking for a way to find Rumple (Robert Carlyle). Then she hears a clicking sound coming from the elevator that leads to Regina’s lair. Out from the elevator comes none other than Rumpelstiltskin himself! Rumple tells Belle that in order to turn him into the hero Emma needs, Merida is going to attack her.
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Six weeks earlier, Belle and Merida reach a little cottage in a place called DunBroch. The cottage holds different kinds of magical instruments. Merida and Belle see a vision of her brothers strapped to poles and a tribe of men standing around them. The tribe is lashing out against Merida because she wants to rule her clan by herself and doesn’t need a man’s help. This sounds like the plotline of The Princess Diaries 2.
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Merida proposes to Belle that they change fate. I don’t know much about fate, but I’m pretty positive you aren’t supposed to go around changing it. Something awful is going to happen, I can feel it. They find a potion that will give Merida the strength of ten men and turn her into a bear.
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Back in Storybrooke, Belle takes Rumple to his pawn shop to seek refuge. Seriously, guys? Isn’t that the most obvious place to hide? Sure enough, Merida and her deadly arrows show up ready to kill. Merida urges Rumple “to be the hero we all need.” He won’t do it. He is the biggest coward ever. He won’t risk his own life to save the person he loves. Instead, Belle pulls the rug out from under Merida’s feet, literally. While Merida is on the floor unconscious, Rumple goes to his safe and pulls out a little sack that contains magic that will keep them safe. They flee to the town line. Belle commands him to stop the car. She gets out and returns to town only to be stopped by Merida. Merida has a potion, the some potion from six weeks earlier; the one that turns her into a bear! Oh, no! Rumple, save her!
Meanwhile, Regina, Hook and Mary Margaret are preparing the potion when David shows up with Arthur. He says he will help as long as they all leave and give him his time alone with Merlin. Being the idiots they are, they leave him alone. As soon as they leave, Arthur throws the mushroom into the fire. When he returns to the group, he claims to have “lost signal” with Merlin.
Six weeks earlier, Merida confronts the clan that has her brothers captive. Merida takes the potion and … nothing happens! Belle switched out the potion with water. Belle is very sneaky!
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The leaders of the clan go to shoot her brothers. Merida shoots an arrow that takes out the three arrows that were to kill her brother. Yay! They’re all safe! And on top of that, Merida has earned the respect of the clan, so she can rule independently.
In Storybrooke, everything looks bleak. Merida The Bear has Belle cornered but, out of nowhere, Rumple comes to save the day. He defeats Merida by throwing the sack of magic into the bear’s mouth. She is transformed into her normal self. “You saved me,” says Belle. But Rumple disagrees, “Actually, I think you saved me.” Despite their bumpy past, they are able to love one another again.
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Rumple and Belle return Merida to Emma’s dungeon. Rumple will only do what Emma wants if she gives Merida her heart back. Emma complies so Rumple goes to the sword, makes a very long monologue about how much he loves Belle, and pulls the the excalibur out. Emma made a mistake; she made another hero. Now there is a whole band of heroes the reside in Storybrooke that have the capabilities of defeating her.
In Regina’s lair, her, Mary Margaret, David and Hook are baffled that the potion didn’t work. David reaches down into the fire and pulls out the mushroom. It didn’t burn so they need someone else chosen by Merlin to complete the potion: the Author. The Author is one of the people that were chosen to write part of the storybook that all of the characters come from. The Author, with his magic quill, can write anyone into the book and can change their stories. The one in possession of this great power is Henry (Jared Gilmore). Henry drops the mushroom into the cauldron and a hologram of Merlin’s face appears, but it isn’t present day Merlin. Regina says, “I can’t believe this. We’re getting Merlin’s voicemail?” Merlin says if they’re receiving the message, things are worse that they expected. Then he tells them that they need to find Nimue.
In “The Bow and the Bear,” Rumple changed dramatically. In the beginning of the episode he was the coward he had always been — running away from his problem instead of facing them. By the end, he was able to overcome his cowardice and be the hero, not only Emma needed him to be, but what everyone else needed, as well.
By the end of the episode, we are left with a few big questions:
Who is Nimue?
What happened to Merlin in the six weeks no one can remember?
And, now that Emma has the excalibur, what is she going to do next?
If we don’t get some answers soon, I may just lose my mind.
Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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