This review is on the two-part season finale of Once Upon A Time season 4, “Operation Mongoose”. Spoilers ahead!
What I so enjoyed about these episodes (other than seeing Charming in guyliner), was how each and every “villain” showed their true colors in the end. By this, I mean Rumplestiltskin, Hook, Regina, and Zelena.
Although Zelena wasn’t in the two episodes for very long, her change was very apparent. When we first see her, she is happily engaged to Robin Hood. However, this isn’t the smug, petty Zelena we are used to. She’s very kind to Regina, complimenting her, and even inviting her to the wedding. There doesn’t seem to be an ounce of jealousy in her words.
That is, until Regina opens the church doors during the wedding. Robin looks away from Zelena, right before he’s supposed to say, “I do” and sees Regina there. This is when things change for Zelena’s character. When Robin runs to a severely wounded Regina after the wedding, Zelena’s true jealous nature shines through, as she complains about Regina getting blood on her dress and ruining her big day that was supposed to be about her. That’s when the Wicked Witch’s green skin starts to spread, and Zelena is once again the villain she always was.
As the former main villain of the series, Regina’s position in the alternate universe is very interesting. It asks the question of what would she be like if she were in her former nemesis’ position? However, unlike Snow, Regina has no dwarves, no friends, and no true love. She is completely alone, and, judging by what the “Long Live Regina” fan says to Isaac at the book signing, her story ends that way.
In the original story, Snow White was both a bandit and a leader to the people of her kingdom. In this world, Regina seems to just be known as a bandit. But, just as it was Henry that led to her redemption arc in Storybrooke, it is Henry that leads her true colors as a hero to come out when, instead of seeking her own happy ending as the Evil Queen constantly tried to do, Regina turns from the church and sacrifices herself for Henry.
Rumplestiltskin had the author write him as a hero. The “Light One” who saves innocent villagers from ogres. He is brave and he uses his powers for good, not evil. He is everything the real Rumplestiltskin isn’t, but everything he wanted to be.
But you can’t simply change a man with written words, no matter how powerful the author is. Rumple wanted to change without doing the actual work to do so- to take the easy path of magic, as he always does. In the scene where Isaac tries to convince Rumple to kill Regina, in order to preserve his happiness, Rumple righteously accuses Isaac of trying to corrupt him. He calls him a liar for trying to insinuate that Rumple is anything but a hero. As Isaac leaves, he turns at the door and says, “I know you’ll make the right choice, Rumple. You always do.” Obviously, Isaac is trying to convince Rumple to make the selfish, villainous choice. The underlying message is “I know you’ll make the wrong choice. You always do”.
Later, that proves true, as Rumple goes to stop Regina from crashing the wedding, not hesitating to kill a young boy (Henry), whom he had just saved in the beginning of Part 1. When Regina stands in the way and he strikes her down instead, He simply says, “it’s done” and disappears without remorse. Instead of making the heroic choice, Rumple made the choice that he always did: preserved his own happiness through the act of cowardice.
In contrast to AU!Rumple is AU!Hook. Rumple had Isaac write him exactly as he himself was- a coward. Hook is a deckhand on his own ship, constantly stomped on by Captain Blackbeard. And he allows it to happen. When Blackbeard offers Hook to duel him for the Jolly Roger, just as Hook offered Rumple a duel for Milah, Hook does exactly what Rumple did: he refuses to fight, too afraid of losing his life.
Then he meets Emma. She tells him of this alternate reality, and he senses that they are close there. Then, Lily shows up with Evil!Snow and Evil!Charming and Hook, who can barely swordfight, tells Emma to go and protect Henry while he holds them off. This is a choice that Rumple would never had made. To push the point, Charming asks Hook, “is she worth your life, pirate?” If this were Rumple with Milah, the answer would have been “no”. However, no matter what Isaac did to change this Hook, he will always be the transformed man he is- a hero. So, he responds, “I’m willing to find out.” And find out he does, as Charming stabs him from behind, sacrificing his life for Emma and Henry.
While Rumple did not think his life worth dying for his wife and mother of his son, Hook sacrifices his life for a woman he just barely met, on the off chance that her crazy story about his reality being a lie was true. Despite Rumplestiltskin’s best efforts to make Hook just like him, Hook’s true colors of a hero shown through in the end.
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