Once Upon a Time: Homecoming (7x21)

Working on a time crunch, so my apologies for the brevity.

Cons:

I guess it's hard for me to stomach the idea that Henry would be such an asshole in the Wish realm just because he's been thwarted in achieving his dreams. Maybe this is what the finale will be addressing? And where does Wish!Henry think his mother, Princess Emma, is? It's confusing.

It's a little annoying that we've gotten like two seconds of Henry with Ella and Lucy now that everybody remembers each other, and then suddenly Rumplestiltskin shows up and kidnaps Ella and Lucy. I want to see them actually being a family for a little bit, so I can remember what it is that Henry has to lose. Also, at this point, shouldn't he be freaked out about the time displacement thing? Isn't he worried about Emma and Hook and his grandparents and everyone back in Storybrooke? I feel like there are a lot of potential plot holes waiting to arise in the finale.

We get a lot of returning characters for brief cameos, and I thought some of them were really odd. Like, Cruella de Ville has this line where she tells Henry that his "little mutts are in the dungeon." She's referring to Ella and Lucy, and the use of the word "mutts" is supposed to be because she always talks using dog puns. But the fact that Lucy and Ella are people of color made the use of that word feel extremely gross. And we see Ariel and Peter Pan in this episode as well, but for such a short amount of time that it almost feels pointless.

Pros:

Alice and Robin are the cutest, sweetest thing ever. I cannot get enough of them. And it looks like it's the two of them who are going to Storybrooke to round up the rest of our heroes, so that Henry and his family in the Wish Realm can be saved. I'm so glad that they end up being the bridge that can bring the old story and the new story together.

I continue to have copious feels about Hook and Alice. The scene where they stand across the street from each other and promise that they'll keep looking for a cure was really moving. I don't really get why their curse wouldn't have broken when Gothel was turned into a tree, but whatever. For the sake of the drama, I suppose.

I am intrigued by the Rumple vs. Gold thing we've got going on here. Obviously our Rumple wants to get back to Belle at all costs, but the worst parts of himself are present in this other version, the one that wants power no matter what. We saw a similar sort of thing play out between Regina and the Evil Queen, and Regina realized that she had to accept that some degree of darkness was within her. Is the solution with Rumple going to be the same? Somehow I think I'd be okay with it if in this case, they just went ahead and killed the monster.

We see Tiana/Sabine struggling to adapt to her memories of being a queen. I like that she gets to have a little character arc here at the end, because I want the new characters to get their time as well, even with so many old faces about to resurface. I loved her speech to the people of Hyperion Heights, and Alice and Robin's encouragement.

I told you I'd be brief! I'm very excited for next week's finale. It will be odd, feeling the nostalgia of all the old characters coming back just in time to say goodbye to them forever. I'm happy that I watched this finale season of Once Upon a Time. There were a lot of things to like about it!

8/10