Loved It? Hated It? What did you think of The Crocodile?

[SteelyGal]

I thought it was an alright episode for the most part, but I'll be honest...

I don't like that they're replacing certain Fairy Tale folk with ones we've already seen. Right now we've got no Beast, no Peter Pan, no crocodile, and no Shang because Rumpelstiltskin is taking the first three roles, and Phillip is taking Shang's role (even though he dies). What's next? Is another FT character we've seen/are going to to see going to replace Ariel's Prince Eric? Is Regina or Cora going to replace Ursula?

I understand that they're deviating from the original tales a bit, but it's starting to become a little silly in some aspects. As much as I love Rumpelstiltskin, I don't like that he's taking over for multiple characters (up to three already, but there could always be more).

I am starting to feel the same way. Also wanted to add no Cinderella fairy godmother. I guess they feel the need to have Rumple or Regina connected in some way to everyone's fairy tale story but they need to be careful and not push that envelope too far or it may turn some viewers off. And I hope they don't replace Ursula with Regina or Cora but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

[Leonatus]

I am starting to feel the same way. Also wanted to add no Cinderella fairy godmother. I guess they feel the need to have Rumple or Regina connected in some way to everyone's fairy tale story but they need to be careful and not push that envelope too far or it may turn some viewers off. And I hope they don't replace Ursula with Regina or Cora but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.

Well in fairness, they did have Cinderella's godmother. She just went kaboom in a matter of seconds thanks for Rumple, who then took the role himself. I just don't want to see them trying to give the characters too many different FT personalities attached to them.

[SteelyGal]

^^^
Even thought we briefly saw Cinderella's fairy godmother's, I still put her in the "no" category because her main function in the story was completely erased.

[Leonatus]

^^^
Even thought we briefly saw Cinderella's fairy godmother's, I still put her in the "no" category because her main function in the story was completely erased.

haha, well true. It was mainly a cameo appearance.

I really want to see Cora's transformation from a simple maiden to the evil magic mistress though. I feel like that in itself is grounds for an excellent episode.

[jpfort1957]

^^^Lots of back stories to come!!!!

[Kal26]

Very good episode! Anytime I get lots of Rumple, I'm happy!

[Resistance84]

I liked it- would have liked to see Emma/Snow, Regina, etc. at least a little but- but Emma/Snow had a lot of airtime last week.

And, at least next week, it looks like a Regina-fied show.

[Exedore]

Kind of a mixed bag. Carlyle's performance is great as usual but the plotting could have been better. Must everything always come to down love polygons and all that soap opera stuff? I also missed Emma and even Henry. Especially Emma.

I thought it was an alright episode for the most part, but I'll be honest...

I don't like that they're replacing certain Fairy Tale folk with ones we've already seen. Right now we've got no Beast, no Peter Pan, no crocodile, and no Shang because Rumpelstiltskin is taking the first three roles, and Phillip is taking Shang's role (even though he dies). What's next? Is another FT character we've seen/are going to to see going to replace Ariel's Prince Eric? Is Regina or Cora going to replace Ursula?

I understand that they're deviating from the original tales a bit, but it's starting to become a little silly in some aspects. As much as I love Rumpelstiltskin, I don't like that he's taking over for multiple characters (up to three already, but there could always be more).

Tell me about it. The character replacements are getting out of hand now. It's especially ridiculous the way they are forcing Rumple everywhere. Not only did he kill and take over the role of Cinderella's fairy godmother but he's also the Beast and now Hook's Crocodile? Heck he even absorbed some of Peter Pan's role; in the original, it was Peter who cut off Hook's hand and fed it to a crocodile and that was a huge part of their enmity. Here Rumple cuts off Hook's hand and takes it with him. Hook now regards him as his 'archenemy'. Basically Peter, if he exists at all on this show, will be a distraction for Hook in his main quest to take revenge on Rumple.

And I still don't like what they did to Beauty and the Beast. I mean I am not against experimenting with the stories but the way they did it in this particular case is terrible; the core story is practically unrecognizable. :/

I wish the TPTB could control themselves when it comes to Rumple. It sometimes reminds me of the way SV's PTB were obsessed with Lana to the point where everything basically revolved around her. The only reason the last few seasons did not have that was because the actress left. Otherwise....

Maybe that's what OUAT needs: Carlyle should sign another show and limit his appearances on OUAT. When last season ended, part of me wished that would happen in S2 because it would force the writers to think of outside of Rumple.

I will admit though that I did find it a bit funny that they still found a way to include the whole "ticking clock in the crocodile" thing by making Rumple go "tick tock".

As for Rumple's wife, I don't know if that was the intent but I found nothing likeable about her. I kind of cheered when Rumple killed her but on second thought, maybe she deserved something worse (like trapping her in some sort of a Sisyphean hell; which would also allow her come back as another villain later). Then again, I suppose they did that to contrast her with the wonder that is the clueless Belle.

