History Recap / OnceUponATimeS2E11TheOutsider

* BalefulPolymorph:
** As punishment for stealing Bae's shawl for Hook (after he spared his life and released him), Gold turns Smee into a rat.
** Also, it turns out the yaoguai is a case of this having been done to Philip by Maleficent, to keep him from waking Aurora.

* SadlyMythtaken: In Chinese mythology the yaoguai is a malevolent animal spirit or fallen celestial being that has acquired magical powers through the practice of Taoism and thus become a demon, and which hunts down and consumes holy men to achieve immortality. Here it is a human transformed by BalefulPolymorph and doomed to remain trapped in said cursed form until someone can break the spell, and so spends all its time either vainly trying to communicate its plight or cowering in its cave. The only thing they have in common is that the cursed Philip looks like a lion and has a corona of fire as a mane (fire being something the demonic yaoguai have in common with the Indian rakshasa). Of course it is rather unlikely Maleficent would have known or cared about mythological accuracy when casting her curse.

* BalefulPolymorph: As punishment for stealing Bae's shawl for Hook (after he spared his life and released him), Gold turns Smee into a rat.

* AFateWorseThanDeath: What Hook ends up inflicting on Rumple: he pushes Belle over the town boundary (via. a gunshot), wiping her memory and thus all recollection that she loves Rumple. The sheer anguish on Gold's face is testament to how well it works.

** More immediately, the worries about the outside world finding Storybrooke now that the curse is broken which Leroy and Ruby bring up bear fruit with the episode's CliffHanger.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: On the one hand, the disagreement between Snow and Charming over whether to get a house of their own and stay in Storybrooke, or go back to the Enchanted Forest to face down Cora and the ogres, foreshadows both their attempts to grow the magic beans to go back in the latter half of this season as well as that of Season Three where their desire to return conflicts again with Emma's (and Neal's). More immediately, the worries about the outside world finding Storybrooke now that the curse is broken which Leroy and Ruby bring up immediately bear fruit with the episode's CliffHanger.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: While the episode title most obviously refers to the person with Pennsylvania plates who crashes at the town line at episode's end, it can also refer to Hook himself, as well as to Belle in the Enchanted Forest segments as she tries to stand up for herself and be a brave warrior and adventurer like in her books only to be shut out by men (and Mulan, at first).

* AnswerCut: Hook asks Archie what Rumple's weakness is. Cut to Belle entering the shop.

* ContinuityNod: Regina calls one of her knights "Claude", which is the name of a guard Hook killed in [[Recap/OnceUponATimeS2E9QueenOfHearts The Queen of Hearts]].

* DullSurprise: Emma and Henry seemed awfully okay with the fact that ''Cora is in town and kidnapped Archie.'' [[SkewedPriorities All they seem to care about]] is making up to Regina that they accused her of murder. To be fair, by the time they learn this, Archie has already been rescued and there isn't much they can do about Cora at the moment, but...

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Hook thanks Belle for persuading Rumpel to save his life by shooting her.

* StatusQuoIsGod: Played with. After the CliffHanger of the last episode, Archie gets rescued, everyone finds out he's alive, and what could have been a several-episodes-spanning plot is instantly done away with. But the knowledge Hook gained from him before this of Belle changes the game completely, since it leads to the shocking moment at the town line--and if not for that, it isn't at all certain that Greg could have seen or entered Storybrooke, and even if he had he certainly wouldn't have witnessed any magic. So even though things get reset with Archie, [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore everything else in Storybrooke changes from now on for the rest of the season]].
* StayInTheKitchen: The men hunting the yaoguai have this attitude toward Belle. She makes them pay for it by deliberately misdirecting them, then going to find its real lair on her own.

* HiddenDepths: TheReveal of the yaoguai's transformed identity also reveals that Philips knows Chinese calligraphy. While as a prince he would have an elite education, this is a rather specific and unusual bit of knowledge for him to have. It also supplies a reason, beyond her being involved in his rescue, for him to form a connection with Mulan.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TitleTheOutsider_7475.jpg]]

\\
\\

!Tropes
----

* StatusQuoIsGod: Played with. After the CliffHanger of the last episode, Archie gets rescued, everyone finds out he's alive, and what could have been a several-episodes-spanning plot is instantly done away with. But the knowledge Hook gained from him before this of Belle changes the game completely, since it leads to the shocking moment at the town line--and if not for that, it isn't at all certain that Greg could have seen or entered Storybrooke, and even if he had he certainly wouldn't have witnessed any magic. So even though things get reset with Archie, [[GameChanger everything else in Storybrooke changes from now on for the rest of the season]].