"Heart of Gold"
In
Storybrooke, Emma searches in the woods for the escaped Author, along
with Hook, Henry and her parents. Gold finds him first and produces the
magic quill, which persuades the Author to join him and write the
villains their happy endings. Later, Gold awakens Regina within her
vault and informs her that she must call Robin Hood or face the
consequences. Regina makes the call, but before we hear their
conversation, we flash back to nine weeks earlier, when Robin, Marian
and Roland arrived in Manhattan. The Hood family makes their way to
Neal’s old apartment (equipped with the keys thanks to Regina) and
settle into their new home. They are later surprised when Mr. Gold
arrives seeking shelter and ordering them out, but he is quickly felled
by a heart attack and taken to the hospital.
In
the Enchanted Forest of the past, we see Robin tending bar while Marian
serves the customers; the Sheriff of Nottingham arrives and demands
back taxes from Robin. That evening Rumplestiltskin arrives to make a
deal with Robin where Robin goes to Oz to steal the Elixir of the
Wounded Heart from the Wicked Witch in exchange for the needed tax
money. Robin travels to Oz, where he meets Will Scarlett on the yellow
brick road (agreeing to steal two vials of Elixir, one for both of them)
and dons an Emerald City’s guard uniform to complete his task. He finds
the Elixir, but Zelena catches him after he fills one vial and creates
two copies of herself to stop Robin from killing her. He escapes and
returns to the portal, where he slips the vial of Elixir in Will’s belt
and leaves. Robin meets with Marian upon his return, and admits that he
is and will always be a thief, but Marian agrees to support him no
matter what.
At
the Manhattan hospital, Robin visits Gold, suffering not from a heart
attack but a poisoned heart. Gold tells him that Wizard-turned-monkey
Walsh probably had the Elixir in his shop, The Wizard of Oak; Robin
agrees to save Gold if he lets the Hoods keep Neal’s apartment. Robin
breaks into the shop, steals the Elixir, and returns to the hospital.
Gold drinks the Elixir, but it has no effect, leading to the big reveal
that Marian is really a glamoured Zelena; her life force traveled back
in time with Emma and Hook and she killed Marian so she could steal
Robin Hood from Regina and destroy her happy ending. She wants to ensure
her plan’s success by having the Author write her a happy ending along
with the other villains, and in exchange for Gold’s help she will save
his life with the Elixir. He agrees, and we return to the present and
Regina’s phone call to Robin. Zelena answers and reveals herself to
Regina, who hangs up and is forced to decide whether to help Gold turn
Emma’s heart to darkness or save Robin.
ANALYSIS
This
was the first episode to give substantial backstory to Robin Hood. When
the Hoods first arrive in Manhattan a thief steals Marian’s purse and
Robin valiantly chases the hoodlum down on horseback, before giving us a
glimpse into his character and saying that “A thief who steals from
those in need has no honor.” His devotion to Marian and Roland was made
apparent by his mission to retrieve the Elixir of the Wounded Heart so
that he could secure their living quarters; though his heart belongs
with Regina, his honor and commitment remains with Marian.
We
got resolution of sorts for Marian as well, with the reveal that Zelena
is still alive and glamoured to resemble Mrs. Hood. The surprise that
Zelena has been masquerading as Marian was very unexpected and seemed to
come out of nowhere, as there weren’t any hints about it in previous
episodes. Although it’s somewhat of a head-scratcher for the plot, it
brought back the talented Rebecca Mader, who gave a deliciously wicked
performance in the hospital room against Robert Carlyle. Her scenes were
captivating and reinforced Zelena as a formidable opponent for the
heroes, as well as providing a clean break for Robin and Marian so that
he can finally be with Regina; it was also nice to return to the
barely-explored land of Oz.
The
inclusion of Will Scarlett in the Oz flashback gave some much-needed
screen time to Michael Socha, missing in action for much of the season.
The brief backstory about his sister Penelope meeting her end after
falling through ice gives viewers who missed Once Upon A Time in Wonderland more
information about his character and is hopefully a sign of more story
for Will on the horizon. On a curious note, a sign for Aladdin was prominently displayed during the episode, and since the Wonderland storyline
included both Will and Jafar, it could be interpreted as either clever
advertising or a hint that Jafar will soon arrive in Storybrooke (or
both).
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