Ouat

[Addison]

"Firebird" (Only three episodes after this. :-( )

Flashbacks take us to our world, before Henry found Emma. It starts with Emma at a lobster house asking if anyone remembers a baby that was abandoned nearby twenty years ago. The cashier doesn't, but a woman believes Emma was that baby. She also knows that Emma robbed convenience stores and jumped bail. The woman is Cleo Fox, bounty hunter/bail bondsman. She catches Emma and the ensuing adventure shows us how Emma took up a job as bail bondsman and got her jacket and put up armor. Cleo, upon Emma promising she'll go quietly if she helps, takes Emma to the courthouse to find anything on Emma only for Cleo to say it's a dead end. She tells Emma she can't be emotional, she has to protect herself. Emma sneaks out of their motel that night to come back to the courthouse, with Cleo right behind her. They don't find anything useful, Cleo came not for the money put to protect Emma s, if they're caught they're both in trouble. The avoid the guards by going through the newly broken back window. Only Cleo cut her stomach on the glass. She tells Emma to go, to pay for what she did. Emma runs and, evidently, does pay her bail and takes up the job. We see her later as she's on the trail of a bail jumper and sees her target. But it's not a bail jumper, it's Cleo's daughter Tasha, who Cleo apparently gave up. Emma tells Tasha her mom is dead, but gives her all the information she could find. Before leaving Emma buys a jacket, the red jacket.

In the underworld it gets awkward, tense, and at the end very emotional and angry. First Hades arrives at the heroes looking for help. Rumple and Pan kidnapped Zelena and he needs an ace up his sleeve. If Emma helps him save Zelena, he'll take everyone's name off the tombstones. Hades gets to the diner and the jerks arrive, with Zelena trapped in the anti-magic cuff. Hades tears up the contract and Pan is ready to rip Zelena's heart out so he can leave, only for Emma to blast him. She notices Rumple is still there even after Hades ripped up the page. He poofs out with a startled Pan right behind. Selena realizes how much Hades loves her and they kiss. It is true love, the familiar pulse of light rushes out. The ground quakes as Hades can now leave for good, his punishment is over.

Everyone goes to the cemetery where the clock tower has appeared. The hands are spinning faster and Hades says that soon a portal will open and it will stay open until sunset. He keeps his end of the deal, taking everyone's names off the tombstones. Emma does the heart split, but it doesn't work. Hook's been dead too long, it worked for David because he was only dead for a minute, his soul hadn't moved on. Emma, refusing to believe there's no way to save Hook, realizes from Hades' face that someone did defy the odds and get out. They go to Hades' suite and he tells the story of Euridycys (I can never spell that right). The only problem is that with all the tests and such in the path even he never went to that level of the underworld. All he knows is that Emma will have to weigh her heart in a sense, but as she won't be able to use magi down there Hades does a gentle manly thing and rips her heart out for her. Emma and Hook go down the elevator.

Meanwhile Robin arrives and sees Hades and Zelena. Regina explains what's going on and, as he won't leave Regina but he won't risk trapping their child in the Underworld, reluctantly gives the baby to Zelena. She and Hades leave. Robin, needing a moment, strides through the aisles and finds Rumple, who takes his heart. No one knows, up oh. But they're distracted when Cruella saunters over and Regina is ready to fight, even if Cruella can't die. But Cruella isn't alone, the blind witch appears as Cruella doesn't have any real magic so to speak. She pushes the heroes into the library and seals them inside. Regina realizes the spell trapping them is out of the blind witch's level, Hades gave her the spell. They realize that they've been set up.

Down in the belly of the underworld Hook and Emma come to a pair of scales, and we learn Hook can read latin, or greek, courtesy of the royal navy. Emma puts her heart on the scale, after a lovely dialogue of how Hook has helped her take down the armor around her heart. Emma's suddenly in pain. Hook goes for her heart only to be wrapped in flames. Emma tackles Hook out of the fire and the pain stops, the doors open. They passed the test. But it was for nothing. The tree is cut down, the ambrosia dead. They realize Hades sent them down so they'd be trapped. They race to the elevator but Hook doesn't get on. He tells Emma to leave, having her promise not to put her armor up again just because she lost him. She has him promise not to have her be his unfinished business, to move on. They kiss and hold hands as the elevator takes Emma up until they can't.

Emma reaches the top and everyone's caught up. Emma and Regina combine their powers and open the door. Henry, who used his author skills to write down everyone's unfinished business, leave his work in the library for people to find so they can move on. Thus completing Operation Firebird. They reach the portal just in time but Emma is still reluctant to get it. She says she got the jacket as a reminder to protect her heart, now it's a reminder to protect those she loves. She jumps into the portal ready to take Hades' head off.

Ooh! Rumple, right, the guy we love hating, or hate loving. He's in the shop and kisses Belle, but she doesn't wake up. A+ for effort though. Pan arrives and says that he'll accept Rumple for who he is. Rumple shows Pan Robin's heart. Pan says he's a good son and Rumple shoves the heart in his chest. But Pan is in pain. Rumple said he knew Pan most likely had his shadow watch him while Pan was occupied. So he didn't take Robin's heart. What he put in Pan was a wine skin full of water from the river of tortured souls. Pan finally, for good, dies. Rumple uses Pandora's box to carry Belle and he made it through the portal. Leaves one to wonder that, even though his unborn child is safe, will he help in the fight against Hades? He told Belle he can't change into a different man, but he can be a better one. Will he keep that promise?

