"Once Upon a Time" Recap: "The Bear and the Bow"

Written by Shae

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

At work, a coworker of mine is also painfully obsessed with this show. Now, here’s the thing, she always watches it when it premieres, while I am generally asleep. So, when I finally got to watch it in the wee hours of the not-when-it-aired-but-as-soon-as-it-was-on-Xfinity, I may have been a little more vocal than normal over my love of this show. Alright, let’s break this down.
 
Merida and Belle are the cutest best friends ever. I have decided that this is acceptable and that they should be forever friends. The end. 

Okay, so back in Camelot we have everyone realizing that Arthur is a horrible human being. The group, with Merlin, breaks into the dungeons to free Lancelot. They also find and free Merida. On their way back to…I’m not sure where they were going, Merida knocked Belle out and kidnaps her. It’s okay, most friendships actually happen this way (see Mattie! It’s normal!). Merida needs her help. The three of the four clans have kidnapped her brothers and plan to take over the kingdom. Merida convinces Belle to help her, they need magic to see what’s going on first. As it so happens, the clans are planning to murder her three not-so-little brothers since she won’t relinquish the throne. Merida has Belle make her this potion that will turn her into a bear.

Upon confronting the traitors, Merida drinks the potion…only Belle might have switched it out with water, because, you know, she’s tricky like that. She’s determined that Merida doesn’t need magic, she just needs to trust herself and stop blaming herself for her father’s death. Which she does the second the three young clan leaders release their arrows towards her brothers. Merida’s own arrow knocks all three out of the air…because…..physics. But, nevertheless, Merida is soon the Queen of her land once again! Yay!

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Also, best friends fight. Look, it happens. Even when the Dark One takes your memories, puts you back into modern day, and takes your heart forcing you to do things. In this case, though, Merida is tasked with making Rumple into a hero. He….is having troubles. Eventually, though, he comes to some terms. Breaking the teacup that meant so much to him, Rumple breaks free of Merida’s capture and finds Belle in her library. Yay! They’re together again! Kiss and make up already! Seriously! But, alas, they don’t…ish. Instead, Rumple decides they need his shop, that way he can protect them, they’ll be safe there, right? Sure!

Merida has been tasked by the Dark One to go after and kill Belle. She’s impatient, and not in the mood to deal with Rumple being a slow learner. So Merida hunts them down. Fires a few arrows. It’s actually Belle that saves Rumple by knocking the rug out from under Merida. And Rumple is like ‘Kay, we needs to go babe!’. Fleeing town sounds like a great idea, for Rumple, but Belle isn’t in the mood. She forces him to stop the car, tells him off, and leaves. Merida is waiting with a potion, the right one. While neither of them have their memories, well, Belle doesn’t, the Potion is bad. It turns her into a massive bear. Time to do some cardio! Run Belle run! It’s actually a bit scary since BearMerida gets Belle cornered. Rumple shows up, and in a freak accident saves her. Guess who is a hero? He doesn’t kill our Scottish Queen, but turns her back with magic (and a bit of luck).

They meet Emma in her basement, and Rumple strikes a deal. Give Merida her heart back and he’ll pull the sword from the stone. And against all odds, it really works. Of course, for a moment we’re lead to believe it won’t. Rumple has a heartwarming speech and tells Belle he’d had given it all up sooner, should have been the man she deserved all along. And she says it’s never too late to try. Kinda made me teat up…a lot. With the sword free…well…that's trouble.

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