"Her Handsome Hero" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of ABC's Once Upon a Time, and the one hundred and fifth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 10, 2016.
Emma has a nightmare about her, Hook, and Snow White which begins to come true. Belle and Gold must deal with Gaston, Belle's ex-fiancé who was killed by Rumplestiltskin.
Plot[]
Opening Sequence[]
An ogre runs through the red-tinted forest.
In The Character's Past[]
In the Enchanted Forest, Belle's father Maurice wants to arrange a meeting between Belle and Gaston. As the two take a stroll in the woods they are interrupted by a noise and Gaston senses that it came from large animal. They find a young ogre in a pit trap and Gaston vows that he will bring the creature back to her father. However, Belle believes the ogre does not mean any harm and wants to find another so that does not involve killing it. After some pondering, Gaston agrees to go along with her idea. At her father's library, the two search for books before finding "An Alphabetic Inventory of Magical Antiquities", which lists all of the magical items in the kingdom. Belle finds details on a mirror which reveals all the evil in a person's soul. She wishes to use the mirror on the ogre to see if he means the kingdom any harm. Belle also shows Gaston a book titled "Her Handsome Hero" which she says defines how a hero is supposed to act, with compassion. They nearly kiss, but Belle turns him down. Belle leaves to fetch the mirror and Gaston agrees to watch over the ogre.
Later, Belle tells her father about trapped ogre. When they arrive at the pit, Gaston is injured and claims the ogre had escaped and waited to attack him. Gaston suddenly sees the ogre and shoots at the creature with arrow from the tree. Gaston is ready to kill the ogre but Belle argues with him, believing there is a misunderstanding. During the argument Gaston breaks the mirror. When Belle sees the broken glass she notices Gaston's eyes glowing red. That, combined with several fresh wounds on the ogre, reveals that Gaston had tortured the ogre in order to provoke the creature so they would have reason to kill it. Belle lets the ogre escape. Back at the castle, Maurice reveals that the ogres are now advancing on their kingdom and believes Belle's actions are to blame. He says that they cannot defend against the ogre army on their own and they need the help of Gaston's kingdom and that Belle will have to marry Gaston to obtain their help. Gaston arrives and proposes to Belle and Belle reluctantly agrees as she believes it is the only way to save the kingdom.
In the Underworld[]
Emma wakes up from a nightmare. In the dream, Hook, Snow White, and herself are in the Underworld Graveyard attempting to use Emma's light magic to erase their names from the tombstones Hades had created. Hook sense something is wrong and a tornado appears. The three seek shelter behind a large tombstone and Hook senses there is a large creature nearby. Snow attempts to face the creature and is taken away and assumingly killed which wakes Emma. Emma tells Hook about the dream wondering if they are visions of the future. In the library, Regina has spent all night preparing a spell to break Hades' protection spell on the elevator by drawing runes all over the elevator door. Emma and Regina use their magic to open the door as they break the code and the door opens revealing a brick wall, their efforts proving futile. Emma outlines some of the details of the dream believing that she can erase their names from the tombstones to all everyone to leave the underworld. Regina decides to talk to Zelena, who knows more about Hades than the others. When Regina visits Zelena, she realizes that her and Hades are in love. Zelena tells her that she (Zelena) is Hades' only weakness. At the cemetery, Emma attempts to try the spell from her dream, but suddenly starts believing the nightmare is coming true when the same storm appears. She, Hook, and Snow head to Regina's vault, where Hook, Snow, and even Regina tell Emma not to give up. Emma failed everyone but she saved Hook's life. Snow White tells Emma that love is worth it.
