Once Upon a Time: Breadcrumbs (7x16)

I realized that Nick was Hansel last week. Was I not supposed to? I'm confused by this.

Cons:

The flashback story was kind of stupid. Basically, Henry wants to "find his own story" so he wants some grand adventure where he can find a ring to propose to Ella with, one that comes with a great story. Hook tries to help him by setting up a grand adventure, but it turns out that Hook paid Blackbeard to let Henry have his moment of glory. Henry is hurt that it's a setup, but then forgives Hook because apparently Hook was feeling insecure in comparison with the other Hook. It was just kind of... lackluster, and all of these story beats felt like they came out of nowhere. Were we supposed to know that Henry was still feeling like he was without a story of his own? It doesn't seem like him to want adventure for adventure's sake. And was it ever a thing that New Hook was jealous of OG Hook? Because if it was, I certainly didn't pick up on it. The whole flashback was pretty much entirely useless.

Pros:

Although... we did get to see Henry proposing to Jacinda, and it was pretty adorable. There's something about the two of them that I find undeniably sweet. They're not passionate like Hook and Emma, they're not quite as fairy-tale perfect as Snow and Charming. They're just... good together. It's adorable.

The Hyperion Heights side of things was much more successful than the flashback story. Lots of great material! One of the surprising highlights was seeing Henry and Rumple together. Obviously Rumple can't say "hey, you're my grandson!" but he does tell Henry that the character in Henry's book who Henry is based off of (i.e.: Henry... gosh, how many times can I type Henry in one sentence?) is his (Rumple's) favorite character. He admires book-Henry's willingness to fight for what he believes in. This was a surprisingly touching moment between these two people who, even if one of them can't remember it, really are family.

Obviously the ending was kind of intense, what with Nick/Jack/Hansel kidnapping Henry, while Jacinda thinks he's off to take a job in New York. Sure, there's a cliche element to this, because Henry wants Jacinda to tell him to stay, but Jacinda is insecure about Henry considering leaving, yadda yadda. But for all that Nick's character makes no sense, I actually got a little worried about Henry as this episode came to a close. I can't wait to see what comes next for him!

Tilly is by far the most interesting part of this show for me at this point. I know we already had one less-than-successful Once Upon a Time spin-off about Alice in Wonderland, but I swear I'd watch a whole show about Tilly. She starts working at Sabine's food truck, and ends up having a great deal of success passing out free samples. She runs in to Robin and the two of them have another adorable conversation. Seriously I'm starting to really hope that theirs is the TLK that breaks the curse. How cute would that be?

And then there's Zelena and Robin. Their mother/daughter bond is pretty adorable as well. I like that they got into a fight, but that Tilly's insights made Robin see that the situation was more complicated. I know I keep saying this, but the reunions I'm most excited for all have to do with Tilly. I want to see her and Robin find each other again, for real, and I want Tilly and Rogers to realize that they are father and daughter. Please give it to me!

We end on a sinister note - it looks like Kelly/Zelena is going to be Hansel's next target, as he has sent her a box of chocolates - his creepy calling card! There are so many less-than-perfect things about this final season of Once Upon a Time, but I'm surprised and pleased to find that there are still plenty of things I care about.

8/10