Once Upon a Time - Our Decay

5.16 "Our Decay"

Tonight Hades and Zelena are somehow now a couple? Because... what? and Hades shows his undying love by creating UnderBrooke and stealing her baby and telling her what her birthday is. Because obviously. Meanwhile Belle goes all mama bear and tries to protect baby Hood, is right about Zelena, and finds the truth about Rumple, proving that Belle is always right and should be in way more episodes as a character in her own right. Also, Henry is creating story book pages in his sleep and showing signs that he is an actual author.

from here

Belle is the best. She risked her life to save baby Hood and is the only one to call Zelena out. I loved when she told Zelena, "Nothing good ever came from trusting you," and then actually ran away with the baby. When Zelena says she just wants to feed baby Hood and Robin and Regina give in, Belle is sitting there like, really people? and was firmly in the rights to give a hearty I told you so (though she doesn't).

I was really quite impressed that Rumple came completely clean (though I'm not sure he would have told her about being the Dark One yet if he hadn't slipped up). And I was proud of Belle for saying she couldn't make any decisions right now. Yes, he told the truth now, but he's been hiding the truth about being the Dark One for a while. And can she really be with someone who admits that he loves power that much? Especially when he has, several times, chosen power over family? His description of himself as a better man but not a different one was pretty spot on. He is better than he was before, but his very make-up is the same (something I've been arguing for seasons). The question is whether Belle can live with that.

The thing that annoyed me the most about their interaction, though, was the way Rumple was very condescending and telling Belle how she feels. That just set my teeth on edge. Belle is strong and intelligent. And maybe she's not in love with the power loving Dark One. It will be interesting to see what choice she makes.

As for their baby, I really feel like there must be some loophole in that this baby is only Rumple's. It just seems like that should be a significant issue.

Also, I want this Dorothy outfit

Hades in the flashback was more like the Hades I was hoping we would get. I don't know if I buy his story though - he was laying the compliments on awfully thick. And he's a liar and manipulator, so I'm just not sure he's being honest, though it seems like he is. And I just don't feel sympathy for Zelena, though I think I would love to see a confrontation between her and Cora. Also, I do have to give props to Zelena for giving baby Hood up when she realized she couldn't protect her. However! If she can't trust Hades enough to go with him, why does she trust him enough not to come after the baby? That makes no sense.

And I'm just really annoyed by the True Love's Kiss thing crossing into mythology. I'm just not a fan of the way they are portraying Hades and his backstory. The myths are not fairy tales or fables - they should have a slightly different feel, like the Oz stuff and the Wonderland stuff is different.

Side note: when Hades blew the candles on I had to giggle.

from here

I find it amusing that Henry can't control his gift as the author. But I have to say that his reaction to their criticisms sounds more like a writer thing than a moody teenager thing. I'm pretty sure most writers have wanted to say something like that to "helpful" non-writer friends who always know what they should be writing. I was cracking up at that.

I love Emma Caulfield so much. And how amusing/sad is it that there is this haunting booth? My fear, though, is that by "haunting" Neal, Snow and Charming are embedding themselves further into UnderBrooke. (also Snow's horror at being a "regular in the diner in hell" was pretty funny)

And I'm all for them getting out of UnderBrooke, but I'm not really sure how Snow is proposing they do that. I mean, wasn't the whole purpose of the last two episodes to find out more so you could defeat Hades? Just wanting to isn't really enough (though, to be fair, it has worked more or less in most of their battles against villains).

I'm still waiting for the David/James showdown. And I'm not sure what I think about a Gaston-centric episode.