Once upon a Time Rewatch 1.12, "Skin Deep"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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1.12, "Skin Deep"

Written by Jane Espenson
Directed by Milan Cheylov

Synopsis

Perhaps it ought to be called the Kingdom of Generica...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card and absent a restatement of the series' premise, the episode opens with peril facing the Enchanted Forest and discussion in a noble's court of that peril. Rumpelstiltskin arrives with an offer of a deal to secure the safety of the town--for the price of Belle as a servant in his estate. The deal is refused by the noble but accepted by Belle, who agrees in the the interest of her community and leaves her father and fiancee.

In Storybrooke, Gold confronts the florist French, alter-ego of Belle's father, repossessing his van as a penalty for defaulting on a loan. Regina confronts him, but Gold evades the confrontation. Emma meets Mary Margaret at Granny's, where she and David are "not together." Ashley reports in, conferring with them, and Ruby invites the three out for drinks and revelry. Emma is summoned back to work and reports to Gold's home, where he has found it broken into and robbed.

Nice digs.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rumpelstiltskin brings Belle to his estate, where he effectively imprisons her, giggling. Her servitude to him begins, with him taunting her amid her initially inept work.

Emma presses Gold about the robbery, and he reluctantly notes that French was the likely perpetrator. Emma moves to investigate amid oblique threats to French from Gold.

Belle's servitude continues, and she asks Rumpelstiltskin about his spinning. He teases her, and she laughs, the two softening towards one another.

Emma retrieves Gold's stolen property. He complains that French remains at large and begins his own ominous pursuit.

It's in the eyes, really.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Belle continues to press Rumpelstiltskin about himself. They continue to soften towards one another, and Rumpelstiltskin notes the loss of his son. He begins to grow suspicious of her, and Belle's fiancee comes to challenge Rumpelstiltskin; he is turned into a rose, which the captor gifts to the captive before pressing Belle about her reasoning. She explicates, noting the circumstances of her betrothal along the way and musing on love. He offers her a deal, letting her go out on an errand in exchange for relating his story.

The revelry ensues, and Ruby acts the virago, leaving Ashley and Mary Margaret to confer about their respective love lives. David tries to navigate his own relationship, and he and Gold confer over purchases about love--as Gold abducts French, taking him to his cabin in the woods and forcing him in at gunpoint.

This seems ominous.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Belle is going about her errand when the Evil Queen happens on her. They walk together a while, the queen pressing her about her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin. She notes that true love's kiss will break a curse, clearly intuiting who her captor is. Belle makes to act on that knowledge, returning to Rumpelstiltskin to hear about his son and confer again with him about love. They kiss, and Belle lets slip that she has been informed of his weakness by Regina, and he sours against Belle, imprisoning her again.

Gold proceeds to torture French, reflecting Rumpelstiltskin's rage over Belle. Emma stops him as Rumpelstiltskin stops himself.

Ashley and Mary Margaret continue to confer, arriving at a mutual understanding. Sean arrives on his break to give Ashley flowers and propose marriage; she accepts, to the applause of onlookers. Mary Margaret arrives at a decision and meets David. He gives her a gift, awkwardly and backhandedly, ruining the moment, and Mary Margaret sends him home to his wife. He agrees, reluctantly, and they part once again.

Emma confronts Gold about his overreaction to French, arresting him for the assault. Belle languishes in Rumpelstiltskin's cell until he arrives and sends her away. She rebukes him for his choice to reject her love, calling him a coward; he rejects the insult, claiming that power matters more to him than love. She departs.

Ominous, ominous, ominous...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina arrives at the jail and sends Emma and Henry away. They confer, and Gold tries to strike a deal; the price is his name. He admits to being Rumpelstiltskin, to remembering. They reaffirm their antipathy.

In the Enchanted Forest, the queen confronts Rumpelstiltskin, seeking to strike a deal. He rebukes her, and she mocks him. She also notes Belle is outcast, turned out by her father and provoked to suicide. He doubts, but not fully. And, as it happens, Belle is imprisoned in the Storybrooke hospital...

Discussion

I note the early ejaculation by Belle's father: "Oh, my gods!" Earlier in the series (such as here), there had been heavy implications that the Enchanted Forest is vaguely medievalist Christian. Certainly, the officiant at the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming looks very much like a medieval bishop. And while the note has been made that the presumed Christianity of the Enchanted Forest is just that, presumed rather than overt, it remains...present; there are enough references to things (Arthuriana, in particular) that are overtly and explicitly Christian that the references carry through. For a noble to ejaculate polytheistically in that milieu, then, is striking. Admittedly, there was another medievalist property attracting attention at the time, about which no few comments--such as these--have been made, and it's possible therefore that the comment was set thus as a nod to that property, which does admit of several faiths and polytheism. Perhaps it goes to the point that many have made, in this webspace and elsewhere, that neo/medievalist properties influence popular understandings--but that would probably be something better addressed by media studies, in which I am not conversant.

I note, too, that the action in Storybrooke centers on Valentine's Day. For the presumed primary audience of the series, of course, the day is associated with romantic (and usually sexual) love, although the linkage is problematic even within the episode. The association of Valentine with love, especially the often-adulterous courtly love at which David and Mary Margaret are playing, gets going in earnest in the high middle ages; it's certainly amply attested in documentation from the time. So that much comes out as authentic, at least, even if it might not resonate with the prevailing audience of a primetime broadcast...but it doesn't have to do so to be present.