Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.4, "The Crocodile"

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

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2.4, "The Crocodile"

Written by David H. Goodman and Robert Hull
Directed by David Solomon

Synopsis

Gold attempts to woo Belle with fineries from his shop, offering to take her out on the town. Leroy interrupts, demanding the return of his axe and chiding Belle. Gold erupts in anger at the insult to Belle and assails Leroy, reverting briefly to his Rumpelstiltskin form--and prompting Belle to wake in the night and stalk through the house she and Gold share. Snooping about, she finds him spinning straw into gold, working magic.

Be it ever so humble...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Back in the past of the Enchanted Forest, Rumpelstiltskin returns to his home, calling for his wife, Milah, and son. The latter greets him, the former is absent, and Rumpelstiltskin takes Baelfire out to find her. She is carousing with pirates in a tavern, making mock of him until Baelfire's appearance shames her into returning home. There, she pushes Rumpelstiltskin to relocate, and he argues against it.

In Storybrooke, Gold and Belle confer about his magic use. She rebukes him for his lack of courage with her.

In the past, Rumpelstiltskin is summoned to the nearby docks, where the pirates are taking Milah. He proceeds there as swiftly as he may, only to be refused and ridiculed by the ship's captain, Kilian Jones.

In Storybrooke, the dwarves attempt to mine fairy dust, David aiding them. Their efforts are unproductive, and David proceeds to take on law enforcement duties. Gold tries to talk to Belle, finding her fled from his home. He goes in search of her, seeking her at her father's; he is, understandably, greeted unkindly. Gold challenges him for information, receiving none.

In the Enchanted Forest, the empowered Rumpelstiltskin meets with Smee, who offers a realm-jumping magic bean. After a tense exchange, the two reach an agreement, and Smee leaves--as Jones arrives, and Rumpelstiltskin purposes to observe him.

Good advice. When in doubt, to the library!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Storybrooke, Belle finds herself at the diner, and Ruby talks with her there. She offers to help find family, and the idea of Belle taking over the town library is raised. She heads there, inspecting it until confronted by Smee--who abducts her.

Rumpelstiltskin confronts Jones in the street, receiving the sobriquet "Crocodile" before challenging him about Milah. Jones notes Milah's long-ago death, and Rumpelstiltskin sets up a duel between them.

Gold calls on David, reporting the disappearance of Belle. David reluctantly agrees to help find her.

The duel between Rumpelstiltskin and Jones begins and is swiftly concluded, Jones getting the worse of the exchange. Milah, whose death had been falsely reported, calls for Rumpelstiltskin to stop before killing Jones.

Smee delivers Belle to her father, and the two are happily reunited. They exchange news, and Belle's father challenges her about Gold and his depredations; when she refuses to cut ties with Gold, her father has Smee take her away again. Meanwhile, David continues to search for Belle, fruitlessly. He also advises Gold that hard work and honesty support love, discoursing on the difference between precise wording and "honesty of the heart."

Rumpelstiltskin confronts Milah about Jones and her abandonment of her husband and son. She notes having fallen in love with Jones, and she offers Smee's bean in exchange for Jones's life and hers.

Forth, the Three Hunters?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

David asks Ruby after Belle, disbelieving her denial of information about her. She relents and notes that Belle's interest in the library. She also notes her ability to track by scent, and moves off in pursuit, accompanied by Gold and David. They have to give off pursuit, Ruby discommoded by the flower shop Belle's father runs (and which puns off of Martin's series for its name). Gold confronts Belle's father again, and he notes her safety will be secured by sending her across the town line, with its concomitant memory loss. David realizes she will be sent out through the mines, and the three speed thence.

Rumpelstiltskin confronts Jones and Milah aboard their ship, where she shows him the bean. He mocks them and upbraids her for leaving Baelfire. He kills her and takes Jones's hand. Jones tries to kill him, in turn, failing and swearing vengeance. He takes up a hook after Rumpelstiltskin departs.

Smee sends a restrained Belle down the mineshaft, and she attempts escape without success. Gold's magic saves her from passing the town line and forgetting all. She thanks Gold but does not agree to return to him. Nor yet does she return to her father, citing his misdeeds. Later, Belle and Ruby confer again, and Belle takes lodgings at Granny's inn, receiving the key to the library, which she soon moves to use. Entering the library, she finds Gold, who admits his cowardice to her and reports his failures and his need and inability to leave to find Baelfire. His magic use is an attempt to allow himself to leave Storybrooke, and Belle offer a possibility of reconciliation.

Rumpelstiltskin finds Jones's hand empty, the pirate having retained the magic bean for himself as he sails away and Milah is buried at sea. Smee is conscripted into Jones's service, and they make for another realm: Neverland.

Gold returns to his basement, where Smee is restrained. He presses him for information about Jones--who is with Cora, the two conferring about how to proceed to Storybrooke, where they will find Regina and Gold.

Discussion

Hooray, anachronism!

As the effective introduction to the series of Captain Hook, the present episode necessarily makes much of stereotypical depictions of eighteenth-century pirates. I've noted on several occasions and in relation to several properties--including others from Disney--that the collapse and compression of the pre-modern (and I'll admit to using a fuzzy definition of "modern," here, but periodization is slippery at best, as I've noted) tends to attract a lot of attention to the putative Age of Piracy. Like the medieval, or conceptions of it, "traditional" piracy is easily and often romanticized (something I've touched on in other writing I've done), a seemingly removed and far-away thing onto which much can be projected. And there is some justification, certainly; I recall readings and lectures that associated the early modern English privateers with neochivalric movements occurring in the late Tudor and early Stuart courts, among others, and the clear parallels between eighteenth-century piracy and the Viking raids of a millennium before are, well, there. What purpose is served, what effect achieved, is less clear to me, although that may well just be me--but I think it's another example of the overall compression of all that came before. It remains a dangerous thing, a pernicious one, but how to address it...I do not know.