Once Upon a Time (Part 7)

Good evening, everyone.  Welcome back for the final installment of our rewrite of OUAT.

Season 5 is the one that drove Mr. Gold’s character arc and the relationship between him and Belle off a cliff.  This season, more than any other, is why we now have this rewrite.  While we have come a long way to get here, I believe that a sufficient foundation has been laid throughout this rewrite for us to address the problems.

Season 6 is a victim of Season 5.  Mr. Gold’s dive into villainy in the original season is colored heavily by his choices and conduct in Season 5.  I believe that, by correcting Season 5, only minor reframing will be needed for Season 6 to stick the landing for both Mr. Gold’s character arc and his relationship with Belle.

Please read through the previous parts if you have not already or if it’s been a while.  Otherwise, let’s dive right into the conclusion of this rewrite.

SEASON 5, Part 1

The biggest change for this part is that Lacey will not go to the Enchanted Forest / Camelot to bring back Emma.  There was nothing meaningful for Belle to do there in the original show.  Her only contributions could have easily been handled by other characters; her adventure with Merida hinged on insecurities that she should have already developed past at that point.  Lacey will instead stay behind to watch over Mr. Gold, appearing in the present-day plot but not the flashbacks.

Episode 5.01 – The Dark Swan

There will not be an enchanted rose in a bell jar in this version.  Lacey won’t need to monitor Mr. Gold’s condition from across worlds, and that callback has already been used in this rewrite.

Episode 5.03 – Siege Perilous

There’s no rose in a bell jar to summon Lacey to Mr. Gold’s side, so she will instead discover his abduction when she comes in to run the shop in his absence.

Episode 5.06 – The Bear and the Bow

The flashback adventure features Merida alone, without Lacey.

In the present, Merida jumps Lacey outside of Mr. Gold’s shop and slaps a magic-disabling cuff on her (for continuity’s sake, there will be a line about how Emma made the cuff).  Merida’s hunting of Lacey otherwise progresses as it did in the original show.

Episode 5.10 – Broken Heart

In this iteration of the story, the duel between Hook and Mr. Gold still takes place.  We still get the scene where he tells Lacey of his desire to prove himself by going through with the duel.  Throughout the scene, he will call her “Belle” (the first time he has done so, outside of an alternative realty, since the finale of Season 4, Part 1.  He will also refer to her as “Belle” going forward from this point).  He tells her that, if he survives, he will work hard to earn her forgiveness, but only if she is open to that.  The scene ends with him asking her to meet him at the well for a drink if she is willing to give him that chance.

After the duel, Lacey comes to the fountain.  As they have their drink, Mr. Gold admits that he doesn’t know how he’ll rebuild her trust.  Lacey proposes that their roles reverse.  She knows he will be tempted by magic sooner or later.  (Mr. Gold denies this, but she shoots down his denials by pointing out that she knows him better than anyone.)  She offers to guide him in learning magic her way, keeping him from falling into darkness again.  Mr. Gold considers her offer, but ultimately refuses.  “If power is my crutch, then I need to learn to walk without it.”

Episode 5.11 – Swan Song

When Hook appears to Mr. Gold to antagonize him for being powerless, Mr. Gold will not attempt to attack Hook, though as with Lacey’s apprenticeship offer, his face and body language will show that he is sorely tempted.  Hook will notice this and account for that in his parting shot, saying that he isn’t fooled by the act and knows the power-hungry coward that lurks within.  He restores Mr. Gold’s limp (which, as per the original show, he had healed for their duel) and conjures up a cane.  Before teleporting away, Hook will tell Mr. Gold that the cane can be his new dagger, keeping him in his place.

Keeping Lacey in the dark about the risen Dark Ones doesn’t make sense in this version, since her magic would make her an asset.  Instead of tricking her into leaving town, Mr. Gold asks her to get several magical tomes and items away from Storybrooke, pointing out that the Dark Ones will eventually come looking for them just as he came for her father’s library.  Lacey reluctantly agrees.  However, before they can even get to the car, a Dark One appears and marks Lacey.  She realizes that all she can do now is ensure that one less Dark One can remain in the lands of the living.  Since the Dark Ones need human lives to trade of their own, she transforms herself back into a rose.  Mr. Gold is overcome with grief.  Taking the rose, he puts it into a bell jar in his office, writing the name “Belle” on a card and hiding it under a jar to ensure that she can be freed.

