Once Upon a Time: A Curious Thing (3x19)

Oh gosh. Let's take a look.

In the Enchanted Forest during the year nobody remembers, Belle shows up to tell the Charmings, Regina, Aurora and Phillip about what happened with Neal and Rumple. Aurora says that Zelena wants Snow's baby. She and Phillip were forced to tell Zelena when everyone arrived back in their own world, because Zelena threatened to hurt them. Zelena then turns up to capitalize on that promise. She easily immobilizes the Charmings and Regina, and she turns Aurora and Phillip into flying monkeys.

Eight months later, as Snow is getting close to having her baby, they all try to figure out how to defeat Zelena. They have the idea that maybe Rumple can help them. He's being held captive in his own castle, and Robin Hood, who has broken in there before, warns them that it's full of traps. He goes along to help, much to Regina's displeasure. They find Rumple, apparently totally crazy, in a cage. When Belle takes his hand, Rumple seems to come back to himself a little bit, and he tells Belle that Glinda the Good Witch might be their only chance of defeating Zelena.

In the Forest, the Charmings and Regina find a magic doorway that will take them to Glinda (based on a hint that Rumple gave them). The Charmings are able to pass through, but Regina, whose heart is full of vengeance, is not pure enough to get through. Glinda says that her magic is not powerful enough to defeat Zelena. Only Light Magic, of the purest kind, will be able to do that. They realize that this means Emma, the Savior and the one born out of True Love, is the only one who can beat Zelena. But how can they get to Emma? The only way is through the same dark curse that Regina used to curse them originally.

To Regina's (and the audience's) surprise, Snow agrees to enact the curse, which will mean crushing the heart of the thing she loves most. Her husband. She does so, but just as the curse is going to be enacted, Zelena flies by and drops something in the curse's potion that will make everyone forget their memories, thus making it difficult to stop Zelena. Snow has the idea of ripping her own heart in half to bring Charming back to life. Regina warns that it might not work, but luckily it does!

We then see Zelena telling Rumple about their new curse, and offering a memory potion to Rumple so that he'll remember the missing year. Zelena of course also takes the potion. Just as Rumple is about to drink it, Neal is able to come out of his father and send a note to Hook, including the memory potion. It was Neal who sent word to Hook, not the Charmings.

In Storybrooke, Regina meets up with our core group of characters (minus Hook) after a steamy make out session with Robin Hood. They all agree that they need to break the curse, because it's possible they already know how to defeat Zelena, they've just forgotten it in the missing year. The key, they realize, is the power of belief. Just like Emma had to believe in magic the first time around, Henry has to believe in it now. How are they going to do that? Well, the first time it all happened when Mary Margaret found the book of Fairy Tales mysteriously in her closet. This time, when they all look, they can't seem to find it, until Mary Margaret looks in the same box Emma already checked, and finds the book.

Meanwhile, Henry is getting sick of his mother lying to him, and he wants to go home. He plans on stealing Emma's car and taking it just as far as the nearest bus station. Hook is captured by Rumple and Zelena for a stern talking to: if he doesn't kiss Emma and take her magic away, Zelena will start kill the people Emma loves, starting with Henry. When Hook sees that Henry wants to get out of Storybrooke, he figures it's a good way to get him out of danger. He arranges for Smee to take Henry away, but before they can leave, some Flying Monkeys attack! They try to run away from them while Hook tries to shoot them down. He runs out of bullets, and it looks like Henry is about to be taken... when luckily Regina, Emma, and the Charmings arrive. They take out the monkeys using magic, a gun, and a sword.

Henry is understandably confused. Emma asks Henry to believe in her, and he says he does. She hands him the book of Fairy Tales, and he finally remembers everything. He and Regina joyfully reunite. Emma is just about to give Henry True Love's Kiss to break the curse, when suddenly Zelena appears, grabs Henry, and holds a knife to his throat. Zelena says that this is Hook's fault, since he failed in his task. Before Zelena can hurt Henry, Emma uses her magic to make Zelena release him. Henry then notices Regina, who was knocked unconscious in the chaos of Zelena's departure. He begs his mother to wake up. She does, and they embrace. Regina says she loves Henry and kisses him on the forehead. It breaks the curse.

