Skin Deep (Once Upon a Time)
In this episode, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) suspects Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) of planning to seek vigilante justice when a cat burglar, Moe French (Eric Keenleyside), robs his house.
Meanwhile, Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) plans a special girls' night out on Valentine's Day with Ruby (Meghan Ory) and Ashley (Jessy Schram).
In the Enchanted Forest flashbacks, a fateful deal is made between Rumpelstiltskin (Carlyle) and Belle (Emilie de Ravin), in which she gives up her freedom to save her village from the horrors of the Ogre Wars.
It featured the first appearance of de Ravin, who was cast as Belle in November 2011 after being approached by series co-creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) is summoned and agrees to aid the battle in exchange for Maurice's daughter, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) to live at his estate as his caretaker.
The magic starts to turn him back into an ordinary man (shown through a change in the pallor of his skin), but he becomes furious and breaks off the kiss, accusing Belle of conspiring with the Evil Queen to rob him of his powers.
According to the Evil Queen, Belle was subsequently imprisoned and tortured by her father, leading her to commit suicide by jumping from her tower prison.
Rumplestiltskin is devastated, and the loss leads him to remove a treasured gold chalice from its display pedestal, replacing it with the chipped cup.
At Granny's, David (Josh Dallas) and Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) talk from separate tables, until Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) interrupts to ask after her son Henry (Jared S. Gilmore).
Ashley (Jessy Schram) arrives with her baby, noting how rarely she gets a babysitter or sees her boyfriend, Sean (Tim Phillipps).
He kidnaps Moe, ties him up in an abandoned shack on the edge of town, and beats him up, demanding where the missing object is and who told the florist to take it.
However, his rant about the theft soon devolves into simply "she's gone" (referring to Belle, whose "suicide" Gold blames Moe for), until Emma arrives to stop him.
"Skin Deep" was written by consulting producer Jane Espenson, while 24 veteran, Milan Cheylov, directed the installment.
[2][3] Knowing that they were going to recreate the story of "Beauty and the Beast", series co-creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wanted its heroine, Belle, "to exude intelligence and strength and be someone you would immediately love,"[4] which led them to approach Emilie de Ravin.
[3] De Ravin was a fan of the series before being cast[5] and was happy to be able to view the costumes up close, describing her character's gold dress as "absolutely stunning.
"[1] The physical props helped her with the scenes, and "they ha[d] a fantastic set up of a couple of monitors that you can see a markup of basically how it’s going to look.
Belle's fiancée in the show is named Gaston, the Disney antagonist, and he was turned into a red rose, which featured prominently in the film.
[13] In addition, most of Belle's clothing in the fantasy world appears to be directly inspired by the Disney film, such as her classic yellow ballgown and her blue-and-white plainclothes.
[15][16] This was partially due to the fact that the episode aired in the same time-slot as the 54th Grammy Awards, who had their best numbers ever since the 1984 telecast and the sudden news of Whitney Houston's death the day prior to the event.
"[19] Laura Prudom of The Huffington Post felt Espenson was a "perfect fit for this episode – when she's firing on all cylinders, the Buffy alumna is one of the best in the industry at writing layered, empowered women, even when circumstances conspire against them.
"[13] Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly opined that Espenson's attempt to tell a "nightmarish, twisty tale of obsession and loss" was "decidedly mixed" due to the lack of development in the relationship between Belle and Rumpelstiltskin.
"[20] In a contribution for Tor.com, Teresa Jusino defined "Skin Deep" as an "amazing retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story that contained some wonderful character moments and some great one-liners...
Funny, charming, and at times harrowing, the script takes us into the depths of Rumpelstiltskin’s soul, showing us this character both at his most warm and at his most dark.
