Belle (Emilie de Ravin) sits in a tavern and takes note of a group of men organizing an expedition to hunt a monster called the Yaoguai that terrorizes a distant kingdom.
Dreamy (Lee Arenberg) arrives to thank her for the advice she gave him the previous night; he and Nova plan to run away together.
She acknowledges that Belle's tracking skills are superior to her own, and they agree to work together in the hunt for the Yaoguai so that Mulan can save her village.
He explains that Maleficent cursed him by exiling him far from his kingdom in a monstrous form in order to keep him apart from his true love, Aurora.
She is taken prisoner by the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla), her location having been betrayed by the men from the hunt (one of which had been shown to guard her jail cell).
She recognizes him from the Evil Queen's palace and, by pushing a bookshelf onto him, is able to hold him off long enough to seal herself securely inside the freight elevator.
She knocks Hook over with a wooden beam and flees with the shawl, but his knowledge of the ship enables him to intercept her on the deck before she can escape.
Meanwhile, Henry (Jared S. Gilmore) has been despondent over Archie's death, even calling the doctor's office to hear his voice on the answering machine.
Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) then brings Archie's dog, Pongo, to Mary Margaret's apartment; Marco (Tony Amendola) felt Henry should have him.
Mary Margaret is concerned the loft will be cramped, and she suggests she and David (Josh Dallas) find a new home of their own.
But while Mary Margaret is content to establish a new life together in Storybrooke, David feels they need to liberate the Enchanted Forest from the ogres and from Cora; they realize that they may now want different things.
Henry draws up plans to remodel the loft if his grandparents move out, and he wants to add an armory to protect them from Regina; Emma promises to keep him safe from her.
"The Outsider" was co-written by producers Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, while Las Vegas veteran David Solomon directed the episode.
The episode took a major hit from a combination of factors (both the Golden Globe Awards and a delayed 60 Minutes due to the AFC playoffs running overtime into the 8PM Eastern time zone), resulting in its lowest numbers by far, placing 2.8/7 among 18-49s with only 8.15 million viewers tuning in.
[1] Entertainment Weekly critic Sarah Caldwell gave it a good but mixed review: "'I think we can all agree that this was a pretty stupendous episode -- and I’m not just talking about Belle’s wardrobe.
The last two episodes back from winter hiatus have made big strides toward improving this show, largely by focusing on character development rather than mythology.
While it’s fun to see how these Disney fairy tales intersect in the past, the fantasy elements can feel empty without a strong emotional core.
It’s a little silly but that’s the Once Upon A Time M.O., and ultimately the episode is a strong story about fighting for what you really believe in, even if that ends up getting you a bullet in the back.