Let’s face it: an Evil Queen and an evil Rumple always make for an interesting season of Once Upon a Time. But how far will they both go to get what they want? Just how evil is evil enough? And what happens when they become enemies again? In this episode, “Changelings,” Rumple seems to stop at nothing to make sure his son knows nothing of his past. And he and the Evil Queen have a little spat when she realizes that he’s just using her. Meanwhile, Aladdin makes a bold move to try and help Jasmine find Agrabah.
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The Black Fairy
Back in the days when Belle was locked up with Rumple, he comes home one day with a baby. He tells her to take care of it while he goes to work on a scroll. Once she soothes the baby, she breaks into his tower and finds a scroll with a fairy incantation. She easily translates it and realizes that it’s to summon the Black Fairy. Rumple storms in, and she realizes it was a trap and he wanted her to translate the incantation.
Rumple takes the baby and locks Belle in the tower. The Blue fairy shows up and tells Belle about the Black Fairy. She explains that something happened, and instead of protecting babies, the Black Fairy steals them. She tells Belle she must stop Rumple from giving the child to the Black Fairy.
In the woods, Belle looks on as Rumple summons the Black Fairy. When she shows up, he uses squid ink to freeze her. He then asks her why she abandoned her own child when she steals babies from their mothers’ arms. She realizes that she’s his mother. So he asks her again: why did she abandon him? She tells him that sometimes you have to choose power over love. Before getting any more answers, the ink wears off, the Black Fairy flies away and Belle grabs the baby. Belle, being Belle, gives Rumple a lecture on stealing babies, and he makes a comment on how no one knows his pain, before running off. Belle eventually gives the child back to its parents.
Aging Spell
Rumple chases a sister from Blue’s convent to send a message to Blue and Belle. He casts an aging spell on the sister. When she’s wheeled into Granny’s, Blue can’t figure out why he’d use that spell, but Belle immediately realizes that Rumple wants to use the aging spell on her to speed up her pregnancy and use the shears on their son to erase his memory of the evil Rumple.
Belle starts researching how to stop Rumple and has one of her dreams where she sees her son. He assures her that the way to stop Rumple is right in front of her, which confuses her even more. She tells Emma and Hook about the dream and the book she was reading when she had the dream. They see that there’s squid ink in the book, so they decide to use it on Rumple to freeze him while they search his shop for either the dagger or the shears, or both.
While in the shop, Emma has a vision of her death again. This time, she sees the sword that kills her, and it has a red jewel on the end.
Meanwhile, the ink can’t hold Rumple for long, and he goes to see Belle. He is about to use the aging spell on her, but she convinces him not to. She assures him that there is good in him; he just has to try harder. This, of course, doesn’t mean she’ll let him anywhere near his son, but at least it’s a start.
Protecting Her Son
Back at Granny’s, Emma discusses her vision with Hook, and Belle has some tea to relax. Unfortunately, that tea has the potion in it and her pregnancy is sped up. As she’s giving birth, she has another dream with her son. He tells her, yet again, that she knows what she has to do. She says she doesn’t want to, but he says it’s the only way for now.
After she gives birth, she tells Blue that she wants her to be his fairy godmother. And she wants Blue to take the baby far away from Storybrooke, away from all the evil that is Rumple. She’s convinced that eventually it will all blow over soon, but for now, she can’t take any chances.
When Rumple arrives at the house, he’s just in time to see Blue fly away with his child. When he asks Belle what the child’s name is, she won’t tell him. He says he will eventually find his son.
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Evil vs. Evil
Before his son is born, Rumple tells the Evil Queen that he was serious when he asked her to kill Zelena. He tells her it’s the only way for them to be together and for her to start her new beginning. When she goes to kill Zelena at her house, she’s stopped by Regina. Regina warns the Queen that Rumple is just playing her to get what she wants.
The Evil Queen confronts Rumple. She’s upset not only about him using her but also about him not using the potion on Belle. As they argue, Rumple tells her not to question him again and that they are done being on the same side.
Rumple should know better than to cross the Queen. He did, after all, train her. He learns that the Queen is the one who put the potion in Belle’s tea. She taunts him about losing another son. And while he threatens her, he gets a little weak when she makes a comment about fairies being good mothers. After she leaves, he breaks a bunch of stuff in his shop. Clearly, she’s gotten under his skin.
Rubbing the Lamp
As all of this is going on, Jasmine confides in Snow that they’ve found a magic lamp. She thinks it could be the answer to finding Agrabah to save it, but she’s not sure. Snow urges her to rub the lamp and take a chance. However, when she does, all that comes out is smoke and wrist bands. As Aladdin and Henry explain, it’s all that’s left of the Genie since he’s been set free. Aladdin decides to put the wrist bands on, confident that he’ll be able to help.
Finding Out More
The vision at Rumple’s shop has stuck with Emma. After Belle has her baby, Emma tells Hook she wants to be the Savior she knows she is. They both head back to the shop, in hopes of figuring out more of her vision and maybe figuring out a way to stop it from coming true.
Despite getting weak as she finds the sword that kills her, she picks it up, determined to get to the bottom of her vision.
So Rumple’s mother is the Black Fairy and his father is evil Peter Pan. Minds have been blown. No wonder he’s so evil and called the Dark One. He’s got evil oozing out of his pores. But then again, so does the Evil Queen. Now that the two are enemies again, there’s no telling what they may do, no only to each other but also to their loved ones.
I’m glad that Emma is trying to be strong again. Her being whiny and weak about her vision was sort of annoying. Hopefully, she’ll start being a savior again real soon.
And Aladdin being the Genie is weird, but it opens a door for people wishing for things that perhaps shouldn’t be wished for.
What did you think of “The Changelings”? Do you think Belle’s baby will really be safe from Rumple? Do you think Rumple stands a chance in finding his son? Will the Evil Queen stop him from finding his son? What will the Evil Queen do now that she’s not buddy-buddy with Rumple anymore? Let us know in the comments section below.
Once Upon a Time season 6 airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC. Want more news? Like BuddyTV’s Once Upon a Time Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
