‘Once Upon a Time’ season 6, episode 9: Could Belle, Rumpelstiltskin ever be together again?

There have been times throughout watching “Once Upon a Time” that we’ve continued to hold out home that somehow, even despite our better judgment, we would get a chance to see Belle and Rumpelstiltskin find a way to get back together.

Now, all of a sudden we’re not feeling nearly as confident about that — at all. As a matter of fact, we’re not even sure it would be a smart move to write the show in this direction. We would be here all day writing a laundry list of all of the terrible things that we’ve seen this character do over time, but a good starting-off point is simply the fact that he’s killed people, he abandoned Baelfire, he lied to every single person that he loves, he’s trapped Belle numerous times, he’s manipulated people to get what he wants, and his thirst for power seems to know no bounds.

The culmination of all of this comes tonight via the penultimate episode of the year. His actions made Belle feel like the only safe option for her child was to send him away with the Blue Fairy, which is certainly rather devastating to both her and the little boy’s father. While Rumple was not guilty of everything that was levied against him, that doesn’t make him innocent of much of anything, either. Sure, we buy that he has no intention of ever hurting the child, bus since when does this made him a good person with a pure heart that can be trusted?

While we don’t know if there is a way for Rumple to turn things around in regards to Belle, much of it revolves around action at this point more so than words. He needs to show that he can protect her and she is more valuable than anything in his life, including power. He needs to show that so many times over that suddenly his terrible actions are in the rear-view mirror. Maybe if all of that happens, maybe she can consider bringing the child back and making this more of a family unit.

Do you think we could ever see a situation where these two characters are back together? Share in the comments, and head over here to get our review of this weekend’s new episode. (Photo: ABC.)