Recap / Once Upon a Time S2 E4 The Crocodile

Season 2, Episode 4:

The Crocodile

Centric Characters: Rumplestiltskin, Hook

Previous: Lady of the Lake | Next: The Doctor

Belle: You don't need power, Rumple. You need courage... to let me in.

Captain Hook: Excellent. You'll be able to see your daughter. And I can skin myself a crocodile.

---

Gold gifts Belle a diamond necklace and a date, planning to show her around Storybrooke for the first time. The moment is interrupted by Leroy, who demands his pickaxe back from Gold.

Gold: I'm sorry, but we're closed.
Leroy: It's mine! Give it to me.
Gold: And yet, still closed.
Leroy: Just 'cause you possess something don't mean it's yours. Nothin' in this shop belongs to you. <turns to Belle> And you. How can you be with such a monster? Or maybe you're just another possession too.
Gold: How dare you!

To Belle's horror, Gold seizes Leroy and throws him against the wall.

Gold: You want your axe? Fine!
Belle: Rumplestiltskin!
Gold: You can have it! Buried! In! Your! Chest!
Belle: Stop! Stop! This isn't you anymore!

Gold turns back to look at her, now having taken on the appearance of his Enchanted Forest self.

Rumplestiltskin: Oh it's me, dearie! Always has been! Always will be!

Belle wakes up from her nightmare and finds Gold gone. Looking around the house, she spots him in the basement, spinning gold thread which he uses to make a potion.

---

FLASHBACK! Rumplestiltskin arrives home to find his son Baelfire there alone. Rumplestiltskin tells him that his mother, Milah, must have "lost track of time" and they go to find her at a local tavern where she is gambling and drinking with a group of men. Rumplestiltskin pleads with her to come home, but she only mocks him for his cowardice in fleeing from the battlefield until Baelfire appears, prompting her to go with them. At home, Milah asks why they can't leave their village and have a new start, a conversation they've had before, but Rumplestiltskin tells her to keep trying to be happy here for Baelfire's sake.

---

In the morning, Belle confronts Gold about practicing magic and tries to get a straight answer of why he really needs magic, to no avail.

---

FLASHBACK! A neighbor comes to Rumplestiltskin in a panic, telling him that some sailors have taken Milah and he needs to go rescue her before they set sail. Rumplestiltskin climbs aboard the ship where he soon meets the captain.

Rumplestiltskin: I remember you. F- From the bar.
Jones: It's always nice to make an impression.
<sailors laugh>
Jones: Where are my manners? We haven't been formally introduced. Killian Jones. And… what are you doing aboard my ship?
Rumplestiltskin: Oh… you have my wife.
Jones: Oh, I've had many a man's wife.
<sailors laugh>
Rumplestiltskin: No, <stammering> you see, we have a son. And he needs his mother.
Jones: You see, I have a ship full of men, who need… companionship.
<sailors cheer>
Rumplestiltskin: I- I'm begging you. Please let her go.
Jones: I'm not much for bartering. That said, I do consider myself an honorable man, a man with a code, so… if you truly want your wife back… <he drops a sword at Rumplestiltskin's feet before drawing his own> all you have to do is take her.
Rumplestiltskin: <heavy breathing, shaking in terror>
Jones: Never been in a duel before, I take it? Well, it's quite simple really. The pointy end goes in the other guy. Go on. Pick it up.
Rumplestiltskin: <on the verge of tears>
Jones: The man unwilling to fight for what he wants… deserves what he gets.

Seeing that Rumplestiltskin isn't going to fight, Captain Jones turns away.

Rumplestiltskin: Please, sir. What am I going to tell my boy?
Jones: Try the truth. His father's a coward.

---

David and the dwarves dig in the old Storybrooke mines, looking for fairy dust.

Gold tries to find Belle to talk again, but finds that she has left the house. Unsure of where she could have gone, he visits Moe French, but Moe hasn't seen anything of his daughter since he made the deal with Rumplestiltskin, and has nothing but contempt for him for now.

---

FLASHBACK! Years later, a man in a red hat meets with the Dark One in the tavern. The man implies that he knows the location of a magic bean taken from another land by sailors, and starts to explain the "rumor" he heard about Rumplestiltskin needing one to reunite with his lost son. Rumplestiltskin makes a deal: the man will get the magic bean for him in exchange for being returned to his childhood youth. As the man leaves, Rumplestiltskin spots Captain Jones and his crew entering the tavern.

