Oh my Gosh we have so much to talk about here. This is going to be an insanely long review. But hey, it's a double episode, and both halves were awesome. Let's get started.
Cons:
Well... the fact that this is a double episode is rather puzzling. Each episode individually was awesome, but they barely connected at all. Maybe it was just a scheduling issue, but I feel like the double episode week could have been saved for a different point in the season. Previous double episodes have been continuations. This was not. It was odd, and the second episode, while very good, definitely cut off the momentum of the first episode, which did more to carry on the A-plot.
This is a small thing, but it really distracted me. The actress playing Merida's mom Elinor looked way too young. She looked like she was the same age as her daughter, or at most only ten years older. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, except for maybe the fact that I feel like older women don't get nearly as many opportunities in Hollywood.
Pros:
Let's start with the first hour. The plot is fairly basic - we see Dark One!Emma and Hook in Storybrooke, as Hook begs Emma to tell him what really happened so that he can help her. Emma says that everything she's done has been to protect their future together. She magically speeds up Zelena's pregnancy, and Zelena gives birth to a baby girl. Emma then kidnaps Zelena and reveals that she can put the Darkness into Zelena, killing her and vanquishing Darkness forever. Hook and Zelena escape Emma's clutches, and then Zelena stabs Hook in the chest. He doesn't die... and the truth comes out!
Interspersed with these scenes are the flashbacks in Camelot. Emma's family is captured by Arthur and Zelena, and Merlin, at Arthur's command, is forced to threaten their safety unless Emma hands over the Dark One's Dagger and the spark of Prometheus. Emma uses her magic to trap Zelena, and she encourages Merlin to push back against Excalibur's magical influence. Arthur and Zelena are forced to flee, and Emma now has the Dagger and Excalibur. They can be reunited just as soon as she can light the spark of Prometheus... but she's having trouble making that happen. She's afraid of her future. Once she realizes that she really wants her happy ending, the flame is lit. Just before she's about to unite the blades, Hook collapses, dying from a magical cut given to him by Excalibur in the earlier struggle. Emma whisks Hook away with magic and tethers Hook to the broken part of the sword, creating a second Dark One and saving his life. Back in Storybrooke, Hook is furious that Emma would do such a thing to him.
Let's unpack all of this awesomeness, shall we?
Zelena giving birth to a creepily fast-growing baby was a bit sudden, but I have to admit I loved the scene where it happened. You have Zelena, grumpy, evil and in labor, and then you have Regina and Robin, worried for the baby, and then to cap it all you have Dr. Whale, who is just inappropriately glib about everything. His new hair is ridiculous too. Pretty sure that dye job was for another show or something. In any case, I loved it when Regina talked about how they really need another doctor in this town. Dr. Whale has always been one of my favorite minor characters. He was a lot of fun.
Regina is one of tonight's most valuable players for sure. When Emma is having trouble igniting the spark from Prometheus' fire, Regina knows that there's a reason Emma is holding on to the Darkness. Regina takes the Dark One's dagger and tries to order Emma to reveal the truth. Hook, Mary Margaret and David show up and stop her before Emma admits the truth, but later when Emma talks to Hook, she says that Regina did the right thing, forcing her to confront her own insecurities. I love that Regina knows Emma so well. She's always going to give her the tough love routine. Regina reminds the others that Emma gave her the Dark One dagger for a reason - she's the only one who can do what needs to be done. There was also this one little Regina moment that I need to mention - when Emma's family is tied to trees by Arthur, and Emma tricks Zelena, using magic to tie her to another tree, we flash to Regina's face. She looks so proud of Emma, and maliciously gleeful that Zelena has been trapped. I loved that!
In that same scene, I absolutely loved the fact that Merlin was able to fight back against the Darkness because Emma reminded him to believe in himself. Here's Emma, still the Dark One, encouraging the greatest Wizard who ever lived to reach inside himself and find the strength to fight back. I loved this reminder of Emma's heroism, even in the midst of such despair.
And now let's get to the real meat of this episode - Hook and Emma's relationship. Holy wow. So much to talk about here. In the flashbacks, we have so many cute little moments. We learn about Henry and Hook's "Operation Light Swan" - Hook found a house back in Storybrooke and he was going to ask Emma to move in with him once they got back home. This actually scares Emma, who's always been afraid to be totally vulnerable with somebody. But she tells Hook that although she's scared, she's willing to admit that she really does want a future with Killian. Admitting her fears is what finally gets Prometheus' flame to spark, as Emma and Hook share a kiss. Aww! And then there's Jennifer Morrison's amazing acting in the final scenes, as she watches Hook die and begs him not to leave. When Hook says that he's just happy to know that Emma will have a bright future, Emma practically screams: "that's not enough for me!" That just broke my heart. I have so enjoyed watching Emma's journey towards accepting love and happiness, and the angst is just spot on, as her happiness is taken away from her just when she's admitted that she wants it.
I need to talk about the scene where Hook collapses - Emma is so close to uniting the blade and vanquishing the Darkness, but when Hook falls to the floor, dying, everybody immediately rushes to his side. When Emma realizes that she can save him, everybody encourages her not to. And I get it, they're all worried about her losing herself to the Darkness. But look at what Mary Margaret and David have done - they actually share a heart. And then there's Regina, having Emma save Robin not so long ago. Everybody else gets to risk it all for their true loves, but Emma is told by her family not to. It's interesting, and I think it explains a lot of the animosity that Emma showed for all of them when they first woke up in Storybrooke with their memories erased.
The scenes between Hook and Emma in Storybrooke were also awesome - I love that Emma saves Hook from Arthur, and from falling to his death when he jumps off the roof. At the end, when Hook realizes he's a Dark One, he knows that Emma only saved him to stop him from learning the truth, since he was never in any real danger. One of the best moments between them was at the very start, when Emma saves Killian from Arthur, and then she tells him not to "do that again." Later, of course, we learn that Emma has already watched Hook die from a sword wound given to him by Arthur. Later, Killian tells Emma that he still loves her, no matter what she's done. His story about his rings was amazing - he talks about all the dark things he's done in the past, and how his rings used to be trophies, but now they're reminders that anybody can be redeemed if they have somebody who loves them.
And Hook is a Dark One! Oh my God let's just talk about this for a second. First of all, how did he not realize he's been Dark this whole time? Did he already fully accept the Darkness, and if so why does he not have a cool new look? His reaction was heartbreaking. Having seen the truth in one of Emma's dream-catchers courtesy of Zelena, he knows that he asked Emma not to turn him into a Dark One. Emma couldn't obey his wishes, faced with the immediacy of his death. This is such a deliciously twisty situation. I understand Hook's side of it, but after all of the horrible things he's done, he should be able to forgive Emma for this. It's so heartbreaking because Hook just told Emma that he would forgive her anything, but obviously he thought there were some lines Emma wouldn't cross. Now that she's crossed them, what does that mean? I can't wait to see the two Dark Ones battling it out. (P.S. - is this why Hook's True Love's Kiss didn't work on Emma earlier? He was a Dark One the whole time!)
Okay. Now let's turn to the second episode. As I mentioned before, the two halves of this double event don't seem to have much to do with each other, and that sort of annoyed me. The one tenuous link comes through Arthur and Zelena, who, after fleeing from Emma and her family, try and track down a magic helm that will help restore Arthur's kingdom by forcing people to be loyal to him. This helm was in the possession of the witch from Brave, which brings Merida into the story.
I won't go into too many details here, but I'll tell you the basics. Fergus, Merida's father, had gotten the magic helm from the witch in order to lead his men in battle. He died in the battle. Years later, just as Merida is about to become Queen, the witch shows up demanding for Merida to return the helm. She goes on a quest to look for it, enlisting her old trainer Mulan for help. Mulan has changed because of her broken heart, and Merida tries to figure out what happened. They meet Ruby along the way, who had been enchanted to remain in wolf form by the witch. The three of them discover that Arthur was the man who killed Merida's father, but that Fergus was actually not wearing the magical helm at the time. He didn't use dark magic to force his men into fighting. They faught because they believed in him.
