Once Upon a Time: It's Not Easy Being Green (3x16)

I don't know if I really like Zelena as a villain. Sorry, but I think she was more effective when she was a mystery. Now that we know her back story, I'm not sure I buy it. But hey. That's just me. Let's look at the plot.

In the land of Oz, a couple find a baby abandoned in the woods. They decide to name her Zelena. We flash forward to see that Zelena's mother is dead and her father does not truly love her. He is deeply suspicious of her magical abilities. He tells Zelena that she's not really his daughter, and Zelena decides to go find someone who will appreciate her more. She travels to the Wizard of Oz, who shows her the truth about her family. She sees her mother, Cora, and her sister, Regina. She's jealous of everything Regina has, and decides to go get it for herself. The Wizard gives her magic silver slippers that will take her wherever she wants to go. She taps them together three times and travels to the Enchanted Forest.

Once there, she meets Rumplestiltskin. He sees how powerful Zelena is, and decides to train her to cast the curse, instead of Regina. He knows from a prophecy that it must be Cora's daughter, but now he has two sisters to choose from! However, Rumple continues to train Regina alongside Zelena. In the end, Rumple chooses Regina, because the curse involves giving up the thing you love the most, and Zelena loves Rumple the most, which makes her too dangerous.

Zelena, furious, vows to get revenge on her sister for getting everything she should have had. She returns to the Wizard and asks him to take her back in time to the moment when Cora abandoned her. The Wizard says he doesn't have the power to do that. Zelena discovers that the Wizard isn't magical at all - he simply uses magical artifacts! We also see that the Wizard is Walsh, Emma's ex-boyfriend. Zelena turns him into a flying monkey so that he will serve her.

In Storybrooke, we start off at Neal's funeral. At the wake, Hook offers to hang out with Henry and tell him about his dad, since he knew Bae when he was a child. Tink gives Regina a hard time about Robin Hood, noticing the lion tattoo on his arm. Zelena shows up and tells Regina that they are sisters. While Regina is at first skeptical, she finds a letter in her vault addressed to Cora from Rumple, which proves that Zelena is indeed Regina's sister. She is upset, because she always thought the letter was about her, but now she realizes it's about Zelena. She confides her pain to Robin.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group realize that Regina won't be able to defeat Zelena alone, especially since Zelena has the Dark One on her side. Belle tries to get through to Rumple, even though they don't have the dagger, but it doesn't work. Hook and Henry have a good talk about Neal. Henry is obviously suspicious of what he's hearing about his dad, because a lot of the details don't add up. However, Hook tells Henry that Neal lost his father, just like Henry lost his. They have something in common.

Finally, we get to the confrontation between Zelena and Regina. It doesn't seem to be going so well for Regina. Zelena throws her up into the clock tower. However, we now learn a bit more about what Zelena wants - she tries to get Regina's heart. Luckily, Regina had planned for this: she left her heart hidden with Robin Hood!

So, Zelena has Charming's courage and tried to go after Regina's heart... what could she be planning? Zelena taunts Rumple and says that she's going to make Rumple choose her instead of Regina - it sounds like she's planning on resetting everything and doing it all again!

Alright. What did I not like?

As I've already mentioned, I don't think Zelena makes a very good villain anymore. To me, it seemed like she grew up with a supportive mother and a somewhat distant father, but then once she discovers she was adopted, essentially, she just goes WAY off the deep end. Unrealistically so. And I know complaining about realism seems silly, but I feel like the characterization isn't reasonable.... we had no reason to think that Zelena was unstable until suddenly she just went insane.

Also... her evil plan is to reset things? Haven't we hit the reset button enough on this show? The curse, the memory loss? Storybrooke twice? The Enchanted forest again and again? It seems pretty clear they must stop Zelena from getting what she wants, because how boring would it be to watch the whole thing all over again?

But there were some seriously amazing moments in this episode. Enough amazingness to trump the not-so-great parts, in my opinion.

Hook and Henry. Emma's two boys. All of the scenes with Hook in this episode were just outstanding, in my opinion. He wanted to help Emma and Henry, and he also wanted to try and come to terms with Bae's passing. How sweet. The best Hook moment is when he actually calls Emma by her first name, instead of "Swan." My heart melted. Also, the little smile that Henry gives him, and the look on Hook's face... I think that's the first time Hook felt real fondness for Henry, outside of his feelings for Emma.

Also, we've got Regina and Robin Hood. I can't believe Regina is actually trusting her heart to him! Love is in the air! The most adorable bit was when Tinker Bell asked about Robin, and Regina was all embarrassed. They were like a couple of giggling high schoolers. Also, I loved that Regina allowed herself to be vulnerable with Robin, as she talked to him about her feelings of inadequacy. In the end, it was Regina's heartless mother that allowed her to survive Zelena's attack. I think that's a great reminder that although Regina has done some horrible things, she's also had some horrible things done to her, and a lot of her choices stem from that.

Emma acting all bad ass and trying to stand up to Zelena. That was awesome. Character development makes my heart sing! She willingly refers to herself as the Savior, and does what she can to lead. The only thing I'm mad about right now is the fact that she's still considering leaving Henry without his memories. I do not approve!

I'll leave it there. Even though I'm not sure I like some of the bigger structural decisions going on here, the character dynamics remain extremely interesting. Next week is a Hook-centric episode! I'm so excited!

7/10