Once Upon a Time returns from its midseason hiatus tonight with a new episode that finally delves into the mysterious past of Rumpelstiltskin.

Tonight's episode of Once Upon a Time, titled "Desperate Souls", shows us that Rumple was once a normal villager in the fairytale world.  The ogre wars have taken a toll on the land and, as we learn, Rumple had, at one time, fought in the wars.  Only he had deserted his men and left the fighting behind him.  Later, soldiers are going from village to village, rounding up all the children who are 14 years old or older to draft them into the army.  Rumple's young son is two days away from his 14th birthday and Rumple is desperate to protect his son from going off to fight.  At some point, he gains magic to help his son, but I think it will become clear that the magic turns him into the creature we know he becomes.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, it's been about two weeks since Graham died.  Emma is clearly still sad about his death and Mr. Gold decides to encourage her to take up the position of Sheriff.  Naturally, Regina isn't happy about Emma taking over the police department and fires her.  But Emma decides to run for Sheriff against Regina's preferred candidate: Sidney Glass.  This puts Regina and Mr. Gold on opposite sides of the race for this public position.

Yesterday we posted the first eight minutes of the episode, but it may not be viewable to all of our readers outside of the US.  Below are four sneak peeks for tonight's Once Upon a Time.  The first three are from the first eight minutes and can be viewed internationally without problems.  The fourth sneak peek shows Rumple and his son in the fairytale world.

Updated: Read our recent interview with Lana Parrilla about what's coming up in this episode.

Don't miss tonight's all new episode of Once Upon a Time, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.  You can also view two trailers for the episode here and photos here.