Merida is crowned queen, and the witch turns up for the helm. Merida says she won't hand it over - she will destroy it, because nobody should have the power to force people to fight for something they don't believe in. The witch says that Merida has passed the test, and gives Merida the magical opportunity to summon her father's spirit and speak to him one last time. Fergus tells Merida he's proud of her, and Merida vows revenge on Arthur for taking her father away from her. Ruby and Mulan go off together to try and find Ruby's pack, so that she can find where she truly belongs.
So many great things going on here. This episode centered around three awesome ladies - Merida, Mulan, and Ruby. Let's talk about it!
Merida's character development was spot-on. Until now, I haven't been that interested in her. The actress is doing a wonderful job, but Merida was coming across as standoffish and unapproachable. This episode did a lot to make me understand Merida, and I like her a lot better now. She has a lot of insecurities about being a ruler, and it's understandable. Her father was a tough act to follow, and the leaders of the other clans do not want to fall in line with her. When she thinks her father used magic to get loyalty, she loses a lot of her faith in the memory of Fergus, and in her own ability to get the job done. When she realizes that her father did it without magic, and that she was the reason he believed in himself again, she gains courage to be a true queen of the clans.
The clansmen characters actually had their moments to shine as well. When they see that Merida is willing to give up her crown when she thinks it's what's best for her people, they fall in line. They pledge their loyalty to her. I was oddly choked up about that. This episode had a couple of tear-jerking moments, actually. The other one was the moment between Merida and the spirit of her dead father Fergus. Serious props to Amy Manson for her performance. Merida is normally such a tough character that this moment of emotional weakness was particularly powerful, especially since it was so masterfully portrayed.
Ruby! How I've missed you! I was so happy to see her again. She's so gorgeous and awesome and I wish she was coming back into the story proper. I loved the flashback scene with her and Mary Margaret. Ruby feels like she doesn't fit in back in Storybrooke. She wants to get back to the Enchanted Forest and find more people like her. She leaves, using a rare magic bean. But things don't work out for her - she ends up captured by the witch! It was nice to see a brief moment of friendship between Red and Snow; it really brought me back to the earlier days of the show.
Meanwhile, Mulan has lost her sense of honor because of her broken heart. Merida tries to help her, but it's actually Ruby who helps Mulan more than anything, as Mulan finds Ruby and helps her turn back into a woman. I loved the moment when Ruby said that she'd heard of Mulan from some friends of hers. Ruby was talking about Snow and Mary Margaret, but Mulan, sounding hopeful yet still defeated, asks about Philip and Aurora. We learn that they're happy and about to have their baby. I liked watching Mulan's brief little journey throughout the episode, as Ruby and Merida helped her remember the importance of honor, and set her on a path to find a new purpose.
I'm sure that Mulan and Ruby's shipper name has already been settled on, but I do hope we're calling them "Mulan Rouge," because that's just too good an opportunity to pass up. I love the fact that Ruby asks Mulan to come along with her. Even if we don't see them again, I'm going to assume they go off and fall madly in love. I mean, come on. These two meet each other when Mulan turns Ruby back into a sexy lady and Ruby falls on top of Mulan. I can dig it.
I guess that's what I've got to say about this episode. I tried to keep my review to a semi-reasonable length, but I'm not sure I succeeded. I still think this should have been two separate weeks, but as individual episodes, these were both very strong. Going forward, I'm excited to see what Dark Emma and Dark Killian are going to mean for the story - why didn't Killian know he was a Dark One? And I hope that we see Mulan and Ruby again, even though they were sort of written out of the main plot thread. I ship it sooo much already. I can't wait for more!
8/10
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