May We Meet Again
Welcome back, my dearies! Our favorite fairy-tale crazy fest is back and we are heading to the Underworld for some good ol' fashioned soul saving fun! I have to say, I found myself appreciating the core principles of this show as I watched its 100th episode. I love to complain about the recycling of old plot lines and the erasing of character development and I do believe that those complaints are valid. But I also believe that this show, at its core, is about hope and that it portrays hope, on a consistent basis, quite beautifully. Once Upon a Time is about finding hope in the darkest of places and holding on to that hope regardless of the big, bad and scary that inevitably tries to bring us down. This show's adamant belief in HOPE is as refreshing as it is important in our current world that is filled with fear, pain and situations that, frankly, feel hopeless. I can get past yet another season of Rumple turning to darkness if it means hope will ultimately conquer at the end. If hope will shine through the fear and pain. If this show can be a beacon of something good and wonderful for even one viewer then it has done its job and is alright by me. But, of course, I am also here to discuss each episode and this one delivered on quite a few emotional levels for me. So, onto the celebration of 100 episodes of ONCE! When we last parted, our heroes were floating towards the gates of hell. Before Emma makes it to the Underworld, she is visited in a dream by Neal. He explains that he is in another place because the Underworld is for those with unfinished business. Neal may not have any "unfinished business", but he does have business with Emma and that is to urge her not to continue her trip to save Hook. He cautions her of the danger and the near impossibility of getting out of the Underworld. Emma, being Emma, can't turn back. Saving people is kind of Emma's thing and this time it's her love so valiant effort but no cigar, Neal. Neal tells her that he knew she wouldn't listen and the two get necessary closure before Emma wakes back up on the boat. The underworld is a heavily instagram-filtered Storybrooke, although this one has a broken clock tower and plenty of wanderers trying to make it to the other side. Regina notes that many of the souls scurrying about are there because of our heroes. A few of those wandering souls include Cruella de Vil, Peter Pan and Regina's mother Cora. Speaking of Cora, we see that her soul has taken up residence in the Underworld's mayoral office. She manages to call on Regina for some mother-daughter bonding which leads us to a flashback of Regina celebrating her birthday as the Evil Queen. Regina's birthday dress is amazing and I want it. I WANT IT DESPERATELY. As for our Evil Queen, all she wants is Snow White's head on a pretty silver platter. Regina's father, Henry, tries his hardest to appeal to whatever good his daughter may have and pleads that she end her revenge scheme and move on with her life. He blames her mother, Cora, for making her this way and says that Regina will never truly be free until she frees herself from Cora's hold. Henry then calls upon Cora, who is at this point banished in Wonderland, but inadvertently opens up a portal that allows Cora back into the Enchanted Forest. Cora is able to get Snow White's heart and decorates it nicely for Regina as a birthday present. When Regina attempts to kill Snow by crushing the heart, she discovers that her father had switched the heart and had already given it back to its rightful owner. Of course the guard who's heart he switched it for died, but I guess it's best we gloss over that sad fact. They sure did. Through all of her evil, Regina truly loves her father. She is upset with his actions but instead of killing him, she shrinks him and tucks him away in a protective box. She then tells her mother that her father was wrong about Regina's need to squelch her revengeful ways, but he WAS right about Cora's meddling. Regina reopens the portal to Wonderland and sends Cora through without any way of coming back. Even Regina can't get through. Regina, thinking she has the upper hand, is ultimately taken aback when Cora steals the box holding Regina's father and snatches it away to Wonderland. In the present day underworld, Cora once again uses Regina's father as leverage against her daughter. She implores that Regina leave the Underworld immediately. She says that she owes no one but herself and helping her friends save Hook is a one way ticket to crazy town here in the Underworld. Regina, a long way from her Evil Queen days, refuses to give up on her friends. Cora then tells Regina that bad things will happen to her father if she doesn't take the boat that Cora is providing for her. Like, getting swallowed up by a pit of fire. Yikes! Regina takes this information back to our other heroes who have different reactions to the ultimatum. Snow and Charming, ever the faithful believers in finding people, tell her that it's their duty to save Hook. Emma, the one with her heart on the line here, tells Regina to go and to take Henry and Robin with her. Regina is clearly conflicted because she has an inherent desire to help now but she also doesn't want her father to be put in harms way. Not because of her, not again. Luckily, Gold swoops in with a potential solution. After visiting his shop, and running into dear ol' dad (I honestly still shudder at the idea of Peter Pan being Rumplestilskin's father), he acquiesced a potion that allows you to communicate with the dead once sprinkled on their grave. If the group can find Hook's grave, because everyone in the Underworld has one, they can ask him where he is and save him before Cora's boat leaves. Easy peasy Emma pours some of the potion on Hook's grave and a rather holographic looking form of a very beat up pirate flickers in and out. Emma is completely relieved and attempts to ask where he is, but the potion is weak and Hook cannot hear her. He disappears and our heroes are back where they started. Emma is distraught that Hook doesn't even know that they are there for him and Snow and Charming try to give her a bit of hope. I'm gonna need Emma to remember her "I will find you, I will always find you" family mantra that she used at the end of the mid season finale right about now. You're gonna get him, girl. Regina considers leaving on Cora's boat but first she uses some of Gold's potion to speak with her father. She apologizes for her evil ways and he forgives her like he says any father would do. He then tells her that Cora is only using him to get Regina to leave the Underworld. He wants her to stay and to help. That is who he believes her to be, a woman who doesn't abandon her friends and who saves lives even at the risk of her own. Regina staying brings hope and that means that his death would not be in vain. He's a great dad. r It's too bad that Cora inevitably holds him over the fire pit. Regina makes her way back to the scene, this time with Henry (the son, not the father) in tow. Cora blames Regina for what she is about to do but then leaves immediately. Regina's father is surrounded by fire but it too leaves and a white light appears in the distance. A bridge forms over the fire pit and the white light beckons Regina's father home. This shows Regina that the souls can be saved and move on to a better place once they settle their unfinished business. Regina was her father's unfinished business and Regina accepting her fate as a hero allows him to leave a proud father. In an incredibly touching moment Regina introduces her father to his grandson, who is also his namesake. Our Henry thanks his grandfather for believing in Regina. Elder Henry asks his grandson to take care of his mom and then he walks into the light. It was an incredibly well acted moment that honestly made me tear up a little bit and I never tear up during this show. Lana Parrilla's tears cut me deep. Our heroes find themselves together once again as Regina tells them that all of the wandering souls in the Underworld are not condemned to wander forever. They can move on to brighter pastures if they are able to solve their unfinished business, which is something the group decides to help facilitate. Gold is pressed that the group wants to stray from their original mission but Emma keeps him in line by threatening to tell Belle that he has gone back to his Dark One ways. This struggle is probably going to continue throughout this second half of the season and I'm already ready to be mad at Gold. A lot. The final scene of the episode introduces us to the new big bad for this back half of season five. Cora makes her way down to a pretty snazzy lair where a man sits in a chair getting his feet rubbed. Ew. He accuses Cora of failing to get Regina to leave the Underworld. Regina's presence and subsequent help with her father caused the Underworld's clock tower to begin to tick. Each tick marks another soul departing this man's domain and he is not happy. He punishes Cora by making her spend her eternity as the very thing she worked so hard to get away from, a miller's daughter. As she walks away, we are treated to some odd CGI as our man's hair turns to bright blue flames. Hades from Disney's Hercules! I knew it would be Hades, because Underworld duh, but I wasn't sure which version they would go with. A part of me wishes they would just go with the usual mythology of Hades and not depend on the cartoon version, but this cartoon villain is sassy and I kind of love him. I hope this version is sassy too. Please please be sassy. I suppose this means we are getting Hercules and hopefully Meg too. Also, if the CGI department would like to try for a half-man, half-goat I would not complain.
This episode was oddly subdued for what I imagined a 100th episode would be. It just felt like a typical episode with some bonus actors of Once Upon a Time past. It did manage to set up what I imagine are the big plot points of the rest of the season. The group is going to have to save Hook but while they do they can try to help some souls they sent to the Underworld in the first place. Hades is probably going to try to keep them all there which is going to open a whole other bag of problems. I'm curious as to how our heroes can defeat this villain. I mean, he's a god. I can't imagine it'll be smooth sailing. Speaking of smooth sailing, WHERE IS THE JOLLY RODGER AND WHEN WILL SHE BE REUNITED WITH HER CAPTAIN? My true OTP. Until next time...
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I should have known that the magic of last week's quite exhilarating episode of Once Upon a Time would only last for one week. The mid season finale had some high points (I see you, Colin O'Donoghue) but also some truly low and frustrating ones. Just trying to stay true to yourself aren't you, our dear Once? I will say that the highlight of this episode, for me, was Colin O'Donoghue. I'll be honest, he's the only reason I still watch this show. I do love Hook, problematic yet sassy and adorable Hook, but I mostly stay to see what O'Donoghue can do with the character. And I honestly think he's been knocking this season's material out of the park. Like I wouldn't mind meeting Hook down an alley, if you know what I mean, but this Dark Hook is terrifying. I in no way want to meet that guy, even with that fabulous hair. Anyway, I could talk about O'Donoghue all day but I won't. Instead I'll start at the beginning of "Swan Song" which opens with a baby Killian Jones, before he ever had any idea that he would become the fearsome Captain Hook. Killian is scared of the raging sea surrounding the ship where he is currently trying to sleep. Enter his father, this family has great genes by the way, to calm him. He tells him to look inside when he feels scared. He says that people are always braver than they think. Killian's father advises him to decide what kind of man he wants to be. I sense this being the theme of the episode, but also this kid is like 5. Why are we getting so deep here, Papa Hook? Little Killian falls asleep believing his father to be a great hero, as all kids do at some point, but soon wakes up to find him missing. The Captain of the ship enters and tells him that his father is a thief and took off in the night because he didn't want to be arrested at the next port. In order to get a boat to sail away, Killian's father sold he and his brother Liam into servitude on the boat. Oh okay. Father of the year here. In present day Storybrooke, Dark Hook continues to taunt Rumple, telling him that he is the kind of man that will value power above anything else. Hey, at least Dark Hook is super honest and really great at speaking the truth. Dark Emma and her posse are walking around Storybrooke making a plan to take down Dark Hook. Only Snow is against using all the force necessary to take him down. Thank you, Snow. Emma is clearly conflicted but she's not about to let her boyfriend hurt anyone in her family. They all split up to find Hook when they discover the horde of Dark One's that has been unleashed on the town. Uh oh. Dark Emma watches as Nimue walks through Henry. Yes, you read that right. She walked right through him. That marked him with a sweet new tattoo of sorts. What's not cool is that new tattoo means he's about to be dragged to the Underworld. The rest of the main cast has also been tagged by other Dark Ones, except for Emma. Rumple pops in to explain that the Dark Ones can't continue to exist in Storybrooke unless they take the place of someone else in the town. Thus, they are sending our heroes to the Underworld in the morn so that they can stay and vacay in Storybrooke for the indefinite future. Regina meets up with Dark Hook at the harbor because of course he'd be near water. She decides to finally call him by his name and not one of the million nicknames she consistently gives to him. This is serious, y'all. Hook notes that there are plenty of people in the Underworld who would love to get their hands on Regina. Regina knows that she isn't that Evil Queen anymore, though, and tells Hook that he too isn't the same man that she once asked to kill her mother for her. Then he essentially uses the force on her and phantom chokeholds her while telling her to never test him again. She doesn't know the man he truly is. Flashback to discover the man Hook truly is, I suppose. The Evil Queen meets up with Captain Hook after asking him to kill her mother. She wants to test to see if he has what it takes to get the job done. She takes him to a pub where, SURPRISE, his dirtbag of a father works. Captain Hook waits until the pub is clear to confront dear ol' dad. His father is surprised and also still looks super young. They both question how it is possible for the other to still be alive after centuries. Hook has Neverland. What's your excuse, Papa Hook? Apparently not long after he sold his sons into slavery he was hit with a sleeping curse. He was eventually awoken by true loves kiss from his nurse. They somehow fell in love while he was asleep, because he could hear her voice and she completely changed his heart. I don't know why she fell in love with him. He was literally unconscious during the entirety of their courtship. How desperate was this girl? However it happened, this new love changed Hook's father for the better. Too bad she fell ill with the plague and died shortly after their marriage. Our dastardly Captain Hook decides to spare his father because he thinks they both deserve better, but he still has to prove to the Evil Queen that he can kill someone from his past. He agrees to get him out of town. His father asks if it's possibly to also take his other son. Hook has a half brother! Let's all take bets on who this step-brother is. It HAS to be someone we already know. It wouldn't be Once if he wasn't. Im going to go with Arthur. I have no basis for this guess other than they both have dark hair and Arthur isn't tied to any of the other characters yet. In the present day, the Charmings decide to listen to Rumple's pessimistic outlook on their Dark One situation and choose to spend their final moments together at Granny's. Snow knows Emma won't stop trying to help Dark Hook but she hopes she'll stop in for a goodbye at some point. Dark Emma asks Regina to keep her promise from earlier in the season. The one about killing Dark Emma if need be. Emma is going to get Excalibur, absorb all of the Dark Ones and sacrifice herself so the darkness is gone for good. Over in his shop, Rumple frantically pushes Belle into leaving town to travel the world. He won't tell her what is going on but manages to persuade her to do something for herself. To discover who she is and what she wants. That's nice. She agrees and leaves Storybrooke. He breaks down and cries after she leaves and it's pretty sad. Rumple's heroic growth is a nice change of pace for the show. Rumple can't get any alone time because Dark Emma and Regina