As everyone's memories come rushing back, Mary Margaret admits that it was she who enacted the curse. Then everyone turns on Hook - obviously he was lying about getting the memory potion from the Charmings, so where did he get it? Hook insists that he obviously received it from someone, but he doesn't know who! Emma says she can't trust Hook, since he didn't tell her about Zelena's curse on his lips. It should have been Emma's choice of how to protect Henry.

Later, at Neal's grave, Henry says that his father really was a hero after all. Suddenly, Mary Margaret goes into labor!

I think the first thing I'll say in terms of problems with this episode is the pacing of it. Not of just this episode, but of this whole chunk of the season. Look at how much happened in this one episode. A lot of stuff, and all of it very important to the A-plot. In some ways I'm relieved to finally have answers, but I'm also annoyed at how quickly it all went.

In particular... are you seriously saying that after all of that, Zelena just turns Aurora and Phillip into flying monkeys? Is this the end of their story? Because if so, that's so stupid. I don't understand why Zelena doesn't just turn everyone who annoys her into a monkey. Why not turn David into a monkey? Or Regina? Or Henry? I mean, I can buy it that maybe Emma's magic is too powerful, so she's safe, but the rest of the town could be Zelena's slaves right now, and I don't understand why she's not capitalizing on that when it's clearly so easy for her.

Also, the most ridiculous moment in this episode for me was when the Charmings were talking to Glinda. She says that her magic isn't powerful enough, and that they need Light Magic. And suddenly that means that Emma is the only person in the whole world who can defeat Zelena. Quite a leap in logic, especially since Glinda has never even met Emma or heard of her before this very moment. It was just a bit silly. And it's really intense and amazing and all that when Snow decides to sacrifice Charming for the curse, but it seems like they really didn't even try to explore other avenues. They didn't have any way to be positive that it would work, or that Emma was really the only solution. Just saying.

And why didn't Hook just tell everyone what was going on? What do you think Emma would have done? Forced herself on Hook to protect Henry? That's ridiculous! She knows she needs her powers, she's a pretty smart lady. They could have worked together to figure something out.

Henry's acting. The kid's voice has dropped recently, and it's kind of hilarious. Unfortunately, his ability to play Henry well hasn't really improved with time. Mostly it wasn't noticeable, but there were a few cringe-worthy moments in here.

But let's stop being so negative and find some good stuff to talk about. Because it was certainly there.

First, and I feel like it's totally getting old at this point, I have to praise Robert Carlyle's acting. He's very good at playing crazy Rumple.

The sheer intensity of the idea of Snow sacrificing Charming for the curse... wow, that's really something else. It's such an interesting way to explore Snow's character, and how much she's changed. She was always ready to risk everything for love, and now she's risking her love for everything else. It's incredibly dark and crazy. And I know that they found a way to save Charming, but here's the real deal - Snow didn't know that before she squeezed her own husband's heart into dust. They didn't know there would be a way to bring Charming back, and they did it anyway. That's really intense.

The number one best thing ever is that the curse was broken by Regina kissing Henry. It was a two-part effort. Henry's belief and love for Emma is what allowed him to accept the Fairy Tale book and believe in magic, but it was Henry and Regina's love for each other that allowed the curse to actually break. It was such a nice way to show us how Emma and Henry and Regina's lives have changed over these three seasons, and how they've created a family together.

Also, Hook being protective! So cute! I love that he messed it up, and that he did all the wrong things, but ultimately he was trying to protect Emma and Henry. It's a great conflict.

I'll stop there, even though I'd love to squeal about Hook for a long time. I'm sure I'll get more opportunities as we head towards the final few episodes!

7/10