Season 1, Episode 8:
Desperate Souls
Centric Characters: Rumplestiltskin
Previous: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter | Next: True North
Rumplestiltskin: I'm lame, friendless… The only thing I’ve got is my boy and they’re going to take him away from me. If they take him away, I will truly—truly become dust.
Zoso: Not if you have power.
Zoso: Not if you have power.
Mr. Gold: You enjoy these with your boy. Your time together is precious, you know. That's the thing about children. Before you know it... you lose them.
FLASHBACK! In the Enchanted Forest, a fourteen year old girl is taken to be drafted into the army, as the Duke has lowered the minimum drafting age to acquire more troops to fight in the Ogre Wars. The soldiers who have come to collect her are backed up by the Dark One, a powerful but mysterious sorcerer. Rumplestiltskin watches this happen and promises his son Baelfire that he will find a way to stop him being drafted by his fourteenth birthday in three days.
Emma arrives at the pawn shop, having been asked to come by Mr. Gold. He offers his condolences for Graham's death, and informs her that since she's been the acting sheriff for two weeks following Graham's death, the job will become hers. He offers her some of Graham's belongings, since he owned Graham's apartment, and insists she take a set of radios for Henry, telling her that it's important to spend all the time you can with your children, before they're gone.
Emma meets Henry at the castle playground, where he tells her that Graham was killed by Regina because he was good, despite an autopsy saying he died of natural causes. He gets upset when she doesn't believe him, and he angrily tells her it's better that way so Regina won't come after her too.
Regina comes to the Sheriff Department to stop Emma from taking up the Sheriff badge, saying that the two-week promotion doesn't happen if she appoints someone first, which is Sidney Glass, and fires Emma.
Emma vents to Mary Margaret and wrecks a toaster before Mr. Gold arrives. He tells her about the town charter which details the Mayor's authority, and hints that Regina may be overstepping her bounds on this one.
FLASHBACK! Rumplestiltskin tries to run away with Baelfire in the night, but they are caught by the Duke's men who tell Baelfire that his father ran away from battle and the ogres gained the advantage, and that his mother never looked at him the same way and eventually left. The lead soldier forces Rumplestiltskin to kiss his boot before the leave. A beggar that Rumplestiltskin gave coins to earlier helps them to get home.
Regina holds a ceremony in which she tries to appoint Sidney as sheriff, but Emma interrupts and quotes the town charter, saying that she can only appoint a candidate for election, and Emma will be running for the position of sheriff.
FLASHBACK! The beggar tells Rumplestiltskin why the Dark One is working for the Duke: he is bound to a magical dagger bearing the Dark One's name, which the Duke holds. If Rumplestiltskin steals the dagger, he will control the Dark One, or he could take the Dark One's power for himself.
Regina goes to the pawn shop to chew out Mr. Gold, since she knows he helped Emma with the town charter. He's unfazed, and perfectly willing to oppose Regina in favor of Emma.
Emma meets Henry at the diner, where's he's reading Sidney's latest article about Emma and how she gave birth while in prison. He tells her that she can't beat Regina because Regina plays dirty and Emma doesn't. Emma tells him of her partnership with Gold, but Henry tells her it's a bad idea and that he's worse than Regina, reminding her she already owes him one favor.
Emma goes to the town hall to get mad at Regina about Sidney's article. They argue as they leave the building, until an explosion injures Regina and starts a fire.
FLASHBACK! Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire make preparations to steal the dagger from the Duke's castle. Rumplestiltskin excitedly imagines himself with the power to save the children from war. Baelfire asks if he really did run from war, and Rumple says he had no choice, before revealing his intention to burn the Duke's castle.
Emma gets a fire extinguisher and clears a way to the exit, and helps Regina get out. She's not happy that she had to be saved by her opponent, or that it's given Emma's campaign a huge boost. Emma notices a piece of fabric that Mr. Gold was treating during their conversation at the pawn shop. She confronts Gold about setting the fire, which he doesn't claim responsibility for, but if he did set the fire it would be to give Emma's campaign a boost. Emma's not pleased with his methods and ends their partnership.
FLASHBACK! Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire set fire to the Duke's castle before Rumplestiltskin retrieves the dagger, which bears the name "Zoso".
Mary Margaret and David meet, putting up posters for the debate, but Mary Margaret doesn't stick around. At the town hall, Dr. Hopper opens the debate, while Emma and Mary Margaret talk about how Emma wants to win in order to show Henry that good can prevail.
