Once Upon A Time - Recap: Racy Lacey
Credit: ABC
Recap and review of Once Upon A Time - Season 2 Episode 19 - Lacey:
This was kind of a weird episode for Once Upon A Time to place this close to the end of the season. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. Quite the opposite. This was a pretty fun episode that continued the season-long initiative to develop and deepen the character of Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle). It's just peculiar that a mostly standalone episode is slotted in a position as the first of this season's last four episodes, as it doesn't do much to develop the overarching narrative of the season beyond the odd plot point here, or twist there. With that said, I found myself wishing that more episodes had been like this: remaining squarely focused on the journey of an individual character while allowing the big picture of the season develop in the background. Because while the episode is named "Lacey," it's much more about Mr. Gold -- and that's very fertile territory for exploration. Maybe it's because, as a villain, he's a thousand times more interesting than Regina (Lana Parrilla), whose potential for redemption we're frequently asked to consider, yet whose character qualities never bear that potential out. Yet Gold is infinitely more sympathetic when he's actually trying to be good, and it makes for a more nuanced, three-dimensional portrayal when we're asked to care about whether he's able to, say, convince Belle (Emilie De Ravin) to love him again. In the character sense, it makes for a much more compelling episode, even if it doesn't feel like it does much to advance the main story of the season. Then again, who knows how this will fit into where the series is going? It's this sense of ambiguity that keeps things interesting.
Credit: ABC
"Lacey" sees Mr. Gold hitting things off with Belle in the hospital, as she's relieved to see him alive and well, following his cryptic final phone call. Yet this doesn't last long. Regina visits Belle and uses a book of matches (enchanted, I would imagine) to jog Belle's memories. However, the memories being jogged aren't Belle's, but Lacey's. Lacey is Belle's curse persona, from before the spell was broken, and it's a persona that is in no way similar to the original Belle. Lacey drinks, makes out with strangers, and hustles some excellent pool. Yet she has no memories of Gold, not even of the sweeter moments they shared in the hospital. She only remembers that he visited her. And so Gold turns to the one man who knows better than anyone how to overcome the Curse to reach the person within: David/Prince Charming (Josh Dallas). It's pretty amusing to see David play the wingman for Gold, as he tries to get Gold to flirt with Lacey, despite the fact that they have nothing in common (although I don't blame Lacey for guessing that Gold might be "a Sammy Hagar man," when it comes to musical tastes). Lacey agrees to a date with Gold, but things go disastrously, as Lacey sneaks off to hook up with the Sheriff of Nottingham (just go with it). Gold flips out, and it's, arguably, Gold at his lowest moment. He pleads with Lacey to see his goodness, and to see how hard he's trying to be the kind of man she wanted him to be. But Lacey doesn't want anything to do with Gold, believing he's still clinging desperately to the memory of Belle, and seeing something that isn't there.
Credit: ABC
This storyline is an interesting inversion of the Belle-Gold dynamic, as it's Gold trying to convince Belle that there's still a good person inside her, while Belle rejects these proclamations outright. This inversion is better illustrated in the Fairy Tale World flashbacks, as we see the initial stages of Belle's captivity under Rumpelstiltskin. A thief breaks into The Dark One's castle to steal a magic wand, and Rumpelstiltskin is able to subdue him, placing him in captivity and subjecting him to torture. Yet Belle, believing that not everyone who wishes to steal magic has dark motivations for doing so, releases the prisoner and sends him on his way. The thief, who goes by the name of Robin Hood, makes off with Rumpelstiltskin's wand. In his fury, Rumpelstiltskin decides to give chase, and to drag Belle along with him, so she can witness the murder of the man she let escape.
Credit: ABC
It's one of the better flashback stories in some time, as it has a wealth of interesting little moments sprinkled throughout, such as Rumpelstiltskin stealing the tongue out of the Sheriff of Nottingham's mouth. It also leads to a pretty satisfying conclusion, as Belle is proven right about noble intentions, with Robin Hood having stolen the wand to heal the sick, pregnant Maid Marion. And Rumpelstiltskin gets a bit of redemption in his own right, as he chooses to deliberately miss when he looses his arrow on Robin Hood. Belle begins the process of falling in love, admitting to The Dark One, "You're not the person I thought you were. And I'm glad." The moment dovetails nicely into the conclusion, in which Gold, believing to have lost Bell once and for all, takes out his frustrations on Storybrooke's Sheriff of Nottingham, stealing his tongue and beating him to within an inch of his life. Lacey stumbles onto the scene, having it confirmed that the things the townsfolk have been saying about Gold are true: he's every bit as dark as they say he is, if not darker. Yet Lacey, being into the whole "bad boy" archetype, is turned on by this side of Mr. Gold. "You're not the person I thought you were," Lacey says. "And I'm glad." This is a tightly focused story that shows how Gold holds fast to his goodness in the hopes that Belle will come back to him, only to abandon those pretenses and actually be rewarded for it by winning back Lacey/Belle, in some form. It's a solid, character-building arc.
Credit: ABC
As for the big picture developments this week, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) learns that David and Snow White (Ginnifer Morrison) plan on using the magic beans harvested by Anton (Jorge Garcia) and the dwarves to return to the Enchanted Forest and start anew. Emma is conflicted, as is Neal (Michael Raymond-James), who both consider this world to be their home. Regina, however, learns that Emma is hiding something from her, and decides to follow the tire tracks left by Anton and the dwarves, back to the fields. Once she discovers row upon row of bean crop, she puts two and two together, and it wouldn't surprise me if the bean crop isn't long for this world. Yet Regina isn't the only opposition the good guys have coming their way, as Greg (Ethan Embry) and Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green) have captured Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), with the intention of forcing him to do their dirty work for them. If nothing else, this sets up the conflict for the end of the season, as the battle lines have been drawn in a more direct fashion than in episodes past.
Credit: ABC
"Lacey" is a fine episode to kick off the final four episodes of this season, even if it didn't really feel like a late season episode all the way through. However, the episode bodes well for the endgame of this season, as it has the potential to be eminently exciting, given how well-developed the conflict has been. All the pieces are in place, and it's up to the series to follow through on what has the potential to be an excellent final three episodes.
