This is going to be one of those really long reviews where I have a lot of things in the "Cons" section, but I come out the other side thinking this episode was pretty much great. Let's start with a long list of complaints that I'll mostly sweep under the rug after ranting about them.
Cons:
So, as far as curses and plot consistency goes, this episode was a big ol' mess, where many of the characters' actions didn't mean squat. We have the bulk of our heroes swept off to the Enchanted Forest, where we learn that the Black Fairy's curse is tied to Emma's belief, and that once that belief is dead, all the story realms will disappear. Back in Storybrooke, Emma is convinced that her fairytale family are delusions, and Henry tries to convince her that everything is real, as he seems to be the only one to know what's going on.
Alright, great. So we see Hook and David make a daring trip to find a magic bean, we watch the Evil Queen make a noble sacrifice to try and help the heroes get back to Henry and Emma, and we watch Henry struggle to make his mother believe again. My problem? None of this matters in the least. All of the struggles we see to try and get back to Emma and make her believe again are not at all essential to the plot. In the end, Rumple just has to kill his mother. Once the Black Fairy is dead, Emma believes again, and the realms are restored, no problem. Gideon tries to kill Emma, as the Black Fairy still has his heart and had ordered him to, and Emma fights him for a while before letting herself be killed. Henry then wakes her with a True Love's Kiss to the forehead. My problem here is that everything came back around to the Gideon vs. Emma thing, with the first 75% of this episode having very little bearing on the actual events at the end.
That's a pretty big structural problem, but I can set it aside fairly easily as I did like so many of the details the episode offered. But by "so many," I definitely do not mean "all." Let's start with the worst thing in this episode:
Rumple and Belle get back together after one of the most lackluster redemption arcs ever. Rumple had been working with the Black Fairy on this curse, but in the curse, he's stuck without Belle, and so he's pissed off that his mother double-crossed him. Henry tries to get Rumple to help save Emma, but Rumple says no, all he cares about is Belle. And then his mother shows up, Rumple reveals that he's been "awake" this whole time, and Rumple kills the Black Fairy. He and Belle then go to find Gideon's heart to stop him from killing Emma, but they are too late and it doesn't work. Apparently Rumple "tried to do the right thing" by trying to save the world from Darkness, because if he had let Darkness win, a new realm of magical possibilities would have opened up. Bae could have been brought back from the dead, and Gideon and Belle could have been forced to love Rumple, Darkness and all. In resisting that, he earns his happy ending. Baby Gideon is returned to Belle and Rumple because of... reasons... and we see Belle and Rumple having their famous "Beauty and the Beast" dance, sharing a kiss, and joining our other heroes for a big dinner at Granny's, happy as can be.
Problems? Oh yeah, I've got problems. Doesn't anybody else notice that Rumple only did the "right thing" because his mother screwed him over in the curse? If he'd gotten what he wanted, a happy life with Belle and Gideon, do you really think he would have given a damn about Emma being defeated and Darkness consuming the land? Of course not. He's a selfish ass and he always has been. I'm willing to hand-wave away the silliness of Gideon returning to infant form, but I'm not willing to hand-wave away Rumple and Belle getting back together. She became a prize to be won at the end, and even after all the crap that Rumple had put her through, she suddenly forgives him and kisses him and UGH. I mean, we didn't even get a proper Emma/Hook kiss in this finale, but I have to watch sweet, brave, compassionate Belle fall back into the arms of an abusive monster? NO THANK YOU.
While I accept and even appreciate a certain level of hokey dialogue and cheesy moments on Once Upon a Time, Snow's speech at the end was a little over the top. She's talking about how it's not about happy endings, and it never has been, and how now they get to be happy because they're together, and on and on and on, and then we see all these slow-motion shots of the characters going about their lives. Snow is teaching at the school again, Regina is reinstated as mayor/queen, Hook becomes a deputy and works with Emma, Henry has his girlfriend... all of it is very tying-up-loose-ends, which I don't mind, but the way they did it was just too saccharine sweet. All the slow motion, every character giving a lingering look with love in their eyes, then a big dinner at Granny's where everybody sits along one side of the table for some reason so they look like they're in "The Last Supper." It was all very overwrought and could have been scaled back a bit.
Other tiny complaints before I talk about one more big thing: the CGI was terrible, but what else is new? The Evil Queen sacrificed her life to save everybody, but she gets brought back no problem, effectively erasing the impact of that moment. The Black Fairy's curse was too identical to Regina's original curse, down to the Black Fairy being Henry's mom. Why would she want to be Henry's mom? That's never explained properly. The runes that Henry wrote while in his creepy Author-mode were apparently the key to the final battle, which the Black Fairy easily decodes using a wand. She discovers that "darkness cannot snuff out the light" so only light can kill Emma. That's why she uses Gideon to strike the final blow. But what kind of crap is that? Darkness can't kill the light, so Emma has never been in any real danger from any villain on this show ever, is that what you're telling me? And that's a pretty easy loophole, isn't it? Just take somebody's heart and control them, and problem solved! Also, how did the Black Fairy still have Gideon's heart? Rumple's whole reason behind helping his mother was to get Gideon's heart back. In this episode she just says "despite what Rumple thinks, I still have your heart." Okay? Convenient? How did she pull that off? And I feel like I know a really easy way to solve that. What if the Black Fairy had promised to return Gideon's heart after the curse was enacted, and then had just gone back on her promise? Then I would get why she still had it!