burst in asking for Excalibur. They tell them their plan and Rumple hands the sword over and applauds Emma for her bravery. He warns that it may not work considering Excalibur does what it wants and chooses worthy people and which miracles it wants to perform. Is Excalibur a slightly more judgmental Jesus now? In the side plot that nobody cares about but may be important, Zelena is figuring out how she wants to redecorate Regina's office since Regina and everyone will be dragged to the Underworld soon. Regina and Robin walk in to tell her that her desire to take her baby away and raise her up to be wicked will not fly with them. Regina whips out the Sorcerer's wand and poofs herself and Zelena to the clocktower. Having enough of her dear sister's drama, Regina sends Zelena back to Oz in a massive green tornado. Well, there's that. Dark Emma decides to leave a note for her family instead of speaking to them in person. She then goes to her house to retrieve Excalibur. Dark Hook is already there and asks for the sword telling her she can't go through with her plan because it means she will die. Dark Emma ask why he cares now. He simply says that he technically owes her his life since she brought him back from death and turned him into the Dark One. This allowed him to be the man he wants to be, the one who gets revenge on his arch nemesis. Okay, except you totally could have killed Rumple last week or anytime you wanted because he's defenseless. But you didn't? What are you playing at Hook? Dark Emma has finally had enough of Dark Hook after he once again threatens her family. She tries to stab him with Excalibur but he continually puffs away. A wild Henry appears at the door and Dark Emma for some reason lets him take the sword. Turns out it was just Hook pretending to be Henry. Shocker. Really, Emma? REALLY? Like...what? I really wanted Emma to be super badass during the Dark Emma arc but honestly she's kind of failed on so many levels. Oh well. Now that Dark Hook has Excalibur, the other Dark Ones set our heroes' new tats aglow. This transports them to the edge of the pond where the Underworld gate keeper is soon to arrive. Apparently all of their babies and toddlers are in the safe and secure hands of the fairies. This show is really great about childcare. Hook swaggers up with Excalibur and Regina confronts him one more time. She tells him to drop the act because she knows he doesn't want to tear another family apart. Apparently something happened with his father many many years ago that they agreed to never talk about. In the final flashback, we see Captain Hook waiting outside of his father's house. He watches as his father puts his tiny son to bed and tells him all of the same comforting words that he told little Killian years ago on the ship. Then he listens as his father calls his new brother Liam. Um. Just like Hook's older brother? One of the sons you abandoned and sold into servitude? That's so weird. Hook is PISSED. He yells at his father for trying to replace he and his brother. His father tells him that it wasn't replacing but honoring. He is striving to never make the same mistake again. Hook doesn't care and is blinded by centuries of hurt and pain. He tells his father that he can't have the Evil Queen questioning his ability to do his job and he stabs his dad. Before dying, his father tells him that it's never too late to be the man he wants to be. Dark Hook thinks about killing his father and rejects Regina's pleas to be the better man. Nimue is bored and uses her own magical abilities to phantom chokehold Dark Emma. Dark Hook watches and ultimately can't handle it. He yells at Nimue to stop and says that he is going to be the man that he wants to be. That's a sudden turn to good. Whatever. Dark Hook proceeds to use Excalibur to suck up all of the Dark Ones. He asks Emma to take the sword, which is shaking violently, and stab him with it. He admits that he was weak and asks that she please allow him to be strong and to die a hero by doing this for him. Dark Emma takes the sword, kisses him and tells him she loves him. Then she stabs him. That somehow releases both him and her from the darkness. Too bad Hook was made into the Dark One because he died from that Excalibur cut back in Camelot. So, Emma's wardrobe changes back to her trusty red leather jacket and Hook's fatal cut reappears. AND HE DIES. Like Storybrooke EMT's (THEY HAVE THOSE?) put his body on a gurney and cover it with a sheet. Emma is sobbing and everything is sad. Later on she lays on her couch holding the ring Hook gave to her in Camelot. She begins to hear voices and realizes that it's the dagger calling to her. If the dagger had no master, then she probably shouldn't be hearing those voices. She decides to follow the voices which they lead her to Rumple's pawn shop. Over in Rumple's pawn shop, Belle returns from her 5 minute trip around the world. She tells Rumple that Henry called her and told her everything. She knows Rumple lied to get her out of town and somehow that makes him a selfless hero. So, she turned around instantly and came back to him because she loves him and wants to be with him for forever. They proceed to make up for lost time if you know what I mean. Rumple hears someone enter his shop and goes out to find Emma. She tells him that she hears the voices calling from the dagger and she knows he has it. He casually brings it out to show her that his name is once again on the dagger. So, he is the Dark One again. Like the only one, I guess? Our dear ol' Rumple had a few tricks up his sleeve. When Regina and Dark Emma first came to him and told them about their plan to sacrifice Emma and rid Storybook of all of the Dark One's Rumple saw his chance to get it back. He magic'd Excalibur so that when Hook used it to suck up the darkness, he wasn't destroying it but merely transferring it. To Rumple. So, now Rumple has all of the power of every previous Dark One making him the most powerful being to ever live. It also makes him a douchebag and I hate him. So much for character growth. Emma is incredibly upset but realizes that Rumple can now do something for her. She threatens to tell Belle everything about Rumple's lies if he doesn't help her. Her plan is to go to the Underworld to rescue Hook. All of our other main characters, including Henry, decide to go too. That makes sense. So, Rumple opens the portal and calls upon the Underworld gate keeper. Emma walks out into the water towards the boat telling herself (and I guess Hook) that she will find him. She will always find him. Cheesy but also I love it. Whatever. So, the next half of the season will be in the Underworld. This means Hades. Yay! Please make him similar to the one in Hercules. He cracks me up. Thoughts: I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS. SORRY. 1. Why take everyone that you just tried to keep from going to the Underworld to the Underworld? Who is watching the kids? Do these people spend ANY time with their babies? 1a. I don't care THAT much. I'm just glad they are going after Hook. Because as my fave pirate (Sorry, Hook) said, "Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while." You go get your true love, Emma girl. 2. I'm disappointed with how Dark Hook turned out. It makes more sense for him to have been playing Nimue and the other Dark Ones the entire time. Like getting them all there in order to sacrifice himself and rid the world of the Dark Ones all together. His sudden turn to super asshole makes little sense without it. Also, his motives and actions make little sense. If his only goal while being the Dark One was to get revenge on Rumple, then why did he not kill him during their duel? Why did he not kill him at ANY OTHER TIME since Rumple had no magic? It would have been so easy. Also, what's the point of calling on ALL of the former Dark Ones if your only goal is to get your revenge? What is the purpose of that? His claim of wanting revenge does not justify his words to Emma either. At his characters core, he isn't someone that would say those things to her unless he was trying to distance himself from her. Or her from him. Because he had some big plan that would ultimately destroy them as a couple, aka sacrificing himself. And why would he spend so much time in Storybrooke not acting like the Dark One but as soon as he knows he is one he turns up his evil 100%. Then he was only evil for a hot second before rather quickly deciding that he wanted to choose love and heroism. It felt like a giant cop out for the Dark One story and it just didn't work on any sort of emotional level for me. 3. This show is so repetitive. It keeps sending villains down paths of good only to retcon everything and have them be crazy nasty fools again. It's redundant. I'm looking at you, Rumple. He has had absolutely no character growth over 5 seasons. It's okay if the show wants to depict a man that is not capable of overcoming his own obsession with darkness and power. That's fine. But they do it at the expense of Belle, a character that has only ever been jerked around by Rumple's man pain. The writer's were finally giving Belle her own purpose by letting her go off to explore the world and to discover her own feelings. But then they took that back in less than 20 minutes and had her come back to Rumple, who is once again lying to her. It's the same story with them week after week and it's rather disturbing. Belle is a weak character on this show simply because she is mostly used to further Rumple's never-ending storyline of lying and getting what he wants. Having Belle instantly fly back to Rumple upon hearing of his one selfless act is annoying. Having them sleep together after Rumple has already welcomed back the Dark One powers and lied to her is gross. This isn't good primetime family television. It's sloppy, melodramatic soap opera level television. It makes me wish Hook was for real dying so Colin O'Donoghue could leave the show and go onto other things (please be in other things) so I could quit this mess. I'm not sure there was a purpose to the first half of season 5. What did we learn? What did the characters learn? How did they grow? Hook was ultimately a hero but that's something that's been reiterated by Emma since season 4. And his path to believing it himself was dumb and frankly made him look like a large tool.
Emma possibly grew a bit in regards to letting love in. She had already accepted Henry and her family. Now, she realizes her capacity to love another human on a different level and that it's okay to be loved in return. That's cool. But that's it? Everyone else may have shown a bit of something more only to end up back in the place they were at the beginning of the season. And let's not even mention the inclusion of King Arthur and Merida, who seemed important but then were mysteriously missing from this mid season finale. So, what was the purpose? Im having a difficult time figuring it out. Maybe there wasn't one. Maybe I should just accept that this show is a mindless hour of interesting moments and not something deep or profound. I mean, I know it's never been deep or profound but it has so much potential to make fairytales real and beautiful. I like that a hero falls in love with a villain. I like that a villain can change her stars and become a person worthy of love and respect. There are good messages to be had here, but this show can't seem to get out of a continuous loop with its storytelling. Hopefully the back half of season 5 will be better or at least different. I'm excited to get into mythology more so than typical fairytale stories. I just hope they find Hook soon because I'm gonna need him to be back in order to make this slightly more bearable. Until next time... Good golly has an episode title ever been more appropriate? Except honestly, my heart wasn't just "broken" it was completely shattered. I had to go get some pie after this one. That's how emotionally draining it was. I'm not sure the last time this show made me feel all of these feelings but I gladly welcome it. Whipping my emotions into a frenzy, good or bad, is one of my favorite side effects of investing in a tv show. So, well done Once. You nearly killed me. We open the episode with Hook sneering at the lady love who turned him into the thing he hates most, a Dark One. He takes Dark Emma's memories of their time in Camelot and allows Zelena to place the magic-prohibiting cuff upon her wrist. Dark Emma tries to tell him that none of this is truly him but he isn't buying it. He says that he feels "reborn" and then scurries away to do Dark One shenanigans. We get to see Hook's "rebirth"as a Dark One. All of his worst memories plague him as he rises out of the Dark One goop. Unfortunately for Hook, his new darkness also comes with the added benefit of his own inner Rumple! He is rightfully pissed. He tries to tune him out but inner Rumple makes him an offer he cannot refuse. Revenge. Specifically, revenge on the real life Rumplestiltskin. The man who took everything from him like a millennia ago, but bae just can't let it go. I suppose it is a tempting offer. Back in present day Storybrooke, Dark Emma comes clean to the others about what she did to Hook in Camelot. Regina is angry. Charming is befuddled. Snow seems understanding. You go, Snow. Emma was only trying to save her true love (that's still pending but probably accurate) which all of them have done at some point. Emma knows that she isolated herself during this time so she didn't benefit from someone telling her to not give up hope or calling her out on her stupidity. Dark Emma wants to fix everything by using her plethora of dreamcatchers to give everyone back their memories. Too bad they are missing. Meanwhile, Dark Hook is looking downright gleeful as he confronts Rumple and Belle in their pawn shop. He challenges Rumple to a duel on his ship, the place where Rumple took everything from him many many years before. Dark Hook explains that he will get his revenge by taking Rumple's hand for himself, his heart for Milah and his head for filling Emma with the darkness in the first place. Dark Hook is a strange mix of scary, hilarious and hot. I'm not going to take that last one back. My conscience is clear, y'all. Dark Hook is immortal now but can still be vanquished with Excalibur. He challenges Rumple to take the sword from him and kill him. He then disappears to await the duel. Rumple immediately holds a small council with the rest of the gang to tell them Hook's plan. Dark Emma believes that there is more to the plan because Hook wouldn't just announce it right after taking her memories. Someone causally remembers Merlin's message about needing Nimue and the group breaks to figure out their next step. Dark Emma tries to offer Rumple protection but he doesn't trust her enough to take off the cuff. None of them do. Even Henry. Henry wants little to do with the woman who ripped out the heart of his potential girlfriend. He says that he forgave Regina and Rumple because they showed him that they could change. Dark Emma just pushed everyone away when things got tough and tried to do everything on her own. Henry can't trust her if she doesn't let him in. I think he's just super pressed about the whole Violet thing but nice cover, kid. Back in Camelot, Merlin and company are too late to intercept Dark Hook at the Dark One re-spawn spot. Charming is upset that Emma would forgo her one opportunity to rid herself of the darkness. Snow knows that that option would mean Hook dying and she understands why Emma did what she did. Snow reminds Charming that she and him share one heart. They've all done crazy things for the people they love. That's kind of their whole deal. Emma's actions are no different. In another part of the forest, Dark Hook changes out of his monk robes and into his old leather pirate getup. It's weird to see Hook use magic. I don't really like it. He doesn't either. His inner Rumple tells him he has to cast a curse to get back to Storybrooke so he can get his revenge. To enact the curse he has to kill the thing he loves most but Dark Hook refuses to kill Emma. YAY. Maybe Dark Hook isn't a lost cause! Dark Emma finds Hook in the forest and the latter is surprised she can still see inner Rumple. Well, she IS a Dark One, Hook. They all share the lovely benefit of housing former Dark Ones within their sub conscience. Look, Emma and Hook have quite a few yelling matches and heart to hearts this episodes. It's great and horrible at the same time. In Camelot, Emma tells Hook that she wants their future together. She's ready for it and she wants him to trust that she can rid them of their darkness so that they can begin that future. He believes her. Then, inner Rumple pressures Hook to ask about Excalibur, which Emma previously claimed was missing. Too bad Dark Hook can hear its tiny whispers calling out to him Dark Emma confesses that she is still in possession of