‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5, episode 17 preview: Belle, Gaston, and ‘Her Handsome Hero’

Is Sunday night’s new episode of “Once Upon a Time” meant to be a showcase for Emilie de Ravin and her character Belle? Based on some early inclinations, the answer appears to be “yes.” This next episode is titled “Her Handsome Hero,” which happens to also be the title of a book she was read when she was young.

Given that this could be a Belle episode, and also given that we know that the character Gaston was recently recast for the show, it also feels fairly safe to say that this is going to be the episode to feature him. We still think it’s a bummer that the show didn’t just cast the version of the character doing the one-armed push-ups at Disney World. Regardless, this is one of our favorite Disney characters just from a love-to-hate perspective, mostly because every person in some shape or form has known someone reasonably similar to Gaston in some way.

Of course, we’ll have some other news on this episode as it gets closer to airing on ABC. For now, take a look at the promo below! It more or less confirms everything that we’ve just said about Gaston, and it gives us yet another reason to be excited about the future of the show. Gaston has a lengthy history with Rumple, and that is going to lead to some conflict … and also potentially Hades making some sort of a deal with Belle in the process.

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