Once Upon a Time Review: Devil’s Due (Season 5 Episode 14)

Another face from the past appears (in a prominent role) during “Devil’s Due,” the latest episode of Once Upon a Time during its Underworld (or, as Regina has brilliantly coined, “Underbrooke”) arc. This time, it’s Milah. And unfortunately for her, she’s deprived of the happy ending that Regina’s father and Herc/Meg were treated to earlier in the season. Poor Milah.

I’ve got to confess: My distaste for Rumple was at an all-time high before this episode. During 5B’s Underbrooke escapades so far, he’s been a bit of a non-presence–which was a-OK with me, because after his double-cross in the midseason finale, I was really over him and his never-ending redemption/relapse cycle. That final straw during “Swan Song” was too much for me because it essentially negated every single scene we’d had to sit through of Merida training Rumple to be a hero. Huge time-waster, and I’m not a Merida fan so it was doubly annoying for me.

“Devil’s Due” gives a lot of focus to Rumple (the present timeline and flashback sequences are Rumple-centric). It somehow manages to make me invested in Rumple’s journey again, so it’s a successful episode in my book.

So, Belle’s pregnant. Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming. After all of Rumple’s betrayals, it is clearly going to take another caliber of twist to keep these two together and to keep the possibility of Rumple’s ultimate redemption in check. Surprise baby is definitely that caliber of twist. To be honest, though, I don’t see this ending with anything but Rumple’s death. And by ending I mean, series finale ending. When the show ends, Rumple will die. That’s my theory. He’s done too much harm to walk away scot free with a happy ending. Just ask Milah.

Anyway, the Belle pregnancy reveal is a bit heavy handed (my pet peeve is when reveals that are somewhat self-explanatory are over explained via dialogue) and Hades really hams it up with the glee in that scene. That said, I love the way the reveal ties into the flashback sequence. As soon as the healer tells pre-Dark One Rumple about the cost of saving Baelfire, well, it becomes pretty clear that it’s going to be relevant in a bit. Plus, Emilie de Ravin is pregnant in real life, so this twist isn’t all that twisty when you think about it.

The return of Milah is enjoyable. She’s always been one of the more interesting recurring figures–the genesis of Hook and Rumple’s hatred of one another, Baelfire’s mother. She’s really important to the history of these characters, and Rachel Shelley always does a great job of bringing humanity to a character that it would be easy to hate (she abandoned her son!). The irony of Milah’s Underworld job, watching over the children, is delicious. Though I don’t completely understand why it’s necessary for people to have commonplace jobs like that in “Underbrooke.” As Rumple so gently points out when he asks Milah to assist in rescuing Hook, the kids are dead anyway. What’s the use of someone watching over them and helping them cross streets?

The flashback sequence, culminating in Milah meeting Hook and Rumple bartering off their unborn second child in exchange for a cure for Bae’s snake bite, is one of the best flashback sequences we’ve seen in ages. It both shows us something we didn’t already know (too many of the flashback sequences recently act as thematic mirrors and don’t actually convey anything useful) and directly impacts the present in a major way (the reveal of Rumple’s second child contract tying into the reveal of Rumple’s second child).

Past Milah is unbearably difficult, trying to force Rumple to kill the healer when he’s clearly not into it (which also begs the question: why didn’t she just kill him herself?), but it seems pretty clear that Rumple selling off their unborn second child to the healer is the last straw that broke their marriage irreparably. Milah first meeting Hook goes predictably. She’s super into his alpha male attitude, a total contrast to Rumple’s personality. Her hatred for her husband by that point is palpable.

In the present, the rescue mission itself is a little lame. Didn’t Emma wonder why it is so easy to rescue Killian? And he’s spinning like meat on a hook over the River of Souls. It’s all a little silly.

The awkward conversations between Emma and Milah are golden, though (especially with an extra sassy Rumple chiming in to distill exactly why and how it’s so awkward). I love the arc that Milah has in this episode, mostly through her conversations with Emma about Neal and partially with Rumple (before he “kills” her… again). It’s not a full redemption, but it definitely helps to establish her as a deeper character. Her leaving Baelfire had always been a sticking point for me in appreciating her character, so it’s great that they directly address that.

Again, this show is pretty transparent at telegraphing plot points from miles away, so as soon as Hades mentions to Hook the danger of touching the River of Souls, it seems obvious that somebody will be taking a dip. Hades manipulates Rumple into doing his bidding so easily, which on first viewing is baffling. On second viewing, it makes a little more sense because we now know that Rumple is desperate to get back to Belle and their child. Which obviously doesn’t forgive what he’s done. Poor Milah was a crappy mother but I really don’t think she deserves to be a “mindless, tormented husk,” floating in Gatorade soup for all of eternity. On the other hand, I appreciate her fate because it serves to break up the monotony of Emma and the squad rescuing every single soul they encounter.

The B story this week deals with Regina going on a mini-mission to determine where Daniel’s soul wound up. With an assist from Snow, Regina manages to find out that Daniel’s spirit is off to a better place–which is both good (he’s happy!) and bad (Regina doesn’t get to see him).

This subplot is pretty weak. It really just seems like a time filler. The only useful things that arise from it are that we get to see Cruella again (she tells Regina what the state of a person’s grave marker signifies about the state of their soul) and we find out that Regina’s magic is working in the Underworld. Regina saving the horse is a sweet but ultimately random moment (there’s just a random injured horse in the middle of the block? Why? How did it get injured?). Again, how are people even being physically harmed when they are dead and in the Underworld?

Plus, it ends up not mattering that Regina’s magic works because she, Emma, and Snow are trapped in the Underworld, courtesy of our pal Hades. Those three were picked by him to remain behind after Hook refused to do the choosing. Which is unfortunate because I really would’ve been far more OK with leaving behind Charming or Henry. Mostly Henry.

Other thoughts:

• Milah’s fate is sad in general but it’s even more sad that she was dispatched before she could even see Hook.
• Or Henry. She didn’t meet her grandson. And I was so looking forward to Henry awkwardly greeting her as “Grandma” at their first meeting, as he does every single time he first meets someone who is somehow his grandparent. This has happened now 6 times and it’s weird every time.
• Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting Hook to be rescued that quickly. Obviously, the Underworld arc isn’t anywhere near finished, so it’ll be interesting to see Hook, post-Dark Oneness, interacting with the group of people that he tried really hard to send to the Underworld.
• The River of Lost Souls effect is atrocious. This show’s budget must be abysmal and they really need to scale down their effects accordingly.
• This episode is written by Jane Espenson, which makes sense because she always pens some of the better episodes. She’s also a Buffy the Vampire Slayer scribe, who wrote some of that show’s best episodes, too.
• “So all 45 of you are gonna slip down into the deepest level of detention in the Underworld.” Rumple’s sass is out of control in this episode and I love it.
• Rumple acting as Hades’ unwilling servant because of Hades acquiring the healer’s contract for Rumple’s unborn baby is an interesting twist that will definitely shape this season. It provides the means for Rumple to be the villain we know and love while at the same time gives him an out (“He’s only doing it because of his love for his child!,” etc.)

What did you think of this episode of Once Upon a Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Once Upon a Time airs Sunday at 8/7c on ABC.

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