Season 5, Episode 17:
Her Handsome Hero
Belle turns to Rumplestiltskin to find a way to protect their unborn child. Meanwhile, Hades meets with Gaston and encourages him to seek revenge on Rumplestiltskin, forcing Gold to reveal another dark part of his past. And as the heroes try to find a way to defeat Hades, Emma has a terrifying nightmare that she realizes is coming true.
Tropes
- Adaptational Heroism: While still arrogant, this version of Gaston isn't as obviously a doltish braggart as the film version was, and in fact shows great respect for Belle as a woman with fire, as well as an intelligent woman who reads books. Ends up ultimately subverted by his own dark side, however.
- Ambiguous Situation: Was that ogre an enemy scout or just a child who lost its way? Also, did it truly attack Gaston (after he tortured it), or did it just run away and he was faking the attack?
- Arc Words: "Don't judge someone until you know their whole story."
- Arrow Catch: Gold easily handles the arrows Gaston first shoots at him.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Not his overall plot, but Hades succeeds in using Gaston to cause Belle to perform a dark act and lose hope, which brings his power of decay back into control over the underworld. He also retains his contract over the baby.
- Bait-and-Switch: Belle appears at the wharf and seems to be trying to talk Gold out of killing Gaston by appealing to his better nature: "I know the man you truly are." Then she goes on to say she also knows who she is, someone who cannot live with herself if darkness is allowed to win, and reveals she has the dagger so she can command Gold to stop.
- The Bus Came Back: Ruby.
- Chekhov's Gun: Belle finds a mirror that will show evil intent in a person by their eyes glowing to prove the ogre is not a threat. When Gaston tries to fire an arrow at the tortured ogre, Belle uses the mirror to intercept it, then sees in the remaining pieces Gaston's eyes glowing and realizes he's the true monster.
- Continuity Nod:
- The book, Her Handsome Hero, was first seen being carried by Belle in the episode, "Skin Deep". Also, earlier in the timeline through a subsequent flashback, being one of the items scavenged by her while her castle was being raided by the ogres.
- We hear mention of the attacks on the borders that would eventually force Belle's father to agree to help from the Dark One.
- Gaston reveals that Rumple killed him, something Belle had been unaware of.
- The final flashback shows Belle promising to marry Gaston to unite their kingdoms, leading up to the events of her meeting Rumple.
- The Corrupter: Hades manipulates things in such a way so Belle accidentally kills Gaston.
- Couch Gag: The title card features an ogre running through the forest.
- Crazy-Prepared: Belle's mother has books of various strange magical artifacts just in case, say, a horde of trolls attack.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: The episode opens with what turns out to be a dream Emma is having; it later starts coming true exactly as she dreamt it, leading her to panic since in the dream, Snow White died. Regina concludes the dream is actually about Emma confronting her fears (in this case, failing others so they die because of her). Ironically it turns out that by all of them working together to bring down the beast, they find out it was someone close to Snow, who at one time she felt she had failed: Ruby.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Regina is jarred when Zelena mentions how Hades is in love with her. Ironically, Zelena assumes Regina's surprise is anyone can love Zelena. Regina also grasps fast that Zelena loves Hades as well.
- Fate Worse than Death: Gaston knocked into the lake with the lost souls.
- Flashback with the Other Darrin: The opening recap features scenes from "Skin Deep" that were re-shot with Gaston's new actor, Wes Brown.
- From a Certain Point of View: Gold uses this as the excuse for many of his actions and cites Belle is using the same approach, wanting to use dark magic for a good cause.
- Genre Savvy: When Hades offers Belle a deal, Belle snorts that being married to the Dark One means she knows all too well the price such a thing carries.
- Hide Your Pregnancy: A curious example. While Emilie's pregnancy has been written into the current storyline, Belle obviously isn't pregnant in her flashback, so she wears a loose coat throughout to hide the baby bump.
- Hope Sprouts Eternal: Hades finds flowers growing, when he had told Zelena in the previous episode that nothing grows in the underworld, only decays. He explains the reason to Gaston as the mortal visitors having brought hope, particularly in the form of helping souls move on. By the end of the episode Belle's despair over having accidentally caused Gaston to fall in the River of Lost Souls is making the flowers decay again.
- Idiot Ball:
- Belle makes Gold promise not to do anything to Gaston before telling him about Hades' plan to have them fight and one sent into the River of Souls. Gold smiles and then vanishes to fight.
- Despite Belle saving his life and Gold at her mercy, Gaston still tries to kill her husband, causing him to fall into the lake.
- Internal Reveal: Belle finally discovers Rumple killed Gaston and is naturally ticked about him never mentioning it before.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The eternal fate for the master hunter Gaston? Forced to work at a pet shelter.
- Loophole Abuse: Belle believes her baby is safe with Gaston going into the lake. However, Hades points out that the deal was only if Rumple or Gaston put one or the other in the lake; Belle doing it herself negates the deal.
- Mythology Gag:
- Gaston claims many of the stories of himself as a braggart Egomaniac Hunter and egotistical ladies' man are his (unseen) friend LeFou spreading tall tales.
- Gaston's surname is LeGume (itself a Stealth Pun on the French word for "vegetable"); this was never used onscreen in Beauty and the Beast, but was established in a scene cut from the script.
- Gaston also first appears to Belle in a costume very similar to the red one he wore in the animated film.
- The scene where Gaston, Maurice, and the soldiers hunt down the ogre involves a torch-lit procession, just as happened in the Disney film when Gaston led the villagers to the Beast's castle.
- The Enchanted Mirror from the Disney film appears, except instead of allowing the Beast to see the outside world (or anyone to see another person/place), it simply lets you see the evil in another's soul. However because the one whose evil gets revealed is Gaston, it still leads to Belle saying one of her iconic lines from the film: "He's not the monster, Gaston, you are."
- Hades notes that 'love makes you do crazy things'. Megara said something along that line.
- Never My Fault: Once again Hades never seems to have considered that if he had just let Emma grab Hook and go, they would've never stuck around trying to help save souls.
- No-Sell: On getting into the elevator to assault Hades in his lair beneath the library, since once Regina and Emma use the spell to open the doors, they find only a brick wall.
- Sadistic Choice: Hades places Belle in one, since no matter who dies in the fight between Gaston and Gold, someone she cares about and/or wants to save will be lost, and at stake is her baby. In the end she tries to Take a Third Option, and does...but it's not at all the one she intended or wanted, and she still hasn't been able to save her baby.
- Self-Serving Memory: Gaston claims that Belle's attempts to teach him mercy and compassion made him weak, when in fact he was never any of those things.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening credits of this episode included Ruby's actress's name, meaning that anyone who paid attention would know that she would be in this episode. She does not appear until the very end.
- Title Drop: A literal title drop, since it turns out to be the title of a book Belle loved and gave to Gaston. It becomes a Clingy MacGuffin to him in the underworld to remind him of how he failed to be a true hero—although he interprets the failure being in Belle's concept of a hero rather than his ability to match it.
- Undying Loyalty: Gaston seems to serve Hades willingly instead of out of fear, like everyone else, even addressing him as "Lord Hades".
- Wham Shot: Snow drops a red cloak onto the mysterious wolf to transform her into Ruby.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Gaston claims the reason he went after Rumple alone rather than with an army was to live up to Belle's romantic view of him as a handsome hero rescuing his maiden. Naturally, he blames Belle for how it turned out badly.
