“I’ll teach you the most important thing you need to know to fight. Honor.”
- Mulan
I know we left Emma in quite the pickle at the end of last episode but it seems before we learn her fate we’re going to get a rollicking adventure story in the beautiful Scottish highlands of DunBroch. Arthur and Zelena are on their way there to fetch a magical helmet that supposedly can give the wearer what he or she wants. In fact we see Merida’s father, King Fergus, go to the Witch and she cooks it up for him in her cauldron. He needs it to fight the invading army to the south. He takes Merida to the front lines to show her what war is like and he gifts her with his war bow. He’s kind of a goof but I like him. Too bad we already know he’s dead in battle. He’s also hired a warrior to teach Merida the finer points of war. Enter of course, Mulan. She says she will teach Merida honor. They spar for a bit and it’s kind of cute until the lords start being snarky and Mulan makes Merida walk away from the argument. She suggests her new pupil ask her father how he inspires men to follow her. He says that if the King (or Queen) is willing to be the first to lay down their life, then the others will know the importance of winning the battle. Even if it is inspired by dark magic, it’s a noble sentiment.
That’s going to change two years later though. Just as Merida is about to be crowned Queen, the Witch shows up calling to collect on Fergus’ contract. Seriously, dude he just signed the damn thing without reading it! Idiot! Anyway, the Witch gives Merida til nightfall the following day to return the helmet to her or everyone in the kingdom will be feeling the bear necessities. Merida is going to track down the knight who took the helmet from her father but she’s going to need an honorable warrior to help. She’ll have to settle for a bitchy, money-hungry (likely sexually frustrated) Mulan. Oh boy!
Arthur and Zelena get the drop of the Witch and then manage to catch up to Mulan and Merida on the battlefield. The girls did find Merida’s arrow that nicked the knight’s cloak. So they can find out who it belonged to. And we learn thanks to Arthur was the helmet actually does. It makes men fight your battles no matter how dangerous. Merida is heartbroken by this revelation and heads home to try and warn her people and give the lords some time to try and find the helmet, especially since Arthur and Zelena have Merida’s bow. Hello locator spell.
Mulan takes the piece of cloak back to the Witch’s cabin to try and get some answers that way and meets the Witch’s wolf. A rather big wolf which Mulan realizes isn’t really a wolf (at least not all the time). Thanks to a little tussle and knocking over a potion outside, we get the reappearance of Ruby. And you have no idea how happy Mulan was to see a pretty woman literally in her lap. I know they only just met but I am totally for Mulan Rouge (as I’ve heard them referred to in the fandom). We get a quick flashback to the end of season 3 when ruby tells Snow she is using the only magic bean she and Tiny managed to grow to return to the Enchanted Forest to find her pack. They’re gone and the Witch forced her to shift and stay a wolf. Bitch!
Just as Merida is ready to hand over control to one of the lords, Mulan and Ruby show up with a plan to sniff out the killer. As they head out, we see in flashback the day that Fergus died. Mulan has taken Merida out to train to keep her from the battle at her father’s request. But Merida isn’t having any of that. We see her try to protect her father from the knight but she misses and her father gets run through and the knight takes the helmet. Arthur and Zelena find the helmet but the girls have caught up to them and Ruby declares that Arthur is the killer. He admits to it, saying he needed it then to lead his men to find Excalibur and he needs it now to fight Merlin and Emma. That’s not going to end well as the two monarchs clash.
Mulan and Ruby take out Zelena pretty easily and it ends up being the clans that come to support Merida that allow her to stop Arthur. He and Zelena limp off back to Camelot and I still am pissed he’s alive. He needs to die like half a season ago. He’s an uber dick. But Merida gets her crown and the Witch shows up to collect. But it turns out it wasn’t about the helmet since her father didn’t actually use it to lead his men into battle. It was to ensure she knew how to lead her people when the time came. The Witch gives Merida some magic ale that allows her to briefly summon her dad from the Underworld (which totally makes me think we are going to the Underworld for season 5B). Fergus tells her how proud he is of her and that she’s going to be a fine Queen. But she’s right pissed at Arthur, too and she’s gunning for him. I just hope she manages to remember this in Storybrooke.
While she’s getting her revenge on, Mulan admits she was dealing with a broken heart and that maybe shaking down thugs wasn’t the best way. Hey, I guess the whole Merry Men offer didn’t turn out so well (oops). But she’s got Ruby to pal around with and hunt for werewolves while Mulan figure out her next move (on Ruby). Sorry, I can’t help myself. I want more of them together. They just look so damn cute together and they could get up to all kinds of shenanigans.
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