 

[Addison]

I just realized there's a little hiccup with the year of the flashbacks. At least in my opinion. The flashbacks take place in 2009 and 2010. That's just two and one years from when Henry finds her. Emma was sentenced to eleven months. So if she did jump bail, first of all, what property would she put up or who would post it? We know it wasn't Neal. Secondly the flashbacks would take place in 2001, 2003 latest. Hmm.

 

[Addison]

Still waiting for a "Last Rites" sneak peek. But I did find an article about the rest of the season. If you remember, there was a post about a previous article about two new characters who will come in at the end of this season and play a pivotal role in season 5's ending and launching season 6. At first, due to Henry's author powers being connected or in some way a key as well, we speculated it was the brother's Grimm. But apparently they're not.

The characters are a jerk-warden of the mental asylum and the other a meek patient. Seeing as Hades is now in Storybrooke I'm thinking they're Gods themselves. I don't know much about Greek mythology, I know a few but not a whole lot about Hades. If they are Gods then I figure one of them is Zeus. The other could be Cronus, Hermes, or Poseidon. If they're not Gods then that sets up a whole new set of possibilities. We don't know a lot about the Author powers, the legacy, so we may get some insight to that. Guess we'll have to wait and see, but it's fun to speculate.

 

[Addison]

I looked up images for the next episode, "Last Rites". My computer is not liking me so sadly I can't post the photo. What I saw suggests that we could very well be seeing Merida on Sunday. Hey maybe she's the one that dies? Oh, spoiler alert, some one apparently dies in the next episode. LOTS of speculation about who it will be. The promo said the death will shake the very heart of Storybrooke.I can tell you, based on an article, that it isn't Henry. He plays a crucial role in the finale. Things come full circle for the rest of the Charmings in the finale so a good chance it's not Snow or David. The finale will also test Regina about her heroic turn as she's tested about her Evil Queen days. Seeing as Storybrooke is kinda a big family it could be anyone. A picture of the grave, from the back, showed few flowers on top and Emma standing at it holding something not a flower. It looked thin, palm-sized and shiny.

Guess we'll have to wait and see. Biting our nails until and during the episode, and possibly bawling during and after the episode.

 

[Addison]

"Last Rites",

With everything that happened in this episode the finale will be HUGE, in story and thrills.

We pick up right where "Firebird" left us. We open with Hades and Zelena on the Toll Bridge in Storybrooke. Selena leaves her baby with Hades while she goes into to town to both tell people that Hades is a good changed man and to find Regina. It's nice to see the sisters getting along. Then, while Hades seems to be enjoying his time with the baby, in comes Arthur. Freshly escaped from jail. He hits it off with Hades as they were both imprisoned, "wrongly". Only Hades reveals that he too was destined to rule a kingdom and, seeing Arthur as an obstacle, magically breaks his neck. So we see why Hades wanted the heroes stuck in the Underworld, a clear path to a kingdom.

The heroes are in Storybrooke. The Charmings reunite, baby Neal is so cute! We see that Merida took over as sheriff, yet made a not so good call to put Sleepy on guard duty. Which explains how Arthur got out. Regina and Robin find Zelena and tell her what happened, but she's so in love she refuses to believe them and poofs out. She finds Hades at the mayor's office and tells him what she was told. He's "Willing" to turn himself in. Yet she, as I'm guessing he predicted, doesn't want to lose him and proposes they fight back. Hades reveals an heirloom he brought with him, olympian crystals which look like power-free Zeus bolts. They also looked pretty plastic, no offense.

Down in the underworld Arthur isn't so happy and meets Hook. As they both have a score to settle with Hades, and Arthur doesn't feel like going to hell where he belongs, they team up to send Emma a message on how to kill Hades. They go to his suite/dungeon and Arthur, putting his king skills to the test, find the Storybook pages in Hades' throne. We learn that the god's heirloom can be his death. The problem following is how to get the information to Emma. Cruella destroyed the phone booths and, as self-proclaimed Queen, isn't about to help souls move on. She sent the storybook on a journey down the river of souls. The two men race after it, with ARhtur nearly getting thrown into the river by an angry soul and the book nearly sunk by another. Yet no one falls in. Hook puts the pages in and Emma, who is topside sees her version of the book burst open and flip to the fixed pages.

Regina and Robin emerge from the tunnels, passing Zelena's protection spell and find the baby. But Hades is waiting for them. The crystals won't kill them, they will end the heroes. No moving on, nada, just there and gone. He aims for Regina as she's the one who, to his mind is turning Zelena against him but he's just pissed because he was almost caught he Zelena also loves Regina now. Narcissist much Hades? Robin takes the shot meant for Regina. Selena comes in and there's a tense conversation as Zelena just came from a fight with Emma and got the pages. Hades is putting himself and not doing a good job convincing Zelena. Thankfully Zelena is smart enough to see the truth, and the right thing, and plunges the crystal into Hades who goes up in a burst of blue fire. Regina cries over Robin's body and Zelena weeps at Hades' pile of ashes. A tender hug between sisters.

Down in the underworld Hook and Arthur catch their breath when a white light appears. Now that Hades is dead Hook can move on. He tells Arthur to come with but Arthur sees that the broken kingdom he was destined to fix wasn't Camelot, it was the Underworld. So Hook goes. He's in a long hallway with greek columns, and a young man who's apparently Zeus. He's there to escort Hook where he needs to go.

