Once Upon a Time: Broken Heart (5x10)

I don't know... while in theory this episode should have been a total winner for me, there were a few things that just didn't fully click. It wasn't bad by any means, but I just feel... sort of disheartened. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

So, the main plot of this week's episode is dealing with the fallout of the revelation that Hook is a Dark One. We see how in Camelot he is angry at Emma, but Emma tries to convince him that they can defeat the Darkness inside both of them, as long as they work together. Hook seems to trust Emma, and Emma proves her trust in Hook by handing over Excalibur. Then it turns out... nope! Hook has fully succumbed to the Darkness. He decides to enact his own Curse to get back to Storybrooke - that way, he can finally get his long-awaited revenge on Rumple, who is still back there. Emma tries to stop him, but Hook crushes Merlin's heart as a way to enact the curse. This is a loophole - Nimue loves Merlin, so since she is all Dark Ones, it works the same way as Hook crushing the heart of the person he loves. Emma adds in a memory erasure to the Curse, erasing Hook and everybody else's memories of the fact that he's the Dark One. She figures this way Hook won't remember why he enacted the Curse to get back to Storybrooke in the first place, and this will protect him.

Back in Storybrooke, a lot of other stuff happens that I'll talk about in a minute, but the gist is that Hook duels Rumple, apparently seeking revenge. Rumple seems to win the duel, but we then learn that Hook had ulterior motives. He uses Rumple's spilt blood to open a portal to the Underworld, bringing forth Nimue and all the other previous Dark Ones. They've arrived in Storybrooke to snuff out the light!

All of this is great, it its own way - there's just one big problem: it undermines Emma's journey as the Dark One. After spending such a long time focusing on whether or not she would succumb, and then finally seeing the reason for it, we now turn to Hook as our main Dark One obstacle. From this point forward, we can pretty much say that Emma has pushed back the Darkness within her in order to do the right thing. Sure she's made some errors in judgment, but her Dark One behavior is positively mild next to what we've seen Rumple get up to. I guess I was looking forward to a stronger finish from this whole "Emma is the Dark One" plot thread. In a way, the twist about Hook just shifts off all that character development onto him, and suddenly we're in a different story from the one I thought we'd been seeing this whole time.

Hook's descent into Darkness was also way too fast. I get that he has a stronger penchant for Darkness within him, but for a man who placed his whole heart in Emma's hands, (figuratively, I mean) he certainly did give up on her pretty quickly after becoming the Dark One. Can Hook really say that he wouldn't have done whatever it took to save Emma's life, if the roles were reversed? Maybe I just needed more time to understand Hook's quick fall from his long-held status as reformed hero. It was all a bit sudden.

This last complaint is also rather complicated. Like I said at the start of this review, this episode was actually rather good... but there are just so many things that I find myself uncomfortable with. Is it just me, or is Emma's family behaving kind of horribly this season? Only Henry was willing to give Emma a chance to work with them and put things right, and guess what? Henry is pretty much the only one who has real reason to be angry with her. I mean, think about it. Erasing everybody's memories was bad, sure, but that's the only bad thing Emma has done to anybody except for Henry and now Hook. Their lack of faith in her is really disheartening after all of the time and effort it took for Emma to believe she had found a loving and supportive family. Emma is the Savior, for goodness' sake. I'm not saying to blindly trust her or anything, but you would think that at least Mary Margaret, who gave Regina like one million chances to redeem herself, would have a little faith in her daughter.

Pros:

That being said, we did have hints of trust and love from Emma's parents back in Camelot. I really appreciated that Mary Margaret understood Emma's motivations for saving Hook. She even pointed out that she and David share a heart because of the very same insistence on saving their true loves. This was one of my complaints from the last episode, and I was glad to see it addressed here. And it turns out Mary Margaret and David were right to be wary - but not of Emma's behavior so much as Hook's.

While a lot of Hook's descent into Darkness felt rushed to me, the stuff in Storybrooke was really delightful. I think now that we've finally caught up to the present in the flashbacks, we're gathering real momentum to finish out this half of the season strong.

First of all, I loved Henry and Emma's moments together. Despite the underwhelming performance from Jared S. Gilmore and the hokey scripts usually written for Henry's character, I still like the kid quite a bit. He's such a genuinely good person. His decision to forgive Emma and move forward was really lovely, and I can't wait to see the two of them continue to work it out.

Rumple decides to face Hook like a hero, with no magic or trickery. This is a continued part of his quest to prove himself a hero, and make himself worthy of Belle. After defeating Hook (although we learn that Rumple's death wasn't Hook's goal), Rumple goes to find Belle, excited to put the past behind him and move forward with her. Belle tells Rumple that while he's finally the man she always knew he could be, she can't be with him. At least not right now. There's too much broken trust between them, and she can't expend all of her energy in continually being his support system.

Yes! Go Belle! Thank you! I was getting so annoyed that Belle seemed able to just let everything go and be with Rumple after all he had done. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. I personally have a hard time with the whole idea of redeeming Rumple's character, but if that's what we're going for then we absolutely need to see him work harder for it. And Belle standing up for herself is something I've been needing to see for a long time. This scene was rather touching, especially when Rumple pleaded with her to stay. But I think ultimately if we're supposed to believe in them as a couple, they need some serious time apart to think and grow as individuals. (Side note - what ever happened to Will? Did they just decide there was no way to awkwardly shoehorn him in to the story? Whatever.)

Then there's Regina, Robin, Zelena and the new baby. Zelena comes barging into the hospital to claim her daughter, but finds Regina there, telling her that there's no way Zelena is going to threaten the safety of Robin's child. However, things take a rather sweet turn when Regina brings Zelena with her and informs her that she and Robin have decided to have hope for her - she will be allowed to visit the baby as long as Robin or Regina are present. She can be a mother to her daughter. This was adorable! Zelena is a hilariously villainous character, fuelled by unbridled jealousy and hatred for her sister. It's lovely to see her softening a bit. I hope they play around with this interesting alliance between heroes and villains. I almost don't want Zelena to have a redemption arc - how much more fun would it be if her only redeeming quality was her love for her child, kind of like Rumple's only redeeming quality was his love for Bae?

Then there's the Hook and Emma stuff - despite being annoyed at how quick everything turned to Darkness, I was loving the angst. Colin and Jennifer kicked ass in the acting department. I think my favorite moment was when Hook told Emma that he wanted to hurt her like she had hurt him. You could see how much both of them were tormented by what had happened. This is all intermixed with happier moments, where you think Hook and Emma might be able to unite as the Dark Ones and work together to expel the Darkness. They have a couple of cute kissing scenes back in Camelot, but it's all for naught, which makes it even more depressing.

I'll end, appropriately, with the ending - as we approach the mid-season finale, we're already starting to set up the Underworld-based story of Season 5B. Hook, with Dark One!Rumple over his shoulder, welcomes Nimue and an entire boat full of previous Dark Ones to come to Storybrooke and help him with his plan to snuff out all the light. This is going to be so intense! Will Emma have to kill Hook to stop him? Is that where this is all leading? I can't wait to find out!

7.5/10