The tale of Beauty and the Beast is brought to life in this week’s episode. Their story is played out in the fairy tale world, while in Storybrooke, Emma investigates Mr. Gold being robbed and the rest of the ladies have a girl’s night out for Valentine’s Day. Here is a recap and review of “Skin Deep”.
Once Upon a Time: “Skin Deep” Recap & Review
Recap:
Sir Maurice invites Rumplestiltskin to protect his town in return for giving Rumple his daughter, Belle. As the Beast, Rumplestiltskin puts Belle in the dungeon, letting her out to be his servant. While working, Belle asks the Beast about the children’s clothes upstairs, to which he responds that he had a son who was lost as long as his mother. Gaston, Belle’s ex-fiancée, barges up to the Beast’s castle, but Beast transforms him into a rose that he gives to Belle. Soon Beast grows sympathetic towards Belle and tells her to go into town to fetch him some straw. Although he assumed she would not return, her encounter with the Evil Queen along the road convinced her to go back to the Beast. As the Evil Queen suggested to break the curse, Belle kisses the Beast; his humanity begins to emerge, but he realizes that the Queen prompted her and his reaction causes Belle to leave him for good. The Evil Queen reveals to the Beast that Belle was then shunned and tortured by her father, resulting in her throwing herself off the tower.
Ruby takes Ashley and Mary Margaret out for the night to help them get away from not seeing their loves enough, and Sean surprises Ashley that night by proposing. Moe French, Sir Maurice’s real world counterpart, attempts to go back on a deal with Mr. Gold. Moe robs Mr. Gold; Emma recovers all but one item that was stolen, a chipped teacup. Angered, Mr. Gold kidnaps Moe, yelling that the item is gone forever just like his daughter. This prompts Emma to arrest Mr. Gold. Regina stops by the sheriff’s station, telling Emma that she is allowed thirty minutes with Henry in return for her speaking to Mr. Gold in private for that time period. Questioning him intensely, Regina asks Mr. Gold to tell her his real name, to which he eventually responds, “Rumplestiltskin”. In the end, Regina lets herself into a secret ward at the hospital and pays a visit to none other than Belle’s real world counterpart.
Review:
The part of this episode that stands out the most is the decision to make Rumplestiltskin the beast. While I am okay with the show runners taking liberties with the fairy tales and can even understand this decision from a creative standpoint, I am not fully behind that decision. It makes since that Rumple sees himself as a beast because that is how he feels and thus acts, but I think it is going too far to combine his Rumplestiltskin persona with that of a completely different fairytale. I wish there was more of a separation here, that the characters that we all know from childhood remained individual.
Though this episode took a few liberties with the Beauty and the Beast story, it made sure to incorporate some of the familiar aspects of the widely known Disney version (I am only comfortable relating this episode to that film because I am unfamiliar with other versions). My favorite was Chip. Seeing the Beast, as well as Mr. Gold, so affected by and attached to this little chipped teacup was what made him sympathetic for me; he could show emotions other than anger with this cup and it brought out some of his human side, just as Belle’s love did. Although we did not see any singing kitchenware or appliances, the episode was not lacking in grandiosity. Belle’s dresses were spot on from the film. Additionally, a rose made an appearance. Though it was not contained in a glass covering, losing petals one by one, it was still a notable reference. These little aspects made the story feel more familiar and less like they were intentionally trying to put their own spin on it and make their mark on the fairytale, which I think they did well enough already.
To be honest, I was a little skeptical when I heard about Emilie de Ravin playing Belle. Knowing her from Lost, I had trouble imagining her as this elegant, notable princess. Wrong I was; she did a wonderful job. She was strong even while crying, sympathetic even when going back to the Beast. She pulled off this great fairytale character, not forgetting to leave her own slightly-Australian-accented twist on the tale. The very end of the episode, with her sitting in the Storybrooke hospital wing, made me so excited for the revelation of Belle’s counterpart. Maybe it’s just me, but I would love it if her character was a little insane and extremely feisty. Having gone through that much, anyone should be allowed to fight back hard. As long as she does not start yelling out, “Chaaaaarlie”, or carrying around a squirrel baby, I look forward to seeing her again.
We all realized Mr. Gold knew more than he was letting on, and were proven right in this episode. In a not shocking conclusion, he reveals that he has some sort of memory of his fairy tale life. What we do not know, is how much Mr. Gold actually remembers and how he obtained that knowledge. This last question is what interests me the most. I wonder if the Evil Queen included this knowledge in her promise to him in the Pilot or if it was a flaw in her curse. Since there wasn’t a moment where Mr. Gold suddenly remembered or a time shown before he hinted at his knowledge, I personally do not think it is because of Emma weakening the curse. We have seen a lot of Mr. Gold/Rumplestitlskin lately, and as much as I would like these questions answered, I hope the focus soon turns to other main characters.
Something that I think has been dragged out a little bit is the story between Mary Margaret and David. Maybe that is just because we have only seen a few minutes of them interacting in each episode so it feels like any progress has taken such a long time or not made at all. I hope that the episodes begin to focus more on them, as well as the rest of the main cast, in the future because they are the ones that make the show what it is. Without these characters, there would be no reason to care about Storybrooke. If I wanted to only watch fairy tale stories, I could just as easily throw in a Disney DVD, or VHS- as I still own most of them in this form. Snow White and Prince Charming are among some of the best-known fairy tale characters, and it has been strange to see that the obstacle between them was chosen to be a wife. Not that I want them to get together too soon, but I would like to see something more creative or abstract keeping them apart.