Back in Storybrooke the town tends Robin's funeral. Roses wrapped around arrows are placed on his coffin. Poor Roland. :'(
Zelena arrives with the baby and says she found fitting name, Robin. Emma sticks around as Hook's grave is nearby. She sets a flask of rum on his grave and cries, finally getting to say good bye. She returns to Robin's grave, her mom says it's not her fault but, as we've seen, Emma gets hit hard with survivor's guilt and has felt guilty about everything that's happened leading up to, during and to that point of the Underworld adventure. Snow gives her a moment alone. Not ten seconds when Emma is hit with a ripple of light. Hook is behind her! Flesh and blood and back for good. (At least until the next life-threatening adventure). Zeus sent him back as a thank you for his part in destroying Hades.

Yet that wasn't the end of the episode. No. The end was in the mayor's office where Hades' ashes still sit. Rumple crouches by them. Earlier, after hearing Hades was in town, he called to offer Hades protection in exchange for him leaving Storybrooke. Hades refused, to which Rumple reminds the ashes as he sifts through this and pulls out a piece of Olympian Crystal. That much power in Rumple's twisted mind. Not good! Sunday can not get here soon enough.

 

[Addison]

"Only You," and "Untold Story", as it was a two-hour finale, basically two episodes in one night, I'll cover them both. In two posts don't worry.

The episodes were very Henry-centered. The articles were right he did go rogue, but in an understandable way. To recap Henry's experience with magic he has experienced & witnessed; lost the town sheriff, been put under a sleeping curse, nearly lost his mom and grandma to a portal destroyer thing, seen Snow in a dark place and nearly killed by Regina because she used magic to destroy Cora, had his mom and grandma taken away through a portal, been abducted to Neverland, nearly killed by giving his heart, switched in pan's body, lost his grandfather, had his memories erased/changed, was taken from happy New York, lost his dad, nearly lost his uncle, had his grandmother possessed, the entire town was put under a curse, seen "Marian" turn to ice, his mother in pain courtesy of the ice queen, hook nearly die thanks to Rumple, the blue fairies sucked into a hat, a mosnter set loose in storybrooke, Maleficent returned from the dead, tricked by Pongo, the entire town sucked into a book (sorta), the apprentice killed by the darkness which nearly took his grandfather, his mother turned into the dark one...okay you get the point. Henry has seen and experienced the dark side of magic.

So he teamed up with Violet on a quest to destroy magic. Adventurous first date. They get to New York and learn that Neal had searched for a way to destroy magic. They go to Neal's old place and find a journal. They go to the library to the research area. They find Storybooks, like Henry's, but with unfinished stories. Violet recognizes an artifact in the display as the holy grail, rather its twin. They figure that if the silver grail was the beginning of magic then that grail is the end. They test it on the crystal, which Henry acquired using his powers, and it works. They stuff everything in their bags and leave, only for Rumple, who followed to knock them out with a sleeping spell. The super-charged crystal has been spreading/restoring magic to the real world.

His moms find him and look for Gold, realizing Gold did something to the crystal. Gold is going all out to use the crystal to wake up Belle. He's in a hotel suite, which he just let himself into, and has drawn squiggles all over a table. Then a portal opens and Gold goes for the crystal only to lose Pandora's box. Now he is pissed and driven. Regina soon arrives, finding Gold thanks to the purple storm cloud swirling above his hotel. She says he needs the evil queen, which she's ready to re-embrace to stop losing the people she loves. Rumple agrees and they talk, Regina tells him that she learned her sister was sucked through a portal. She's distracting gold while Emma sneaks in. She finds the crystal, only for Rumple to poof it to his hand. He was wise to them, just easier to kill them both when they're in the same room. His fireball is ready when Henry jumps in with the goblet and violet and sucks the fireball and the power from the crystal. The adults tell him what's happened with the family, Rumple tries to play a huge guilt trip but Henry sends it right back.

He's outside at a fountain with Violet when Emma comes. They talk about how they were happy in New York, with out magic yet without family. They had family, lost them to magic and now they might never see them again. Emma says they'lld o what they did in New York before. Wish their problems away in the fountain.

Remember the Dragon? The chinese wizard from season 2 that August went to? He's alive. And he blows Rumple off but agrees to help Regina as he sees a noble fight between light and darkness, one she must win. Using a beautiful flower and a bowl of water he shows them where their family is, but isn't strong enough to open a portal. Yet they still have the power. It isn't the land without magic, it just appears that way. Magic is all around if they just see. If they believe. Henry has an idea and takes them to the fountain. He says that he wished his family was together and Hook found them. The fountain is full of true wishes, belief, magic. Each of them throws in a wish coin and the crystal starts glowing, but it's not enough. Henry stands at a statue and gets the attention of dozens of pedestrians, inspiring them to believe in magic and make a wish to help him save his family. Everyone throws in a coin, the crystal glows brighter and brighter until the water rises and delivers everyone from the other realm. Only rumple is missing. And their family is joined by another person.