FLASHBACK! Rumplestiltskin sends Baelfire home before holding up the dagger and summoning Zoso. He stabs Zoso with the dagger, only to see that he's the beggar from earlier and has tricked Rumplestiltskin into relieving him from life as the Dark One. As Zoso dies, Rumplestiltskin notices the dagger is now emblazoned with his own name.
At the debate, Emma confesses to the public that she agreed to work with Mr. Gold, but that he set the fire to make her appear as a hero, and she can't win because of a lie.
Later, Henry meets her at Granny's, saying it's impressive that she stood up to Gold and outed his illegal doings. Regina and Sidney arrive to congratulate Emma on winning the election, since the townspeople like a sheriff brave enough to stand up to Gold.
FLASHBACK! As the soldiers come to collect Baelfire, Rumplestiltskin arrives and the soldiers are surprised to see he's not the Dark One they had been working with. Rumplestiltskin kills them all and proclaims he's not scared of anything anymore, while Baelfire watches in horror.
Mr. Gold comes to the Sheriff Department to congratulate Emma and reveal that he planned not only the fire but also her victory by standing up to him, and tells her now that she's sheriff, he'll find a good way to use the favor she owes him.
Tropes
- Arc Words:
- "All magic comes with a price," which turns out to have come from the previous Dark One.
- "I know how to recognize a desperate soul" comes around in this episode, once in the flashback and once in the present, and both from Dark Ones.
- Batman Gambit: Mr. Gold knows for Emma to win against Sidney, she would need to do more than just stand up to Regina. She needs to stand up to him. So, he talks with her, leaving in view a rope which would later be found at the scene of the fire, coated with the same smelly lanolin he'd been using to waterproof books when she came to visit. Circumstantial evidence, but during the debate, Emma states this evidence and Mr. Gold walks out. She won and Mr. Gold explained it all to her after the fact.
- It's actually closer to a Xanatos Gambit, even though it does depend on people (namely Emma) acting in predictable ways—because if Emma had allowed the heroic fire story to stand, she probably still would have won (as it outweighed her checkered past), and no matter how she gets there, her being sheriff allows her to fulfill the favor she owes Gold. The only way it could have failed is if she had dropped out of the race altogether without exposing Gold, and she would never have done that since she wanted to beat Regina and protect Henry, not to mention refusing to allow Gold to get away with what he did.
- Broken Pedestal: In the present, Emma's willingness to work with Gold (at first) and the kinds of things she'd have to do to beat Regina and Sidney act as this for Henry (not her time in jail, as both Regina and Emma had believed/feared). In the past, it's not as pronounced as it would be in later episodes, but learning the truth about Rumple's cowardice and Milah having left him does affect Baelfire; the fact Rumple became the Dark One to save him is actually a more definitive start to this mindset.
- The Bully: Hordor forces Rumple to kiss his boot for no good reason.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The beggar who helps Rumple and Baelfire, and tells Rumple about the Dark One and the dagger, turns out to be Zoso, the Dark One himself, plotting to achieve his death so he can escape his fate. Though this may be somewhat subverted by him having been played by Brad Dourif.
- Child Soldier: This is what Hordor and his conscriptors intend to force Morraine to become, and they plan to do the same to Baelfire as well.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Regina, after Emma saves her from the fire. Especially when Sidney runs up to take a photo of Emma helping Regina.
- Couch Gag: The title card features the Dark One on horseback.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Branded a coward for running away from battle, Rumple will do most anything to save his son from the same fate as so many other conscripted children.
- The first hints of this for Emma are revealed in her having been in jail, and giving birth to Henry there. Invoked by name by Emma herself during the debate.
- Deal with the Devil: In a roundabout way, killing the Dark One, since you thereby become the next one. As Zoso says, "You just made a deal you didn't fully understand. Bet you won't do that again."
- The Dog Bites Back: After Hordor humiliates Rumple by making him kiss his boot, Rumple steals the power of the Dark One and threatens Hordor to kiss his boots for a chance at mercy. Hordor does it, but Rumplestiltskin rips him apart anyway.
- Face–Heel Turn: This was Rumpelstiltskin's, going from a kind-hearted but cowardly spinner to the manifestation of ultimate evil he eventually becomes, all by choosing to steal the Dark One's dagger and then, instead of using it to control him, killing him with it so he could have the power to save his son himself. Probably best encapsulated in the moment when he proclaims he is no longer scared of anything (and gives a very wicked, unhinged grin), and when after slaughtering Hordor and his men he tries to claim he's still the same man, but asking his son "Do you feel safe now?" just causes Bae to back away, pale and silently shaking his head before denying it.
