Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.11, "The Outsider"

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

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2.11, "The Outsider"

Written by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg
Directed by David Solomon

Synopsis

Eschewing a recap, the episode starts with a car approaching the edge of Storybrooke at night, stopping before crossing the town's boundary. It is Gold, forcing Smee to cross said line for his role in Belle's abduction and testing a potion he has brewed. It is efficacious, allowing memory to be retained across the boundary of the town. Gold dismisses Smee in favor of planning a journey.

It's not usually what people mean by "getting stoned."
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After the title card, the episode turns to funeral proceedings for Hopper, presumed dead by the town. Hopper himself remains imprisoned in the hold of the Jolly Roger, under interrogation by Hook, who plies him for information about Gold's weaknesses.

Gold reports the success of his potion to Belle, explicating the mechanics of his magic to her. He purposes to leave Storybrooke in search of his son, Baelfire, apologizing to her for leaving her behind.

Don't feed it after midnight, and don't get it wet...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The episode shifts to the Enchanted Forest, where a drinking Belle overhears tavern boasting and a call for a party to hunt a yaoguai. Dreamy joins her, thanking her for advice previously given and encouraging her to join the party. She demurs, but Dreamy persists, and she follows the hunting party--with a gift of fairy dust from the dwarf.

In Storybrooke, Belle works to restore the public library in advance of its reopening. Hook confronts her there, Belle recalling his earlier attempt at kidnapping her and fleeing. She escapes into the formerly hidden elevator and calls Gold, though the call is hindered by concerns of construction.

Puppy!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, the party Belle accompanies mocks her for her reading as they press ahead. After she notes the location of the yaoguai, she is cast aside in scorn--soon revealing that she had lied to the others and proceeds to the actual reported location of the creature. Approaching it nervously, she inadvertently wakes it and is obliged to flee, saved only narrowly by a conveniently present Mulan. They confer briefly, Mulan displeased at Belle's interference in her work.

Gold arrives at the library, comforting Belle. Henry contemplates, and Emma tries to offer comfort. She and her parents confer, and Grumpy asks about returning to the Enchanted Forest in the wake of Regina's depredations and against the dangers of discovery by the outside world. Others join the latter concern. Gold purposes to punish Hook, Belle trying to dissuade him. Gold glosses his history with Hook, and he finds that his shop has been ransacked in his absence, the shawl Gold enchanted to allow himself to leave Storybrooke stolen. Gold rages and goes to pursue Hook; he gives Belle a gun to protect herself from Hook.

The hunting party catches up to Belle, assailing her for having misled them. Mulan again intervenes on Belle's behalf, and melee ensues. Mulan defeats the others handily, taking Belle into her company to resume the hunt for the yaoguai. In Storybroke, Belle makes to restore the library, finding a strange knot that she then researches, discovering that Hook has arrived in Storybrooke by ship. Elsewhere in town, Gold confronts Smee, trying to extract Hook's whereabouts from him. Belle goes to the waterfront, finding the hidden Jolly Roger and boarding the ship. Once aboard, she stalks the decks and compartments, finding Hopper, to her surprise. She frees him, sending him for help as she stands to confront Hook. She searches out Gold's shawl, only to be taken by Hook.

Belle and Mulan pursue the yaoguai until an injury halts Mulan. Mulan persuades Belle to slay the creature in her place. Hook adds to Gold's account of his wife's death, to Belle's disbelief. She retrieves the shawl and attempts to flee, Gold arriving to confront Hook. Belle lures the yaoguai into town and subdues it via water, finding it pitiable and itself the victim of enchantment. Applying the fairy dust received from Dreamy, Belle reveals the creature to be the transmogrified Phillip. He thanks her for her aid, and they gather in the injured Mulan. And in Storybrooke, Belle successfully dissuades Gold from killing Hook.

Don't call it a comeback...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following an earlier conversation, Mary Margaret and David look for a new home in town. They discuss the current status of the Enchanted Forest, Mary Margaret pressing for a peaceful existence and uncovering a strain in their relationship. Hopper reappears, to Emma's surprise and Henry's delight, reporting events. Emma realizes her error regarding Regina and the debt she owes. Gold prepares to leave Storybrooke in search of his son, while Belle introduces Phillip to Mulan and determines to return to Rumpelstiltskin--only to be confronted by Regina, who imprisons her. Hook shoots Belle as Gold makes to leave, thrusting her across the town line. An incoming driver interrupts the budding confrontation, running Hook down in the road and crashing.

Discussion

Superficial similarities of name between the yaoguai and Gizmo's species aside, the yaoguai does call to mind the Questing Beast from Arthurian legend, itself an iteration of a common pattern stretching back through antiquity and likely beyond. Apart from anachronism of setting and costumery--the hats on display belong to diverse times and places, among others--and sounding very much like the beginning of a game of Dungeons & Dragons or a similar game (itself markedly neomedievalist and a focus for neomedievalism), the depredations of the beast and its pursuit are common elements, easily placed, and as easily displaced, Mulan standing in for Pellinore and others (but it's not exactly unusual for figures to be amalgamated, especially in a context that evokes the Arthurian, however obliquely). The defeat of the creature by water and the restoration of it from a sickly form, however, call back more strongly to the Questing Beast than its many parallels and antecedents, even if the latter is itself from a medievalist, rather than a medieval, bit of Arthuriana.

But that speaks to something about the medieval. Again and again, the works that have come down refigured and reconfigured themselves; again and again, they continue to do so, adapting themselves against the expectations and needs of their changing audiences. It was true of Arthruian legend throughout the medieval, through the early modern and onward; it is still true in the many works that make use of the medieval. It falls to us who continue to look at such works to search them for the truths they can reveal and to work against their misuse by the too many who would try to find in them justification for misguided hatreds that deserve all opprobrium.