Once Upon a Time (Part 6)

Good evening, everyone.  Welcome back.

Season 4 is a pivotal point in the character arc of Mr. Gold from the original series of OUAT.  It is when he made the choices that committed him to villainy, a plunge into darkness before his chance at redemption.  There is only one major change that I would make to this season, though some significant bookkeeping will be in order to reconcile events with past seasons of this rewrite.

If you have not read through the past seasons of the rewrite, or if it has been a while, please revisit the previous parts before diving into this one.  Otherwise, let’s get right into it.

SEASON 4, Part 1

Season 4, Part 1 is where Mr. Gold goes from a wild card to an outright villain.  His lies to Belle in the original series were one of the reasons that his fall was so impactful.  If everything has gone right with the rewrites to the past three seasons, we will still get that gut punch, though with more room for evolution and redemption in their relationship.

Episode 4.01 – A Tale of Two Sisters

The scene at Neal’s gravesite will play out the same, with Mr. Gold recapping the situation with Lacey and his dagger to the audience.  I think the reference to Lacey bringing love back into his life can stay, since the scene is already calling out that love can exist in more forms that romance.

The scene at the Sorcerer’s Mansion will be revised.  Rather than being on their honeymoon, Lacey and Mr. Gold will be in seclusion to start her training properly.  The dance scene will, naturally, need to be cut.  However, as they start the lesson, Mr. Gold will still change his attire, transforming his suit into robes that resemble the Beast’s formal blue attire from the animated film.  Lacey’s dress would likewise be changed to the Enchantress dress seen in the stained glass windows from that same film.  (The yellow dress would immediately give away the twist for anyone who had not already figured it out.)

Since there was no wedding, the newspaper article that Elsa finds instead refers to Mr. Gold returning to work after his captivity by the Wicked Witch.

Back at the Sorcerer’s Mansion, the scene with Mr. Gold experimenting with the Hat will only have him looking in on Lacey to confirm that she is asleep, rather than showing that they share a bed.

Episode 4.06 – Family Business

This episode plays out the same in its events.  Lacey’s temptation by the mirror and her dialogue with Mr. Gold about the use of the dagger would be retooled to replace the references to their marriage and romance with friendship and apprenticeship.

Episode 4.09 – Fall

Lacey will be aiding the fairies because of her own experience with magic, not just because of her book smarts.  Mr. Gold persuades her to leave the fairies to finish the cure on their own by point out that, if the cure fails and the Spell of Shattered Sight is enacted, she could do far more damage to them than they could to her, especially with the secrets he’s already taught her.

Episode 4.11 – Heroes and Villains

This episode will be the one most significantly changed out of this part, with the flashback most affected by the changes.

Flashback

The flashback takes place during the time when Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella are in their prime, so it will be long after the Enchantress has transformed herself into a rose and cursed Rumplestiltskin.  The flashback will begin with Rumplestiltskin in the library, attempting a spell to change the Enchantress back into her human form.  This spell uses the weakness-seeking gauntlet from the show.  From his frustration, it’s evident that this is the latest of many attempts, and that he’s at his wit’s end.  The spell fails.

Rumplestiltskin resorts to shouting at the rose.  He tells it that since love is weakness, the gauntlet should have led him to someone who could open his heart, but it didn’t work.  The Enchantress gave him an impossible task.  He then storms out of the library.  As he does, we see a raven peering through the window.

Later, Rumplestiltskin returns to the library to find that a windowpane has been bashed open with a small rock; feathers on the floor show where the raven squeezed through.  The Enchantress’s bell jar has been tipped onto the floor and smashed.  Her rose is gone, and in its place is a seashell.  When Rumplestiltskin picks it up, he is shocked to see the Enchantress in her human form, delivering the hostage message from the original show about bringing the gauntlet to Demon’s Bluff.  He then notices the raven lurking outside the window and shouts for it to relay to its master that they will suffer if they harm a hair on the Enchantress’s head.

