OK, so we finally know what the hat does! Good. Also, it eats people.

Less good.

But, the important question first: Who the hell put the Galaxy Hat on a living room table in that house? I mean... I guess you could argue that Rumple and Belle had no business being there, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that the one thing that could rid the Dark One of the dagger's control would just happen to turn up in the house where he's spending his honeymoon after just getting out of a really horrific "controlled by the dagger" situation.

Yeah, I smell a rat.

or mouse, as the case may be.

The flashback was probably my favourite part of the episode, not least because Rumple and Anna are a surprisingly compelling pair to watch. They are as close to polar opposites as you can get, and they play off each other beautifully. Especially the scene after Anna insists that she was never really tempted to "poison" the old man, and Rumple's reaction to it. I mean... damn, buddy. Using her love for Elsa to get her angry enough to nearly kill you is... uh... yeah. Pretty evil.

Not to mention his behaviour afterwards. Just... really, really good acting on all parts, is what I'm saying. (And my first reaction to sparkly Rumple is still "I missed you, you bastard," and I don't think it'll ever change)

And then, there was The Date. ::sigh:: Yeah, I think it's pretty clear by this point that I just don't ship Captain Swan. At all. It doesn't even work on the "well, you seem happy, go have fun" level for me.

also, what is that dress. i realise i know nothing about fashion but this just seems Unfortunate

Also, is that just me or were Emma's parents... way too invested in that date? Just... Snow, she was engaged to be married in New York. She has a ten-year old son with a guy she definitely loved. This is not her first rodeo in any way, shape, or form.

So, without the potential cuteness of a couple's first date, all that's left is the odd hand-subplot. Now, I will say, I rather liked the initial twist of "nope, the hand's fine, you're just still an ass", because... well, it's realistic. Nobody changes that much, that fast as Hook seems to have done. This could have been a good reminder that he still has a long way to go and that maybe changing to appear more attractive to Emma isn't a good path to redemption. This show has done a plot like that before, and I always liked it. So imagine my confusion when the episode turned right around and basically said "nah, this is Gold's fault for tricking Hook."

rule one: the dark one lies. ...ok, look, you had to know this was going to happen at some point.

It's not even like Gold made him act like that; he literally just implied that the hand may carry some of his "old" personality. Which we now know it didn't. So... just what.

And Will Scarlett--sir "not appearing in this post" from last time--turned up again, to get punched in the face. He doesn't have the best of luck, does he? Also, this is a point where my listening to an absurd amount of British audio dramas finally pays off, because I am proud to say that I did not need subtitles for the guy even once.

And, in conjunction with the hand-plot, we get the hat-plot. Yes, that was on purpose and I will not apologise. So. As mentioned, the hat eats people, and it can free the Dark One from the dagger's control. Those two things don't seem to match up, but I guess it's a case of fuelling the thing up before it's ready to go.

I'm not sure if I parsed this right, but from what I saw, he didn't actually need Hook's help for this, did he? He just wanted to collect blackmail material on the man who was blackmailing him? Because I did like that setup; give the man enough rope to hang himself (the hand was never cursed, Hook wouldn't have faced any negative repercussions for refusing to help, but he thought it was and therefore he thought he would) and just wait.

...i'm sorry i got distracted. where were we?

I'm... really concerned about Hook's threat towards Belle, though. Just... can you not? Not again, one might even say? It's really jarring to have the narrative tone go "oh, look at the poor man being threatened" while he's busy threatening the life of a completely innocent woman.

::sigh:: This got a lot complainier than I had planned, but this just really annoyed me.

And, finally, we have the little Henry epilogue. Which I loved a lot, but also... buddy, he's your grandfather. And he basically turned into a human marshmallow around you before he even knew that. Maybe, if you want to know something, just... ask him?

i won't lie, though, any chance to watch these two interact is fine by me

Also, I will bet actual money that Rumple absolutely knows that Henry is up to something, but actually wants to spend time with him (after all, he is all Rumple has left of Bae...), so he doesn't mind.

Bonus pic, because I felt like it: