ONCE UPON A TIME: “In the Name of the Brother”

“In the Name of the Brother” picks up with Rumple holding Belle in his arms at the town line. She doesn’t know who she is, let alone who he is. Rumple heals her wound using magic and then leaves her with Snow, who has arrived at the scene along with Charming and Emma. Rumple goes straight for Hook but before he can hurt him, Snow convinces him to spare the pirate’s life; that is what Belle would want him to do.

The whole group then switches their focus to the man who drove the car into Storybrooke (the first time anyone from the outside world has come in). They quickly rush him to the hospital to get medical attention. As they arrive, we see Dr. Whale, or Dr. Frankenstein as he is known in the old world, drinking alone in the hospital. Looks like this unknown man may not make it out alive, especially with a drunk doctor—yikes!

Flash back to Dr. Frankenstein, in his family home with his brother Gerhardt and his father. It is clear from the moment he comes on screen that his father doesn’t like him as much as he likes Gerhardt, but Dr. Frankenstein, whose first name is actually Victor, pretends that it doesn’t bother him. Gerhardt is then given their mother’s watch as a gift from their father, who is very proud of him for being a soldier; while Victor is told that his gift is that he gets to be in the army now, as his father is ashamed of his scientific work. Although he is upset, Victor leaves to pack up his laboratory. As all of this takes place, Rumple watches in the shadows.

Back in Storybrooke, Belle is sleeping, as Rumple, so hopelessly in love with her, leans in to kiss her. Maybe true love’s kiss can bring back her memory? Wrong! Belle wakes up and panics because again she has no idea who this stranger is. Rumple is devastated.

In another room, Hook wakes up with broken ribs, handcuffed to his hospital bed without his hook. Emma questions him and their flirtatious banter adds a little bit of playfulness to the hospital scenes in this episode, which are mostly serious.

Meanwhile, Snow and Charming try to hack into the mystery man’s phone without any luck. Fortunately, Emma comes to the rescue and is able to access his phone, figuring out that his name is Greg. As Dr. Whale comes out of the patient’s room, he tells them all that the man has internal bleeding and that he doesn’t know if he can save him. He looks to Rumple for help, hoping he will use magic to heal the man. Rumple refuses to help, obviously, because he is so angry about the entire situation.

Now, not only do the townspeople (represented by Charming, Snow, Emma, Ruby, and Dreamy) have to figure out a way to heal Greg, but they also must decide what his survival could do to their livelihood. If he lives, what will he remember? They don’t need people coming into Storybrooke and trying to disrupt and dissect who they really are. Of course, this discussion doesn’t last long, since they usually end up doing the right thing and this time is no different. They decide to get Greg into surgery, hoping that Dr. Whale can save him, even though he is clearly intoxicated.

As Greg is prepped for surgery, Rumple returns to his shop and looks at his chipped tea cup that reminds him of Belle. Then he hears a noise and when he turns, he sees a box and Cora appears. She wants help getting her daughter back, in return for helping him find his son. Rumple then opens the box, which has a globe-like sphere in it. The device will help him pinpoint exactly where Bae is. After seeing this, he agrees to her terms and they seal it with a kiss—very disturbing.

In another flashback, Dr. Frankenstein is packing up all of his tools, when Rumple appears in his laboratory. Rumple asks him to teach him his ways, in return for a large sum of money. Frankenstein agrees. The next thing we see is the doctor in the cemetery, digging up a body to use in his next experiment (in order to show Rumple his scientific knowledge), when his brother appears.

As the brothers are talking, a soldier comes up a shoots at them for intruding. They flee, but not before Gerhardt is shot and killed. The doctor vows to bring him back to life, and begins his surgery to shock the heart back to life. Unfortunately, the heart cannot take the electricity, and instead of bringing him back to life, it burns Gerhardt’s heart.

Cut to Storybrooke, where the patient is ready for surgery, but Dr. Whale has fled the hospital. Ruby, using her wolf senses, tracks him down and finds him at the dock. The doctor is holding Greg’s watch, which bears some resemblance to the watch his brother had with him when he was killed. Whale drops it in the ocean and jumps, but Ruby catches him before he hits the water, and forces him to sit and talk it out. Aw, Ruby is the best!