They make it back to Storybrooke where Henry and Violet kiss. Yay! Teenage joy! We also learn that Violet is a legacy of another story. Her father is originally from Conneticut. You know the story "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"? Her dad's that yankee. So she's staying, so is he. Henry joins Regina as she restores magic to Storybrooke. Very happy, especially as she's rid of the evil queen. (that's in the next post). Their happy time is interrupted by a scarred yet handsome man. Hyde. He's in Storybrooke, and he brought friends, to play out the rest of their untold stories. Apparently he traded with Rumple, Hyde gets the town, Rumple gets help saving Belle. Regina warns that she knows how his story ends, he loses. Hyde says it's not that easy getting rid of/destroying their dark side. So we've set up season 6. Partially.

 

[Addison]

My previous post covered Henry's adventure. This one covers Zelena, David, Snow and Hook's adventure.

In Storybrooke they're at the diner mourning Robin when the ground shakes and in comes Hook, back from the dead. They go to the clock tower and Zelena says she detects the power of the olympian crystals. One must have survived. They know Rumple is gathering power to save Belle but they know that if/once he succeeds he won't return the magic. So they have to stop him, but they don't know where he is. They're in the loft making a plan when Regina tells them Henry is missing. They read his text that he's going to destroy magic. Rumple arrives, telling them what Henry did, and poofs out to find him.

While Emma and Regina leave to find their son the rest of them find a way to send everyone back home before magic disappears. Zelena uses the sorcerer's wand, promising no twister "you heroes take the fun out of everything". They say goodbye to Merida, the residents of Camelot, and the Merry Men. They say Regina will understand that Roland left as Robin would want him to grow up in Sherwood. Zelena promises he'll see Regina and his sister soon. The last person goes through and Zelena tries to close the portal but it won't. It stretches out, like a creepy worm monster, and sucks in Zelena, Snow, David and Hook. They land, with the wand broken, in a strange land. Across from a rocky gorge is a large building.

They find a groundskeeper and ask for help but he takes off. They catch up and he says if he's caught talking to them, or using magic or anything like that, he'll be in trouble. A man, Poole, arrives and knocks them out with a fancy taser. They wake up in a cage, which is enchanted against magic. The warden arrives, scarred yet handsome, radiating "psycho". He asks, with his hand around Hook's neck, why the Dark One sent them. Snow tells him the Dark One is their enemy too and they just want to get home. He leaves, not letting them out.

A little later the groundskeeper returns and says he can help them fix their wand. He can't bring the ingredients to them but he can take the wand. Zelena hands it over and he goes to a lab. He fixes the wand only for Poole to arrive. He subdues the groundskeeper, not believe that the warden wanted the wand fixed, and injects him with a serum. The groundskeeper is in agony and we see him change into the warden. Ladies and gentlemen, Jekyll and Hyde! Jekyll realizes Poole injured Jekyll and sends him running. He does use the wand though, opening a portal which gives him pandora's box. Leverage to use against the Dark One.

The groundskeeper wakes up in a straight jacket. Poole is asleep, allowing him to get out and free. He gets the keys off Poole and frees the others. He leads them out of the hospital through the city which is like a fusion of several realms. Jekyll explains that everyone here is an untold/unfinished story which Hyde apparently collects in a way. They reach Jekyll's apartment and he finishes a serum which he says will separate him from his inner monster. Then Poole arrives, saying he let him escape so he would finish the serum. He uses the old one on Jekyll, who tells the heroes to run as he transforms into the warden.

The warden uses Jekyll's serum, kicking Jekyll out of his body. The two are separate. Hyde calls him weak and starts strangling him. Only for Hook to race over and tackle him off. Zelena knocks out Poole and Snow uses his taser on Hyde. Jekyll takes his serum stuff and they run. He thanks them for coming back as they try to escape. Running through the city they're almost free but are cornered in an alley. Then it starts raining money. Pennies, nickles, dimes. Sounding familiar? A portal opens and the heroes jump in. Hyde tries to follow and fails. He goes to his office and tears it up in a fury. Rumple interrupts his tantrum. He starts magically choking Hyde unless he gives Belle back. Hyde says he can help him wake Belle. Rumple releases him, saying he's lying to save his own skin. Hyde swears he's not, as he's collected people from many realms so he's learned a lot about magic. They make a deal. Hence Hyde in Storybrooke. So we know how Hyde and his citizens/patients got to Storybrooke, the wand. But did Rumple come with him? Or did he stay in that other world?

So yeah, season 6 has a good lead in. Unfinished/untold stories from many realms. We know Jekyll and Hyde, what else? Dracula, Wolf man, will we learn how/where Jefferson got his hat? Where and how Snow got that dark fairy dust? Who Lily's dad is? Also, as the stories are untold and such, Henry's author duties and powers will come up a lot, I'm guessing.

Ooh, right, there was something else forboding at the end. In new york, prior to everyone coming home. Regina told Emma about her battle against her dark instincts, the baggage that she, as a hero, must carry from her Evil Queen days. She tells Snow on the roof of Robin's apartment building and Snow tells her there's a way to be rid of the evil queen. They use Jekyll's serum and Snow and Emma are there to support her as the evil queen literally comes out. Emma subdues the evil queen, who taunts Regina as she doesn't have it in her to destroy her as she needs the evil queen. Regina says she doesn't and crushes her heart. The evil queen disintegrates and everyone returns to Storybrooke. But we see that evil queen dusts swirling over New York at the end. She materializes in the Dragon's shop and sets him straight. Regina might have won the battle over her sould, but now it's war. She rips the dragon's heart one, not crushing it, and proclaims she's back. Will the evil queen conquer our world? Or will the two come to Storybrooke? I haven't been this excited for a new season of Once since season 2 ended. That was before I knew Pan was Rumple's dad. If I had known, then I haven't been this excited since season 1 ended.

Come on season 6!

 

[Addison]

Season six will air in a month.

Kinda conflicting reports, imo.

The end of season 5 saw the citizens, good and evil, from the land of Untold Stories coming to Storybrooke. (How many people can a small town house?) We also saw the Evil Queen rip out the dragon's heart. So she's not dead...is the dragon?

We do know the Regina vs Evil Queen will be a big part of the season. Lana is apparently taking sword fighting lessons. While the incomplete storybooks from the research library were incomplete and about all kinds of stories across the genres, right now we're only hearing about one set of stories, A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. There are still only rumors about Sinbad and Scheherezade. But we did see a sneak peek with Jafar and Aladdin. Wasn't Jafar defeated somehow in the Wonderland spin-off? Honestly I didn't really watch the entire spin-off. The original series is better and the writers were shooting themselves in the foot by using future story material for Once on a new series.

Anyway we do know the season won't be broken into A and B like the last three seasons, one whole season dedicated to the incomplete stories and the Regina vs Evil battle. Oh, and Rumple and Belle. He got part of the job done, got his family back to the world, although we don't know if he's actually in Storbrooke. Now the hard part, waking Belle up.

 

[Addison]

For those who haven't seen the sneak peek, here you go.

Kinda makes you wonder what Emma will face this season. There is a rumor of wedding bells for her and Hook, maybe her Savior fate gets in the way. Or maybe Emma has to knock that nonsense out of Aladdin's head.

 

[Addison]

A few points I forgot. Sorry.

Archie will return. Yay! So will Cinderella, who apparently has a mysterious connection to the Land of Untold Stories. We'll also get to see more of Hook's past. After all he's 300 years old, he's done a LOT. Sounds like some of it will come to light, putting him in awkward position with the people of Storybrook, as he's not proud of it.

We'll also get a peek into David's past. The mythology of his character is founded on something he's believed to be true for so long. The truth will come out which will affect him, and through him the people he cares about. I'd be willing to be it's about his dad. In season 4 when he told Anna about his father I thought it was a little....meh.

Belle will definitely be out of the box, soon in the season. But when she'll wake up will be a mystery. Seeing as her dad refused to wake her, how will she be woken? All magic comes with a price, and Rumple doesn't like to pay so if it doesn't bite Belle in the butt, then it could affect their unborn child. Wow the possibilities are many and exciting.

 

[Addison]

Once Upon A Time is returning this month! By all the articles and such it looks to be getting back to it's golden roots. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping, wishing, praying, everything short of illegal activity, hoping they don't do to "Once" what they did to "Lost".

A few new points I've found is that it looks like Regina and Zelena will be roomies. They do have a common bond, with their happy memories back and them each loving Robin's baby. Although I do see some "Mommy" drama as Zelena is the mother but Regina was Robin's love.

Another is that the Evil Queen, although returned, won't be focused so much as her better half as it will be on pursuing her grudge against Snow. Let's not forget that there's also Hyde in town and we've seen his power. Come on the guy absorbed Zelena's blast. If those two team up....oh man! I'm smiling and shivering simultaneously.

Something that hasn't been brought up, at least not in depth, has been Henry's role in the coming season. I'm not talking about Evil Queen using him as bait or trying to trick him. That's kinda obvious. I'm talking about him as the Author. He has chosen to honor his role and use his powers the right way. No matter how the story plays out or how long it takes, he's doing it the right way. Something tells me not every character from "The Land of Untold Stories" will like that. Or they want their happy endings NOW, before their greatest opposition or such villain catches wind. They may put Henry in a tough position where he may have to use his author powers in the corrupt way.

Here's the trailer, love the Evil Queen look

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I watched this show for some time; it was a brilliant concept, and I loved the character development and the backstories of all the villains. Unfortunately the story took a huge downward plunge in season 5. The writers had the perfect opportunity to end it in season 4, but no...they had to keep going with it.

Why didn't Henry write everyone their happy ending, and have Lily eat Zelena? (I never liked Zelena.)

I liked Rumple for a while, but when I saw at the end that he was *still* just backstabbing everyone I didn't care for him anymore. Ruby was my favorite, but sadly there's a lot of wasted potential. Regina was great too.

If they didn't end it they could at least have had a new set of characters take center stage and let Emma and Hook (*drools*) and Snow and Charming have their happy ending and have Henry, Ruby, Lily, all the younger cast members become more important...Trying to manufacture more and more and MORE tragic backstory for everyone gets old.

Once Upon a Time: Everyone's evil and everyone's related.

 

[Addison]

Several great points, especially the last paragraph and the log line. Also, thanks for the post. I don't know why there are so few. If I'm scaring people I apologize.

I also apologize that this post is coming late. I know in the past I've been basically posting synopsis of episodes with my own critique, but now I'll just be reviewing and critiquing episodes.

So, let's jump in with the first episode. It picks up pretty much an hour, tops, after the season 5 finale left off. Everyone's happy, Hook and Emma are about to get romantic then cue the ominous signal of a new arrival. A giant "dirigible" as Jekyll calls it (Basically a steam-punked zeppelin) soars over Storybrooke and crashes in the forest. The citizens follow and Emma and Regina face Hyde, losing. When they find the wreckage it's empty, but Jekyll uses the scraps to make both Hyde-proof cuffs and the happy thing that took him down in the finale. Yet, with the clanging and banging of searching the site, Emma has a vision. At least a scattered clip of one. The vision continues to try and coalesce at seriously crappy timing. Emma's hiding, ready to fry Hyde only for the vision to come and nearly cost Regina her life. But Emma gets it together and Hyde is imprisoned. Yet Hyde knows what's happening to Emma. Archie tries to help but Emma goes to Hyde, who tells her to follow the red bird. Which she does. Seriously? She just takes the word of a powerful, evil villain who can't be hurt by her magic? But she finds an oracle, supposedly (I have my doubts seeing as Hyde brought specific people) and sees the full vision. She's fighting a powerful hooded figure, and is run through. The oracle is a ray of sunshine and tells her that she will be killed by the person no matter who long she put sit off. Emma keeps it secret, even hiding her shaking hand from the people she loves.

On the Belle-Rumple front I smell another evil-god. In exchange for Storybrooke, Hyde gives Rumple a map to the Temple of Morpheus, the god of dreams. Rumple sprinkles sand from a giant vase on sleeping Belle and enters her dream where he meets said God. Morpheus acts as a guide through Belle's dream, which gradually turns from morbid to light as Rumple shows his loving side, only for Belle to have some doubts and Morpheus to come in at perfect timing. He says he's their son, as Rumple sprinkled sand on him too. He proves it, as he loves his mom especially as he's seen she won't fall for Rumple's crap, and kisses her brow. She wakes and leaves Rumple in the temple. They. Actually. Bought that?! Seriously? Morpheus is the god of dreams and sleep so of course he can wake someone from a sleeping curse! Did neither of them think to make sure? If that baby-teller-amulet is still around then they can use that. If it's a boy then maybe I'll buy it. If it's a girl, time to worry!

There was a nice sub-story with Regina and Zelena. Basically it's two sisters in pain and, not wanting to hurt the other, accidentally have a fight and one moves out, only to run into the arrived Evil Queen. Regina has a nice talk with Snow who says that Regina, not the evil Queen, inspired her strong faith in a better life. Regina opens up about her realization that now it's her story and it's as important as every story. As the two leave, a feather flutters to the bench. The very feather that started the sister fight. Kinda weird, and cruel, how that stuff happens all the time.

 

[Addison]

A Bitter Draught.

The residents of The Land of Untold Stories are starting their Storybrooke assimilation at Granny's. A warm welcome from Regina and Henry meets a mysterious stranger who disappears when he offers to help him with his story. The person is revealed to be the Count of Monte Cristo, who was hired by the Evil Queen to kill Snow and Charming. He's back to finish the job. Regina tries to call him off, but no good. It's not that he's stubborn, as the Evil Queen reveals in a dramatic re-entrance to Regina's life. Evil Queen has his heart. He almost finishes the job, but Regina kills him. At least he's reunited with his love, Charlotte. Prior to all this Zelena didn't tell Regina the Evil Queen was back, thanks to the Evil Queen pulling at her strings. I mean, come on, that's was the Evil Queen does. Apparently string-pulling is a family trait when the women are evil.

Meanwhile Emma goes to Archie to talk about her vision. She's honest about it, a sign of development. But when Archie gets close to buttons about her identity "I'm the Savior, if I don't help people who am I?" she leaves in angry-Emma fashion. After the Evil Queen returns Emma goes to Archie and says she's not telling her parents as now they'll be really worried. Also that in her vision she saw all of her family with her except one, Regina. Uh, Emma you do realize Regina may have been injured, imprisoned, poisoned or dead in that vision? Or fighting the Evil Queen and the hooded person is someone else? Heck it could be a really pissed off Rumple. Or maybe Lily's dad? Hopefully that's a story we'll finish this season.

A nice set up in this episode though. At the end David and Hook are ready to help Henry figure out the stories when David sees a letter for him. Inside is a coin and it strikes a nerve. He goes outside for air and cue the evil queen. She doesn't attack, physically anyway. David says he dealt with his father's death, but Regina puffs away after asking if David is sure it was a "cart-accident". I knew it would be David's dad! Ha!

So far the sixth season is doing good in terms up mounting suspense and deep stories. Or at least deepening, as we've basically seen the equivalent of 8 novels in the last five seasons. [Season 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4c, 5a, 5b.] Luckily the third episode will show us more about Cinderella's story. So, DragonOfTheAerie and others, we will be getting a break from the main cast after all. Hopefully this won't be a one time thing. Please writers let's branch out, and double-please, no more family relations.

 

[Addison]

The Other Shoe


I really hope this episode gave Emma something to think about. In Archie's office she bumped into Leroy, who told her that they freed Dopey from his tree state (Dopey is apparently pursuing a Master's Degree) weeks ago. "You think we sit around waiting for you to fix things?". So Emma doesn't have to help everyone, people are capable of saving themselves. Also, she's not a savior just because of her powers or anything, her lifestyle make her a savior as it was her Bailbondsman skills which helped them find and save Cinderella and her sister.

On that note, fantastic backstory for Cinderella. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has some darkness inside. Looks like Cinderella's slip-up put her in the role of evil stepsister for a bit. In her defense step-mom Tremaine is a vicious piece of work. Even after Cinderella spilled, she still broke the slipper. But it's was nice to see Cinderella and Clorinda have a true sister moment. And that someone viewed as evil has good pure happy thoughts and a good path there. Chlorine in love with the footman and having to act so cruel so her mother won't destroy her and/or the footman Jacob. In the end Tremaine looked hilarious in an orange jumpsuit and that goofy "aristocratic" hair-do. Cinderella and Clorinda got their happy ending. In the style of the season 1 episodes.

Hook and Henry were great helps in this adventure of "Operation Mongoose 2" as Henry named this sequel. Hook was even teaching Henry fencing. Looks like the three are getting along, which was good as Emma asked Hook to move in with her. Guess now Belle has the Jolly Roger all to herself. Although her wall around her heart may be chipped, thanks to a cassette from Rumple. It was sweet, not only was it not some plea from Rumple for her to return, it was a sweet poem for their child. Also David, who was the messenger, said that between his father being home drunk and sad and his father being gone, it was worse when his dad was gone.
We'll get back to that.

At the dirigible wreckage, Jekyll tries to recreate the serum but fails. He and David went back to the wreckage to get more items. Regina realizes the Evil Queen is attacking the cracks in their family and hurries to Zelena. She sees the rattle in Robin's crib and knows the truth. She tells Zelena, angry at Regina telling her to get rid of the rattle, that she's trying to protect her as she knows there will be strings. Zelena claims Regina's trying to protect herself as she's the one who literally ripped herself in two, setting the Evil Queen free.

Some movement on the Snow front as she is sick of "defeat and repeat" and wants to teach again. To have a normal life where she teaches and David is the sheriff. In an inspiration she creates a team up between Jekyll and Frankenstein in the latter's garage, where she then sees members of the school science faculty. Gotta admit, a school with Jekyll and/or Frankenstein as science teachers would be awesome.

Back on the David front he takes his father's coin to Rumple's shop. In exchange for information on the coin he delivered the cassette. He learns the coin was found in the wreckage of a cart. Yet his father was stabbed. He's ready to find the killer, if they're in town. Snow tells him he's seeking revenge, not justice. She says they have a life, family, normalcy in their family. He agrees and says he'll burn it, but doesn't. You'd think, after seeing other people's secrets come to light and his own, he'd know his secret would come to light in a not-so-pleasant way.

The final scene saw the Evil Queen pacing and pissed in Hyde's cell. Realizing Hyde can't help while imprisoned, she frees him. Why she waited so long, who knows. But they walked out, arms locked. Talk about a power couple. (Not counting the creepy-gross scene in the previous episode between the Evil Queen and the Dark One. Blech!)

 

[Addison]

"Strange Case"

I want to start this post with the following proclamation; I knew it! I freaking knew it! Yeah, I knew there was something off in the Jekyll and Hyde story. If you look back at the episodes we never really see Hyde do anything evil. Yeah he attacked Hook but that was, apparently, out of fear of facing Rumpelstiltskin again. Aside from that.....yeah he's done nothing evil. The heroes' view of Hyde is only portrayed by their own brief experience. Yet this episode revealed the real villain/monster was Jekyll. I mean come on he was so ashamed of his inner feelings and passion (what separates man from robot) that Hyde literally came out scarred and beaten. Yet we saw Jekyll try to kill pregnant Belle! At least we got to see how to kill a doppelgänger, seeing as Rumpel was unable to kill Hyde earlier. Kill the original, kill the double. Which doesn't bode well for Regina. She even told Emma, that if it comes to it, Emma will kill Regina to stop the Evil Queen.

The flashbacks were interesting and enlightening. Although the writers still haven't told us where exactly that Victorian England type place is. Clearly it's not our world. My best guess is that it's another kingdom in the world of the Enchanted Forest. Like Arrendelle, only more technologically advanced. We saw Jekyll try and fail to get into an exclusive scientific club with the help of his not-so-subtle crush Marie. Then in comes Rumple to see Jekyll's temper tantrum and help finish Jekyll's serum, which apparently will separate a person from his or her inner weakness/darkness. Well, it works, with Hyde succeeding where Jekyll failed both with the elite scientists and Marie. Apparently, not only does neither know what the other did during their time awake, but the serum has apparently separated the personalities. So whatever intellect, science genius and jerk-hole from Jekyll does not leak into Hyde and he doesn't even feel Jekyll. The same way vice versa. But we do see where the hostility between the two comes. Hyde and Marie connected, seriously and beautifully, and fall asleep at her place. But in the morning Marie wakes up with Jekyll. She freaks out even more when Jekyll says that he is Hyde. Marie tries to leave her room as she tells Jekyll she does not and will never love him. That bites her in the butt as he shoves her out the window. Jekyll drinks his serum, bringing out Hyde and thus making everyone think Hyde killed Marie. Like I said, Jekyll's the jerk. Back at the lab though Hyde swears to Rumple that he didn't kill Marie, which reveals to Rumple that the experiment didn't work and he tries to kill Hyde, but instead lets him live "with your weakness".