Meanwhile, Belle issues a ultimatum to Gold, saying that this time she should put things in order to protect her child. Hades soon spotted a flower, which has suddenly started growing in the Underworld, and because of the outsiders have bought hope, enlist Gaston, who was working at Storybrooke Pet Shelter. Hades wanted Gaston to take down everyone, starting with Gold, and handed Gaston a set of lethal arrows. When Gold and Belle attempt to look up a spell, they leave arguing when they are met by an arrow fired by Gaston, which is caught by Gold even as Belle tried to mediate. Gaston tells Belle that Gold (as Rumple) was responsible for his death as he aims another arrow but misses as Gold uses magic to relocate him and Belle to the docks. Belle is shocked to learn about how Gaston died, even as Gold was ready to use dark magic to defeat Gaston, but Belle said no to that, believing her goal was to help Gaston move on. While looking through Gaston's locker, Belle figured out that she was Gaston's unfinished business, which is a book called "Her Handsome Hero". After she asked Gold to leave, Belle is surprised by Hades, who showed up to offer her a deal: Let Gaston and Rumple fight to the death. If one of them threw the other into the River of Lost Souls, he would let Belle have her baby.
When Gaston arrived to the Pawn Shop, he aims at what he thought was Gold but discovers a mannequin instead. He is then confronted by Belle, who now knows he was willing to kill Rumple and believed he still had feelings for her, only to learn that the book was punishment and a constant reminder of why he died. He was also shocked to discover Belle is now Gold's wife, and leaves furious. Belle tells Gold and made him promise not to hurt Gaston, but when she tells Gold about what Hades told her he just couldn't accept what Belle wanted. At the docks, Gold uses magic to choke Gaston by the throat and ready to send him to the River of Lost Souls, when Belle pulled the dagger and commanded him not to hurt Gaston, and he dropped him on the ground, but Gaston just couldn't let his vendetta against Gold go, and when he goes for his arrow Belle accidentally knocked Gaston out into the River of Lost Souls. Unfortunately, Belle discovers that because she saved Gold but interfered, Hades arrived to tell the couple that contract to save their baby was null and void as he will take their baby. He then looks at a flower that he picks up as a sign of hope fading away. The burned flower later shows up at Granny's as a gift to Zelena from Hades.
Finally, Emma, Regina, Hook, and Snow chase down the beast in the woods that Emma believes to be the same one from the dream, and uses her magic to stop it. When they reach the creature, they are shocked to find a wolf, only to learn from Snow as she put Ruby's cloak on a big bad wolf; its actually Ruby, who has shown up in the Underworld but is not sure if she is still alive or dead. Snow tells them; Emma's dream was a vision.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
- Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
- Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills
- Josh Dallas as David Nolan
- Emilie de Ravin as Belle French
- Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
- Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
- Rebecca Mader as Zelena
- Sean Maguire as Robin Hood (absent)
- Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold
Guest Starring[]
- Wes Brown as Gaston
- Meghan Ory as Ruby
- Eric Keenleyside as Sir Maurice
- Greg Germann as Hades
Trivia[]
- Belle finds out that Rumple killed Gaston.
- References to the 1991 film:
- Gaston's outfit in the Enchanted Forest is the same one from the film.
- The segment where Gaston takes Belle's book is similar to a segment in the Disney film.
- Gaston sneaks up on "Mr. Gold" and shoots an arrow into his back, just like he does with the Beast in the movie.
- Mr. Gold holds Gaston by the neck, threatening to let him fall to his demise, just like the Beast does in the movie.
- Hades calls Belle and Rumple "The Beauty" and "The Beast", referencing the title of the film.
- Gaston also calls Rumple a beast.
- While LeFou does not appear in the episode, he is mentioned in the past, by Gaston.
- Gaston's death is mentioned, which happened in "Skin Deep"
- The Enchanted Forest flashbacks happen before the flashbacks in "Skin Deep". This episode shows how Belle met Gaston and she was revealed to already be engaged to him by the time she agreed to go to the castle with Rumplestiltskin, which happened in "Skin Deep".
- Hades says that Rumplestiltskin killed Gaston, but it was actually Belle who killed him. Rumple turned Gaston into a flower but Belle was the one who cut the flower's stem, which killed the flower and Gaston.
Gallery[]
External links[]
