Once Upon a Time - Family Business - Review: "A Belle-tour de force"

Belle is probably the most underused character on OUAT, not only during season 4, but actually during the show’s whole run. She is a main character, yet she is so low profile that any episode featuring her is quite welcome, but so far I felt that the show has never really seized the opportunity to make Belle’s character as compelling as she can be. So how did this episode fared on that regard? Pretty well I’d say.

The episode starts with a quick flashback all the way back to when Belle lost her mother to a troll. She blacks out and as such she doesn’t remember exactly what happened to her; this is her main motivation and driving force to go to Arendelle where there are magical beings- the rock trolls- that can help her regain her memory.

Belle’s quest allows us to see another side of her, a darker one. OUAT’s main trouble with the hero characters- and why the evil ones are usually more interesting- is that sometimes they are so good to the point where they become incredibly cartoonish. So every time we get to see the good guys get more grounded is very appreciated.

When she gets to Arendelle she meets with Anna who- being the adorable girl she is- decides to take Belle with her to the rock trolls so that she can search for the answers she is looking for.
So they get there, and as Belle gets a way to restore her memories, Anna learns that her newly found aunt Ingrid- aka Snow Queen- has another sister besides Anna and Elsa’s mother, and she also disappeared.

If the revelation of another sister is already intriguing, the most interesting part of the flashback comes when Anna and Belle are on the way back to the castle and a storms hit them. They know it’s Ingrid’s work and before they could do anything, they are shaken by the storm, Anna hanging on a cliff and Belle faced with a choice: either she goes rescue Anna right away or she reaches out to the rock that contains her memories. And reach out she does, leaving Anna hanging in there, but the seconds it took her to reach out the rock- and lose it in the way- are the seconds that could’ve saved Anna. Belle is too late and she falls.

So Belle’s choice had an immediate consequence; Anna fell from the cliff and soon after she would be incarcerated by Ingrid- who then decides that Anna is no longer a part of her perfect family and as such she has to be replaced-. From there onwards Belle has to live on with the burden of what she has done, which makes the episode all the more interesting, as Emily de Ravin gets to play a conflicted Belle all episode long even before we get to know her whole backstory on the flashback.

So back on Storybrooke our heroes are looking for clues about the Snow Queen. Henry tells them that she may be using her ice cream truck as a hideout and so everyone goes there, but Belle and Elsa are left behind to look for information about Anna’s whereabouts in the library. Right there it is obvious that Belle is holding back information and it becomes very interesting to see her so conflicted as she sees how badly Elsa is taking everything that is going on, she even comes to think that Anna doesn’t want to see her, and Belle nears her breaking point.

Forced to do something she doesn’t want to, she uses the dagger- the one we all know is fake- to make Rumple take her over to Ingrid’s whereabouts, and he has no choice but to play dumb or be found out. Belle is so conflicted over doing that and Emily de Ravin plays it so well that she sells it, it becomes an organic and natural development that moves the plot forward.

The best part of the episode is when Belle goes into the ice cavern where the Snow Queen is living and she finds the mirror; her reflection starts talking to her and some hurtful truth are said. Though never her intention, Belle did chose her memories over Anna, she thought she could hold on, but she should have gone right away instead of risking her life on the process, and that haunts her. She also calls herself a pathetic coward and points out that the reason Rumple married her is so that he had someone to contoll, and then she points out that deep down she knows the dagger she was given was fake.

It is a deep moment of self awareness that makes Belle way more compelling than ever before; she may be blind to some of the things that go around her, but deep down there is a side of her that knows she is being played. And once again I need to point out how spot on Emily de Ravin’s perfomance was; as she hasn’t been given the best material her portrayal of Belle often seemed boring, but on this week’s episode she gets to go at it and transform the character into a very conflicted one, a character that has to face the fact that she doesn’t want to see the truth, that so far she hasn’t been the hero she wanted to be and that she is letting the fact that she is being deceived slide. And that material is the kind of thing Emily plays masterfully during the episode.

