Once Upon a Time: Leaving Storybrooke (7x22)

I'm feeling very bittersweet! I can't believe it's over. I started watching this show right when it started, so I've really been there from the beginning to the bitter end. It's always a little hard to review finales, because I try to balance looking at the episode on its own merits with how I feel about the show as a whole.

Cons:

I have to be honest, though. This episode was a little clunky. The main problem I had with it was the stuff with Wish Realm Henry. It came out of nowhere last week and it petered out in a really lackluster way this week. It's sweet, in theory, that Regina could save any version of Henry. But it doesn't really make sense. This Henry doesn't have any memories of Regina as his mother. He thinks of her as a coldblooded killer, and he's given no reason to change his mind about that. Suddenly he's fine, and he and older Henry are both affectionate sons of Regina? That's just weird.

One thing that was always going to be a problem with a finale to this show was the balance between the new characters and the old. This finale succeeded in a very big way with Regina, Rumple, and Hook, three of the characters that bridge the old show with the new (well, I know it's a different Hook, but you get what I mean). It's less successful with some of the other characters. Snow, Charming, Emma, and Hook all get what essentially amount to cameos. I was hoping for more from Snow and Charming, at the very least, even if I knew Emma would be a brief appearance. They show up to save the day, but remain off-screen for way too long after their initial appearance. On the flip side of that, so many of the new characters are also essentially sidelined. Lucy and Jacinda had NOTHING to do in this episode. Even Henry was really not in it all that much, and if there's one character that should have been the focus of this finale, it's Henry. We barely saw Tiana, we never got mention of Drizella and Anastasia again, although ostensibly they would be in Storybrooke in the new "united realms," wouldn't they? This episode had to grapple with the old and the new, but what we got was an odd mix of both that left out far too much, in my opinion.

Pros:

Essentially, to sum up that big paragraph, there were a lot of things that I didn't get to see that I would have liked to see. But the good news is, for the most part, the stuff that we did get was absolutely excellent.

First of all, on a smaller note, Robin asks Hook for his permission to marry Alice. It's adorable. They hug. Hook calls her his "future daughter-in-law." They are the sweetest in the whole world. I know I say it a lot, but Alice truly was the best thing this season of Once Upon a Time had to offer. I loved her a lot. And Robin is also adorable and their love is super pure.

Let's talk about Rumple. I cried, you guys. Here's what's so perfect about this - he does the right thing for the right reasons, and of course he gets to be with Belle at the end. In general, I'm a bit iffy on the "man gets woman as prize for good behavior" trope that happens a lot in storytelling, but I think Rumple and Belle's story works for me here at the end because we're living in a magical world of fairy-tales. I spent a long time being annoyed that Rumple and Belle were endgame, because I was never convinced that Rumple was redeemable. But this whole last season has shown that he wasn't ready yet, and that now he finally is. In an odd way, even if I can't forgive everything Rumple ever did, I can accept that Belle can forgive him.

And let's talk about the fact that he did it for Hook. Not our Hook, necessarily, but Wish!Hook. Either way, the history that these two men have with one another made those final moments enormously satisfying and super emotional. I love the fact that Rumple literally gives Hook his heart, which serves the dual purpose of defeating evil Rumple, and saving Hook from his curse so he can be with his daughter again. Talk about heroism! Their friendship ended up meaning so much to me. Regina has a moment where she basically eulogizes Rumple, and gives him a final thank you and a kiss on the forehead. These two also have a long and complicated history, so it was nice to see that final moment between them as well. Really, Rumple's death and subsequent reunion with Belle was the only fitting end for his character. That didn't make it any easier to watch!

And then there's Regina. As I mentioned in the "cons" section, I found it a bit odd that this episode didn't focus more on Henry. But when the episode ended and I realized that the protagonist of this finale was Regina, I found that oddly touching. Emma had seasons 1-6 to develop a character, and in some ways, this show has always been about Henry and his moms. I found the sendoff for Regina to be enormously satisfying. Essentially, she casts one more "curse," bringing everyone together in Storybrooke. No more separation. No more pain. Regina uses her magic and becomes, once and for all, the "Good Queen." To make it even better, we get a coronation scene that mirrors the beginning of the show, when Regina shows up to ruin Snow and Charming's wedding. Snow crowns Regina the Good Queen, and everyone is there to applaud her. She makes a touching speech about how love and hope will save the day. How there will always be loss, because that's a part of life, but how they will always find a way to continue on. This isn't about happy endings, it's about a happy beginning to a new chapter of the story.

Cheesy? Oh yeah. Do I care? No! This show is always cheesy. It's supposed to be. Emma, Hook, and their daughter Hope show up late to the coronation, and we get cute little scenes of everyone hugging, Emma calling Regina "Madame Mayor," Henry cooing over his baby sister... it's all very sweet, and it also conveys the passage of time in a really fun way. We don't see the immediate aftermath of Regina's spell, but we get the sense in this scene that everyone has settled in to their lives, and are living in harmony together. I hadn't really contemplated what Regina's "happy beginning" would look like, but I'm glad that she acknowledges that loss is a part of life. She doesn't get to have Robin Hood magically back at her side - not everyone gets a long life with their true love. But we do see a moment where Regina and Robin get to be together, in a sense, and reflect on their epic, if short lived, love story together. And now that I've seen this conclusion, it makes so much sense for Regina. Of course she gets to rule the people of Storybrooke. Of course she'd be there to bring everyone together.

I could go on, but I think I'll wrap it up there. I was a bit miffed at the lack of time spent on certain characters in this finale. Of course, Regina and Rumple deserved the endings they got, and I was happy to see so much time spent on them. It also makes sense not to take up too much time with returning characters. But this episode did feel a little uneven. This whole season was uneven, so maybe it's inevitable. For this finale, I give...

7.5/10

For the show as a whole... gosh. I know that this show has had a lot of inconsistencies. I know that there are whole arcs that were less than great. But when I think of Once Upon a Time, I think of Rumple's clever schemes and motivations from Season One. I think of the stellar character development of Emma Swan, unlike anything I've ever seen for a female protagonist before. I think of the overwhelmingly cheesy yet undeniably sincere romances, between Hook and Emma, Snow and Charming, Alice and Robin... and most of all I think about how this show is about family always finding each other, and that True Love doesn't need to always be romantic. I'm going to miss it!

8/10