Speaking of Belle, looks like she's adjusting to real world 21st century pretty well even though she has no idea at all about this place, the technology, the clothes, etc. Apparently food is all you need to know to know our world. Hamburgers, iced tea and pancakes....that's all it takes.

I find it a little odd that Gold could never leave Storybrooke and still can't; how exactly did he then arrange for Henry Jr's adoption by Regina? Also, I thought the border curse was that people basically kept their Storybrooke memories and forgot about their Fairy Tale past. But Belle never had a Storybrooke life. So would the curse have really worked on her? And if it did, would she be given brand new memories of a Storybrooke life and identity or would she suffer from Hollywood amnesia?


BTW, I found Sheppy to be tolerable today which was pretty surprising because he's usually very annoying. In fact it seems he has become more tolerable after losing Snow this season. It appears that Sheppy's manhood (or the strength of his spine) is proportional to his distance from Snow.

[starflower69]

I enjoyed this episode, I did like the scene of Belle watching Rumple at his spinning wheel, I've been waiting to see him do that in Storybrooke. I wan't keen on the way Belle ran away though in 6 inch heels and a short dress and no jacket or anything! I preferred the storylines in FTL this week they were much more twisted and engaging, which probably made up for the fact that Regina wasn't in the episode. I like how the writers are pushing boundaries with our fairy tales. It's called modern re-working and it's been done countless times. All in all not a bad episode, Hook was brilliant at the end with Cora and I can't wait to see them wreck havoc in Storybrooke

[jpfort1957]

Kind of a mixed bag. Carlyle's performance is great as usual but the plotting could have been better. Must everything always come to down love polygons and all that soap opera stuff?

Unfortunately No! Smallville could have never made it without the girls watching it for the love stories...........and neither could OUAT. It's all about the numbers.

[jpfort1957]

Very good episode! Anytime I get lots of Rumple, I'm happy!

Same here!!! I figure the show is more about Rumple , even Regina is a Rumple pawn.

[Raissa]

I've had a thought late at night. Red and Rumple have two things in common. They're both beasts to Belle's beauty, and they've both killed significant others. I'm wondering if the writers plan on comparing/contrasting their situations down the road.

[Rac80]

I've had a thought late at night. Red and Rumple have two things in common. They're both beasts to Belle's beauty, and they've both killed significant others. I'm wondering if the writers plan on comparing/contrasting their situations down the road.

Interesting--- they could contrast how Red chooses to leash the beat within and overcome the potential for evil, whereas rumple seems to relish the beast and the evil. Maybe Red could help Rumple learn to control the evil? Yep I am wanting a Rumple redemption!

[Raistlin]

I liked this episode a lot, but think I missed the very beginning of the episode. I did like the relationship between Captain Jones (AKA Hook), Rumplestiltskin, and Milah, and was thrilled with how the writers keep on adding new layers to Rumple's character, since, with every new piece of the puzzle they unveil about him, the more they reinforce his role as the 'Snape' of the series.

This show is the first series that I've ever seen Emile De Raven in, but I really like her as an actress, and, while her character isn't quite as fleshed-out as some of the others in the series, I still find myself rooting for her and wanting to see more of her. I also really like the complexity of her relationship with Rumple/Gold, because it reflects all of the complexity and poignancy of the Disney fairytale relationship between her and The Beast as played out in both the animated film and its stage musical adaptation from which she comes, but also branches out into new territory, creating new levels of complexity. I'm also glad that Belle didn't just passively let her father's heavy-handedness stand and called him on the carpet about it because it makes her more than just the 'damsel in distress', which is how her character has played itself out thus far.

Speaking of Belle's father, something that I was struck by in this episode was that his actions evoked images of Regina's conversation with Rumple in Skin Deep where she let him think that Belle was dead since what Mo tried to do is eerily similar to what Regina told Rumple that he'd done during said conversation, which casts a brand-new light on that conversation and on Regina's character, since it brings into sharp focus the possibility that what she told Rumple wasn't a complete fabrication and that what she said Maurice did might've been true to a point.

I knew thanks to the credits that Barbara Hershey was going to be in this episode, but I wasn't expecting her appearance to play out like it did, and find myself really wanting to find out more about the relationship between her and Hook. I'm also hoping we find out how both he and she ended up stranded in the post-curse Fairy Tale Land since it is highly likely - based on what we know - that they were both in other places (Neverland and Wonderland, respectively) when Regina activated the Dark Curse 28 years earlier.

I also liked the story development of Charming/David temporarily taking Emma's job as Sheriff, because it adds another level of connection between father and daughter and ties them together even though they're currently apart.

All of this. This show is very entertaining and gets better each week.

[jon-el87]

Liked Belle adjusting to her new world and telling both her father and Rumple to beat it. Not sure why they needed Rumple to literaly be the crocodile. Why not, at least, have Rumple feed Hook's hand to a crocodile?