Once Upon a Fangirl...: Sympathy for the De Vil

In this episode, we finally get to see Cruella's origin story as it's revealed that she wasn't actually from the Enchanted Forest, but instead a fictional version of England in the 20s who was oppressed by her mother as a child.

That is until she meets the Author as an adult (whose name is revealed to be Isaac) & they form a romance & she reveals her mother killed her father & her other 2 husbands, so Isaac gives her the power to control animals with the pen & ink he uses to change up stories. However, after he plans to run away with her, her mother reveals that it was Cruella who killed her father & other 2 husbands & had manipulated & lied the whole time, leading Cruella to kill her mother with her new powers & the ink Isaac used to write his stories spills on her, giving her the iconic look we know today! In Storybrooke, after being forced between choosing to save Emma or Robin by Rumple, Regina realizes she has leverage against him by ripping Belle's heart out to control her to reveal his plan & threatening to kill her if he tells Zelena. Her plan to go to New York to save Robin from Zelena however, is put on hold as she & Emma (still furious at her parents) have to save Henry from Cruella as she threatens his life if they don't kill the Author. With that, however, it turns out what Isaac wrote was that he gave Cruella the power to not kill anyone, meaning that Henry is actually safe, but as Mary Margaret & David go off to tell them, they arrive to find that Emma has just killed Cruella, crossing the line Rumple wanted & is now on the path to darkness.
Honestly, I absolutely loved this episode & there's so much I want to say, I don't even know where to begin!
One thing I'm glad about in this episode is that it continues the revelations of the last 2 episodes, in particular with Maleficent discovering what happened to Lily now that it turns out Cruella lied to her that she was dead after she fell through the portal (although that's only for one scene at the start). Not only that, but I'm so glad Regina immediately told Emma about what was going on now that Zelena is in the picture as there wasn't really anything stopping her from telling anyone regardless of what choice she made between saving her or Robin, although using Belle as leverage against Rumple...that was not cool after all of her development (even if we got a kiss out of it)!
Although it was rather strange they created a 'fictional 20s England' (I'm guessing similar to the fictional version of Victorian England in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland), at least it was a plausible way to confront the anachronisms involving Cruella while she was in the Enchanted Forest & it was surprisingly interesting to see (I know I complained about Frankenstein's world being too different, but that was because of the tone & inconsistencies)! Although her story is absolutely nothing like 101 Dalmatians, at least they've stayed true to the character with her personality (as Victoria Smurfit was definitely channelling Glenn Close's 1996 version in the Storybrooke scenes) intact along with the fact that she easily managed to manipulate Isaac (and the audience) with her sob story, but was really a nut-job the whole time, so clearly the title of this one is one big red herring & irony and is the only villain in the show so far to not fall into the 'Evil isn't born, it's made' category & is evil just for the fun of it! But is it just me, or did anyone get Carrie & Cinderella (which is suitably referenced) vibes with Cruella's backstory with her oppressive mother (before she actually had a reason behind her actions), being locked up, developing powers involving control over things & sewing her own clothes...? The visual style of the flashbacks rather it be the set designs, cinematography & costumes are all gorgeous & definitely capture the 20s similar to The Great Gatsby or Boardwalk Empire. I'm also glad that we got to see more of Isaac & his development, where it turned out he was actually a kind man who wanted to be happy with Cruella until he discovered the truth over how messed up & manipulative she really was. I honestly thought it was going to be the other way around!
As for the ending, I was genuinely surprised! I'm surprisingly sad Cruella is now gone like because I very much enjoyed her, and although it seemed Emma was purely good, it's definitely going to be interesting now that her darkness is coming out despite it being in defence for Henry, using her light magic & being unaware Cruella couldn't kill anyone. Since there's still 4 episodes left, looks like it's going to be a rather dark 4 now that there's only 1 Queen of Darkness left & Emma's slipping into the dark side!
With very surprising twists, great flashbacks, gorgeous visuals, amazing acting & interesting character development from both sides of good & evil, it's definitely going to be an interesting lead-up to the finale now that it looks like Rumple's plan is going swimmingly!
As for next week's episode, I am beyond excited to see the return of Lily with seeing her backstory along with her return as an adult (played by Agnes Bruckner) & seeing more of the Sorcerer's Apprentice & how they played a role in Emma & Lily meeting as teens. Despite all of these side plots going on at the moment & the tone getting darker, unlike season 2 at least they're interesting & they're trying to focus on the main characters instead of bringing new ones in!

Hold on, that's the same girl who played Alice's daughter in the OUATIW finale!

OK, this is textbook child abuse!

Pretty insensitive to lie to Maleficent that her daughter was dead when she really just left her!

Yeah, despite being awesome there, kinda forgot the small detail that she can control animals!

Did she really just say causing Maleficent to lose her child was worth Emma being purely good?! Wow, the morality with the Charmings has been really grey in this half!

Thank God she told Emma about Zelena! Well, there wasn't anything stopping her from telling anyone!

Uh, what does she need Belle for?!

HAHA! 'Reminds me of Hemmingway, or Theroux. Name's Isaac by the way!' 'Do you always talk this much?!'

About bloody time that they see each other face to face without disguises or lies!

Pretty sad that his heart is literally one lump of coal besides that tiny speck of light!

'Sometimes I worry. I worry I threw out the chipped teacup too soon.' Aww! <3

AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

'And do you know what the problem is? Will is such a better kisser than you are!' Uh...what?!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, REGINA?! I thought you were past ripping out hearts & threatening lives by now!

Hmm, good read!

Wait, they know each other?!

Hmm, she looks rather pretty with her blonde hair & without all the heavy make-up! And funny the music on the radio is an instrumental version of Cruella De Vil!