"The Bear and the Bow" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of the American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on November 1, 2015.

In this episode, a chance encounter with Merlin, David, Hook, and Belle in Camelot gives Merida new hope in her quest to save her triplet brothers from the United clans of DunBroch, as Merida brings Belle along on a dangerous journey that culminates with an invaluable lesson in bravery.

In Storybrooke, Regina, Mary Margaret, and David discover the spell that would allow one of Merlin's chosen to communicate with him, but they soon become suspicious of Arthur after he fails to reach the missing sorcerer, and when Emma commands Merida to kill Belle in hopes of forcing Mr. Gold's heroic transformation, Gold must use his courage to fight for Belle's life.

Merida and Belle later stumble upon a witch's home, where they sneak inside to use a cauldron to do a locator spell, which conjures up a futuristic vision of a Southern moor where three men are vying for Merida's hand in marriage, followed by her three brothers brought in by their captors who remove the bags off their heads.

Out in the woods, Gold stares at the chipped tea cup in his hands and says "Forgive Me, Belle," then kisses it and breaks the glass in order to take the shards to free himself from the ropes.

As for Belle, she uses a street map to find out where Emma is keeping Gold, then hears a noise from the elevator, prompting her to take a weapon.

When they make it back to the pawn shop, Merida shows up to shoot arrows at Belle, saying that he can't resist the magic.

The three return to the basement, where Gold agrees to pull Excalibur in exchange for Merida's heart and find out where her brothers are.

Regina believes the only other person who was chosen by Merlin was the Author, meaning Henry, who is brought in to help them, adding that Emma is still inside the darkness and they can save her.

Henry then places the mushroom in the cauldron and an image of Merlin appears, informing them that things are worse than he feared.

[2] The episode's numbers remained steady for a fifth week with a 1.5/4 among 18-49s, but slipped a tenth of a point with 4.83 million viewers tuning in, mostly affected by the World Series on Fox and Sunday Night Football on NBC.

Andrea Towers of Entertainment Weekly notes in her assessment of the review, "Bravery was given out in spades tonight on Once Upon a Time, and while Arthur continued to prove he wasn't the world's most trustworthy member of the Scooby gang, two of Once's most underused characters — as well as a relationship that hasn't been fully explored since last season — got some time to shine.

"[4] In a review from Rickey.org, Nick Roman said, "“The Bear and the Bow” is a really compelling episode for Once Upon a Time, and I admit that I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be.

The plot (The deception from Arthur) thickens, and it didn't feel like part of the same episode as the rest of the story, considering how singularly focused it is on the Gold/Merida arcs.

Snow is now a terrible character, but her story was always rich with possibilities: the apple, the mirror, the queen, the hunter, even the dwarves.