Beneath his selfish, power-mad, reptilian sliminess, Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin is lugging around some serious daddy guilt. To see Gold/Rumplestiltskin become genuinely emotional in the woods and hand over the heralded knife that could be used against him to a man who claimed to be his son was a fascinating turn of events. Who knew old Rumple still had a beating heart within him that cared about something other than making deals and maintaining his power?
But now that the mysterious, motorcycle riding writer dude has attempted to deceive Gold/Rumple into thinking that he was the long lost son that Gold/Rumple’s been looking for in the non-magical world, the question as to which fairy tale character he represents looms larger, particularly when he refers to Emma as “the Savior.”
I could’ve believed that Gold/Rumple was August’s father because it makes sense doesn’t it? Don’t all writers have messed up childhoods? Certainly Gold/Rumple’s son would’ve been thoroughly screwed up by what happened to him, especially when his father chucked him down a glowing, green, magical hole in the ground and refused to go with him. If his real son does surface, I’ll bet it won’t be pretty. (Wouldn’t it be wild if the son turns out to be Henry’s father?) In the meantime, we are left to wonder what fatal ailment is plaguing August and what, exactly, he’s trying to accomplish by expediting Operation Cobra.
Being an erstwhile Lost fan and knowing that there are former Lost scribes writing for Once Upon a Time, the parallels between the two shows — alternate worlds, a mysterious light coming from the ground, a Dark One (Rumple) and the light one (the Blue Fairy) — are becoming more and more striking with each new revelation. And, it must be noted, that Lost dealt with a lot of mommy and daddy issues as well.
As for the Mary Margaret/David story, which had provided the star-crossed lovers heat to this drama, they’ve substantially cooled off in light of David accusing the grade school teacher of murdering his wife, who happened to turn up in Storybrooke streets alive after having been held captive in a basement under Gold/Rumple’s care. (Which reminds me, Regina/The Evil Queen still has Claire Belle — whose love Rumplestiltskin refused to believe was authentic and whose kiss would’ve stripped him of his powers — locked up in some mental facility. Certainly that story’s got to resurface.) David no longer bears any resemblance to the brave Prince Charming of Fairy Tale Land who’d do anything for Snow White, including take an arrow for her. But then again, Mary Margaret’s timid school marm bit doesn’t jive with her take-no-prisoners Snow White persona either.
As Once Upon a Time’s freshman season speeds toward completion, will the focus once again center on the main characters Regina, Emma, Henry, Mary Margaret, David and Gold? Hopefully the show’s brain trust won’t write themselves into a dramatic corner from which they can’t maneuver without alienating viewers. (Please don’t pull a The Killing season finale.) I’ve got my fingers crossed that the season ends intelligently and triumphantly.
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Apr 23, 2012 @ 13:15 EST5EDT
I think August is Pinocchio. I think that is what his leg problem is..the pain is that he is turning back into wood. He also lies alot!
I remember Ginnifer Goodwin saying in an interview that Mary Margaret is who Regina wants Snow to be. I suppose that can be extrapolated to all the residents of Storybrooke except for Rumple and Henry, that they are the people that Regina wishes they were (meek, forgetful, afraid to take chances), rather than who they were in Fairy Tale land. That is, until Emma showed up.
In the woods, Gold tells Pinochio that he can’t help him because magic doesn’t exist in this world. Magic does exist in this world. The mad hatter was proof of that. He used magic to take Regina to the other world.