Earlier this week we sat down with Once Upon a Time co-creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis to discuss the spring premiere, and they answered some of our more crucial questions about the episode.

If you’ve just watched the spring premiere of Once Upon a Time, you’re probably confused about some things. Why does Cruella have magic? Why doesn’t anyone recognize her? And most importantly: What is going on with Rumpelstiltskin and Belle?

The creators answered all of these questions and more, so check out what they had to say about Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 13, “The Queens of Darkness.”

How did you decide on the power of persuasion for Cruella?

Kitsis: Power of persuasion for her, unfortunately, only works on animals. When we reimagined Cruella we kinda wanted her to be Zelda Fitzgerald — we wanted her to be more jazz age than fifties England, and thought she should have a power so she feels a part of the show. And we love the idea that she can speak to animals, not like Doctor Dolittle, but in a more cruel way. Her backstory is coming up toward the middle of the second half and that’s probably our favorite one.

Horowitz: The origin of that power and why she kind of is the way she is in our version is coming up soon.

How did you come up with the secret that Snow and Charming are holding, and how does it play into the mythology of the show?

Horowitz: It’s a tricky needle to thread sometimes. That’s kind of the tip of the iceberg of the secret you saw in the second episode and our hope is by the time everything is revealed you see it really in the forms of season 1 when you saw them the first time.

Kitsis: That is the idea, that when you go back to season 1 obviously you know the curse is cast and you know the origins, but for us it’s much more about the character motivation. We hope that in seeing the second half of the season you will go back and look at the series in a different way.

Will Rumpelstiltskin’s betrayal be the last straw for Belle or will she always be able to forgive him?

Kitsis: I think she kicked him out of town, so he kind of reached his last straw and it looks like she’s moved on a little bit. He has his work cut out.

Does the story of Cruella not exist in the real world part of the show? Is that why people don’t recognize her?

Horowitz: The story, like a lot of stories in the show, do exist in our world. If your question is why her husband in the real world didn’t recognize her, it’s, you know, maybe he thought it was an ironic name she’s taken, given her look.

Kitsis: As Hook found out that there was a movie about him and he was played by a guy with a perm, that was shocking to him, so we are aware of Cruella.

How bad is the secret that Snow and Charming are keeping that they have to hide it from Emma so badly?

Kitsis: Bad enough, but not bad enough where it’s bleak and people go, “Whoa, what did they do to Once Upon a Time?” For us, what we really want to explore is if you’ve done a bad thing, can you come back from it? And that is really interesting, as opposed to just black and white and good and bad.

Horowitz: For the last couple seasons we’ve seen a lot of villains like Regina and Rumple go on a redemption arc, where we see them start really bad and fight those urges to be better versions of themselves to varying degrees of success. Well, we wanted to explore that idea with our heroes as well. We’ve seen things in the show that show it’s not just black and white, and this is happening with Snow and Charming and it’ll start to affect Emma as well. The arrival of these villains has a real profound affect on Snow and Charming and that’s something that really starts to show in these few episodes.

We saw Regina struggling a little bit with the dagger, so will she be tempted by those powers?

Horowitz: There’s always an element with Regina of coming to terms with what she was and what she wants to be. Mary Margaret goes to Regina for a reason, part of what she said, yeah, it’s because she used to be a villain, but it’s also because Regina can walk in that world with more confidence and safety than anyone else.

Kitsis: Regina’s going to have a huge curveball thrown her way this second half.

What did you think of the new ‘Once Upon a Time’ arc?

If you’re a little confused about some of the answers Kitsis and Horowitz gave, don’t worry! All will become clear when you watch next week’s episode, “Unforgiven.”