- Flaw Exploitation: It’s not a flaw, but Mr. Gold does appeal to Emma’s desire to show Henry that she’s an Ideal Hero to stand up to him in order to win the election.
- Foreshadowing: Briefly after a fire starts in the present, the audience is treated to a flashback of Rumpelstiltskin contemplating with the old beggar (Zoso) how they'll steal the Dark One's dagger by skillfully setting the Duke's castle on fire. The next time the audience returns to the present, Emma eventually learns that Mr. Gold started the fire. While it's still debatable how much he remembers of his old life, it looks like he hasn't forgotten his old instincts.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Gold gives Emma Graham's things, one of the items in the box is an award that reveals his Storybrooke surname to have been Humbert. This was also the official name of the Huntsman in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: By becoming the Dark One, Rumple became a Physical God of power and darkness. Few could stand up to him in a fight now.
- Good Is Impotent: Implied by both Regina and Emma being certain she can't win against Sidney, and also by Henry since he says Emma can't win without fighting like Regina which by definition makes her no longer good. Subverted in the end by Gold, since he uses Emma's own dedication to heroism and being a good role model for Henry to spur her into standing up to him—which proves she is not, in fact, impotent and can accomplish great good.
- Hero Ball: Emma carries this, which Regina counts on...but so does Gold, since doing so actually means she can be counted on to be what the town needs against him as well as Regina.Emma: You're complaining about how I rescued you? You know what, next time I'll just...no. Next time I'd do the exact same thing. Because that's what a decent human being does.
- I Kiss Your Foot: In the past this was used to humiliate Rumplestiltskin in front of his son. After becoming the Dark One he turns it back on his tormentors. Violently.
- Ironic Echo: Many, many times, but notably...
- "Spindleshanks? Hobblefoot?"
- "Kiss my boot."
- Knowing how to recognize a desperate soul.
- Kick the Dog: Hordor forces Rumple to kiss his boot for no other reason than to humiliate him, on the threat of drafting Rumple's teenage son to war.
- Loophole Abuse: Well it isn't actually abuse, since it's following the law, but from Regina's POV, this is what Gold (of course) does when he consults the town charter for Emma and "discovers" that while the mayor can appoint a new sheriff, this is only if no one else wants the position; if they do, she can only appoint a candidate and there has to be an election.
- Papa Wolf: Just look what Rumpelstiltskin does to protect Baelfire.
- Pet the Dog: Not only does Gold insist on giving Emma Graham's things (culminating in his jacket, which she does keep), but he makes a point of giving her the walkie-talkies for her and Henry and insists she spends time with him before it's too late and he's grown up and lost to her. Very much Foreshadowing of what ends up happening between him and Baelfire, and his lifelong regrets for it. Also, Gold seems genuinely sincere in his statement that Graham was a good man and he is sorry for Emma's loss.
- Red Sky, Take Warning: The flashbacks show that, during the last years of Rumple's life as a human, the horizon of the Enchanted Forest was perpetually blood-red. It's implied to be caused by the ongoing Ogre War, and Rumple cites it as being symbolic of all the child soldiers who have died during the war.
- Save the Villain: Emma saves Regina from a fire.
- Start of Darkness: For Rumple, exploring how he became the heartless, cruel, deal-making, baby-stealing monster he was at the start of the show, both by revealing the nature of his powers (the Dark One, the dagger) and what drove him to claim them.
- Stealth Pun: When he makes his opening statement in the debate, Sidney makes one of these to his Enchanted Forest identity, saying he will "reflect" the values needed to keep Storybrooke safe and secure. Also, when Archie makes a joke about Emma and Sidney's names and no one laughs, he awkwardly mutters about crickets before moving on.
- Time Skip: There's a jump of two weeks between the previous episode and this one. This is not only a meta-reflection of the mid-season break, and a chance for the wham from last episode to sink in so people in-story can recover from it, it's plot-significant: after two weeks of acting as sheriff, Emma will become sheriff for real. Unless Regina intervenes, and/or there's an election.
- Tragic Keepsake: Graham's jacket, which Gold gives to Emma so she will have something to remember him by. She doesn't accept it at first, but does by the end of the episode.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Regina is ungrateful to Emma after she saves her.
- Villain Ball: The Duke of the Frontlands had Zoso under his control, yet it does not occur to him that he could just send him to end the Ogres War. Instead he uses Zoso to bully helpless villagers into letting them draft children into the war. If Rumpelstiltskin could end the war single-handedly post-corruption, it really says something about the Duke, huh?