Back in Storybrooke, where we only get three of scenes of David and Emma. Also an adorable Neal scene, mixed well with over-protective dad. Henry and Snow go through a normal Storybrooke day, as Snow stated she wanted. I'm happy to report that Henry and Violet seem to be in a good (jr?) high relationship. Snow meets her teacher's aide, a woman from the Land of Untold Stories. They go to class where Snow seems to have lost touch with her teaching side. Her aide gives her great advice, as Snow is teaching as Snow White, not Mary Margaret, to which Snow returns to class and gives a lesson I wish I was given. She sticks the bad papers to a tree and demonstrates Newton's third law via shooting the papers with an arrow.

In the ending scene we finally get a glimpse of the long awaited story of a prior Savior. The teacher's aide is at the well where she meets with the Oracle, to whom she swears she wasn't followed and no one knows who she really is. The oracle says that "he" is in Storybrooke. The teacher's aide is Jasmine and Aladdin is in Storybrooke. So, my question, just how long has Aladdin been in Storybrooke? Jasmine came from the Land of Untold Stories, did Aladdin stow away? Or did Jasmine follow a lead to Storybrooke? Seeing as the next episode is titled "Street Rats", sounds like we'll get the answers.

 

[Addison]

I lost interest in Once, for good reason. Put simply the creators have done to Once what they did to Lost. They've had so many unanswered questions, tangles and such that I've flat lost interest and, according to the show's views and ratings, I'm not the only one.
The few unanswered questions that have stuck with me are "Why did Zelena need Regina's blood in season 3?", and "Where and How did Snow get the dark fairy dust?". But the biggest plot hole appeared in the promo for the most recent episode.

For anyone who's watched, the Black Fairy's quote is "I created the dark curse you were born to destroy.". Uh...no you didn't. I went to Netflix and cued up season 1's final episode. According to that episode, Rumplestiltskin made the curse. Yet he retracts in in season 6 to make the finale and its villain more pungent? Sorry, no thank you.

R.I.P Once Upon A Time, you had a good run but you lost steam at season 3 (Which could have been the series finale if they hadn't ripped off Frozen).

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I lost interest in Once, for good reason. Put simply the creators have done to Once what they did to Lost. They've had so many unanswered questions, tangles and such that I've flat lost interest and, according to the show's views and ratings, I'm not the only one.
The few unanswered questions that have stuck with me are "Why did Zelena need Regina's blood in season 3?", and "Where and How did Snow get the dark fairy dust?". But the biggest plot hole appeared in the promo for the most recent episode.

For anyone who's watched, the Black Fairy's quote is "I created the dark curse you were born to destroy.". Uh...no you didn't. I went to Netflix and cued up season 1's final episode. According to that episode, Rumplestiltskin made the curse. Yet he retracts in in season 6 to make the finale and its villain more pungent? Sorry, no thank you.

R.I.P Once Upon A Time, you had a good run but you lost steam at season 3 (Which could have been the series finale if they hadn't ripped off Frozen).

Sad to see I lost interest after season 4, as stated before.

 

[Alora pendrak]

I can't believe no one's started a Once Upon a Time thread yet. So I will.

Warning, if you're not caught up on the episodes then don't read, possible spoilers. I'll try to hide them but, ye be warned.


I watched the recent episode and I have to say the new villain's background is.....oh brother. She doesn't have to be Regina's you-know-what to hate her. The creators seem to think that the only valid reason for the heroes to hate the villains is if they're related. Like Snow and Regina, David and King George, now Regina and HER.

The creators could have just made it that (new villain) was Cora's apprentice but was thrown aside, or magically exiled, when Cora became pregnant with Regina. Besides, one of the villain's pets got Regina's blood remember? And the villain put it in a phial, a fusion of Regina's blood and a magic potion which would allow her to break the Blood Magic protection.

I love the series, it's one of my favorites, but this development almost made me cry inside.

In once upon's a time's defense most fairy tales delt with family issues and abusive parents. The brother grimm did things such as change biological parents to step parents becuse they found the idea of evil parents too horrifying not encouraging good morals or makeing a father who wanted to marry his daughter repulsed by the idea in their version. i'm actually more annoyed at its inconsistant plot threads, tendency to make the heroes too stupid to live and inability the balance the good and bad traits of heroes and bad guys Regina's redemption ark sucks such she hasn't have to do much to earn forgiveness and the fact she is a rapist was just brushed under the rug. i don't get me wrong i love Regina as a character but the show is often full of shortcuts for her. and Rumplestilkin is cleary a bad guy so i'm confused as to why the writers want him to get a happy ending at the expense of distroying everything Bell stood for in the beauty in the beast franchise. The whole thing was when the beast was a jerk, Belle didn't put up with his bad behavior here she's been reduced to a prop for Rumple aka the beast. Also what do the writers have aginst Captain Hook? He's the only bad guy who actually made amends but with every season they have to either torture him or make him completely unable to do anything. When he was evil he was able to do a lot more without falling for traps he should of seen comeing. also why are Snow White and Emma so blah? I liked Snow White in the first season but as time went on the writers made her hypocrital, dumb and terrible to Emma. Also they couldn't decide if they wanted Snow to an actually human being or perfect so flip flopped between the two persona's. Emma is the biggest let down of the series they hinted that Emma had a rather rough childhood did some things she wasn't proud of but the show always potrayed Emma on screen as pure as driven snow, the charmings the prefect family. Also i recent its overall shift from season 1's darker tone to the later seasons of the family friendly dumbing down tone. Season 1 had people die, little red ridding hood eat her own boyfriend, Graham enslaved. The peter pan arch brought back some of the darkness but even then it just wasn't the same.