Excalibur and Hook is immediately on the defense. The darkness within him tells him that Emma will use the sword to manipulate and control him. Dark Emma tries to claim that she is holding it to protect him from himself. This is the wrong thing to say. Dark Hook starts to spill some truth tea at this point. He tells her that he has always believed in her ability to use her magic, both light and dark, on her own. He always gave her space to make her own decisions and trusted that she could fight for herself. He isn't wrong. He's consistently been a vocal Emma supporter and a quiet but sturdy presence in the background when she's facing incredible challenges. Now, when he requires the same from her, she is failing to trust him even with himself. If she doesn't believe in him, how can she expect him to believe in himself and overcome the darkness? The darkness he explicitly asked her not to give to him in the first place? A LOT of trust issues here. And insecurities. Oh, the drama. After Hook wanders away from the argument, Emma uses Excalibur to call him to her. It's her only way of getting his attention but the action ends up breaking what little trust they had left. He wanted the right to have a choice to speak with her. He hates being controlled and since she has the means to do so, he is livid. Emma proceeds to give one last speech in hopes that she can mend their relationship. She says that she does trust him to control his own fate. She gives him Excalibur as assurance. She promises to never try to control him again and tells him that she loves him. Dark Hook is clearly taken aback and notes that he is usually the first to have to say that. All seems well, except in present day Storybrooke Dark Hook is SUPER angry at Emma so WTF? In Storybrooke, Merida is guarding Dark Emma in the Mayor's office when Dark Hook shows up and renders the Scottish Queen unconscious. Emma thinks he's there because he still has feelings for her. He agrees except those feelings are anger, hatred and disappointment. Ouch. He keeps kicking her while she's down by telling her that she was only ever a pretty, blonde distraction. Also, that Emma destroys her own happiness by pushing people away. Dark Hook tells her that she will always be an orphan in that regard. I'm choosing to believe that this is purely the darkness speaking through Hook in order to manipulate Emma's insecurities and cause her pain. NO WAY IN INFINITY MILLION YEARS WOULD KILLIAN JONES EVER DO THIS. And if somehow the show tries to tell me that precious Killian would ever play the orphan card on Emma, I call BS and then I quit. Dark Emma is able to leave the Mayor's office and forces Henry into a corner at the library. She pleads for help with a locator spell because they have to find the dream catchers. Henry views this ask for help as a sign that Dark Emma is trying to do the right thing. He agrees to help and is able to take off her magic cuff and find the missing dream catchers In the final flashback to Camelot, the two Dark Ones walk hand in hand to Granny's Diner. Both are ready to rid themselves of the darkness. They need Merlin's assistance and Dark Hook volunteers to retrieve him from inside of the Diner. This is probably a horrible idea but these characters have never been the brightest crayons in the crayon box. Merlin is in the process of leaving the message that our gang saw a few episodes back. Turns out, the person who cut the message short was Dark Hook and he has clearly been playing Emma and ALL OF OUR HEARTS. Dark Hook rips out Merlin's heart. He needs it to cast the curse to get back to Storybrooke. Here's the loophole. Nimue, being the first ever Dark One, somehow exists within all subsequent Dark Ones. Merlin is still the thing that Nimue loves most. So, if Hook crushes Merlin's heart it is the same as Nimue crushing it, thus allowing the creation of the dark curse. I don't get it but as long as Dark Hook doesn't have to kill Emma, I guess I'm okay with it. I'm slightly conflicted because Merlin is ridiculously cute but my superficial love for him does not outweigh my deep deep love for all forms of Killian Jones, Captain Hook, Dark Hook or whoever he is at whatever point in this show. You know you love a character too much, and probably in a problematic way, when you're okay with them straight up murdering one of the only purely good characters on the show. I'm not sorry. Dark Emma bursts through the door and tries to get Hook to not crush Merlin's heart. She even pleads with the inner Nimue that's there egging Hook on. But the dark wants what it wants Emma and Dark Ones LIVE to snuff out all of the light. Emma, being inherently good and the product of true love, seems to have the capacity to not go full dark. Hook is not cut from the same cloth and even Emma's declaration that SHE is his happy ending doesn't keep him from crushing Merlin's heart. RIP BOO. Dark Hook enacts the curse and Dark Emma instantly knocks him out and takes his memories. She wants to make sure he doesn't remember ever becoming a Dark One when they return to Storybrooke. She has to take the memories of everyone else who knows and that's how we end up with memory-less people back in Storybrooke at the beginning of the season. The problem is, Dark Hook now has his memories and is currently waiting to duel Rumple aboard the Jolly Roger. Rumple wants to fight with honor and proceeds to give it a good go. Dark Hook clearly has the upper hand (err hook...ha) with the whole not being able to die thing. He manages to cut Rumple down with his hook. He then makes the fatal mistake that every villain has made in the history of villainy- he gives a final monologue. While talking unnecessarily, inner Rumple pops in and distracts Dark Hook long enough for Rumple to steal Excalibur and gain the upper hand. Rumple "wins" the duel but let's Dark Hook live because he's good now, I guess. He wants Hook to remember that he bested him though. That'll go over well. Rumple sets off for the well where he and Belle were married. He previously asked her to meet him there in case he won the duel so they could rekindle their love, this time with him being the man she deserves. Belle meets him but turns him down. It's awesome. Belle is tired of trying to mend his heart and wants to focus on protecting hers. She puts herself first and asks for time to figure out if this is a relationship that she truly wants. Don't forget deserves. Let's be real girl, you deserve so much better. In the Mayor’s office, the gang is hesitant but slightly more trusting of Dark Emma again as they look at their dream catchers and regain their lost memories. As Emma gets hers back she realizes what Dark Hook is really planning. We get to see this plan as Dark Hook and inner Rumple stand at the edge of the pond where earlier in the season a Fury tried to drag Robin Hood to Hades. HADES. YAAAS. Hook uses some of Rumple's blood from their fight, because Rumple is a man that has formerly been to hell and back or something, to open a portal in the water. A boat emerges and on it is Nimue. In the flesh. Behind her on the boat is every Dark One to have ever existed. Nimue says they are there to snuff out all of the light. Dark Hook gladly welcomes them to Storybrooke. Everyone is screwed. Thoughts: I hope there is a satisfying payoff with this Dark Hook plot line. The writers wouldn’t have spent the last three seasons putting the character on a path to redemption just to null it completely. I am enjoying this different side to Hook though. He is deliciously evil but it’s too much too soon. The show didn't earn this sudden turn to darkness. It was such a quick flip of emotions and his attitude towards Emma just doesn’t add up like it should if they truly want me to buy Hook as a Dark One. Maybe I’m just projecting what I want to happen onto the show, which I hate when people do that, but I think there’s something suspicious going on here. I’m just going with my head canon of Hook being so ridiculously susceptible to the Darkness because most of his life was spent consumed with his own brand of it. So, these invasive Dark One powers basically feed off of his insecurities, his deeply ingrained self-loathing and his residual hatred for Rumplstilitskin. But honestly, if I’m having to make up reasons for why I think Hook's actions make sense, then the show probably isn’t doing a great job of explaining it or making is plausible. Maybe it will wrap up nicely during the mid season finale and leave us with an amazing cliffhanger. Maybe Dark Hook is doing all of this to get every Dark One in one place so they can vanquish them all at once, ridding the story of that craziness for forever. Or maybe they’ll just retcon Hook’s entire character arc and I’ll pretend like I’m okay with it. For all of its many faults, there is one thing this show always does well and that is hit home the idea of hope. It stresses finding hope in your family. Finding hope in love. Finding hope in darkness. And HAVING hope that happily ever afters are real and are available to you, just sometimes you have to fight for them. If this show’s underlying theme is finding your happily every after, because IT IS about fairytales so duh, then everything HAS to point to this kind of ending. We just have to have hope that the characters will get there. Hello, welcome to Once Upon a Time, a show that I haven't given up on yet ONLY because I have a deep love for one of the characters/actors. Hello, welcome to Once Upon a Time, a show that just completely sucked me back in with what may be one of my favorite hours this show has ever produced. The upside is that this episode included SO MUCH of my favorite character and pairing. The downside is that so much of that inclusion involved TERRIBLE STUFF HAPPENING. If I can get past my worry, sadness and general confusion over 50% of this plot-line, I hope to shed some insight on what just went down on this zany show. Who am I kidding? This will be 75% me flailing over all of my feelings. Sorry. We begin the episode in present day Storybrooke with Charming, Robin and Hook confronting King Arthur about burning the Crimson Crown. Arthur chooses flight instead of fight and Hook runs after him into the forest. A short scuffle later, Arthur ends up with the advantage and goes in for the kill but Dark Emma shows up and stops him with the newly re-joined Excalibur. Arthur is beside himself with excitement over Excalibur being whole but Dark Emma doesn’t care and tosses him into a tree. Hook begrudgingly says thank you. He eventually decides to be less of an angsty teenage boy and apologizes to Dark Emma for saying he didnt love her anymore a few episodes back. He knows that she is more than just the Dark One and she proved it by saving him just then. That is something Emma would do. Hook then grills her for info on why she officially committed to the dark side. He wants to know all of her plans. You're demanding a lot from her, Hook. Dark Emma tries to avoid the subject but Hook doesn’t give up and it leads to her blurting out that she’s doing everything for him. Okay. I can dig this. BUT OMG WHY? Three weeks earlier, in Camelot, Emma is trying to figure out how to light the spark that she and Merlin retrieved from the Flame of Prometheus. As she questions Henry as to why none of her family has returned from getting Excalibur, Merlin shows up and freezes everyone but Emma. He is still tethered to Excalibur, thus under Arthur’s control. He pleads with Emma not to seek vengeance but Emma doesn’t care. Her family is at risk. Emma wars with her inner Rumple over what to do. She tries to light the spark so she can have a little help when confronting Arthur but it isn't working. Inner Rumple tells her that she can’t get the spark to work because she isn’t ready to let go of her darkness. Henry shows up and offers her some motivation in the form of real estate property. He has been helping Hook find a house back in Storybrooke for them to move into in the near future. Motivated by the idea of moving in with Hook, because who wouldn’t be, Emma decides to use her dark magic one last time to save her family. In present day Storybrooke, the gang is holding Arthur in a jail cell. Hook is livid and demanding answers from a rather oblivious Arthur. He also wants to know why Emma is doing this for him. Regina seems to believe that Dark Emma is just manipulating him. Hook clearly disagrees and seeks out Rumple for help. Rumple tells him that Dark Ones are often motivated by something that they need to fix or atone for. Hook should figure out what Emma is trying to atone for and maybe then he’ll know a bit more about what she is planning. Over in the insane asylum, Zelena is experiencing a lot of pain. Tuns out her baby is growing rapidly and she is forced into a speedy labor. She blames Emma’s dark magic. I’m a little concerned with what the Dark One wants with a baby. Hook, meanwhile, sulks around town calling out for Dark Emma. She’s not taking his bait so he decides to force her hand. He jumps from a roof only to have her save him. He was optimistic. Or desperate. Or both. Really though, Emma already told him that she was doing everything for him. It’s obvious she’s going to try to keep him safe. He begs her to tell him the truth about everything. He tells her that whatever she has done can be no worse than the things he has done in his past. He then shares with her how he got each of his rings. They all belonged to people he killed for really silly reasons. One man called him a name. Another drank his wine. He kiilled them both and took their rings. He was a nasty dude back in the day. The ring he gave to Emma in Camelot, however, belonged to his brother Liam, a man better than he. He confesses all of these transgressions to show that all sins can be forgiven when someone loves you. And he loves her no matter what she did. AWWWWWWWW. She finally agrees to share the truth with him. She shows him the house ad that Henry gave her back in Camelot. She tells him that he was planning a future for them and everything she is doing now is to preserve that. Dark Emma kisses Hook and tells him that she can’t reveal everything until it’s all over because she knows he will try to stop her. Then he collapses. Three weeks ago in Camelot, Emma confronts Arthur and Merlin in the forest. She hands the spark over to Zelena but it’s a fake and quickly binds Zelena to a tree. Arthur is angry and orders Merlin to kill Snow. He obeys. Emma reminds him that he is the most powerful wizard of all time and that he can surely resist the control. Merlin is able to fight off Arthur’s command. Meanwhile Hook slips out of his binding by removing his hook. Arthur really should have accounted for that when tying him up. He manages to get Excalibur from Arthur but not before he is cut in the neck. Arthur and Zelena flee and Emma heals Hook’s cut with her magic. They now have Excalibur, the dagger and the spark. They can finally free Emma from the darkness. Except Emma is still hesitant. Regina confronts her about it and uses the dagger to demand that Emma tell her why she is afraid to lose her dark power. This doesn’t go over well with the Charmings or Hook and they stop Regina. Hook finds Emma hiding out in the forest. She gives him the newspaper from Henry and admits that she’s afraid of what sharing a house with him means. Every man she has ever loved has died and the only times she has really said “I love you” is when she has believed that she would never see that person again. Except you totally said it to Hook last week and neither of you were in any danger? Okay, Emma. Emma is afraid because she wants a future with Hook but the minute the darkness is gone that future truly begins. So, she’s afraid of wanting that future but also afraid of that future beginning? Fortunately, all Hook hears is “I want a future with you” and asks Emma to trust him with this one. When they kiss, the spark that Emma was having so much trouble lighting, ignites. They literally lit a spark with their love. Your fave couple could never. In Storybrooke, Zelena gives birth to her and Robin’s baby girl. Dark Emma crashes the party and Regina and Robin go into super defensive mode. Dark Emma isn’t here for the baby, however. Plot twist! She takes Zelena with her and deposits her in her underground cave. Oh, Hook is there too. Both are chained up and a little miffed at Dark Emma. Luckily, Dark Emma saunters in to clear a few things up for them. She plans on using Zelena as a vessel for her dark magic. Once the magic transfer is complete, she can kill Zelena thus getting rid of the darkness for good. It’s a solid plan, really. Zelena is totally the worst, but even Hook realizes that this is killing someone in cold blood and is a very non-Emma thing to do. When Emma leaves Hook helps Zelena out of her magic-inhibiting cuff by using his magic-laced hook. Who remembered that was a thing? I didn’t! Anyway, Zelena