Rumple convinces Belle that it was all a matter of dark magic and even though she chooses to believe him, I’m sure there is a side of Belle that knows she is being played, and as such I expect for her to find out about the dagger shift soon enough.

So, what’s everyone else up to? The Charming Family are the ones getting sidelined in this episode as David and Snow are barely featured in the episode. Emma gets to find out that she has been stalked by the Snow Queen ever since she arrived to our world and Regina tells Robin Hood that the only way she can think of saving Marian is that he falls back in love with her again, a really hard moment for Regina I must say, and one that shows how much she has come from her selfish days.

By the end of the episode Belle reveals that she has been keeping a secret from everyone else and tells everyone that she knows that Ingrid took Anna when they met back on Arendelle, she also figured out that the mirror she has will turn everyone on Storybrooke against each, and both Elsa and Emma knows what that means: both of them and Ingrid will be the only ones standing after everything falls apart, to become Ingrid’s perfect family.

So the episode was really good; the pacing of it all is what drags it down, as there are some scenes that go by really slow and the whole Anna/Ingrid problems during the episode didn’t really land, they felt a bit forced to move the plot along.

But overall I was truly impressed with the way the episode grounded Belle and showed us some more sides of her, while also tying her to the main plot. This shows that even the most underused characters can be great, but they have to be constructed wisely. It took us 4 seasons, but for the first time in a long while it feels like Belle is an interesting character and that she has a real impact on the story.

Grade: B+

Stray Observations:

-Ema: “The Snow Queen has an ice cream truck?”
Henry: “I’m a kid, I notice this stuff.”

-Anna: “No flurry? No frost on the window? Usually a conversation about our parents ends with a chill on the air.”
OUAT tackling Anna and Elsa’s parents issues.

-Anna: “I’m a good judge of character!”
Kristoff: “Says the girl who agreed to marry Hans ten minutes after you started talking to him.”
Anna: “I was young and naïve.”
Kristoff: “You met me the next day.”
One good thing about OUAT maintaining Frozen’s story exactly the same is that it allows for fun dialogue such as this one.

-Regina: “I know you are trying to make everything better, but staying out of it is your best bet. it’s bad enough I’m stuck with you and captain eyeline making eyes at each other.”
Emma: “We don’t make eyes.”
Hook (making eyes): “You ready love?”
We should have more moments like this.

-The Frozen references are overloading lately! This week we got the random merchant guy who was in charge of the store where Anna and Kristoff met. It was a nice reference though.

-Rumple: “Why are you so invested in helping someone you haven’t even met?”
Belle: “Because a hero always help strangers.”
I know Belle was lying, but damn! That was such a bad lie!

-Belle: “If your aunt has so much magic and you have… good intentions, what are we going to do?”
By the time Belle said “good intentions” I truly cracked.

-Mirror Belle: “Deep down you know what kind of beast you are dealing with.”
I found that line to be quite profound.

-Man, Belle’s dad actor acted like shit! Sorry, but seriously, he did a terrible job with the role! Stiff, there was barely some eye movement and tone inflection. Who cast him for the role?

-Hook: “Just a little time in this time lets you know everyone’s related.”
The truth has been spoken.

-Hook: “Mirror? Easy, let’s go smash it!”
Foreshadow! 2 weeks for the highly anticipated 2 hour episode “Smash the Mirror”. Also, a spell named “Shattered Sight” was mentioned; that is the title of the midseason finale.

-Next week: Emma’s powers go out of control! That’s gotta be interesting.

About the Author - Pablo

I'm currently studying Psychology while also writing fantasy books (one already published in my home country, Chile, you can check it out on the facebook icon). I watch many different types of shows, including my favorites Revenge, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and about 23 more. Currently writing reviews for Once Upon a Time, The 100, Community and Marry Me

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