In this episode, Mr. Gold, David, and Ruby go searching for a missing Belle, while flashbacks show Rumpelstiltskin's past with Captain Hook.
It turns out that Milah is not happy with being married to Rumplestiltskin because she sees him as a coward, but Baelfire manages to convince her to return home.
He arrives at their ship to meet Killian Jones (Colin O'Donoghue), the captain of the vessel, and asks that he turn Milah over to him.
Several years later, Rumplestiltskin, now the Dark One, sits at a tavern where he is approached by a black market trader about a magic bean that can transport between worlds.
Aboard Jones' ship, the Jolly Roger, Milah explains that she wanted a life of adventure over Rumplestiltskin, who was upset that she would leave both him and their son behind.
They decide to visit Belle's father, Moe French (Eric Keenleyside), at his home, but they come away empty-handed, not forgetting what happened during Maurice's previous encounter with Rumplestiltskin.
Unaware to both David and Gold, Belle was actually hiding out at Granny's where she made fast friends with Ruby (Meghan Ory).
Unfortunately, after leaving the diner en route to the library, she is kidnapped by William Smee (Chris Gauthier), who had been hired by Moe to take Belle to the mines and to have her memory erased once they arrived at the city limits in order to make her forget about Gold.
He tells Belle that he came to apologize to her and to explain the real reason why he created the curse in the first place, which was to find Baelfire and to hopefully overcome his life as being a cowardly person through magic.
[1] Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), Snow White/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), and Regina (Lana Parrilla) do not appear in this episode.
This outing provided a boost in the ratings for the series, earning a 3.3/8 among 18-49s with 9.89 million viewers tuning in, making this the second most watched episode in the show's second season behind "Broken.
Entertainment Weekly's Hilary Busis had high remarks for this outing, especially about the performance of Colin O'Donoghue, who was just added to the main cast even though he was a guest star in this installment: "Admit it: You let out a little squeal of glee when that pirate ship came lurching out of the shadows during tonight's title card.
"[5] Amy Ratcliffe of IGN gave it a 9.5: "Last night’s episode of 'Once Upon a Time' featured love, swashbuckling, revenge, and Belle being completely lovable.