isn’t totally horrible for once and frees Hook from his bindings as well. Zelena leaves but Hook stays to find the squid ink that Rumple told him Dark Emma had stolen from his shop earlier. Hook plans to use it on Emma to get the answers that he so desperately desires. He finds the squid ink behind a picture and throws it at Dark Emma before she can really do anything to stop him. Zelena casually pops back in because she really couldn’t miss this next part. Of course compassion for her new baby is non-existent. Shouldn’t she be back with her? Oh well. Zelena is clearly privy to some new information and decides to stab Hook in the chest. I was about to throw my shoe at my tv until I realized that Hook was neither dead or injured. Huh. Zelena whips out one of Dark Emma’s dreamcatchers and shows Hook his memories from Camelot. Turns out, Hook’s cut from Excalibur is not easily healed. In fact, Merlin and Emma are powerless against Excalibur's magic when Hook's cut reappears. Basically, he is going to die. Emma refuses to let that be an option and tells the group that she will save him. She can untether Excalibur from Merlin and can instead tether it to Hook. Somehow, and it’s all very unclear, this will make Hook into a Dark One. SO…. Yeah. Everyone tells her to not do it, but they are being silly and I am so #teamemma on this one. Hook cannot die! She magics them out of Granny’s Diner and into a field of flowers. As he lays dying he asks her not to perform the spell. It will turn her completely dark and it will do the same to him. Hook doesn’t want that. He says that he’s not as strong as her and that he won’t be able to resist the darkness. Emma wants her future with him, though, and, as he dies, she performs the necessary magic. Hook disappears and Emma instantly morphs into her Dark One frosted hair look. Over in the circle of hell, where all Dark Ones respawn, Hook emerges from the black goop a newly crowned Dark One. Storybrooke Hook finishes watching this from the dreamcatcher. Dark Emma instantly apologizes but Hook is hella mad. He doesn’t want to believe it at first but Zelena shows him that the now whole Excalibur holds both Emma’s name and his. So, he and Emma are both Dark Ones. Hook is incredibly angry as he tells Zelena that he wants to know what else happened in Camelot but not before they take care of Dark Emma first. Okay. Thoughts: 1. My first reaction to the reveal that Hook has been a Dark One this entire time they’ve been back in Storybrooke was "LOL that makes zero sense." Like, how has he NOT felt the darkness? Or the fact that he feels no pain now? Does he not have little inner-Dark Ones speaking to him as well? What about sleeping? Dark One’s don’t sleep. Is he just staying up through the night and not questioning any of this? What I’ve basically ended up with is not knowing he was a Dark One kind of left it dormant inside of him. He has shown brief glimpses of a darkness since the first episode. He has been back and forth with his love for Emma. He has also been very aggressive with figuring out how to rid Emma of the darkness. So, now that he has these memories and knows he is a Dark One, maybe the power has come to the surface a little more? Or maybe he’s just going to embrace it in a totally unhealthy way? 2. Hook is very upset with Dark Emma and basically tells her that they have no future now. This seems a bit out of character but I’ll roll with it. Hook’s entire existence as "Captain Hook" has been centered around his severe hatred for the Dark One. His life was consumed with revenge. Enter Emma Swan. She gave him a better path. It was a path to redemption and he was doing super well. Then she turned into the Dark One. He only handled it semi-well because he believed that his Emma was still there underneath all of the new darkness. Now, Emma has made him into a Dark One, the very thing he hates, against his own wishes. That’s one reason to be angry. But he loves Emma! He wouldn’t hurt her! True, I don’t want to really speculate whether or not he’s going to try to hurt Emma because of this. What I will say is that it makes more sense to me than I thought it would. Hook’s manifestation of darkness stems from hundreds of years of self-loathing, revenge and pure hate. Emma became the Dark One when she was a wholly good, product of true love, light magic-wielding being. She had the benefit of inheriting the Dark One title as a person of inherent goodness. Hook was only recently on a path of redemption and good. Who knows how the darkness is supposed to affect people? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that his darkness feeds on the blackness that plagued his heart until only recently. 3. I don’t know where the writers are going with this but I do know that Hook hurting Emma in any significant way is pretty out of character. Either way, I’m excited for this plot twist. I want to see Hook be evil again even if he wasn't great at it the first go around.
4. I love Emma and Hook together and their journey has been fun for me to watch. I in NO way think there is ever going to be an end for them. This show rarely breaks apart their couples and Emma and Hook are kind of their IT couple. So, whatever happens next happens. I hope it's a bit more fun than doom and gloom but I'm also here for some angst. Whatever it is, Emma and Hook are forever which unfortunately means I'm with this show until the end. 5. I say "unfortunately" but I secretly love this show more than I let on. Well, at least 60% of it. Don't tell anyone. We get flashback on flashback on flashback this week, making my typical recap format nearly impossible. Hey, just like Arthur’s quest! I’m just going to wing-it and hope that it ends up more cohesive than 90% of the plot lines on this show. In Storybrooke, Dark Emma is unfortunately plagued by her inner Rumple again. She has both Excalibur and the Dark One’s dagger and is contemplating the task of forging them back together. One can only assume that we’ll discover this very episode how that task is to be completed. First, we go back 1000 years to a fugitive Merlin and his friend. The two are running through a desert, hands bound by rope. The thirsty men are scouring the sand for water when Merlin spots something in the distance. His friend insists it is only a mirage but upon closer inspection it’s a random goblet just hanging out on a boulder. That doesn’t seem suspicious at all. Merlin hesitates, believing it to be a test from the gods. His friend throws caution to the wind, however, and drinks from the goblet. It appears that Merlin was onto something because his friend explodes into ashes. I guess that means he failed the test. Merlin realizes that he will either die from thirst or die from combustion and decides that he might as well be slightly hydrated while facing his end. The gods must find Merlin worthy, however, and instead of dying he gains magic powers! He DID ask for permission first. ONCE is giving us a lesson in manners tonight. His first task is touching sand and transforming the wasteland into a beautiful forest. Hey Merlin, want to come replenish all of our rain forests? Help fix the global warming issue? So many things could be helped with magic. Fast forward 1000 years and Merlin finds himself in Granny’s Diner, surrounded by people demanding that he help save Emma from darkness. Hook is concerned with Emma’s recent obsession with making dreamcatchers. We’re all concerned, buddy. The bright side of this new hobby is that once she’s saved from darkness she can probably make a bit of side cash selling those suckers on Etsy. In order to help Emma, Merlin needs Excalibur to be whole and the only way to do that is to travel back to the place where the sword was forged. He needs Emma’s assistance and power to acquire a spark that will help reunite the blades. He says that they will face the original Dark One and that Emma will have the chance to kill Merlin. It is up to her to resist the darkness. Before Emma leaves, Hook gives her his ring. He assures her it is not a proposal but a means of protection. She notes that being the Dark One comes with the side effect of immortality. He knows that the Dark One is immortal but Emma Swan is not and he wants her back in one piece. He says he loves her and Emma gives him a blinding smile, returning the sentiment. This may be the biggest smile I’ve ever seen grace Emma’s face. It’s sweet. They’re sweet. I LOVE THEM, OKAY? Merlin and Emma begin their journey to the Flame of Prometheus, the first fire known to man. Also, the fire that forged Excalibur. Emma confesses that she used her powers to hurt Henry and Merlin looks disappointed. I would never want to disappoint Merlin. It’s like disappointing a puppy. A really powerful puppy. Merlin continues to prove his puppiness in a flashback to 200 years ago. He is using his magic to help people in his village. A young woman that he does not recognize asks for help with her own village. A wicked man burned all of her people’s land and slaughtered everyone. She escaped and wants revenge. The woman, named Nimue, has the only remaining flower seeds from her village and wants to plant them. She wants the flowers to live in spite of the man who tried to destroy everything in her life. This will be her revenge. What an adorable revenge. Merlin thinks it’s adorable too. He is so smitten. He takes the flower seeds and makes them instantly grow. He slyly asks Nimue to stay in the village. We see in another flashback a bit later that Nimue not only stays but she and Merlin are in love. I bet they call it courting. He wants to propose but confesses that he received his powers by drinking water from a mysterious goblet, or you know, THE HOLY GRAIL. He is immortal and Nimue is not. He does not want to live forever only to watch her age and die. Nimue wants to drink from the cup so that she can have magic and be immortal with him. Merlin insists that that is no way to live. He says that life’s best moments are like diamonds, precious and rare. If one lives for too long, they acquire so many moments that the preciousness of their memories can be lost in a sea of diamonds. I got a little lost with his metaphor because I was too busy committing his beautiful face to my own memory. Let me have my own moment, OKAY? Merlin wants to cut away his magic so that he can live a mortal life with Nimue. That is some insane commitment from Merlin. The pair travels to Nimue’s old village where they take the Holy Grail to the Flame of Prometheus. Nimue becomes angry at the reminder of what happened to her people. She believes that having magic will give her the ability to give power to those who need help or need to help themselves. Merlin thinks magic is a slippery slope if not handled responsibly and then proceeds to use some magic in front of her. Way to rub it in, dude. He uses the flame to melt the Grail. He forms many weird CGI blobs until the shape of a sword appears. It’s Excalibur! Just as he finishes displaying his blacksmith skills, a masked figure appears. Nimue says that it’s the man who destroyed her village. He wants the sword and quickly grabs Nimue as leverage. Merlin is hesitant to kill because killing someone instantly makes your magic dark. At least that’s what I gathered from that scene. When Nimue tries to fight back the masked man stabs her with a claw hand. Also, something I gathered from that scene. I spend too much time staring at Merlin’s face and not enough time paying attention to anything else. It’s a real problem. Flashforward to Emma and Merlin walking up to the now-extinguished Flame of Prometheus. The fire is out because the first Dark One took it. It still possesses a single ember however, the necessary ingredient for reuniting the two Excalibur pieces. Merlin gives Emma the Dark One’s dagger. He asks that she call on the power of the first Dark One. She obliges and the name on the dagger rapidly changes until it settles on NIMUE. OH SNAP. A quick flashback reveals that a previously thought to be dead Nimue pops back up and rips out the heart of her would-be murderer. Turns out, she drank from the Holy Grail earlier when Merlin wasn’t looking. This relationship is not built on trust, y’all. Merlin begs her to not kill the man because it will turn her magic dark. She is blinded by her desire for real revenge however. I guess the cute flower revenge just didn't cut it. Nimue doesn’t listen and crushes the heart, thus turning her new magic dark. She instantly turns greenish-blue and scaly. Ew. Nimue is the first Dark One. I guess there were no other magic-wielding people back in the day, and in ALL the land, besides Merlin? Or at least none that decided to murder thus turning dark? Whatever. I’ll allow it. In present day Camelot, Dark One Nimue removes her mask and hood and greets Emma as her sister. Not literal sister, although this show would go there, but as a Dark One sister. This isn’t the kind of sorority you want to be in. Nimue is apparently also in Emma’s head, like her inner Rumple. Or maybe she’s more of an actual entity but has the ability to connect with Emma on a deeper Dark One level and can appear as if only a figment of Emma’s imagination? Whatever it is, Nimue encourages Emma to kill Merlin. Apparently it’s totes important to kill your loved ones if they try to stop you from being you, even as a Dark One. This can’t bode well for Hook in future episodes. Or her parents. Or Henry. Or anyone really. Emma is able to resist because she is Emma Swan and her lingering Savior birthright probably squanders some really evil Dark One potential. She is able to get the spark needed to reforge Excalibur before Nimue disappears. But Nimue manages to tell Emma that she will be there if Emma ever needs her. Merlin is happy that Emma was able to resist and asks Emma how it feels to choose good. Emma says it feels “damn good.” SO WHY DID YOU EVENTUALLY GO BAD, EMMA? Back in Camelot, less exciting things are happening. They rest of the crew uses Zelena’s breaking and entering advice to get into Arthur’s castle. They are close to retrieving Excalibur’s pieces when Arthur stops them. Turns out Zelena double crossed them and is on team Arthur. He did take the cuff that was keeping her from using her magic off. So, I can’t blame her. Also, WHY WOULD THEY EVER TRUST THE WICKED WITCH? They are all making terrible choices. Emma and Merlin are giddy from their successful adventure. Emma asks what happened after Nimue turned into the first Dark One. Merlin tells her that Nimue purposefully broke Excalibur into two because no one should ever be able to use it to cut their magic away. Magic is a gift. Merlin placed the lager piece in the stone for his future prophecy and made the dagger out of the other. He tethered Nimue’s soul to the dagger so that he could retain some sort of control over her Darkness. Nimue was the one who eventually turned him into a tree however. Emma tells Merlin that she could sense that Nimue still loves Merlin, even if she tried to kill him or whatever. Love is weird. Again, I’m afraid for Hook. Emma asks if it’s possible for a Dark One to use their powers for good. Merlin says that it’s possible and maybe someone will be able to one day in the future but it’s a lot to ask of one person. Basically, Merlin doesn’t believe you can do it, Emma. Sorry! Before they can turn their conversation into something a bit more happy, Merlin disappears. Back in Arthur’s castle, Zelena tethered the top half of Excalibur to Merlin, giving Arthur the ability to call upon him whenever. He commands Merlin to rid the room of its intruders and Merlin has to oblige. Merlin tries to convince Arthur that his quest was never a failure, just simply not completed yet. All of this is still his path to greatness. Arthur, however, no longer wants only greatness. He wants to be more than a legend and he wants to be known as more than just the man who pulled the sword from the stone. Merlin silently regrets ever getting involved with this crazy person, at least that’s what I think he was doing while staring at Arthur. The end of the episode brings us back to present day Storybrooke. Dark Emma and her inner Rumple are joined by her inner Nimue down in her cave. Both encourage her to use the spark that she still has from Camelot to reunite Exclaibur’s pieces. Once she does she hesitates to hold it, remembering Merlin’s words to her as a child. Do not mess with Excalibur. Her Darkness sister, Nimue, basically rolls her eyes and summons all of the former Dark Ones into the cave. They all stare at Emma and demand that she take the sword. I choose to believe that Emma is still Dark One-lite especially since she questions her decision to even grab the sword. Merlin’s words still fuel that sliver of light in her soul. But also, the creepiness factor of all the Dark Ones chanting at you is enough to make you want to do whatever it is they are chanting just so they stop. So, she grabs the sword. The End. A few thoughts:
1. How did Merlin learn how to use his magic? Did he have a teacher? Did he just mess around until he figured stuff out? Was there a manual and if so, who wrote it? Give me all of the details, show. Please. 2. WHY IS ZELENA STILL ON THIS SHOW? She has zero purpose. Unless her purpose is to make all of the heroes look super dumb. 3. Can I get a detailed timeline for the events on this show? You can tell me 1000 years, 500 years, 2 years and I blindly accept it. There has to be some continuity issues after 5 seasons. I just don't have the patience or desire to figure it out myself. Unless Merlin shows up and tells me that it's my destiny to do so. I would accept in a second. But only if he stayed, helped me and also brought me Chipotle. I do have SOME standards. This episode began how every dream of mine begins, with Hook bursting through a door looking all dashing and beautiful. He and Charming clear a path in Camelot's dungeons so Merlin can come strutting though. Coincidently, this is also a dream of mine. The group makes their way to Lancelot's cell where the imprisoned knight is clearly glad to see Merlin. Across the dungeon, Merida is equally as glad to see the group and demands her own rescue. Merlin has a slight problem with the magic lacing the prison bars. Belle quickly comes to his aid and the wizard praises her cleverness. Merida is also impressed with Belle's ability to decipher the spells enclosed in her magic book. She's so impressed she decides to get Belle away from the rest of the group, smash a rock over her head and kidnap her. This is like when a superfan goes too far to be near the person they fangirl over. Merida needs Belle to help her rescue her brothers and reclaim her rightful crown. Belle knows how to use magic and Merida believes that her best option is to magic the crap out of the clansmen trying to overthrow her rule. The clans want Merida to marry one of three men in order to keep her crown. Merida knows that she doesn't need a man to be the epic Queen that we all know she can be. Belle believes in Merida because, let's be real, Belle believes in EVERYONE. Even her former-Dark One and probably still cray husband. But Belle doesn't think Merida needs magic to prove herself. She believes that Merida can prove her ability to lead her people by her own merit and that that will have a greater impact on her rule than magic ever will. But magic is SO cool, Belle. Wouldn't the clansmen be super impressed? I would. She still helps Merida "nip" inside a vacant witch's house to whip up a potion to help change Merida's brothers' fates. Changing someone's fate seems to always mess up someone else's life, so YAY. The duo find the clansmen and see that they have Merida's brother's tied up for execution. Belle once again pleads that Merida find a way without magic but Merida is insistent. She tells Belle that her people were attacked by rival groups. A knight approached her father for the kill and Merida lined up her shot to take him out. She missed and her father was murdered. Merida lost both her father and the trust of her clan that day. She also lost her confidence. This is why she believes that she needs magic. Belle finally relents and gives her the potion. Merida approaches the clan and threatens them. She drinks the potion but nothing happens. Belle then confesses that she switched the potion with water. The clansmen basically scoff at Merida's antics and shoot three arrows at the brothers. Merida either finds her confidence or just goes for broke and shoots her own arrow. It manages to pierce through all three and she saves her brothers. The clansmen are impressed and they should be. Even the most reluctant of them bow to her awesomeness and apparently reinstate her as Queen. Over in Granny's diner, Merlin eyes some Apollo chocolate bars. Emma has deja vu while watching him and realizes that he is the theater usher that gave her an ominous warning when she was a wee lass. Merlin implores that she heed that warning now more than ever. Do not mess with excalibur. C'mon, Merlin. Don't tell Emma not to do something. She's probably going to do it. STORYBROOKE Regina, Hook, Belle and the Charmings are trying to figure out how to communicate with Merlin now that they are back in Storybrooke. Regina whips up a potion using the Crimson Crown magic toadstool because it can open up a communication portal. They need someone Merlin has "chosen" in order to reach him, though. They decide to ask Arthur, who they still believe is trustworthy at this point. Belle is irked and tells them that they should find Rumple and have him help instead. Kill two birds with one stone, right Belle? The others note that Rumple is the reason the curse was released and that Emma had to turn into the Dark One in the first place. Belle shoots back that both Rumple and Emma are to blame. Um? Because Emma is embracing the darkness? Belle, you're cool and all but no. Emma was essentially forced to take this on in order to protect the ones she loves. Rumple forced her hand even if it was unintentional. In the forest, Rumple reluctantly breaks Belle's teacup in order to cut through his binding. He's gone when Merida brings Dark Emma to the site. Dark Emma is mad but realizes that Rumple will still fight for Belle. So, she commands Merida to kill Belle in order to force Rumple to perform a heroic act. Belle randomly finds Rumple in the library elevator shaft. He is on edge but thanks her for giving him the will to live while he was in his coma. The two deduce that Dark Emma will come after Belle and that they need to get to Gold's shop in order to better protect themselves. Merida finds them at the shop and fires a few arrows at Belle. Belle and Rumple narrowly escape when Belle pulls the rug out from under Merida and knocks her out. She's not just a bookworm, guys. Rumple decides that their best option is to leave town altogether. Belle gets super pissed and demands that he stops. She believes that they cannot leave the people they care about behind. Rumple stops after Belle tries to open her door while the car is still moving. Rumple tells her that he cannot be a hero. She throws back that he's been one before. That's when Rumple comes clean about his time in the Ogre Wars. Instead of being injured on the battlefield, he injured his own leg in order to get out of the war altogether. He is simply a coward. Belle leaves him and heads off on her own. That's probably a good idea. Merida intercepts Belle on the road. She drinks a potion that turns her into a BEAR. A fairly decent CGI bear, I might add. This is why you have a buddy system, Belle. Bear-Merida chases Belle through the forest and almost has her when Rumple shows up and provides a distraction. Bear-Merida swipes Rumple to the ground but Rumple is a quick thinker and throws some magic powder he had from his shop into Bear-Merida's mouth. This turns her back into a human and saves them from being mauled. Belle thanks him for saving her but Rumple tells her that it was she that saved him. Look at this guy becoming a hero. I don't know how I feel about that yet. Belle and Rumple take Merida back to Dark Emma's cave. Rumple agrees to pull Excalibur from the stone only if Dark Emma gives Merida back her heart and helps her find her brothers. This is perhaps the most heroic thing that Rumple has done in a while. Putting someone he has literally no feelings toward first. I can get on that character-redeeming train. Rumple is able to pull Excalibur from the stone, but not before apologizing to Belle and telling her that he should have always strived to be the man that she deserves. Cute. Before he walks away, he tells Dark Emma that it was a mistake turning him into a hero. She says that the heroes haven't been able to stop her thus far but Rumple throws back that she has yet to deal with him. Be a morally gray hero, Rumple! that makes more sense to me anyway. Meanwhile, the rest of our cast regulars are inviting Arthur to their Crimson Crown party. Arthur asks for some privacy because he'd rather reconnect with Merlin one-on-one. When the others leave, though, Arthur throws the toadstool into the fire and then tells the group that the spell didn't work.
Luckily, the group is suspicious. They FINALLY confirm that Arthur is shady when Charming finds a burned, but not gone, Crimson Crown toadstool. They use it to make another spell. Regina is a quick thinker and realizes that Merlin "chose" Henry to be the Author last season so Henry is able to speak with Merlin through the Crimson Crown. What they find is less than inspiring however. Merlin is unavailable but has left a message. He is clearly frightened when he tells them that they need to find Nimue. Well, okay. Before he can give any more helpful information he hears a knock and ends the message saying that she already found him. Hook realizes that the "she" is Emma and wonders aloud what the hell she did to Merlin. Hook is speaking for all of us. EMMA. WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT PRECIOUS WIZARD? In Camelot, many years ago, Merlin existed beautifully. I thought about spending this entire review talking about my newfound crush on a character that’s had at most 12 lines since his introduction, but I’ll spare you. You’re welcome. Merlin really does exist beautifully, though, as he faces off against a masked Dark One who Merlin claims destroyed the only woman he ever loved. When given the opportunity to strike the Dark One down with the dagger, he can’t bring himself to do it and collapses in grief. The masked Dark One gathers one of Merlin’s tears and uses it to turn Merlin into a tree. All of this is being viewed by Emma in Camelot of 6 weeks ago. She uses a dreamcatcher to look into the memories of tree-Merlin, who is apparently still an active conscious and not just pretty greenery. Regina is reluctantly leading Snow and Charming, who are fawning over their new BFF Arthur, to where she hid the dagger. Snowing try to convince her that giving the dagger to Arthur is Emma’s best chance at being free from the darkness. Before they can get their hands on it, Emma shows up and freezes them. Regina is upset that Emma is using dark magic but is totally cool with it after Emma tells her that her parents are under a spell and Arthur is a conniving back-stabber. Emma shows Regina one of her creations from her extensive collection of state of the art dreamcatchers. She also explains that she used it to watch Merlin get turned into a tree. The two realize that the way to free Merlin is to use the same spell that got him in his predicament in the first place. Tears of lost love. Sounds super dramatic. Henry is experiencing the joys of first love as he hangs with Violet in the stables. They bond over the fact that they have both had parents that died. Already getting to deep topics at fourteen. When Violet leaves, Henry pretends to be a knight and tries to wield a sword. He misjudges it’s heaviness and ends up breaking part of the barn. Violet’s father, Sir Morgan, walks in and rudely tells Henry that he will never be good enough for his daughter considering he is merely a writer from another realm. Violet apparently needs a knight. Violet also gets no say in her own life. Camelot needs a feminist movement, pronto. Sir Morgan’s unkind words motivate Henry to practice his knight skills out in the forest. Emma and Regina find him attempting to learn the ways of Camelot. Henry believes that he has to become something he is inherently not in order to gain favor with Violet (but really her father). His mothers tell him that changing who you are so someone likes you never works. Emma says that is why she liked Henry’s father, Neal. He was always himself. Except, he was never upfront with her about who he was considering he was a from an entirely different realm altogether? And he still didn’t tell her after he knew that she was from that same realm? So, he wasnt really himself with her? Really Emma, Neal isn’t your best example. Anyway, Henry sets up a cute date for Violet in Granny’s diner. He plays her the first song they ever listened to together and heats up some lasagna that somehow made it through the portal jump. Henry tries to define the relationship but Violet tenses up and immediately friend-zones him. Poor Henry. Emma uses the dreamcatcher on Regina and recalls Regina’s memories of her first love, Daniel. Regina re-watches her mother, Cora, rip Daniel’s heart out because Cora believed that was what was best for her daughter. Regina cries as she watches and Emma bottles it up for their spell. Emma and Regina make the potion to free Merlin but when they add Regina’s tear for her lost love, it doesn’t work. Turns out, Regina has healed and moved on enough that the emotion was not powerful enough for what they need. Conveniently, Henry walks up after his terrible date with Violet. He’s very upset and basically decides that his life is over because Violet just wants to be friends. Teenagers. Regina tells him that he may not be a knight or hero to the people of Camelot but he can be a hero to them. They gather his tears. I guess we’ll call what he felt for Violet love. It seems like a stretch but I’m too anxious to get Merlin back to care. Arthur decides to break up the potion party and lashes out at Regina for lying and bringing the Dark One to Camelot. Emma couldnt care less and quickly finishes the potion with Henry’s tears. She proceeds to use A LOT of dark magic as she frees Merlin from his tree prison. Oh hey, boo. Arthur flips out and yells at Merlin for sending him on an impossible quest and giving him a shoddy prophecy. He tries to pull Excalibur on Merlin, but Merlin gets sassy and *tisk tisks* Arthur for having the audacity to think that a broken sword could harm the great wizard. Merlin releases Snow and Charming from their spell and Charming is instantly besotted with the beautiful wizard. Really, he just tells him that he thought Merlin would be older but I know he probably meant was, “OH SNAP, I DIDNT KNOW YOU WOULD BE THIS BEAUTIFUL.” I agree, Charming. Some day I'll stop talking about how attractive I find Merlin. But that is not this day! Now that Merlin is free, the Storybrooke gang asks him to free Emma from the Dark One’s curse. He acknowledges that he can do it, but asks Emma if it is what she wants. He wants to be sure that her heart is truly ready to be free. He says that it is as much her decision as it is his. Good guy, Merlin. This proposition puts Emma in a pickle, however, because clearly Emma is beginning to embrace her new darkside. Who knows what she will do? Well, we know what she will do. Embrace the dark side! Just in time for the new Star Wars movie. In present day Storybrooke, Dark Emma is still holding Gold prisoner. She is certain that he is her ticket to pulling Excalibur from the stone and makes Merida take him out to the woods to begin his hero training. I’m going to need a Mulan-inspired “I’ll make a man out of you” montage at some point. Gold is rather pathetic during “training” and it angers Merida. She knows that he won’t fight back unless he is pushed. She manages to break into both Regina’s office and Gold’s shop, because she is awesome, and takes Belle’s teacup. Gold is frazzled when he sees the teacup and implores that she not drop the item that has become a symbol of he and Belle’s love. Merida’s constant taunting spurs Gold to fight back. She notes that he is thinking of Belle instead of himself and this is what will make him a true hero. The qualifications of true hero seem pretty thin these days. The Storybrooke gang is huddled in the police station trying to figure out what happened to King Arthur’s squire. Why do they never think to look at the security tapes? WHY? Instead they allow Arthur to continue his manipulation and decide that they need to vet out the person who helped the squire “escape.” Apparently the way to do this is to throw a party. Henry’s idea. He really just wants to invite his little lady love so he can spend time with her. He obviously does not remember being friend zoned back in Camelot. Violet is in too much distress to attend a party though. Her horse, Nicodemus, is missing! Henry vows to find him and prove his ability to be her knight in shining armor. Henry goes to Dark Emma for help because he still believes that his mother is in there somewhere. Dark Emma is offended because of course she is still the same just slightly improved. Also, she’s a little crazy now but hey, it happens to the best of us. They follow a trail of Nicodemus’ favorite treat, pumpkin, and end up finding him at Peter Peter’s pumpkin patch. Ha. Clever. Regina, Robin, Hook and Belle decide to break into Dark Emma’s house while she’s off with Henry. Dark Emma placed a protective spell on the house, however, and none of them can get past it. Emma does not like visitors. Except for Henry. They use Henry’s scarf to open the door because apparently the doorknob responds to clothing items now and not just human touch. Dark Emma was pretty lazy with that spell. They end up in her cave and find Excalibur in it’s stone. So, the door to her secret lair isn’t protected? Or she is willing to also let Henry into her secret cave? C’mon, Dark Emma. You’re doing the least with this new darkness. Belle recognizes that the dagger has the same pattern as Excalibur. Hook goes to grab it but Regina stops him because it could be boobytrapped. He didn’t realize she cared. Ha. I kind of wanted Hook to pull the sword from the stone while they all just stand there shocked that he is worthy enough to do that. The group is alerted, by Henry, that Emma is on her way back so they skedaddle on out of her house. But not before they find a dreamcatcher laying out on a table. It’s like Dark Emma is TRYING to get them to figure out all of this mess. They take the dreamcatcher because nobody cares about the law anymore in this town. Just steal whatever. From the Dark One. Im sure this will end well. The town is holding a small carnival to weed out the person responsible for the squires disappearance. I think. Nobody seems to care about that plot line anymore. Hook and crew instead question Arthur about Excalibur and he comes clean about knowing of the two pieces. Arthur is playing the long con here. Dark Emma needs to take notes. Henry rides into the carnival on Nicodemus and earns a kiss on the cheek from Violet. He also earns a pat on the back from Violet’s father. Storybrooke Sir Morgan is way nicer than Camelot Sir Morgan. Regina and Robin take a look into the memories captured in this particular dreamcatcher stolen from Dark Emma’s home. They belong to Violet and they show Emma taking her heart while back in Camelot. She tells Violet that it’s only for a sort while and it’s only so Violet will break Henry’s heart. So, Emma manipulated Violet into friend-zoning Henry which led to him crying and Emma obtaining the tear of lost love. This is how you do evil, Emma!. Henry, unfortunately sees all of this and is super mad at Dark Emma. Dark Emma saunters up to Regina’s house and asks to see Henry but Regina refuses. Henry refuses too. Dark Emma is alienating everyone she loves and Regina tells her that there is nothing she can’t come back from if she just comes clean to all of them. Dark Emma refuses but insists that she is doing all of this for a reason. The reason doesn’t seem like it can be too terrible but only time will tell.
