Once Upon a Time- Season 2, episodes 11-12

The Outsider- Last week, we had Belle lose her memories of Rumpy which, while sad, could not have made us happier. That means that the beast will have to win back beauty again. If you remember, we weren't all that happy with how they fell in love the first time. It seemed rushed, unromantic, and underwhelming. We want to love this couple even more than we already do. Giving Rumpy a chance to win Belle back fresh and start over gives the viewers a shot at seeing the love story we think these two deserve.

We also liked Belle and Mulan working together, as well as the cliffhanger of someone crashing into Storybrooke. We also liked that even though Belle disobeyed her boyfriend and put herself in harm's way, she didn't ruin everything in this episode. In the flashback, she saved Prince Phillip by being smart and compassionate.



In the present, she didn't get killed, which is the most we can ask for. Also, we don't want Hook dead yet. While Rumpy might be annoyed that he didn't kill Hook because Belle didn't want him too, we don't think the audience is angry about that.  It's also great that Henry and Emma quickly found out that Archie was still alive and Cora is to blame for all the trouble. We love when this show moves fast!

In the Name of the Brother- Onto this week. The new love story of our dreams is off to a bad start. We're glad last night gave ample attention to Dr. Whale. We needed another hour of his backstory so it didn't seem so far out there and disconnected from everyone else's. However, this episode wasted a lot of time and felt more like filler than any other episode this season. The very end might be setting up something good, but the rest of it didn't live up to this show's standard.

Regina is an IDIOT. We hope she's only pretending to trust Cora. Man, we know she wants Henry back, but she needs to be smarter than this. Also, the Whale flashbacks were unsurprising and didn't add that much. If the episode only wanted to make him a little more sympathetic, it succeeded. But we wanted more of a twist on the old story. We will forgive this episode quickly, because it is going to give us a road trip with Emma and Rumpy. We love when those two are paired.

The Outsider: B+
In the Name of the Brother: C+

Sadly, this show will be on a three-week hiatus. CURSES. See ya February 10, show.

Photo by Lana_Parrilla_2011.jpg: sean.koo derivative work: RanZag [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons