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‘OUAT’: The Evil Queen puts the creepy moves on Rumple
The Evil Queen is back with a vengeance on “Once Upon a Time” — literally.
Instead of going after Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) directly, Regina’s (Lana Parrilla) darker side enlists the Count of Monte Cristo (Craig Horner) to do her dirty work for her.
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While the Charmings are wrapped up in the Count’s untold story — which was frankly a little anticlimactic given that Mercedes, Fernand and Albert were all tragically missing from his tale — the Evil Queen was busy putting plans into place elsewhere; plans that apparently involved both Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) and Charming.
The relationship between Rumple and the Evil Queen has always been ambiguously sexual and creepy, especially considering Rumple and Cora (Barbara Hershey) used to be a thing. Now, “Once Upon a Time” has gone all in on that relationship, having the Evil Queen openly proposition Rumple in his shop.
It’s unclear whether she’s actually interested in Rumple romantically, or if she’s just playing a long con, but thankfully, he doesn’t seem to be taking the bait.
We’re still holding out hope that Rumple and Belle will find their way back to each other one day, so we can only keep our fingers crossed that he won’t take the Evil Queen up on her offer to dump the “book worm” and go for someone who understands his evil side.
Meanwhile, Charming gets an uncomfortable calling card from the Evil Queen in the form of an old bauble that belonged to his long-dead father.
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We don’t know much about Charming’s story before Rumple turned up on his farm with an offer to take his twin brother’s place as prince. Now, it looks like Charming’s past will come back to haunt him as he grapples with his father’s untimely death by “cart accident.”
What we want to know is this: If it wasn’t an accident, how did his adoptive father die? And how did Rumple end up with the good luck charm David sent him off with on that last trip?
“Once Upon a Time” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.