This week's episode of Once Upon a Time takes us through the history of King Arthur and his legendary love for Guinevere. In customary OUAT fashion, this tale of Camelot has a twist and it does not paint the typically noble King Arthur in a pretty light. I, however, am really enjoying this Arthur. He's different and a bit mad. It's the perfect combo. I am completely okay with my suspect taste in television characters, y'all. The beginning of "The Broken Kingdom" shows us just that, a broken kingdom. A young Arthur is just a commoner as he walks through his village with a young Guinevere. It is here that we discover Merlin is already a tree and has already told Arthur of his prophecy. Young Arthur has stars in his eyes as he tells Guinevere that he is meant to find Excalibur and that she is to be his Queen of Camelot. He hands her a pretty pink flower, her favorite, and promises to shower her with them every moment of their blissfully happy lives. His current life is far from blissful, however. A few village bullies know about Arthur's belief in Merlin's prophecy and they poke fun at the poor kid. They tell him that he will never be King of Camelot because Camelot is the land with no King. They clearly think Merlin's prophecy is a farce and honestly it seems that way because Arthur has basically been talking to a tree this whole time. They don't need to be so mean though. Kids can be cruel in all worlds I suppose. Arthur sets to prove his bullies wrong and he spends the majority of his life searching for Excalibur. When he discovers the broken sword he devises a clever way to show it to the Camelot people and they accept him as their rightful King. He is honest with Guinevere, though, and tells her that he has to continue his quest to find the missing piece. Guinevere supports King Arthur, now her husband, over the years in his quest to make Excalibur whole again. She begins to grow resentful, however, when Arthur becomes obsessed with his quest. Like, Arthur is reaching Gollum/one ring levels of obsessed at this point. He knows that the missing piece is the Dark One's dagger and he spends Guinevere's birthday locked up in a house trying to decipher scrolls. Outside, at Guinevere's birthday celebration, Sir Lancelot tries to be a true bro and makes excuses for Arthur. He also set up the entire party for Guinevere and managed to incorporate her favorite flowers. He tries to pretend as if they are a gift from her husband. Guinevere is a smart cookie and sees right through Lancelot. As she thanks him for giving her this birthday gift, Arthur bursts out of his hole and claims that he knows where to find the dagger. He asks Lancelot to stay to protect Guinevere and rides off without ever wishing her a Happy Birthday. Arthur is so oblivious to everything but himself. Why am I rooting for him? Guinevere refuses to lose Arthur and hopes that she can help him reclaim his sanity by finding the dagger for him. Lancelot sees her trying to sneak off and decides to join her on her mission. They use Arthur's gauntlet, a piece of his armor, because it leads someone to their greatest weakness. Maybe I missed something here or maybe this show is getting SUPER lenient with their rules of magic. The gauntlet leads the duo to the Dark One's lair. They make their way into the maze of caves where the black goop that often accompanies a Dark One attacks Lancelot. I know it's trying to harm him but it looks really pretty. At least it's a beautiful way to die. Of course he doesn't die. Gwen sets fire to the black goop and it retreats. She seems to be overwhelmed with both happiness and worry for Lancelot and this leads to her kissing him. Things get real tense and a bit high school angsty when the two acknowledge that a kiss will never happen again. They find a door and proceed to go through where they find the Dark One's dagger sitting in a sweet cage. Guinevere, rather recklessly, tries to grab it and is blasted back. C'mon, Gwen. This thing is clearly being guarded. She's used quite a bit of common sense up until this point. The Dark One himself, Rumplestiltskin, shows up and gleefully reprimands the duo for trying to take his dagger. Gwen pleads with Rumple and he finds his moment to sucker her into a deal. Rumple wants to give them enchanted sand from the mystical island of Avalon. This sand can make broken things appear to be fixed. Or actually fixed? However it works, Guinevere can use it on Excalibur to make it appear whole and Rumple will never have to part with his dagger. Guinevere wants the sand and agrees to Rumple's deal with isn't super clear. Rumple just seems happy that Gwen using the sand will cause a riff in her relationship with Arthur. He thinks that love is the greatest weapon of all and he's speaking from experience. Maybe he knows that all of this is probably going to turn out badly. Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention. At the return of their journey, Guinevere and Lancelot share a special moment as Lancelot decides to leave Camelot. Arthur is reaching creeper levels now and spies on them from his tower. He confronts Guinevere about it but she is adamant that nothing is going on. She tells Arthur that she has the dagger and as he frantically searches her bag for it she considers using the sand on Excalibur. She ultimately decides against it, however, and tells Arthur the truth about her quest and the sand. Whatever weird relationship these two are in now, we can't say they were ever dishonest with each other. Guinevere doesn't want to fix Arthur or any of their problems unless it's real, not manipulated by magic. Arthur, however, thinks that "fixing" the sword will fix all of their problems and the Kingdom and probably the voices I am assuming he is hearing in his head. Dude is cray. To prove his craziness, or really just how obsessed he is with fulfilling Merlin's prophecy, Arthur takes the sand and uses it to "fix" Gwen. Guinevere gave him an ultimatum, her or the Kingdom, but Arthur wants both. He doesn't want to lose her to Lancelot and he wants his Kingdom. Really, though, it's hard to say if he ever actually loved her for who she is. Merlin apparently included her in his prophecy so somewhere along the way Arthur may have just started viewing her as another piece of this destiny that he was to fulfill. Poor Gwen. The enchanted sand "fixes" her attitude towards Arthur and now she is determined to support him 100%. They then use the sand on the Kingdom, because why not make it happy and fun until Arthur can reunite Excalibur's pieces? It's a shady thing to do, but it's a nice shady thing to do? Like, at least his people won't be living in the Dark Ages while they unknowingly wait for Arthur to get his life together. The other timeline in this episode was almost exclusively set in Camelot of six weeks ago where our Storybrooke gang is currently winning favor with King Arthur. Newly knighted Prince Charming is let in on some state secrets when Arthur tells him that Excalibur is broken. When Arthur tells him that he knows that the missing piece is the Dark One's dagger, Charming tries not to have a heart attack. Emma is hearing and seeing her inner Rumple more and more. THAT has to be the worst side effect of becoming the Dark One. She is also hearing other voices as she sits and makes like a thousand dream catchers. Way to be creepy, Emma. All of the voices lead her to the Dark One's dagger which is being held with Regina's stuff. Inner Rumple tries to persuade her to take it but she has had enough of his meddling and shoots some magic his way. It almost hits Hook who is standing at the door and clearly realizing that his girlfriend is dealing with some serious issues right now. This leads to the Storybook group all awkwardly standing around Emma as she lays down looking quite ill. Regina wants her to get some rest and Henry knows the perfect place to take her. Henry and Hook take Emma away as Charming comes in and tells Snow that he thinks he can help save Emma. He wants to give the dagger to Arthur but Snow is hesitant. Previously dead Lancelot told her not to trust Arthur so this leads to a very loud Snow and Charming fight. Charming asks all of the right questions. How is Lancelot back? Cora lied about killing him. Okay, well why would he WANT to come back? Doesn't Arthur hate him for trying to steal his girl? Maybe he has a death wish? Nobody knows! Snow just thinks that Charming is starstruck by King Arthur and instead of wanting to help Emma for the right reasons, he just wants to be a hero again. Whatever, let him help Emma AND have his moment, Snow. Who knows if anything is actually resolved because we switch over to Henry and Hook who take Emma to a nice little stable so she can rest. When Hook asks Henry how he knows about the stable, Henry tells them about (his almost girlfriend, lets be real) Violet and how it belongs to her family. Hook is positively giddy that Henry has a love interest and Emma is...well, Emma is the Dark One AND a mother. She asks which one is worse in this situation. Ha. Violet shows up and takes Henry out on a horse ride because it can get his heart a-racing! Girl's got game. Hook realizes that maybe he can do the same for Emma because if her mind is on something else then maybe it can block out her inner Rumple and giver her a little peace. Hook wants Emma to introduce herself to the horse because she needs the horse to trust her first. The horse is privy to Emma's darkness though and freaks out. Emma is letting inner Rumple consume her thoughts again when Hook asks her to put her faith in him and their future. She does. I die a little inside, in the best possible way. At the end of their ride they end up in a field of the pink flowers that Queen Guinevere loves. Emma realizes that she doesn't hear or see her inner Rumple and is finally free if only for a bit. Then she and Hook just make out in the flowers because why not? Back in the castle, Charming goes against his wife's wishes and tells Arthur that they have the Dark One's dagger. When he opens its box though, the dagger is gone! Dun Dun Dun. Turns out, Snow took it first! Ugh. Mom and Dad are fighting. This may not end well. Snow takes the dagger to Granny's which is where we discover Lancelot is hiding. They begin their own quest to hide the dagger back in the place where Lancelot and Gwen found it all those years ago. When they arrive, Lancelot gets a little weird and asks Snow if he can put it back. Snow is hesitant but before she can decide if she in fact trusts the newly returned Lancelot, King Arthur shows up and pulls a sword on them! Arthur demands the dagger from her or he'll kill Lancelot. Snow, apparently trusting that Lancelot is still good, goes to trade the dagger for his life. Arthur proceeds to give a villain-y monologue where he divulges all of his plan. Once he reunites Excalibur's pieces, he will transform Merlin, snuff out all of the darkness and then become the greatest ruler in all of the Kingdoms. Somewhere in there I heard him say, "Kill Merlin" and all of my dreams for them being best friends just completely blew up. I don't know why I was still holding onto that hope anyway. Fine, Arthur. Just kill my dreams too! Arthur uses the dagger to call for Emma but it doesn't work because the dagger is a fake. Where in the world do you get a fake dagger on such short notice? I guess Regina could magic one up but shouldn't they be super careful now to not get the two mixed up? What is their contingency plan? After Arthur finds out that the dagger is a fake, he finds out that his friendship with Charming is as well! Oh snap. You're getting all kinds of double-crossed today, Arthur. Charming and Snow had previously decided that fighting wasn't going to solve anything so they set out to create a test to see whether or not they could trust Arthur. Charming told him about the dagger and then waited to see what Arthur would do when he thought Snow and Lancelot had taken it. Arthur failed the test and they take him back to Granny's diner in shackles. Arthur appreciates a good double-cross and sets up one himself when his Knights and Gunivere come to the diner to free him. I guess he didn't trust Charming either. Guinevere releases her husband. Lancelot knows that she is under the influence of the enchanted sand but Guinevere basically says that she doesn't care and awkwardly kisses Arthur right in front of him. This is seriously some high school level payback right now. Arthur and Gwen send Lancelot to the dungeons. Before they peace out, they use the enchanted sand on Snow and Charming because they need them for their nefarious plans. How much sand do they have? It seems like they should have run out back when they used it to enchant the ENTIRE Kingdom. Newly enchanted Snow and Charming run back to Regina and tell her that they can trust Arthur and that the best hope they have to save Emma is to give him the dagger. I thought Regina would be a little more skeptical but she just seems to be rolling with it these days. Down in the dungeons, Lancelot is thrown into a cell and is super pissed. You know who else is super pissed? MERIDA! She's in the cell across from Lancelot and she says that anyone who is against King Arthur is a friend to her. YAY. Love her. The final scene is set in present day Storybrooke where Dark Emma looks at the flower Hook gave her back in Camelot. Gold is behind her, chained to a fence. He tells her that there is no way he can be made into a hero but Emma has an ace up her sleeve. She walks out and heads to her yellow bug where MERIDA is tied to the front. Sorry for putting her name in caps all the time. I'm just very excited that she's back and ALSO in Storybrooke. What is not exciting is that Dark Emma takes Merida's heart and commands her to get her bow and arrow. Dark Emma needs Merida's help with Gold. She needs her to make Gold Brave. I see what you did there. Overall, this was an interesting episode. I enjoy prophecy-obsessed Arthur because I've never personally seen this character portrayed this way. He's rather ruthless but also charming. It's a dangerous combo that I'm intrigued by. I've also never been a fan of Gold but I'm a little curious as to how they plan on making him a hero or if that idea will even come to fruition. If this show can making me even slightly interested in Gold, then it's probably doing something right in my book. Four for you, Once Upon a Time.