Nearby in Storybrooke, Cora is searching Regina’s house, specifically Henry’s room, and takes an art project that Henry made for Regina a long time ago. We then see Henry in the crypt full of hearts, searching for his mother. Regina watches from her secret room and finally opens the door and lets him in. As soon as she does this, a purple puff of smoke appears and Cora reveals herself—she was pretending to be Henry in order to get close to her and Regina isn’t happy (shocking).

Regina is shocked that her mom is alive, and while she is trying to figure out what is going on, Cora tells her that she loves her and that she is sorry for everything she has ever done. She also tells her daughter that she is the one who framed her. After hearing all of this, Regina tells her mother that they are going into town and Cora must tell everyone the truth so she can talk to Henry again. Cora agrees, which seems a bit fishy to me.

In another flashback, Dr. Frankenstein is in his lab, when Rumple comes back and tells him that he can get him another heart. He tells him to go to Regina, the Evil Queen, and then he will be able to bring his brother back to life. The next time we see him, the heart from Fairy Tale Land has worked and his brother is alive; he looks like a monster and cannot talk yet, but he is alive. When Dr. Frankenstein goes to show his father that he has finally succeeded, Gerhardt reacts negatively to the light that his father is holding and attacks and kills him.

In Storybrooke present day, Regina and Cora drive into town, where Cora pulls out the art project that Henry made Regina years ago. This gets to Regina and makes her realize that all she wants is to get Henry back. Cora of course says that she will help her get him back, and the two hug, symbolizing a very dangerous alliance that will most likely ruin Storybrooke and all who live there.

Back at the docks, Ruby and Dr. Whale have talked about their pasts and agree to move forward and head back to the hospital to save Greg. At the hospital, Rumple is back to visit Belle and this time he brought the chipped tea cup with him, in hopes that it will act as a talisman and restore her memory. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work and Belle throws it across the room, breaking it and Rumple’s heart even more—poor guy.

We return to another flashback, where Dr. Frankenstein goes into his brother’s room to talk to him, and he is attacked and almost killed. Lucky for him, Gerhardt recognizes him and stops before strangling him to death. Gerhardt is mortified and knows he is a monster, so Frankenstein takes out a gun and prepares to shoot him. Gerhardt sees the gun and helps his brother point it at his head; but as soon as he does, the doctor realizes that he cannot kill his own brother because monster or not, he loves him—aw.

In a quick switch back to the Storybrooke hospital, Dr. Whale has successfully saved Greg and everyone celebrates his success. At the same time, they secretly panic because they don’t know what this intruder knows of their town. Emma goes into his room to question him, and he says that he was texting and looking down. When he looked up, he saw Hook but it was too late to stop, so he hit him and that was all he knew. A relieved Emma tells the rest of the group waiting outside that he knows nothing, and they all rejoice.

Back in Gold’s shop, he opens up the box from Cora and pricks his finger on the top of the spindle. He then spins the globe and a map appears—very cool. His blood then drops on the spinning globe and falls onto the location where his son is!

Moments later Rumple appears at Emma’s house and says that he is cashing in the favor that she owes him. He is going on a trip to find his son and she is coming with him! He then looks at Snow and Charming, and in a threatening tone, tells them that if anything happens to Belle while he is gone, he will kill them all. It is clear that the dark side of Rumple has been reawakened, and I am both scared and excited.

In the final scene, Greg (the mystery man) has his bag of possessions by his bedside. He reaches for his phone and calls a woman, telling her that he is okay, and then says what every Storybrooke character was hoping no one would ever say: “Honey, you’re not going to believe what I saw!”

As if Regina and Cora being reunited and Rumple heading out to find Bae weren’t enough, Greg actually seeing something in Storybrooke is the cherry on top of this episode. Sadly, we now we have another long break before the next installment of Once Upon A Time. What do you think will happen next?

Photo Credit: ABC/Jack Rowand.