Once Upon a Time season 5, episode 4 changed the legends of Camelot. Who can we trust to have Emma’s best interests in mind? The answer will surprise you.
Who can you trust? Every act of Once Upon a Time‘s season 5, episode 4, “The Broken Kingdom,” changed which character was given some extra scrutiny. The first three episodes of season 5 set the characters on their mission to not only save Emma from the Dark One, but also unearth the secrets buried behind Camelot’s walls. Episode 4 finally tore down Arthur’s ivory tower and revealed the secret of his kingdom’s unflinching loyalty.
The Camelot-centric episode followed Arthur’s spiral into madness that cost him his marriage and the kingdom’s trust in their “Chosen” leader. Without the dagger to make Excalibur whole again Merlin’s prophecy and Arthur’s quest remained incomplete. Instead of calling upon the people who would drop everything in the world to serve him, Arthur pushed them all away and lost sight of what was important in life.
Sound familiar? Arthur is the hybrid of Emma and Rumpelstiltskin’s stories. He is the worst of both characters presented as the antagonist for the heroes in Camelot. He is selfish, power-hungry, and chooses isolation over companionship. Arguably, Rumpelstiltskin is a character with no redeeming qualities, while Emma has plenty to keep her in good graces with her family and the audience alike. Arthur, at this juncture, is far beyond the Rumpelstiltskin extreme on the villain scale. If his story arc tries to bring him back around to the side of the heroes it is going to be a tough sell and most certainly not in the best interest of the characters around him.
David and Mary Margaret played Arthur and the audiences well in “The Broken Kingdom.” What was presented as an eye-rolling ploy to pit David and Mary Margaret against one another quickly turned on its head. Luckily, the couple quickly resolved their issues off-screen and found that putting Emma first is the compass that would always guide them back to each other.
With David undercover working with Arthur, Mary Margaret and Lancelot pair up to lead Arthur astray as they wander off with a fake dagger. A lot has changed in Camelot since Lancelot left five years ago, but his trust in Guinevere remains steadfast. The two spent a great deal of time together while Arthur toiled away to find some connection to the dagger and Excalibur. Guinevere was adamant about keeping her loyalty to her king, but Lancelot was not shy about expressing how he felt towards the taken queen.
When Arthur finally discovers where the dagger is, Guinevere tries to get one step ahead of him and takes Merlin’s gauntlet to lead her to the dagger. After all, the gauntlet leads a person towards another’s greatest weakness. What Arthur believes will give him the strength he needs to rule a kingdom, is actually the source of his undoing. Once inside the Dark One’s vault, Guinevere and Lancelot encounter some first-hand experience with the Darkness that guards passage to the dagger, but the truly evil being awaits for them on the other side of the door. Rumpelstiltskin has a proposal for the adventurers– hand over the gauntlet and take the sand from the shores of Avalon, home of the Lady in the Lake and where Excalibur was forged. The sand will make anything broken appear whole, including people.
The deal is made, but Rumpel issues a final word of caution. Forget Excalibur and the dagger, love is most deadly weapon of all.
It is Guinevere’s heart that gets in the way of taking down her husband while she still had the upper-hand. Her love and trust in his ability to come around from his obsession with the dagger fails her and Arthurs takes the sand of Avalon and uses it to fix his broken marriage and the broken kingdom. Five years later, he takes his plan on step further and uses the sand to “fix” the broken loyalty of David and Mary Margaret.
It’s hard to imagine anyone not listening to Mary Margaret and David when they come up with a plan to save their daughter, but this season is all about misplaced trust. Luckily, the person no one seems to trust is going to be the one to set everyone straight– Regina. Lancelot, escaping the affects of the sand for a second time, is now in prison sharing a cell block with Merida.
The most important five-letter word:
Who can we TRUST? In Camelot the frontrunners for the heroes are Hook, Robin, Regina, and Henry. We remain on the fence about Lancelot, whose brush with Darkness in the vault may have latent affects on his character that will arise later on. We certainly cannot trust Arthur, Guinevere, or anyone in Camelot who serves the king. This, unfortunately, now includes Mary Margaret and David.
Watch Once Upon a Time season 5, episode 5, “Dreamcatcher,” Sunday, October 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
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