Mr. Gold frees Lacey from her curse once the crisis has passed.  He is overcome with emotion.  When she asks why, he says that he’s selfish.  He felt a moment of hope when the Dark One had marked her, as he couldn’t bear any existence without her.  This is when we get their embrace and a kiss.

Emma summons Mr. Gold to his shop to ask why she can still hear the Dark One dagger.  Mr. Gold tries to brush her off, but she asks directly if he has it.  Reluctantly, Mr. Gold reveals that the cane that Hook conjured for him now has a concealed sword.  His name is etched upon the blade.

We then get a flashback to just before Mr. Gold freed Lacey from her curse.  He removes the rose from the bell jar and lays it on the cot in his office.  Before he can speak her name, he hears the whispering of the Dark Ones.  The manifested dark magic comes pouring into the shop and engulfs him.  He tries to scream and call out Belle’s name, only to be smothered.  When the goo disappears, Mr. Gold is in a state of panic.  He hears the whispering again; fumbling for the cane, he finds the concealed blade with his name upon it.  He throws aside the cane aside and begins to weep.

Returning to the present, Mr. Gold tells Emma that he never wanted this, but she doesn’t believe him.  She lashes out; he reflexively defends himself with magic.  Though he expresses the same horror that Emma did when using her powers in Episode 5.1, Emma doesn’t buy it.  She proceeds to blackmail him the same way that she did in the original show.

Before Mr. Gold joins the voyage to the Underworld, he and Belle meet in his shop.  He tells her that they’ll talk about what just happened between them when he returns.  He tries to leave his cane with her, telling her that he won’t need a walking stick in the Underworld.  She handles it, immediately finds the catch for the sword, and draws it just far enough to see the blade (though not far enough to expose his name).  She insists that he take it, as without his magic, he will need a weapon.  Not ready to reveal the truth to her, he takes the cane back.

SEASON 5, Part 2

While I have focused more on writing than acting thus far, the rewrite for Part 2 would lean heavily upon the actors’ portrayals of the characters to support the changes to the story.  This is because the changes here are focused upon the changes in context brought about by the rewrites to past seasons and to Part 1.  Mr. Gold will commit the same actions as in the original, but he is not the Dark One by choice this time.  He will be making genuine efforts to avoid using his powers or falling into darkness, but he will be forced into doing so anyway to save Lacey and their unborn child.

Episode 5.16 – Our Decay

Mr. Gold summons Lacey, Zelena, and baby Robyn to the Underworld as per the original.  Lacey learns that Mr. Gold is the Dark One.  We get Mr. Gold asking Lacey to accept him for who he is.  However, in this version, we the audience will understand that this is a desperate plea for her not to abandon him over something that is not his fault, while Lacey will see only the betrayal.

Episode 5.17 – Her Handsome Hero

One thing that I overlooked back in the rewrite for Season 1 is the introduction of Gaston and his death at Rumplestiltskin’s hands.  This will be addressed by two small additions.  First, Gaston’s presence in the Underworld will be explained by a line of dialogue from Mr. Gold to Lacey once Gaston reveals himself to them, explaining that Gaston assaulted his castle not long after Lacey turned herself into a rose.  The flashback story for this episode will be extended to show this assault, with callbacks to the same scene from the animated film.

This is the episode where the difference in how Mr. Gold conducts himself will shine through the strongest.  Mr. Gold’s argument that there is no fundamental difference between light and ark magic will be framed in terms of how all magic can corrupt and be misused; if he and Lacey must risk corruption to save their child, they should use the most effective magic available to them.

In the scene where Lacey attempts to talk Gaston down, the fact that she is pregnant with Mr. Gold’s child will be what causes the discussion to break down, rather than her and Mr. Gold being married (since that was cut in this version).

Episode 5.18 – Ruby Slippers

When Mr. Gold tries to talk Lacey out of using the sleeping curse, his argument against relying on him for True Love’s kiss is that they have no idea where they stand in their relationship now.

Episode 5.22 & 5.23 – Only You & An Untold Story

Mr. Gold begins to slip back into a more overtly villainous portrayal during his efforts to reclaim the Olympian crystal.   This will be clearly framed as desperation to rescue Lacey and their child pushing him to ever greater extremes.

