FINAL THOUGHTS: Once Upon a Time – Season Finale (Part 2)

Missing Once Upon a Time this weekend? Don’t worry, we have you covered.

—The Editor

First Aired May 10th, 2015.

Henry (played by Jared Gilmore) goes on a mission to save his mother, Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison), from her tower. He enlists the help of Hook (played by Colin O’Donoghue) who in this world is a cowardly deck hand.

They rescue Emma from her prison and find that she remembers everything from the real world because her punishment was to know the truth without being able to do anything about it. They evade Lily (played by Agnes Bruckner) in her dragon form and plot to help Regina (played by Lana Parrilla) stop the wedding of Robin Hood (played by Sean Maguire). Snow White, aka the Evil Queen (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) finds them and in the ensuing fight Hook is killed. Meanwhile, the Author/Isaac (played by Patrick Fishler) goes to Rumpelstiltskin’s home to seek his help. In this world, Rumple is a hero living with his wife, Belle (played by Emilie de Ravin), and their baby. Isaac tells Rumple details about his deceased son and tells him that if doesn’t stop the wedding he will lose his new family. Emma tells Regina about losing Hook before telling him how she felt and urges her not to let Robin go.

Emma keeping her memories in the new world worked very well for the narrative in the second half of the finale. It was a great twist and it saved us scenes of Henry trying to jog his mother’s memory (although we got plenty of that with Emma and her parents). Plus the memory loss plot has been used way too many times, although that’s a common theme on Once. Even though Rumple was supposed to be the hero in this reality he still chose to selfishly do bad things to keep that happiness. I think this is a commentary on both how Rumple is just an inherently selfish person regardless of circumstances and that sometimes heroes have to make tough choices. Although I can’t help but wonder if Isaac is too scared or too lazy to take care of the problem himself instead of asking everyone else.

Regina, Emma and Henry get to the chapel as the wedding is in progress but are stopped by Rumple. He and Emma fight while Regina heads for the church, but once Emma is defeated Rumple turns on Henry. When he moves to kill him Regina jumps in front of the sword and is fatally wounded.  When Robin sees Regina he refuses to leave her side despite Zelena’s/the Wicked Witch of the West’s (played by Rebecca Mader) protests. Isaac gloats that he’s won but Henry picks up the magical quill and it lights up revealing him as the next Author. Henry writes that Regina’s sacrifice undid everything Isaac wrote and everyone is returned to the real world. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (played by Timothy Webber) warns Henry about the power of being the Author and Henry decides to destroy the quill. Belle confronts Gold and tells him that if he had chosen her over power he could have everything from the alternate reality. Belle admits she still cares for him and asks the Apprentice to save him. He transfers the darkness from Gold’s heart into the Sorcerer’s Hat in order to keep it contained.

The climatic fight would have been more dramatic if Evil Snow White made an appearance but she was probably off terrorizing villagers somewhere. Henry becoming the next Author was a great twist but I can’t believe he gave it up so fast. Don’t get me wrong, I think the entire Author concept gave characters too much power, but it also made Henry a relevant character. That says a lot about Henry’s character that he chose to destroy it rather than live up to his responsibilities, especially since that’s the Charming family motto.  It was inevitable that Belle would eventually go back to Rumple which is a shame because it’s a step backwards for her character. Why couldn’t Rumple have been a great love for Belle and she could have gone on to meet someone else? It would be a nice change for people to have to work to find their true love instead of it being the first person they fall for. As for the magical hat sucking away all of the darkness from Rumple’s heart (and possibly turning him good) that was such a cop out. I mean, was that really always an option yet nobody offered it to Regina? Whenever there is some kind of advantage she’s never considered. How many ways can the show find to screw her over?

The darkness escapes the hat and begins to run rampant in Storybrooke. The Apprentice tells Emma that it has to be contained within a person to keep it from destroying all reality. Only the Sorcerer can stop it and he’s revealed to be none other than Merlin. When the darkness surrounds Regina, Emma takes the dagger and uses it to absorb the darkness into herself. After she vanishes the Dark One’s dagger reveals the name of the new Dark One: Emma Swan.

I don’t understand how the darkness can be a physical entity but can only seem to function when possessing someone, hopefully that’s elaborated on next season. The reveal of Merlin as the Sorcerer wasn’t a huge shock because it made sense the series would bring an established character to be the Sorcerer.

Emma turned evil after all. Now we can expect her to run around next season with the traditional Dark One molted skin and giddiness.

Quotes & Thoughts

“The best way to show your love for those who are gone is to tell their stories.”

We’re off to Camelot next season. There aren’t many places the show hasn’t been to I wonder what’ll happen when they run out.

“Back off dwarf or I’m going to change your name to Stumpy.”

Gold has the white heart of an angel now, so are all his past sins forgiven?

If you enjoyed Manny’s return to Storybrooke, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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