Rumplestiltskin goes to Demon’s Bluff and is confronted by the three sorceresses.  Before he relinquishes the gauntlet, he demands to know how they broke the Enchantress’s self-imposed transformation.  Maleficent explains that all he needed to free her was to speak her real name.  She mocks him for failing to do so over the past century while it took the three of them just a few weeks of research.  The sorceresses then conjure up the Enchantress.  When Rumplestiltskin tosses them the gauntlet, Ursula shoves the Enchantress towards him.  Rumplestiltskin catches the Enchantress.  She only has time to thank him for coming for her before she transforms back into a rose.  Furious, Rumplestiltskin moves to attack the sorceresses, but Cruella merely points out that their deal said nothing about her being human when he got her back.  The three then teleport away.

The scene of Rumplestiltskin retaking the gauntlet plays out the same.

Present-Day

Most of the present-day plot plays out the same.  Where we deviate, though, is the final scene, where Mr. Gold is banished from Storybrooke.  Most of the dialogue will play out the same, just changing the references to the name “Belle” to “Lacey”.  The big twist comes at the scene reaches its crescendo.

MR. GOLD: I don’t want to lose you!

LACEY [sobbing]: You already have!

[MR. GOLD is growing utterly desperate.  He glances over his shoulder at the town line.]

MR. GOLD: Belle!

[The music cuts out for a breathless moment.  LACEY jerks to a halt, surprised; she lowers the dagger.  MR. GOLD sees a glimmer of hope and presses his advantage.]

MR. GOLD: I know your name, Belle!  I knew it even back then, when I gave the gauntlet for you.  I didn’t use it to free you.  I knew I hadn’t earned it.  Isn’t that proof enough?

[The music starts to play again.  LACEY / BELLE weeps now.]

LACEY / BELLE: You didn’t use it for the same reason that you didn’t give me the real dagger.  You’d rather have a rose than a friend.  I’m just another pretty thing for you to put in a jar.

[She raises the dagger again.]

MR. GOLD [once again begging]: Belle, please! I’m afraid!

At this point, Lacey pushes him over the town line.  Mr. Gold falls as his leg gives up.  He continues to beg, invoking Belle’s name this time.

SEASON 4, Part 2

The changes in Part 2 are minor and concentrated at the tail end of the part.

Episode 4.14 – Enter the Dragon

Because Mr. Gold and Lacey aren’t married, Mr. Gold doesn’t have a reason to be antagonistic towards Will Scarlet.  Thus, when Mr. Gold disguises himself as Hook and interrupts Lacey and Will’s date, there’s obvious apprehension from Will, but Mr. Gold / Hook is composed and charming.  He apologizes to Will, says they can settle their score later, and then continues the discussion with Lacey per the original show.  Lacey asks why Will was apprehensive, but Mr. Gold / Hook brushes it off, saying that he must have crossed Will in some way during his pirate days.

Episodes 4.21 & 4.22 – Operation Mongoose Parts 1 & 2

In the Author’s rewritten reality, Rumplestiltskin will still be the Light One, but Lacey will be restored as the Enchantress, working alongside him to defend the Enchanted Forest.  There will be no child for the pair of them in this version.  Rumplestiltskin will call the Enchantress “Belle” whenever he addresses her directly (something he will not have done at any other point during Part 2).

A BOTCHED REDEMPTION

The original version of Season 4 was close to prefect.  Had Mr. Gold’s story arc ended there, I would not be doing this rewrite.  Sadly, Season 5 happened.

While there are elements of Season 5 that can be salvaged, this is going to require the most intensive rewrites out of these series (in terms of the precision of the changes required, not necessarily the replacement of whole episodes).  By contrast, Season 6 really just needs bookkeeping to account for the changes in Season 5.  We will be able to wrap up both seasons and close out this series in one go.

We’ll get into it next time.  I’ll see you all then.  Have a good week.