Once Upon a Time: Bleeding Through (3x18)

Not a bad episode, all things considered. Definitely some interesting information in here. This is one of the first "in the past" episodes that we've had in a while that didn't take place during the missing year. And instead of being a rehash of old information, as we often get in those scenarios, this is most certainly something new.

In Storybrooke, Zelena shows up at Regina's house with some green apples (oooh burn) and the two of them have a little chat about jealousy and who's the better sister. This ends up being a distraction so that Rumple, on Zelena's orders, can steal Regina's heart. Regina decides she needs to find out what happened with Zelena in the past, so she decides to do a seance and talk to Cora, her dead mother. Regina, Emma, the Charmings, and Hook all gather around. They try to open a portal to talk to Cora, but at first it doesn't seem like Cora is willing to talk. Everyone else leaves, but Mary Margaret and Regina stay at Regina's house. The two of them talk about how Mary Margaret killed Cora, and Regina admits that the situation was complicated. Suddenly, they hear a noise from one of the rooms...

It's Cora's spirit, and it seems to be here to talk to Mary Margaret, not Regina. Cora imparts information about her past to Mary Margaret and then vanishes. Mary Margaret explains what Cora showed her. Belle then enters and says she's figured out what Zelena is up to: she's after a heart, courage, and a brain, which all points to a time travel spell. The last thing she needs? Mary Margaret's baby. Then, she'll go back in time and change her destiny.

In Cora's past, we find out exactly what Zelena wants to change. Cora worked as a bar girl, and fell in love with a man claiming to be a prince. They had sex, Cora got pregnant, and this "prince" vanished, later to be found by Cora and discovered as a deceitful gardener. Cora is all alone and pregnant, and doesn't know what to do. Prince Leopold (Snow's father-to-be) shows up and helps Cora with her plight. He and Cora form a connection, but Leopold says he is set to marry Princess Eva. When we flash forward, we see that Leopold chose to follow his heart, and is getting ready to wed Cora. However, when the father of Cora's unborn child shows up and demands money to keep quiet about the baby, Eva overhears, and runs to tell Leopold. Leopold leaves Cora and gets set to marry Eva instead.

We then see Cora leaving baby Zelena by a tree, saying that she can never have the life she wants if she keeps Zelena. Now, in Storybrooke, they know the truth: Zelena wants to go back in time to kill Eva. Then, Cora will be able to marry Leopold, and Zelena will grow up as a princess. Everyone agrees that they have to stop Zelena: if Eva dies, the Mary Margaret won't be born, and neither will Emma, or Henry.

So, what do I think of this? Well, I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a few complaints. The weirdest part for me was this odd little subplot where Zelena made Rumple dress up all nice and "celebrate" with her about her imminent success. Rumple seizes the opportunity and starts kissing Zelena. However, she discovers his true motive, and stops him from grabbing the dagger. To me, this part was just... sick. It was really weird, and showed Zelena in such an insane light that it was hard to believe she belonged in the same show with these other characters. And, like, what was the point of showing us that? To show us that Zelena is still obsessed with Rumple? Yeah, we kinda already had that idea.

There were some nitpick things that I didn't love, either. For one, when they try and summon Cora, they try for like five seconds before the connection gets broken, and then Regina says it's useless to try again. Seriously? Wow. Good effort.

I think that's all I have for the negative stuff... mostly I really just don't like Zelena and her stupid retcon plan. But let's look at what's good.

First of all, kudos to the makeup department and to the actress for managing to not make me laugh at the idea of that actress as a young Cora. She did a good job employing mannerisms of a much younger person. Yeah, it was obviously a bit silly, but it didn't ever distract me, which is what matters.

Mary Margaret and Regina bonding! Wow! This was fantastic. I loved how Regina admitted that Mary Margaret had some reasons for killing Cora. And now of course their relationship and their history together is even more complicated, as we learn that Mary Margaret's mother is the one who screwed over Cora to begin with. Yikes. But there was some real forgiveness and family bonding going on here. In particular, I loved it when Regina protected Mary Margaret from Cora. How sweet!

Regina and Robin kissed! I can't believe I forgot to put that in the plot summary. At the very end of the episode, Regina goes to talk to Robin. Robin apologizes for letting Rumple take her heart, but Regina says it's okay - at the time, Rumple had been about to hurt Roland. The two of them share a passionate kiss.

Speaking of Rumple... his character is more intimidating than ever before, in some ways, because we know he's entirely at the mercy of a madwoman. He seriously would have killed an innocent child, even though he didn't want to. So deliciously interesting. I can't wait for him to break free of Zelena.

Hook and Emma! Is anyone else thrilled beyond belief by the parallels between Hook and Emma's first kiss, and Regina and Robin's? After all, we know that Regina and Robin are soul mates, so what does that say about our dashing pirate friend and the Savior? In a way, this episode showed something of a reversal of earlier Captain Swan interactions. Emma is in a decently good mood. She jokes around with Hook, giggling and showing him her magic. He, of course, is very reserved and worried, because of Zelena's curse on him, and her threats. So now, he's the one who's treating her with nothing but seriousness. It's an interesting dynamic shift, and it means good things for the eventual fate of their relationship.

I liked the douchy fake prince character in this one. In the past few episodes, I've noticed some rather adult-ish themes being displayed. The prostitute from the last episode, for example. And now we have a guy who lies to a girl, gets her into bed, and then ditches her. Sort of an unsettlingly realistic thing to happen in this fantasy word. I liked it.

I guess I'll stop there for now. Yeah, Zelena annoys me, but I still enjoyed this episode!

8/10