Camelot: Our Storybrooke gang is making their way through Camelot's potion ingredient reserves in order to find something that will help turn Merlin back into his wizard-form. Regina finds a magical toadstool called Crimson Crown that will allow them to at least communicate with tree-Merlin. King Arthur comes in to check on their progress and tells him that the Crimson Crown is rumored to exist and he believes he knows where they can find it. He warns them though that it would be a treacherous quest. Charming hears the word "quest" and nearly combusts from excitement. He pretty much tosses his infant son to Snow and leaves with Arthur. Arthur has some pretty sweet weapons and I can just feel Charming begin to become an actual character again when he gazes at them. Like, where have you been, bro? Arthur shows Charming his famous round table before they begin their quest. He also shows Charming a box of all of the magical items Camelot has in its possession. The most important item they find for their journey is a torch. It's apparently the "unquenchable flame" and it is rumored to be from the burning bush itself. Are we getting biblical? I think we're getting biblical. Arthur also points out a rather ugly chair at the round table. Lancelot once occupied this special chair called the "Siege Perilous." It is the chair reserved for the most trusted and pure knight of them all. Now, it sits empty because Lancelot betrayed Arthur by falling in love with Guinevere. Arthur eventually gained favor with Guinevere and banished Sir Lancelot from Camelot. Seems extreme but you do you, Arthur. Over in the plot-line from hell, Regina confronts her sister about the impending baby. Regina believes that Zelena has officially squandered all of her second chances and Regina isn't about to let her run away with Robin's baby. Regina vows to love and protect the child with all of her power but she won't extend that courtesy to her sister. Good. The more important part of this scene, though, is Robin being ever helpful by insisting that he get Regina some tea. Those Brits. Always trying to save disastrous story-lines with the power of tea. Charming and Arthur, henceforth known as "Charthur", set off on their quest and basically become super bros after only five minutes. They bond over their wives shared skills with a bow and arrow and their similar rags to riches backgrounds. Charming goes all feminist when Arthur suggests they have their wives compete in an arrow shooting contest but Charming doesn't think they'd appreciate being pitted against each other just so the men could feel good about themselves. I'm super into Charming this episode. When they find the Crimson Crown, Charming volunteers to cross the rickety water bridge to retrieve it. On his way back, pieces of armor rise up from the water and form phantom knights. These beings are hellbent on keeping that mushroom from leaving it's rock. Charming slashes and cuts off limbs but the phantom knights regroup and succeed in pulling him under water. Arthur takes FOREVER to come to his new BFF's rescue. Like, was he just super distracted or not even at the pond anymore? Why did it take him THAT long to get to his bro? Charthur may not be as solid as I thought, y'all. Still, Arthur does save him but, in the process, they realize that they lost the Crimson Crown. Arthur wants to search for it but Charming knows it's a lost cause. Charming is disappointed in how this quest turned out. Arthur encourages him and says that the word quest means to seek, not to find. Just because they didn't "find" the toadstool, doesn't mean they failed the quest. Charthur is ALIVE! Charming has a lot of pride riding on this quest. He doesn't want to always be remembered as "the man who kissed a sleeping princess awake." I rather enjoyed that line and that sentiment. Disney movies and even their fairytale origins focus so much on the female protagonists. So, we as viewers know a lot about those characters. Prince Charming is a pretty bland character in the original Snow White. This allows his counterpart on OUAT to be like a blank slate that can be molded in any way. It gives them space to add a lot of depth to a character that is inherently good and noble. I like it. Charthur is going strong when Arthur decides that Charming's heroics during their quest deserves a knighthood. Not only that, he deserves to sit in special siege perilous chair! Seems a little too soon but who am I to question this friendship? Okay, I should question this friendship. When baby Neil starts to fuss during Charming's celebration, Snow takes him outside to the corridor. She sees someone in the shadows and demands to see their face. It's LANCELOT! Back from the dead! Or maybe he was never dead in the first place? I suppose we'll find out soon. Snow is overjoyed to see that her friend is alive but dismayed to hear his ominous warning. Lancelot tells her that everything is not as it seems in Camelot and that Arthur cannot be trusted. Okay, Lancelot...maybe I don't trust YOU! I don't know anymore but I like this development. It gives a twist to King Arthur and I'm down for that. The show then soldifies Arthur's new shadiness by showing us that he actually has possession of the Crimson Crown. So, he lied to Charming. Charthur is OVER. This is the worst. STORYBROOKE: Six weeks later, in Storybrooke, our characters find themselves paralleling many of the adventures they have conveniently forgotten about from Camelot. But first, we find the dwarves (sans Dopey who is still a tree) back in their mine happily working away. The mood quickly changes when Dark Emma pops in and takes Happy's ax. He really shouldn't leave that thing laying around. Dark Emma then unsuccessfully tries to use the ax to get Excalibur from the stone. I kind of feel like Dark Emma is still holding back from going full on dark. Her sub-conscience Rumple once again reiterates that she needs a hero to pull the sword from the stone. Yet, instead of just going out to find a hero, she tries every other option first. It's like she's trying to avoid the option of manipulating some poor soul until she REALLY has too. The people she is probably avoiding are still attempting to figure out what it is they were doing in Camelot during those forgotten weeks. While thinking it through, the dwarves burst into the sheriffs station to complain about Dark Emma. This entire series of events is deeply troubling to Charming. He begins to blame himself for being useless during all of this. He believes that it's his duty as a father to help Emma out of the darkness but she won't even speak to him. He also feels as if he has nothing to contribute to the town at this point and Snow very lovingly points out that he is her hero in any world. Adorable. Rather conveniently, King Arthur shows up and proceeds to give Charming a purpose again. The box containing Camelot's magical relics has been broken into. Inside the box was a magic bean that could transport them all back home and Arthur is desperate to get it back. Is the unquenchable flame gone too? Wouldn't that be easy-ish to track down? Just like in Camelot, Charming is instantly energized and sets off to help Arthur retrieve his stolen goods. Meanwhile, Hook is still being angsty because his girlfriend is the Dark One. It's a legitimate reason to be angsty. He meets up with Robin at Granny's diner so they can chat about their super awkward love lives. Seriously, Robin is looking at a sonogram of his and Zelena's baby and it's sweet that he is a bit excited but overall...NO. At least he actively recognizes that the situation is SUPER MESSY. So, he has that going for him. It WAS hilarious when he said, "I'm looking at a picture from up inside Zelena" and Hook responds with a, "WOAH, mate!" I like this friendship. Granny sees the two chatting and brings Hook his order. The thing is, he didn't order anything. Turns out, Dark Emma ordered the food and proceeds to order him to meet her at the Jolly Roger. He begrudgingly goes and the entire scene is super tense. Dark Emma thinks that they can still be together. She makes herself look like she did on their first date because maybe it'll help encourage Hook to talk to her. She tries to reason that she is still Emma but with less fear and emotional walls around her. She compares herself to Rumple when he was just a coward before becoming the Dark One. Is she trying to convince him that becoming the Dark One was somehow good for Rumple? He found confidence and true love after he turned so therefore it's a good thing? Hook is rightly suspicious and outright asks her what it is that she is fishing for. He tells her that he was the reason Rumple became the Dark One. That HE was the villain in the situation and simply help set up the events leading to a nice, family-man becoming the Dark One. It all started when he held a sword to Rumple's throat. I like that Hook is finally owning up to this. It's a nice moment of character growth for him. What is the opposite of a nice moment is when Emma asks him if he loves her anymore. If he says no, she'll leave him be. He looks her right in the eyes and says, "I loved you." THE PAST TENSE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS PAINFUL. Whatever, they'll work it out. Anyway, Dark Emma stays true to her word and let's him leave. Back in Gold's shop, Belle is looking for something to complete a healing potion for Rumple. She needs an object that he touched before he became the Dark One. Oh....oh....the sword that Hook just pointed out on his ship. That's why he told that story. Maybe that's what Emma was fishing for. Maybe I should stop guessing and just let it unfold. Anyway, Belle can't find anything but she does manage to help Charming and Arthur who are looking to see if any Camelot people recently tried to pawn off some stolen magical relics. Belle says no but before they go, Charming grabs a chalice that is seemingly important. It's apparently leftover from Doc's Doctoberfest. I wish we could have seen that event. Charming takes the chalice back to the Camelot people and tells them that it is a magical chalice meant to tell if someone is lying. He wants to ask each person if they stole the relics and the chalice will tell if they are lying. Ironically, it is Charming that is lying. The chalice is a ruse but it is a ruse that works. The thief runs after hearing this story and Charming and Arthur follow. Here's the deal. I am willing to suspend some disbelief for the next scene because it might be one of my favorites. Ever. Charming and Arthur take off in Charming's truck, chasing the thief who is on horseback. The thief's hood falls down and we see that it is one of Arthur's squires! Loyalty is hard to find these days. Anyway, as they chase the squire, Charming asks Arthur to take the wheel as he climbs out the window and into the bed of the truck. HE ASKS ARTHUR TO TAKE THE WHEEL. Arthur has never driven a car. NEVER. How is he driving perfectly at like 45 mph? HAHA. All of this is okay because Charming manages to get Arthur to circle around to where he is now facing the squire and his horse. Charming lifts up a large piece of wood from the bed of the truck and all of a sudden we have a joust between a truck and a horse. WHAT EVEN. I love it. So Much. Charming wins the joust and Arthur somehow doesn't kill them with his newfound driving skills. They ask the squire why he stole the goods and he says it's because he feels like he and the other workers are never appreciated and he hates it. He wanted to get back at King Arthur and this was how he chose to do it. They discover that they magic bean was not in the box, however. So, really this seems pointless. They do however find the Crimson Crown. The one they lost in Camelot. And Charming even recognizes it. Baby steps! Regina also recognizes it from her Camelot notes and now they know that they were trying to communicate with tree-Merlin via magic toadstool. While they all pat themselves on the back, Arthur visits his recently-jailed squire. Turns out, Arthur is shady in Storybrooke too. He set the whole theft up with the squire. There never was a magic bean. They only wanted to gain the trust of Charming and make him think that they had one. Arthur knows that there is no way back to Camelot and he is pissed that the Storybrooke people brought the Dark One into his kingdom in the first place. He then asks the squire to drink poison because he knows that these people will eventually find ways to get the truth from him. The Squire takes one for Team Camelot and does as he is asked. Arthur's not trying to be a super villain. He's just trying to do what he thinks is best for his Kingdom and that is to make Storybrooke the new Camelot. Arthur only seems villainy because his perceived destiny is shrouded in selfish intent. But honestly, our Storybrooke gang did kind of ruin everything for the people of Camelot. But he was also kind of shady before the were transported back to our realm? Who are you, King Arthur!? Realizing that his relationship is in fail mode, Hook once again goes to Robin for some guy talk. Or really, he tells Robin that he needs a thief because he wants to break into whatever Dark Emma is hiding behind that secret door in her house. Forget Charthur. They are dead to me. CaptainHood is now my number one. Belle is also in Granny's and as she gets her usual lunch special, she notices that the flower she has been toting around is fully intact. That means that Rumple is alive. In sheer joy she runs back to his shop but discovers that he is gone. Dark Emma is in her cave with the still comatose Rumple. She takes out the sword that she swiped from Hook's ship. The sword that he used on Rumple before Rumple turned into the Dark One. With that, she is able to fully heal Rumple (or I guess Gold) and wake him up. Now that Rumple is no longer the Dark One he is also not a hero. He is in between and that somehow makes him a blank slate. So, Dark Emma is planning to make Rumple into something he has never been before: a hero. The purest hero around. Then, he can pull Excalibur from the stone. I honestly just figured she could get Henry to do it. Wouldn't he qualify? Oh well. Dark Emma can do what she wants.
