T'Lynn

Thanks! I'll be making lots more from this episode!!!

The Camelot backstory was so intriguing! I loved it! What's funny is that Arthur had it all. Love and power... but he became obsessed with fixing the sword when he could have just fixed his kingdom without it being whole. I love this kind of villain!

RockNRoll

Sure. That's why you love him... *side eyeing you*

AlmostEverything

Kind of feel bad about Arthur. He had the right idea and a noble cause, but got so obsessed he forgot what the actual point of fixing the sword was. Does it make me evil if I still want him to have a happy ending

Snowing was just perfect in this episode. They really had me fooled. Never saw it coming.

Next week's episode has got me intrigued. How is Rumpel to fight Merida with a lame leg? And what about poor Henry? And now I am supposed to wait 6 days.....

CityGal

Wow, my take away was entirely different.

It wasn't that Arthur/Gwen aren't true loves, but that one party chooses power over love and broken trust.

I agree the sword most likely represents balance lightness and darkness and it will take a couple emboding both to wield the sword and destroy darkness.

If Merlin/Nimue are lovers, then once again in the story, a true love couple failed because one pary was so seduced by power. One side made the choice to give into the powerful side and becomes a tragic tale of love.

Killian wasn't paralled to Arthur. They were foreshadowed by Snowing. Snowing represented the ultimate true love. Charming with all the glory and power of Knights of the Round Table lore chooses love over power. Both Snow and Charming put their trust in each other to defeat Arthur. Both trust that the other will independently choose to work together. They have faith and trust each other to put saving their dautghter. For the Charmings, they succeed.

Killian and Emma are building a relationship. They both know they are in love. Now comes the trust part which was Killian's speech. Emma needs to trust in their relationship that Killian will always fight for their future. They need to believe that when the going gets tough the other will do one's part make the proper choices. Emma and Killian are learning to have a relationship that will be as true and powerful as her parents.

Dark Swan is the ultimate test of the couple as all the other couples before it. To destroy the darkness seems to require a couple - one truly in love. A couple with both a dark and light half, and to defeat the darkness may require that the couple trusts the other and choose love over power (Snowing) - making Excalibur balance and defeat darkness.

I'm beginning to suspect that Emma/Killian hatched this plan or at least realized what it's going to take to defeat the darkness.

T'Lynn

I think it was a little bit of both. There is obviously a direct parallel that they are laying down by using the pink rose in scenes for Guin/Arthur and Emma/Hook. But there is also a lot of foreshadowing with the power over love concept.

AlmostEverything I feel the same way. I still want Arthur to have a happy ending! Maybe that makes me a bad person but oh, well. What I loved about the Camelot backstory is that they showed Arthur’s descent into villainy. As a child he had an enormous responsibility via cryptic prophecy and he finally fulfills it to find that his work is not done. He clearly loved Guin a lot and she loved him back with equal passion but the prophecy made him lose his mind.

I also loved that Hook spoke of battling the demons in his head. The writers are doing a great job showing us that its not just the DO curse that can drive people to do evil deeds … anyone can have their own demons and Arthur clearly has his. In his desperation to be the king that Camelot needed he didn;’t realize that he was already the king they needed.

Merlin is finally going to be in 5x05, right? I can’t wait to see what he has to say about all this.

killianfan

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is that in a piece of dialogue in the flower meadow, Killian says something about Emma giving him some of her burden....

I think this is a foreshadowing to her giving him some of the darkness inside her. And it happens in 5x10 when we see Killian wielding the reforged Excalibur with his and Emma's names on it. We don't see Emma in that scene but we do see devil-on-the-shoulder Rumple so I'm sure he's appearing to Killian.

Emma and Killian in both Camelot and Storybrooke have had dialogue about 'trust'. She's going to trust him to do something and it's either going to backfire with him taking on some of her darkness to save her or it's going to go exactly as they'd planned.

This is the most exciting season so far and we're only 4 episodes in!

CityGal

The pink rose represents love. Both young Gwen/Arthur are future lovers and Camelot is a romantic place. Showing Gwen/Arthur with giving of the rose signify that they are indeed in love with each other (like a visual shortcut).

The same with Emma/Killian as new loves. The beginning of a relationship.

fox24

Good analysis. I agree

scififan2009

Hmm, that is interesting. And also quite possible.

It would explain why Killian is wearing different clothes. So his name could be on the sword because his soul is also tethered to the darkness. Something he may have chosen to do to help Emma.

fox24

There is also the theory that Hook takes the darkness that intresting

Randysgirl

I agree. There was a very direct parallel in this episode between Arthur and Guinevere and Snow and Charming. It really emphasized the importance of choice in relationships and how choosing love over power is the ultimate weapon.

Austenphile

If 5.11 is the Papa Hook episode, then I think 5.10 might very well be Rumple centric. And it might be that Rumple is actually the one with a noble cause in the fight on the JR if Killian has taken on part of the darkness. I can honestly see that fight go either way. It could be a reverse of the first situation where Rumple is in the wrong or a direct parallel where Killian is in the wrong and Rumple stands up and fights.

scififan2009

So instead of sharing a heart, they could be sharing the burden of the curse.

Well, at least it's something different.

confessor_meggy

I like this theory, it makes sense

scififan2009

I certainly hope taking on part of the darkness with Emma is actually something Killian chooses, rather than Dark Swan's way of getting him to stay with her. I guess it depends how desperate things get between them.