---

Ruby starts a conversation with Belle, who has been thinking things over at Granny's over some iced tea. Belle wants to find something to do in Storybrooke to give her purpose, and Ruby suggests that she try the old Storybrooke library which has been closed but now has a chance of reopening.

Belle goes to the library and finds it locked up tight, and as she peers in through a boarded-up window she is surprised by a homeless man in a red hat. He asks if she's meeting anyone here, and when she responds in the negative he grabs her and drags her away.

---

FLASHBACK! Outside the tavern, Rumplestiltskin pretends to be a beggar as he bumps into Captain Jones.

Jones: Hey you! Stop! Even gutter rats have more manners than you just displayed.
Rumplestiltskin: <turning back> Oh, I'm so sorry, sir.
Jones: <seeing the beggar's scaly skin> Ah. I was wrong. Not a rat at all, more… more like a crocodile!
<sailors laugh>

Jones knocks the beggar's cup of coins to the ground, and kicks him down as he crouches to pick up his things.

Jones: What's your name, crocodile?
<sailors laugh>
Rumplestiltskin: <giggles as he stands and lowers his hood>
Jones: You. I remember you.
Rumplestitlskin: Always nice to make an impression. Where are my manners? We haven't been properly introduced. Rumplestiltskin. Or as others know me… the Dark One.
<the sailors nervously back away>
Rumplestiltskin: <gleeful> Ooh! I see my reputation precedes me.
Jones: It does.
Rumplestiltskin: Good! That's gonna save us time during the question-and-answer portion of our game.
Jones: What is it you want to know?
Rumplestiltskin: How's Milah?, of course.
Jones: <grinning> Who?
Rumplestiltskin: <giggles> Only too happy to, uh, dig out the memory. But… it gets really messy.
Jones: She's dead. Died a long time ago. What is it you want?
Rumplestiltskin: We didn't get a chance to finish our duel.
Jones: <reaches for his sword>
Rumplestiltskin: Ah! Not now. Tomorrow at dawn. I am not a cruel man; get your affairs in order. Also, you can spend tonight knowing… it'll be your last. <giggles> Maybe I am cruel. And don't think about trying to escape. Because I will find you, and I will gut your entire crew <puts on an Italian accent? what?> like-a da feesh.

---

Gold arrives at the Blanchard apartment where he sees that David has taken up the position of acting sheriff. Gold asks David to help him find Belle, since he knows what it's like to be forcibly separated from his loved ones.

---

FLASHBACK! Jones returns to Rumplestiltskin for their duel. Rumplestiltskin magically steals Jones' sword, giving him an old one to use.

Rumplestiltskin: Sorry, but killing a man with his own sword was just too delicious to pass up.

The duel begins and though Jones fights well he is no match for the Dark One and quickly finds himself disarmed.

Jones: Go on. I'm ready for this sword.
Rumplestiltskin: No. Do you know what it's like? To have your wife stolen from you? To feel powerless to stop it? It feels like having your heart ripped from your chest. Actually… let me show you.

Rumplestiltskin plunges his hand into Jones' chest, but as he starts to pull a woman arrives and shouts at him to stop.

Rumplestiltskin: Milah?

---

The man takes Belle to a shed where he explains that he was hired to find her, and his employer then arrives: Moe French. Belle is overjoyed to finally reunite with her father and while he too is happy to see her he is less thrilled to hear that she fell in love with the Dark One. Belle insists that it's her choice to be with him or not, so Moe has the man in the red hat begin their backup plan.

As David and Gold head to Granny's to see if anyone there has seen Belle, Gold asks David how his relationship with Mary Margaret works. David answers that the key is to have complete and total honesty with one another.

---

FLASHBACK!

Rumplestiltskin: Milah! How?
Jones: Milah, you have to run!
Milah: No! I'm not leaving without you!
Rumplestiltskin: Oh, how sweet! It appears there's more to this tale than I know. Tell it to me, Milah!
Milah: Please, don't hurt him! I can explain!
Rumplestiltskin: Tick tock, dearie! Tick tock!
Milah: That first night, when Killian and his crew came into the tavern… he told stories! About the places he'd been! And I fell in love with him. I didn't mean for it to turn out this way! I didn't know how to tell you the truth! I'm sorry!
Rumplestiltskin: And so here we are! You've come to save the life of your twoo love, the pirate! I didn't realize the power of true love before. It is impressive. I'd hate to break it up. Actually, no. I'd love to. <starts to press the sword into Jones' chest>
Milah: Wait! I have something you want.
Rumplestiltskin: Well I find that very difficult to believe.