SEASON 6

And just like that, we have reached the end of the problem season.

The most significant change in Season 5, as you have no doubt noticed, is that Mr. Gold will now be a tragic figure rather than an outright villain.  He tried his best to be heroic, yet dark magic forced itself back into his life.  The history of misdeeds that he is genuinely trying to leave behind has made it impossible for anyone to believe his side of things.  This will allow the other characters to still react to his perceived betrayal while eliminating (or at least mitigating) the negative impact of the audience, as only we will understand his perspective.  Additionally, his genuine good intentions will preserve some hope for his relationship with Lacey.

Now, we head into the home stretch.  For all the problems that the original Season 6 had with regarding to Mr. Gold and his romance with Belle, I feel that nearly all of them are a symptom of having Season 5 as a starting point.  Now that we have laid a new foundation, I honestly believe that there are only three episodes that require minor changes to bring things home.

Episode 6.01 – The Savior

During the Sands of Morpheus dream sequence, Mr. Gold notices his gold-skinned reflection and comment that he didn’t look like this while Lacey worked for him.  Gideon tells him that this was how Lacey perceived him.  Her curse merely made her image of him visible to everyone else.

Aside from this, the Morpheus dream scenes remain as-is, save for eliminating references to Lacey and Mr. Gold being married.  Lacey rejecting Mr. Gold for all his broken promises works just as well for their prior platonic partnership as it would for a romance.  The idea that Mr. Gold wants Lacey to come home with him also works regardless of their past relationship status, as he has a vested interest in protecting both her and Gideon.

Episode 6.02 – A Bitter Draught

Since Lacey does not currently live with Mr. Gold, she doesn’t need a new place to stay on account of having no other residence.  Instead, she doesn’t want to stay at her current place because it is legally owned by him.  She wants a blank slate.  His ownership of the dwelling also makes it harder for her to prevent him from entering with magic.

Additionally, when Hook apologizes for trying to kill her, he does not mention trying to kill her in the Enchanted Forest, as that was cut from the Season 1 rewrite.

Episode 6.04– Strange Case

Mr. Gold’s line about how necessity will make Belle love him will need to be rewritten.  He will instead tell Lacey, “You don’t need to love me, like me, or trust me.  You just need to accept that you need my help.”  This is still an ominous line as far as characterization is concerned, and it will dovetail into his villainous behaviors throughout the rest of the season, but it is still less overtly abusive and manipulative.  It won’t damn their relationship beyond any hope of redemption.

FINALE

And ... that’s pretty much it.

Strange as it may seem, I believe that the major changes for the rewrite can stop there.  In the original Season 6, the issues with Mr. Gold’s villainous deeds and betrayals, followed by his final “redemption”, traced back to the fact that he had already blown his chance at redemption back in Season 5.  He had thoroughly committed himself to villainy.  In this version of the story, his villainy throughout the remainder of Season 6 will very clearly be a result of genuine good intentions and desperation.  His betrayals will be reframed, and his final rejection of evil in the finale will therefore be understood has him taking back control.  Furthermore, because he did not choose to betray Lacey after his purification at the start of Season 5, nor was he trying to control her out of a desire to have both her love and magical power, their romance will feel more genuine in the end.

That’s my take, at least.  What do you think?

CONCLUSION

Well, it’s been a long road – six months, including the delays – but at last, we have done it.

The lesson I’ve learned with this series is that I can’t be writing a multipart series week to week (which is how I did the Obi-Wan Kenobi rewrite series).  I need to finish these rewrites in full before I start.  Therefore, while I have begun work on my rewrite series for the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, it will be months before I have all the parts in order and begin to post them.

In the interim, I am working on a Missed the Mark rewrite for the Captain Marvel movie.  While I do agree with MauLer’s assessment that this film was “the first sign of major rot in the spine of the MCU”, I don’t think that this film is irredeemable.  Yes, the main character was unlikeable.  Yes, her power levels trained all tension and stakes out of the story.  Yes, the messaging was painfully forced.  However, I think that a relatively minor change could address (or at least mitigate) all these problems in one go.  There is a version of this film that could have checked all its boxes and still pleased audiences.  The writers just needed to put in the legwork to redraft the script.

I hope everyone’s having a great summer.  Stay cool out there.