How long ’til Roni and Henry wakes up from the curse? Is the firefly ruby more important than we thought? More questions plus a conversation on the new Rumplestiltskin, the bat in the Belfry and Eloise Gardener in our in-depth discussion of the episode “Greenbacks.” And don’t call her Ivy… it’s Drizella!

What a very interesting episode of Once Upon a Time. Although it was a fun story, it doesn’t seem to have much to discuss about.

The New Rumplestiltskin

This episode reminds us so much of the episode “Desperate Souls” back in season 1. The way that they positioned the voodoo guy, Dr. Facilier, makes us think that he’s a bigger character. Being stuck between two worlds, and the way he poofed out, if we don’t see him again, we’re not going to be left hanging like the characters that we’ve not seen again. The way that he seems so powerful made him seem like a Dark One. Is he the Dark One in this realm?

What if he is the bat in the Belfry? If he’s trapped between two places, his actual form could be anything. Maybe he was just manifesting? Or is he just a throw-away villain? Is he the Ralph that Victoria regarded to in Hyperion Heights to wreck Mr. Cluck’s? Is he even in Hyperion Heights?

Are we going to see the couple frogs again? With something as powerful as the firefly ruby, it seems like we are going to see it again as well, but are we going to? And with Dr. Facilier out there in the Enchanted Forest on the run with the firefly ruby, could it mean something in the future episodes?

Back in Hyperion Heights, it’s the story of Once Upon a Time in beignets, which is commonly known in New Orleans as a breakfast served with powdered sugar on top, the same place the Frog Princess took place in.

On the other hand, Sabine and Jacinda’s back and forth shows their relationship a lot. Jacinda was pretty hard core, serious and hard on Sabine. Then again, we haven’t seen a lot of backstory of how Sabine’s dream came to be. How much has passed from the auction to the ball?

Eloise Gardener

I wonder if the name Eloise is a reference to Lost. On Lost there was a mysterious character named Eloise Hawkin who had knowledge of parallel timelines and parallel realities. If the name connection is more than coincidence then perhaps Eloise is the mysterious Guardian Rumple is looking for. I think Eloise is more likely to be Hook’s daughter than Alice. Eloise is probably her cursed name and she probably had a different name in New Enchanted Forest. The witch in the tower is probably the vengeful witch who had Hook’s daughter locked up and is probably the evil that Eloise needed the runes to protect herself from. The fact that Eloise knew to draw the runes suggests that she like Alice might be at least partially awake. I suspect that Lady Tremaine was involved in her disappearance. Perhaps Lady Tremaine helped the vengeful witch imprison her in New Enchanted Forest as an act of revenge against Hook for whatever it was he did to her. Alternatively she may have somehow stolen her away from the vengeful witch for her own purposes. Whether she is the Guardian or not, I suspect that Eloise has some kind of magic that different people want. My original theory about Hook’s daughter was that she is ...