Milah pulls out a red woolen hat.

Rumplestiltskin: Where did you get that?
Milah: You know who I took it from. I may not know what the Dark One wants with a magic bean, but I have it.
Rumplestiltskin: Oh, I feel a proposal coming on.
Milah: The magic bean in exchange for our lives. Deal?
Rumplestiltskin: I wanna see it first.

---

At Granny's, Ruby denies having seen Belle but David doesn't buy it. After some gentle prodding, Ruby gives in and tells them she pointed Belle towards the library. Ruby hands over a sweater Gold had lent to Belle that she left at the diner, and after getting David's word that he'll make sure Belle's okay, offers to help find her. Ruby follows the smell until they reach Moe's shop, where the flowers overpower her ability. They enter the store where Moe tells them that he's making sure that Belle will forget about Gold, and they realize that he sending her over the town line to reinstate her Cursed self. Moe refuses to tell how he plans on getting Belle past the patrols David set up to ensure no one crosses the line, but David sees dirt from the mine on Moe's hand and figures out that they're sending her through the tunnels.

---

FLASHBACK! Jones, Milah and Rumplestiltskin board Jones' ship, where Milah has the crew bring out the man and his magic bean. Rumplestiltskin reaches for the bean but Milah tosses it to Jones who closes it in the fist of his left hand.

Jones: You asked to see it and now you have.
Milah: Do we have a deal? Can we go our separate ways?
Rumplestiltskin: Do you mean "Do I forgive you? Can I move on?" Perhaps, perhaps. I can see you are twooly… in love.
Milah: Thank you.
Rumplestiltskin: Just one question!
Milah: What do you want to know?
Rumplestiltskin: How could you leave Bae?

Ropes around the ship start to disconnect as Rumplestiltskin's anger begins to surface.

Rumplestiltskin: Do you know what it's like? Walking home that night-
Milah: Rumple.
Rumplestiltskin: -knowing that I had to tell our son-
Milah: Please.
Rumplestiltskin: -that his mother… was dead.
Milah: I was wrong to lie to you. I was the coward. I know that-
Rumplestiltskin: You left him! You abandoned him!
Milah: And there's not a day that goes by that I don't feel sorry for that!
Rumplestiltskin: "Sorry" isn't enough! You let him go.
Milah: I let my misery cloud my judgement.
Rumplestiltskin: Why were you so miserable?
Milah: Because I never loved you.

After a few seconds of an intense stare-off, Rumplestiltskin tears out Milah's heart, magically restraining Jones with a block and tackle system. As Milah starts to sink to the floor, Jones frees himself, the block and tackle's hook breaking off as it hits the deck. Jones catches Milah and she is able to whisper "I love you" before Rumplestiltskin crushes her heart to dust, killing her.

Jones: You may be more powerful now, demon, but you're no less a coward!
Rumplestiltskin: I'll have what I came for now. <looks to Jones' clenched fist>
Jones: You'll have to kill me first!
Rumplestiltskin: Ah-ah! I'm afraid that's not in the cards for you, sonny boy.

In a single swift movement, Rumplestiltskin draws his sword and severs Jones' left hand which he takes.

Rumplestiltskin: I want you alive. Because I want you to suffer like I did.

Jones grabs the fallen hook from the deck and stabs it into Rumplestiltskin's chest.

Rumplestiltskin: <giggles> Killing me's gonna take a lot more than that, dearie!
Jones: Even demons can be killed. I will find a way!
Rumplestiltskin: Well good luck living long enough.

Rumplestiltskin vanishes, leaving the hook on the ground. Jones' picks up the hook again, looking from it to Milah's body.

---

The man loads Belle into a minecart and handcuffs her to the side, explaining that she'll soon forget who she was in the Enchanted Forest. The cart starts to roll down the mineshaft. Belle finds the key to the handcuffs which the man had left in the cart for when she reached the end, but drops it over the side when she tries to free herself. Belle starts to panic when the minecart suddenly stops and begins to roll back up the tunnel, where Gold is pulling her back with magic. Belle thanks Gold for saving her, but tells him that he still needs to be honest with her before she will rejoin him. Moe asks Belle to come with him but he has lost her trust.