This episode attempted to sum everything up by showing us flashes of the different realms so we could see that life continues as normal. But there were still several characters who never got their due. I'm pretty upset particularly not to know what happened to Mulan, but whatever. Maybe some of these side characters with unfinished stories can come back in for next season in some capacity?
Finally, before I turn to the many good things about this episode, let's talk about the jump-off stuff for Season Seven. We see a little girl with the Once Upon a Time book in the forbidden forest. Her father tells her to run and keep the book safe, while he faces off against some unseen evil. We later see the little girl lamenting her separation from her father, while Tiger Lily shows up and promises her that she will one day be reunited with him. As the episode ends, we flash forward to modern day Seattle, and see this little girl walking up to a door and knocking on it. Her father from earlier opens it, and it's revealed that this is an adult Henry Mills. The little girl introduces herself as Lucy, and says she's Henry's daughter. He doesn't seem to remember her at all. Cut to black.
I like this idea, with one caveat. If this is a literal retread, I'll be pissed. Henry doesn't remember he has a daughter? Fine. But if Henry spends an entire season not believing in fairytales, and then he suddenly remembers everything at the end, I'll be pretty annoyed. Henry has the heart of the truest believer. If he, as an adult, has no memory of Storybrooke and all the stuff that happened to him there, I will be upset. He was raised to adulthood by Emma, Regina, Hook, his grandparents... you can't tell me that he has no memory of all of that stuff. I guess what I'm saying is... tread lightly, Once Upon a Time. Tread very lightly.
Pros:
So. As I mentioned up top, I actually enjoyed watching this episode, despite the many, many flaws. Most of my love of this episode comes from the way that various character relationships were explored.
Emma and Henry - this is where it all began, and this is where it had to end. I love the fact that somehow the curse can't hold Henry, and he wakes up knowing exactly who he is and what's happened. This concept tied things up nicely to the start of the show. Henry helped Emma to believe in herself again, and just as Season One ended with Emma giving Henry a True Love's Kiss, this season ends with Henry waking Emma up with a TLK of his own. I missed seeing more of the love story between Hook and Emma in this one, but it should end with Emma and Henry. That's only proper.
Hook and David get to go on a little Captain Charming adventure to find a magic bean that can get everybody back to Emma. Hook gets a great speech about how he and Emma didn't have an epic love that was meant to be - they fought for their love and they won. David agrees to go with him on his quest, at one point calls him "son-in-law," and screams in anguish when Hook seemingly plummets to his death off of the magic beanstalk. Later, when Hook wakes up and realizes that David is missing, he freaks out in turn. Lots of great material here. I love how much David and Snow both accept Hook into Emma's life. So sweet.
David and Snow get to have a few last great moments as the epic love story that started this all. Snow wakes David after his fall with a TLK, and when everybody's back in Storybrooke, Gideon at one point holds a blade to Snow's throat, and David freaks out and rushes forward, his voice shaking with rage. All great stuff. I do love the fact that the montage at the end shows Snow leaving baby Neal with David while she goes off to work. David as a stay-at-home dad is exactly what I want.
Hook and Emma do get a really cute little reunion, and I love that once they're back in each other's arms, they spend the rest of the episode wrapped around each other. There's this understandable need to be touching one another, just to be sure. I love it. I loved Hook's dramatic speech about his love for Emma, and I love how he refers to her as "my wife" on more than one occasion.
Regina gives Emma the "you can do it" speech just before the final showdown between Emma and Gideon, and it's kind of delightful. She says that when Emma first came to Storybrooke, they fought over who Henry's mother was. And then Emma found a third way. They were both Henry's moms. She believes in Emma. She doesn't know how she'll solve this problem, but she believes in Emma's ability to find a new way. Those two have one of the coolest relationships on the whole show. I mean, talk about a journey!
Also, just... family feels. When Emma is brought back with Henry's kiss, she's pulled from the ground by Hook, and then we have Hook, Henry, Snow, Charming, Zelena, and Regina all bringing it in for a big hug. How stinkin' cute is that?
Like I said, I'm a little skeptical about the flash-forward thing for next season, because I don't want adult Henry's story to just recycle Emma's journey from Season One. But as long as they come up with something new and cool, I am so here for this. A little girl of color as our new wide-eyed innocent? An adult Henry as our protagonist? Damn. That could be super interesting. I'm curious to see how Hook, Rumple, and Regina will be woven in to the story, but I think there might be something good coming along. I'm definitely willing to give it a go.
And there you have it. This episode was structured like a series finale, because in many ways it is. Emma, Snow, David, and young Henry are all gone. Belle and Zelena are gone. This is not going to be the same show at all next season. But that doesn't mean that there might not be something great waiting for us!
8/10
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