The Bear King

Unlike other episodes, this takes place solely in flashbacks as we see Merida go on a quest set by the Witch from Brave to find her father's helmet from the battle he died in, which Arthur and Zelena are also looking for in order to help them in their little battle with the Storybrookers. With the help of her old tutor, Mulan & Ruby (she left after Neal's coronation party with a magic bean to look for more of her own kind), they discover that Arthur (who was in Dunbroch at the time to find magic in order to put Excalibur back together) was the one who killed Fergus and didn't actually use the helmet in the end. With a little help from the 3 clans sons, Zelena and Arthur leave empty handed and return to Camelot to continue their battle with the others while Merida finally becomes queen of Dunbroch. However, it turns out the quest was all a test set by the Witch to prove to Merida that she's the rightful ruler of the kingdom. And with that, she gives Merida to communicate with her father, revealing that he's proud all of what his daughter has done. In other flashbacks, taking place 2 years prior, we get to see the war itself, where it's revealed Mulan had trained Merida & the helmet used was to control the other soldiers into fighting for Fergus, However, Fergus uses Mulan as a distraction for Merida during the battle, where he ends up killed by Arthur.
Although the Camelot storyline has taken up most of the screentime, I can't really say that I enjoy the Brave plot as much. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Bear and the Bow and Amy Manson does a solid performance as Merida, but I don't really think it's as interesting and the character can come across as a bit standoffish at times. But for this episode (the second of a two parter), it wasn't that bad. Seeing Merida become a bit more of a dimensional and softer character was a welcome change and I did enjoy seeing other Brave characters come into play, especially the Witch and Fergus in flashbacks. While Fergus and Elinor's actors may not pale in comparison to Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson, they still did pretty well with the small material given. However, the highlight for me would have to be Mulan and Ruby to returning after such a long time. It felt like such a breath of fresh air finally seeing questions answered over what happened to them and Jamie Chung & Meghan Ory return in top form. While they may not share as much screen time with Merida as I had hoped, every second of them onscreen was such a delight. The flashbacks, while not as interesting or relevant to the main plot, were still enjoyable as we got to see some heartwarming father/daughter moments between Fergus and Merida and some fun action scenes with the latter and Mulan. However, Arthur being the one to kill Fergus felt very predictable and his reasons for being in DunBroch were borderline ridiculous. Literally EVERYTHING he does is for Excalibur and no matter how much the writers try to throw at us, it still doesn't make him intimidating because he just comes across as a laughably cliched mustache twisted crazy villain. And given that he and Zelena are the threats of the main storyline in this episode, it felt a bit redundant.
Of the two-parter, while it didn't connect really well to Birth and seeing more of Arthur and Zelena got on my nerves, I do find it to be the better one because it otherwise shows superior character development. Adding in Mulan and Ruby was a very warm welcome for me and seeing more of the Brave characters was pretty fun too. I consider this more of a stand alone episode due to it's little connection with the main plot, but that definitely doesn't make it a bad thing.

So Arthur needs something from Dunbroch to help them in this fight with the Storybrookers...?

Still hate that they killed off Fergus...

OK...doesn't she look a bit young to play Elinor given that this is 10 years after the movie? And given that they're normally good at casting actors who look like their animated counterparts, she doesn't really look like Elinor!

Well, at least these two are dead ringers with their animated counterparts! Bit curious that he's resorting to magic during his war despite the hell it caused his family.

Hmm, nice helmet!

Bit extreme to threaten to curse the kingdom if she doesn't get the helmet back....

Lucky that she remembers he wore the helmet when he died!

Pretty sad way of Merida learning the hard truth about war seeing the soldiers writing their wills!

Hmm, pretty badass soldier! And very,,,precise!

Nice to see you again Mulan!

About time we saw what happened to her after she joined Robin's Merry Men! Bit odd she's back to her hostile persona...

Please say that's who I think it is...

How nice threatening the Witch to tell her who's looking for the helmet!

Hmm, seems missing the opportunity to tell Aurora how she felt really hardened her!

'Fighting isn't about who's stronger; it's about who's smarter.' She's got a point, there!

Pretty sad way of learning the purpose of the helmet & why Fergus used it...

YOU BITCH!

Hmm, even if it's not black, that horse kinda resemble Angus!

'There's only one way to get men to follow you into battle. That's by showing them you're the first one willing to die. Cos if their king is willing to lay down his life, they know just how important winning this battle is.' Aww...bit hypocritical though if he's controlling them!

I KNEW it! Nice to see you again Ruby! Wait...how did she get there?

pretty sweet seeing them bond over being friends with Snow!

Nice to know that she still was at the party in the season 3 finale!

Aww! Sweet seeing Snow being supportive of her choices!

Hmm, smart idea using her wolf smelling skills to track down the person who killed Fergus!

Pretty epic looking battle!

That's...pretty graphic despite the obvious CGI!

Well, well, well! Why am I not surprised?

So he went to war with Dunbroch & killed it's king just to find magic to put Excalibur back together?! Christ, doesn't he think about anything else other than that bloody sword?! Well, at least Fergus didn't use the magical helmet after all!

Pretty badass sword fight!

Haha! 'The sleeping powder! Clever' 'She used it on me. How do you like it now, witch?'

Hmm, didn't expect that deus ex machina!

Bit abrupt way to end this conflict!

About time we saw her crowned!

So the whole thing was just a test to see if she had the courage to rule...? Elinor's right, her magic's not really direct!

Haha! 'You know, I'm not really the best person to ask for dating advice. I kind of ate my only boyfriend.' 'Yes, I think that disqualifies you.' 'But maybe I can help. Come with me. It might do you some good.' 'Searching for werewolves?' 'It's better than wallowing in self pity.' 'I don't wallow!'

Aww! 'I just want to make you proud, Dad.' 'You already have.' 'I wish you were still here!' 'Me too.'

'Arthur! You have no idea what's coming to you!' BOOM!