Belle returns to Granny's with Ruby, who arranges for her to stay at the inn for the time being. Ruby tells Belle that someone left a box for her, and Belle opens it to find the key to the library. Letting herself in, Belle finds Gold waiting for her. He admits that she was right about him and explains everything to her, how he pursued power to make up for his cowardice and in doing so lost his son, and after years of searching for a way to reunite found the Dark Curse which brought him to the land that Baelfire had gone to. Once the Curse was broken, he brought back magic because he was still too cowardly, and the price of doing that means that no one can leave Storybrooke without losing themselves. Gold tells Belle that what she saw him doing in the basement was trying to find a way to break this new Curse so he can go find his son. Somewhat forgiving Gold for being honest with her now, Belle suggests that they go on a date sometime.

---

FLASHBACK! Returning to his hovel, Rumplestiltskin pries open Captain Jones' severed fist, only to find it empty.

Jones considers the magic bean as his crew conducts a Burial at Sea for Milah. As Jones turns away, the man who procured the magic bean tries to shout through his gag.

Jones: Allow him to speak.
Man: I want my bean!
Jones: Let me tell you how it works on my ship. I make the demands, you follow them. The bean's now mine.
Man: You have to give me something for it.
Jones: Oh, I will. Your life. A chance to join my crew.
Man: So instead of the promise of eternal life, I get to scrub blood off your decks? How is that right?
Jones: What if I was to tell you I was about to set sail to a land where none of us will ever grow old? Where I can discover how to get my revenge on Rumplestiltskin?
Man: <smiling> I'd say I could live with that.
Jones: Good. What's your name, sailor?
Man: William. William Smee. Can I have my hat?

Jones has a nearby crewman return Smee's hat.

Jones: Well, Mr. Smee. Welcome aboard.

Jones throws the magic bean into the sea, where a whirlpool opens. Jones begins to order his crew to sail into it.

Smee: What's the name of the place we're headed, Cap'n?

Jones attaches the hook to the stump of his left arm.

Jones: Neverland!

---

Gold enters his storeroom where he has imprisoned Smee.

Gold: You're probably wondering why I brought you here. <holds up Smee's red beanie> I found this in the mines. Mr. Smee.
Smee: I am so sorry, I didn't have-
Gold: I am not interested in apologies. I'm interested in information. About the man you work for.
Smee: I'll tell you anything you wanna know about Moe, just-
Gold: No no, not about Moe. Your captain. Where is he?
Smee: I've never seen him in Storybrooke, I swear. For some reason when the Curse hit, it- it- it didn't take him!
Gold: Then where? Is? He?

---

In the Enchanted Forest, Cora meets with her accomplice, Captain Jones.

Cora: Hello, Hook.
Hook: Hello, Cora. You told me you had something important you needed to show me?

Cora produces the vial of ashes.

Hook: Sparkly dirt. Wonderful.
Cora: Just the remains of a magical wardrobe. That can travel between worlds.
Hook: Is it enough to get us to where we need to go?
Cora: Not quite. But it's a start.
Hook: We're almost ready to set sail. What's our port of destination?
Cora: Storybrooke.
Hook: Curious name. Is that where-
Cora: She is. And so is he.
Hook: Excellent. You'll be able to see your daughter. And I can skin myself a crocodile.

