Once Upon a Time Season 4 Episode 19 Review: Sympathy for the De Vil
Christine Orlando
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Everyone has a back story on Once Upon a Time Season 4 Episode 19, but Cruella de Vil’s was nothing that I expected.
Most of the villains on this show have a heart. It may be buried deep. They may choose to ignore it but it’s there. However, Cruella was a different creature entirely. She told the author she had a great story. She forgot to mention that it was a horribly sadistic story as she chose to embrace the darkness from a very young age.
When Cruella’s mother locked her away in the attic, it appeared that she was an abused child who eventually became a villain. The truth was far more shocking and Cruella turned out to be much more sadistic than I ever expected.
Not only did she poison her own father and murder her subsequent step-fathers, she trained those dogs to brutally rip her mother to pieces and then killed the dogs and turned them into a coat.
Kudos to the writers for being able to surprise me. The character who appeared the most cartoon-like turned out to be the most ruthless of the bunch.
As an added twist, the author not only gave Cruella the ability to control animals, he took away her ability to take another life. For all of his faults, at least he got that much right.
So when Cruella abducted Henry, it was all a ruse. She needed Emma and Regina to kill the author and she must have been truly desperate. I can’t imagine two mothers I’d want to threaten less than Emma and Regina...
David: You're not actually considering Cruella's demand to kill the author?
Regina: Of course not. Even if we could find him it wouldn't be half the fun of killing Cruella. Let's see how she likes being made into outerwear.
Cruella really believed that Emma wouldn’t kill her because she was a hero. Really? Haven’t heroes killed to save others in the past? And if ever there’s a reason to kill, it should be when an evil villain is holding a gun to your child's head. So when Emma blew Cruella off of that cliff, I can’t say I was shocked.
Is that enough to turn Emma's heart black or is it just the first steps down that path? I think her inability to forgive her parents is more likely to darken her heart, but her argument over just that very subject gave us one of the best Once Upon a Time quotes of the night…
Regina: You're acting like a petulant child. Your parents did a bad thing. They apologized. Now get over it.
Emma: Forgive me if I don't take advice from the woman who held a grudge for half of her life because a 10-year-old spilled a secret.
The banter between Emma and Regina is one of the joys of this show.
Speaking of Regina, she pulled a fast one on Gold and gained some valuable information. His heart is almost completely black, and if that happens, he’ll lose the ability to love forever. Somehow, he believes that the author can change his fate, but only if the savior turns dark herself.
My only disappointment was that the conversation between Belle and Rumpel wasn’t real. It’s been so long since we’ve seen these two have a heartfelt moment. It’s sad to think that Belle will remember none of it.
Can Emma be saved or is she destined to turn to the dark side? Check back in next week for our review of Once Upon a Time Season 4 Episode 20 and if you can’t wait another minute for more magic, you can watch Once Upon a Time online here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
