Recap / Once Upon a Time S2 E19 "Lacey"

Season 2, Episode 19:

Lacey

Rumplestiltskin:"What would people think if I spared the life of someone who stole from me?"

Belle: "That there's actually a man hiding behind the beast?"

Rumplestiltskin: "There isn't."

Belle: "Then why didn't you kill me when I freed the prisoner?"

Rumplestiltskin: "Well, I would have, but, uh, good help these days are really hard to find."

Belle: "I think that you are not as dark as you want people to believe. I think that deep down, there's love in your heart, and for something more than power."

Lacey: "So it is true then, what they say about you."

Mr. Gold: Yes, it's all true."

Lacey: "You...you are not who I thought you were...and I'm glad. You really are as dark as people say."

Mr. Gold: "Darker, dearie. Much darker."

Mr. Gold enlists the aid of David to help him try to jog Belle's now cursed memories and get her to love him again; and when it is revealed that the magic beans Anton and the dwarves have been harvesting have begun to grow and could possibly transport everybody home, Emma is torn over whether she would want to live in fairytale land or stay in our world. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Rumplestiltskin forces Belle to accompany him on a hunt to kill a thief, whom she had freed in the name of mercy.

Tropes:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Or at least Lacey does.
• All Just a Dream: The episode opener with Henry's birthday party and Gold killing him with a magic wand. Also a Catapult Nightmare, proving that for all the darkness we see from Gold in this and the next several episodes, there is still good in him.
• Always Accurate Attack: Robin Hood's magic bow.
• Bad Guys Play Pool: Before she actually says or does anything, the first sign we get that Lacey is not very nice is several closeup shots of her playing pool.
• Bound and Gagged: Hook in the last few seconds of the episode.
• Call-Back: Once before, Gold came to David for advice about how to win over Belle. Now he has to do it again, this time with her cursed persona, Lacey. This is also a Continuity Nod to the fact Rumple had worked to bring Snow and Charming together, and in the process admitted he once had someone he loved, so David knows he's sincere about this. Also, when David refuses at first because of Gold manipulating Snow into killing Cora, he gets him to change his mind by saying he'd owe the prince a favor (reversing when Emma owed one to Gold).
• Chekhov's Skill: In Gold's dream, he kills Henry by turning him into ceramic and shattering him. Come Season 3, he will use this ability for real with plot-affecting consequences.
• Continuity Nod: Robin Hood's magic bow, which Rumple would later (chronologically speaking) give to Snow White.
• Couch Gag: The title card features Robin Hood firing an arrow.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Rumpelstiltskin executes anyone who steals from him, even if it's to save the life of another... However, Robin Hood did try to kill Rumplestiltkin simply for catching him as Robin Hood was stealing.
• Even Evil Has Standards: ...However, Rumpelstiltskin won't make a child fatherless, even if the father is guilty of stealing and attempting to kill him.
• Evil Counterpart: Played With in the case of Belle and Lacey. They are the same person but with different sets of memories at two different points in her life. Everything good and virtuous and kind that Belle was, Lacey isn't.
• Evil Is Easy: After all his attempts to be a good man fail when Belle/Lacey rejects him, Gold happily sheds any last veneer of virtuousness and goes to town on the man who Lacey was getting it on with.
• Evil Is Petty: What seems like this at first, with Regina giving Belle cursed memories as a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who wants nothing to do with the good man Gold is trying to be, makes a lot more sense once you remember that a) Gold tried to kill Regina with the Wraith because of her lying to him and holding Belle prisoner for 28 years b) him manipulating Snow into killing Cora to save his life and c) most recently, him preventing her from taking Snow's heart to cast her spell on Henry. While Gold had good reasons (to varying degrees) for doing all of these things, and Regina was clearly to blame as well, her actions are coming from vengeance and bitterness, not mere pettiness.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: When Belle becomes Lacey, she has styled her hair and put it up. She had previously worn very simple hairstyles.
• Fanservice Pack: Lacey's clothes. Lampshaded by Granny when she sees what she's wearing - asking if she raided Ruby's closet.
• Find the Cure!: The reason for Robin Hood daring to steal from and kill the Dark One is to save his dying Marian.
• Flat "What": Regina's reaction when she finds out that Rumpelstiltskin is Henry's grandfather.
• Forced to Watch:
  • Rumpelstiltskin is going to kill Robin Hood for stealing and trying to kill him and wants to make Belle watch the execution for helping Robin escape. Belle is naturally horrified and disgusted by this and pleads with him to change his mind.
    • Ironic Echo: In Storybrooke, Lacey eagerly watches as Gold beats a man to what would eventually be death with his cane.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Lacey
• I Choose to Stay: Given a choice between remaining in Storybrooke and returning to live in the fairytale world, Emma is not enthusiastic at all about the latter, even if it was where she originally came from.
  • Neal, as well, due to the fact that he "didn't exactly have a fairy tale childhood."
• Ignored Epiphany: Gold sweeps all his previous experiences of doing good under the rug when it becomes apparent that Belle/Lacey likes him better as a Jerkass.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Lacey
• Ironic Echo:
  Belle/Lacey: So it is true then... what they say about you.
  Gold: Yes. It's all true.
  Belle/Lacey: You are.. you are not who I thought you were. And I'm glad. You really are as dark as people say.
  Gold: Darker, dearie. Much darker!
  • Regina mocks Gold's inability to become a good person and reconnect with his loved ones, much the same way he mocked her similar attempts with Henry and Emma in a previous episode.
• It's All About Me:
  • Gold really only cares about restoring Belle's memories because he wants her to love him and fill the void in his soul.
  • Gold once again calls Lacey "dearie" by the end of the episode when it appears he has embraced his darker side. Rumpelstiltskin/Gold always calls someone "dearie" when it is obvious that he is using them.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: Belle wore modest and rather simple clothes. Lacey wears stuff that's a bit more skimpy and has a lot more make-up etc. It's about as close as they can come to this trope on a family show.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Regina gives Belle her fake Storybrooke memories as the bad girl Lacey to thwart Gold's attempts to reconnect with her and bring out the goodness in him. It turns out Gold can connect with Lacey after all because she likes Gold's dark side. Which might have been Regina's plan all along.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: What Mr. Gold does to the Sheriff of Nottingham.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Sheriff of Nottingham offers to tell Rumple about Robin Hood in exchange for a night with Belle. See Tongue Trauma for what happens next.
• Saying Too Much: When Emma tries to convince Regina to lay off her and Neal for not having Henry in their lives until now, by saying she needs to be the woman Henry wants her to be, she accidentally hints at the magic beans her parents showed her by stating otherwise Regina is "gonna lose him." This gets the mayor investigating and eventually finding the bean field.
• Tongue Trauma: Rumplestiltskin magically steals the Sheriff of Nottingham's tongue and gives it back in return for information on Robin Hood. Later, in Storybrooke, he does the same thing permanently.
• Tracking Device: Regina uses a spell to follow the path of Charming's truck back to the cloaked bean field.
• True Blue Femininity: Inverted. Belle's Evil Costume Switch as Lacey has her donning sparkly blue outfit - albeit of a darker blue than her familiar dress in the Enchanted Forest.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Belle invokes this with Rumpelstiltskin in the fairytale world. It partially works for a while, but eventually fails.