Tropes

• Affably Evil: Smee.
• And Show It to You: Rumplestiltskin ripped out his wife's heart when he found out she abandoned him and their son and was in love with Hook.
• Bloodless Carnage: Downplayed. There is blood splatter from Rumplestiltskin cutting off Hook's hand, but it's far less than there should be from an injury like that.
• Catapult Nightmare: Belle has one to start the episode. Interestingly it doesn't just involve her and Gold, but also Leroy, which not only acknowledges the friendship they began in "Dreamy" (and will further develop in this season's "The Outsider") but shows how Belle's fears about Rumple go deeper than just his inner darkness—namely, that she fears others who matter to her will turn on her because of her choice to stay with him. He's also the one to voice her greatest worry, that the love between her and Gold is not real because she is "just another possession."
• Chekhov's Gun: The rock dust Charming gets on his hand from working in the mines with the dwarves, which he later spies on Moe's hand to identify where he took Belle.
• Composite Character: Rumplestiltskin, already identified with the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, turns out to also be the Crocodile from Peter Pan.
• Couch Gag: The title card features the Jolly Roger.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Inverted. Hook expected Rumple to be shorter based on his wife's description.
• Fountain of Youth: What Smee wants from Rumplestiltskin. He threatens him with the opposite if he doesn't get the magic bean for him; in the end he agrees to join Hook's crew because traveling to Neverland can give him the eternal life he wants.
• Iconic Item: Smee's red hat, used by Milah to let Rumple know she and Killian have him (and the magic bean), and used from here on out to identify him. It also is the personal item Gold later uses to test the potion for someone crossing the town line (clearly in a twisted Call-Back to Smee being involved in the plot to make Belle do the same thing). invoked^*It was made for him by his grandmother.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Moe sees his plan to make Belle lose her memory as this, as anything is justified to him if it keeps her away from the Dark One. Belle strongly disagrees.
• Ironic Echo: When Rumple tells Hook that he recognizes him, Hook smugly responds "Always nice to make an impression." Later, Hook encounters a powered-up Rumplestiltskin, now known as the Dark One, and expresses recognition. Rumple's response? "Always nice to make an impression," letting him know that he's not just dealing with a terribly powerful, evil being - he's dealing with a terribly powerful, evil being that has reason to be incredibly pissed with him.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As bad as Rumplestiltskin is, he's more than justified in taking revenge on Hook, given that Hook stole his wife and left his child motherless.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Granted that the series isn't allowed to be too graphic, but Hook reacts to Rumplestiltskin cutting his freaking hand off with far less screaming and flailing around than he by all rights should have done.
• Mythology Gag: Like in the Disney film, Belle is given a library. Played with in that she's given it to run rather than just use, that she's told about it by Ruby rather than her Beast (though he does give her the key, once he finds out she wanted to work there), and that in fact it's a means for her to get away from him and his love of power and dishonesty rather than as a romantic gesture, although him allowing her to have it (and finally telling her the truth about Bae) does act as a sign of hope for their relationship.
• Oh, Crap!: Hook finds out the guy he was such a jerk to a while back is now the Dark One.
• Parental Abandonment: Milah, Rumple's ex-wife and Baelfire's mom, took off and joined a pirate crew.
• Rapid Aging: Since Smee wants eternal life but settles for being made young again, Rumplestiltskin threaten to do this to him should he fail in his task.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Belle gives a fierce and well-deserved example to both Gold and Moe. While the former is for his continuing to keep secrets from her/lie to her, as well as his tendency to give in to his darker, nastier urges, the latter is especially scathing—he's her own father, yet solely to keep her away from Gold he is willing to have her kidnapped and eventually lose all memory of who she is. So he's both taking away her choice and agency, and planning to inflict a terrible fate on his own daughter For Your Own Good. What the Hell, Hero? only scratches the surface; it's actually a wonder Belle ever forgives him, all things considered.
• The Reveal:
  • Not only do we get Captain Hook's backstory and how it intersects with Rumple's, but we find out what happened to Rumple's wife and Bae's mother, setting up the Cycle of Revenge between the two villains that will last for almost the entirety of the show.
  • Meanwhile in Storybrooke the episode ends with not only the reveal that Gold has Smee held prisoner for information on Hook, but that for some reason he wasn't brought over by the Dark Curse. Cue Answer Cut to the shore near Lancelot's island and the Villain Team-Up which will run (off and on) for most of the season.
• Shout-Out: Moe's flower shop is named Game of Thorns.
• Spooky Silent Library: Storybrooke's library was already this when first seen in "A Land Without Magic", but we get to see a lot more of its creepy emptiness now—before Belle starts cleaning it up, of course.
• Villain Has a Point: Rumple seems almost willing to forgive Milah for leaving him, but he's rightly furious at her for leaving their son.
• Villain Team-Up: Cora and Captain Hook. He needs her magic to activate a portal to Storybrooke, she needs his guile and fighting ability to obtain what is required for her to do so; she wants to get back to Regina while he wants revenge on Rumple.
• Wham Shot: Well, scene. But The Reveal that Hook is in the Enchanted Forest and working with Cora so he can get his revenge still has quite the impact.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Rumple thinks, after cutting off Killian's hand, that he has stolen away the magic bean clasped inside it. But it turns out Hook fooled him by only pretending to hold it when it was actually in his other hand.