Side note: At the end of the episode sub-conscience Rumple sees Emma with Hook's sword and says that she must have crushed Hook's heart more. MORE. Did I hear that right? Am I questioning this line too much? Is it only a metaphor because she crushed his heart when he "lost" the woman he loved. Or did something happen in Camelot that we don't know about? They got back to Storybrooke seemingly via a curse. Those require hearts of the one you love most. If she crushed his heart in Camelot to make this curse, Imma flip some tables. I will only accept it if she inevitably saves herself and his heart through the biggest friggin' true loves kiss the world has ever seen. If not, Dark Emma can just crush my heart too because I'll be done. I decided that the constant back and forth between Camelot six weeks ago and present day Storybrooke was giving me whiplash when trying to put together these reviews. So, my new format will recap everything in the Camelot flashbacks first and then everything in the Storybooke present second. Let's hope that makes sense. More than this show does at least. Yay! By the way, I'm starting my review with this picture again. It's just as relevant this week as it is every other week this show is on the air. Camelot, Six Weeks Ago Our Storybrooke crew has been invited into Camelot by a very eager King Arthur. He introduces everyone to his wife, Queen Guinevere, and I realize that everyone in Camelot is very beautiful. It must be a prerequisite for living there or something. Arthur and Guinevere are eager to tell the group that Merlin's prophecy foretold that a Savior would arrive to their kingdom. This Savior is supposed to help free Merlin. Two problems here. One: Merlin is trapped in a tree. Like...not trapped up in the branches and he can't get down. He's physically a tree. Or inside of it? This is very unclear. The second problem is that the Savior Arthur has been waiting for is no longer the Savior. She's the Dark One. Something tells me the arrival of the Dark One will not warrant a ball thrown in her honor. I'm questioning the validity of Merlin's prophecy altogether. You would think that his prophecy would account for the Savior being the Dark One now, thus his Savior is an entirely different person altogether. Or maybe his prophecies don't have a specific time frame so he wouldn't actually know that the Savior is now the Dark One because he assumed she would arrive before that transformation had happened. Or MAYBE he has no idea what he's doing/I don't understand the practice of prophesizing. Anywho, things get awkward when nobody from Storybrooke wants to break the news that the Savior is now the Dark One. So, Regina steps up and pretends the be the one Arthur has been waiting for. Emma gets a little miffed at this. The ONE TIME she could wave that Savior flag in somebody really cool's face and she's no longer the Savior. Arthur is very pleased with Regina and decides that a ball is in order. YES. I just want an entire episode of everyone teaching me the etiquette of various land's balls and feasts. And then I want the characters who lived in modern times to teach all of the other fairytale characters the macarena. Everyone should be subjected to the horrors of having to do the macarena for 6 straight minutes. While everyone is getting ready to dance the night away, Regina is having some self doubt about whether or not she can be the Savior. Like, not even pretend but BE the actual Savior. Pretty sure we were told there is only one of those but maybe she can do enough magic stuff to get Merlin out of the tree without blowing her cover. Who knows. As she ponders her situation, a cute knight, brings her a beautiful necklace to wear to the ball. It's a gift for being the Savior. The knight, Sir Percival, asks for a dance even though Robin is STANDING RIGHT THERE. I guess he doesn't know. Plus, Robin is super chill about it. He just giggles and tells her that he's not surprised that everyone wants to dance with her. Way to be a supportive boyfriend! Charming and Snow are in the process of leaving baby Neal with Doc when Regina bursts through the door and declares that she isn't going to the ball. Everyone GASPS. Just kidding. She probably has a great reason like someone finding out that she's lying about being the Savior. Someone recognizing her as the Evil Queen. Somebody spiking the punch and her getting a little too crazy on the dance floor. All valid reasons to stay at home, Regina. But no, it's none of those. Regina apparently does not know how to dance. Cora gave her all kinds of fairytale land lessons to uphold when becoming a Queen but never let the girl dance. Somebody watched Footloose and sided with the town, y'all. Thankfully, Snow and Charming put on their best parental faces and help Regina. Snow makes her change into a ballgown and Regina hilariously dons her typical Evil Queen attire. They nix that idea and her next dress is very lovely but also makes her look like she's 15 years old. Charming proceeds to teacher her how to dance and it really is adorable. As they are dancing we see Sir Percival looking angsty in a different room. AH! The necklace he gave Regina is essentially a nanny cam! He's spying on her and unfortunately Charming decides at the most inopportune time to mention that fact that Regina is not the real Savior. Oh the drama. Completely oblivious to their foiled plan, Snow and Emma share a sweet moment getting ready for the ball together. Snow is acting like this is Emma's first ball though and I don't think any of us have the heart to remind her that Emma already attended her first with Hook when they were sent back in time at the end of season three. The ball itself is sweet and pretty. Everyone is dancing and being super flirty because they look gorgeous and it's probably exciting to do something that isn't almost dying all the time. Snow and Charming notice Henry staring at a girl and Charming encourages him to go over and say hello. He also gives him some kind of drink. I assume it isn't alcohol but it makes me laugh to think he gave his 13 year old grandson liquid courage so I choose to believe that is is alcohol. Turns out Henry has a few moves and when he whips out his IPod the girl, Violet, is super into him. As much as you can be at 13, of course. Regina and Robin are super cute trying to copy Emma and Hook's dance moves. The cute turns ugly quick though when Sir Percival cuts in and asks for his dance. Turns out, Sir Percival hasn't told anyone about Regina not being the Savior but he also knows that she is the Evil Queen! He was a young boy when she burned his village to the ground and then had the gall to smile at him afterwards. Instead of keeping this information and using it in a more strategic way, Sir Percival goes for the straight up kill. Robin manages to thwart his attack but is gravely injured in the process. Once Charming enters the fight and successfully kills Sir Percival, the group rushes Robin to another room in hopes to save him. Regina can't quite do it because the sword had been enchanted to kill her. She pleads with Emma to save him but that would require Emma to give in to dark magic for a bit. Who knows what that could do to her in the long run? She eventually agrees and heals Robin. Then, randomly, she makes out with Hook. I get that she needs some sort of anchor to keep herself from going too far with the dark powers. I guess if she want's Hook's lips to be her anchor, more power to her! It also could be that she's using Hook for a true loves kiss in hopes that it keeps her use of darkness from spreading or getting worse. I mean, somehow Rumple once rejected a true love kiss from his true love because he was power hungry. Maybe this is the same deal. Hook, and everyone else really, is super confused when she rushes out of the room though. Unfortunately, sub-conscience Rumple pops in and gleefully notices Emma's skin starting to turn scaly. She likes the power and the power likes her. Uhoh. After Robin is saved and the ball is probably cut short, Arthur apologizes for the almost murder. Regina decides to be honest and tells him that she isn't the Savior but for some reason Arthur believes they still have a chance. The last bit of Camelot finds Arthur looking at Sir Percival's crest while seated at his round table. Guinevere comes in and expresses her fear of the Storybrooke arrivals. That's fair. They lied and then managed to kill one of your knights. I would be concerned too. Arthur is very adamant that they continue on with the group though because that is the only way they can get Merlin back. Once they have Merlin back, they hope to get the dagger and reunite it with the other part of Excalibur. I honestly hope they succeed. I want to see how cool but also probably scary Excalibur can be when whole. Storybrooke, Present Day If you're still with me, you will find that more people are turning into trees. Must be a theme this season. The dwarves decide to test the town line because they would really like to leave. Grumpy doesn't think they have a fighting chance against Emma considering she used to be the one who had to save them all the time. They send Dopey over the line as a test and at first nothing happens. Then he is suddenly swept up by some lawn clippings and turns into a tree! Just like Merlin! Hmmm.... Out on the docks, Henry calls for Dark Emma and she appears. Remember last week when she told everyone that they had failed her? Well, not Henry. That's nice. I honestly think Emma wants Henry to be impressed with her but Henry just looks a little scared. He knows they'll find a way to get her back from the darkness but maybe Emma doesn't want that? Still, he seems to think it's up to Regina to save them all. Regina is currently doubting herself as a Savior but also hating on everyone that doubts her as the Savior. C'mon, Regina. Let's pick a side. Elsewhere, Arthur and his knights find themselves in Storybrooke and they are understandably confused. Turns out, more of Camelot's people were transported into the forest where Robin is setting up a refugee camp. Do they not have space to house these people? Can Regina not whip up a few hostels? What good is magic if you can't use it for anything actually useful? While passing out water, a scary black smoke creature, that I am told is called a Fury, shows up and takes Robin! What!? Regina is pissed. She, Charming and Arthur go after the Fury. Apparently, saving Robin's life back in Camelot came with a price that Regina was willing to pay but never did. I mean, she got transported back to Storybrooke with no memories of any time in Camelot so let's give her a pass. The Underworld doesn't work like that though. It demands that the price be paid. Regina blames Emma for the Fury but she tells them that it wasnt her. She isn't too sympathetic though when she tells Regina that the payment is another life. Regina refuses to sacrifice anyone for Robin and that's a Savior moment if I've ever heard one. Emma just scoffs and tells Regina that she has decide who to be. Emma doesn't care about anything anymore. Except for maybe Hook? She magically swirls him to her new house and invites him in. She's being super flirty and I'm pretty sure he has no idea how he feels about it. He then tries to true love kiss her but it doesn't work. Belle had previously warned him that there is no longer a curse when the one inflicted accepts their curse. Emma has welcomed the powers of the Dark One so true loves kiss is pointless right now. She doesn't believe she has anything to be saved from so he can't really save her. Poor guy, two attempts at true loves kiss. Two strike outs. Of course, both had explanations for why they didn't work and neither of those explanations were "they are not each other's true love." So, let's cross our fingers, folks. We still have a chance! Really though, it's almost 100% going to happen at some point. Hook does make the smart choice of refusing Emma's advances because she is still totally into him. He's not feeling it, though. It's probably the reminder that he's spent like hundreds of years trying to kill the Dark One and now the person he loves is the Dark One. It's too weird and twisted for even him to go there. Still, good for you Hook! While Emma and Hook are having some relationship problems, Regina's other half is currently being dragged to the Underworld. The Fury takes Robin to the lake where the gate keeper of the Underworld slowly rows his boat to shore. Regina won't go without a fight so when the Fury starts to suck out Robin's soul Regina steps up to sacrifice herself instead. Then, in a scene I know was not meant to be hilarious but it kind of was, Snow decides to join her. Charming, Grumpy and King Arthur follow and now all of their souls are being sucked out but it's too much for the Fury and he is blasted away. They save Robin again and Grumpy decides that if Regina is willing to sacrifice herself she is probably their best shot at saving the town. Robin cutely mentions that it looks like Regina has found a few more believers. They all head to Granny's for a celebratory drink. Hook is being angsty and tells Belle that he spent hundreds of years hunting down the crocodile so he can spend at least that amount of time trying to save the woman he loves. Swoon. Snow laments the choices they will face with Emma. She believes that if they win, Emma ultimately loses. Umm...no. Pretty sure she wins if y'all win but also manage not to kill her completely in the process. Believe in yourself, Snow! Regina does! While they all party at the diner, Emma sits at home in the dark just petting her dagger. I feel like she should be listening to The Cranberries or something. Sub-conscience Rumple shows up and leads her to a locked door. The locked door leads to an underground cave. This can't be good. Ah. In the cave sits Excalibur. It's hanging out in it's stone again. Rumple tells Emma that she needs to unite Excalibur's pieces so she can snuff out all of the light left in the town and in her life. No other Dark One has been able to succeed in this. There has always been family, friends, magic and love to help keep one from going completely dark. I think all of those things are destined to save Emma in the end but what do I know? She tries to get Excalibur from the stone but it rejects her and slams her into a wall. Ha.
She needs someone good and worthy to get the sword and now I am afraid for like 95% of Storybrooke's inhabitants. Also, WHERE IS MERLIN? I need him back on my screen. Unless he ends up being a bad guy, but also I think I can dig that? I can't wait to find out! |
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