Once Upon A Time Season 5 Episode 9 "The Bear King"

Or better title "So That's What Happened to Ruby"

The Bear King...is this about Zelena's baby? Has it grown super fast and is now a kickass warrior ready to be Regina's new best friend?

Er...no such luck. This episode was all about secondary characters we don't have much investment in, filling in backstory about a magical object that may or may not have a big role in the season finale.

All I can say is the wig department at ABC needs serious budget control.

Time travel back to baby Neal's christening at Granny's and we see Ruby standing off from the crowd, a little forlorn. Mary Margaret asks why the long face, and Ruby spills her guts that being the only werewolf in town is super boring. Also, she's been helping Tiny in the fields growing magic beans to help her realm hop.

Um...okay?

Instead of grabbing the bean and holding it aloft to the crowd because, hell, that will really come in handy in the future, she hugs Ruby and basically says, "Yeah, you're a bit of a freak. Smell you later. Good luck, though."

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In Camelot, Zelena has now hooked up with Arthur and she joins him on a quest for a magical helmet that will convince his guards to fight Merlin.

Meanwhile, Merida is mourning the loss of her father as she prepares to be crowned Queen of the clans. But before this can happen, the witch arrives and says she has to pay a debt her father owes or a curse will fall over the entire highlands...or something like that.

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Apparently, had gotten this magical helmet that forced people to follow him into battle. Upset that her father didn't have genuine charm, Merida decides to go looking for the man who killed her father in battle and took the helmet.

We also learn that right before that epic battle, the king hired Mulan to teach Merida how to fight...or fight better, okay, actually he hired Mulan to make sure Merida was too busy to go to the battle.

Hmm...

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Anyway, Merida decides to return to the battle field for clues to the identity of her father's killer...years after the battle. She runs into Mulan who is no longer a proud warrior but a bounty hunter of sorts. Seems she had her heart broken...yada, yada yada.

Mulan decides to help Merida only because that crazy hair reminds her of Happy Meals from McDonald's and who doesn't need a happy meal once in awhile?

Miraculously they find one of Merida's arrows in the battlefield with a bit of cloth, snagged while trying to defend her father.

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Thinking the witch can do a locator spell for them on the cloth, they arrive at the hut only to be attacked by her pet wolf. But Mulan isn't afraid. She pours the cauldron of magic potion over the wolf and ta-da! It's Ruby!

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This is a fortunate stroke of luck because with the cloth from the arrow, Ruby is able to sniff out Merida's dad's killer, then they can get the helmet, return it to the witch and prevent the curse from ruining her coronation.

So the Merida/Mulan/Ruby trio eventually find Zelena and Arthur.

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Through flashbacks, we learn that Merida's dad didn't wear the helmet into battle, he threw it into the lake before the war even started.

Even though the helmet was obtained from the lake by Merida she still wanted revenge on Arthur, but guess what, she didn't.

And it turns out the whole helmet quest the witch sent her on in the first place was a test to make sure she could lead. And she can lead!

So lesson learned, kids.

The best part of this episode was when Mulan and Ruby decided to skip out on Merida's crowning party and do some werewolf hunting together. I sure hope those two show up in Storybrooke one day.

Who was the MVP of this episode?

#1. Merida's wig
#2. Mulan's smirk
#3. The helmet