PREVIOUSLY ON: Once Upon a Time – Season Five, Episode Nine (“The Bear King”)

First Aired November 15th, 2015.

King Arthur (played by Liam Garrigan) and Zelena/The Wicked Witch of the West (played by Rebecca Mader) plot their next move. He tells Zelena to take them to Dunbroch so they can get help from a Witch (played by Lily Knight).

Several years in the past, Merida’s (played by Amy Manson) father, Fergus (played by Glenn Keogh), visits the Witch for help in a coming war and she gives him a magically forged helmet. Sometime later, Merida and Fergus prepare for battle where she faces sexism from the other soldiers. Fergus hires a soldier to train Merida who turns out to be Mulan (played by Jamie Chung). Through Mulan’s training, Merida becomes a better fighter but still struggles to earn respect from the men. One day, while training, Merida hears the sound of battle and realizes Mulan was keeping her from the battle on Fergus’s orders. Merida arrives just as an assassin goes after her father, the arrow she fires misses and the assassin is revealed to be Arthur who takes the helmet with him.

I think Merida should have ignored Mulan’s advice and kicked those guys’ asses, what better way to prove she’s in charge and a good fighter? The last we saw of Mulan she was one of the Merry Men. Hopefully the story of how she wound up in Scotland will be addressed. Since it was already explained how Fergus died it was obvious Arthur would be the killer. The only twist there would have been a character we know be the killer. It seemed like the episode was setting up a Mulan/Merida romance, which I was rooting for after seeing what great chemistry they had. Mulan could get over her unrequited love for Sleeping Beauty and it would have been a good twist for Merida; she avoided a forced marriage to a man because she didn’t want one. Who knows, maybe Pixar wasn’t ready to have one of their princesses come out.

In the present, Merida is about to be crowned Queen when the Witch interrupts the ceremony and threatens to curse the kingdom if she isn’t given gold or the helmet. She goes to Mulan for help, who has resorted to robbing people in order to get by. Arthur and Zelena interrogate the Witch for the whereabouts of the helmet and go after Merida when they learn she’s looking for it. They confront Merida and Mulan and reveal that the helmet was enchanted to make people fight battles for whoever wore it. Zelena takes Merida’s bow (given to her by Fergus) to find the helmet, the revelation shakes Merida and she loses faith in her ability to lead. Mulan continues alone. In the process she rescues Red Riding Hood/Ruby (played by Meghan Ory), who the Witch forced to be her guard in wolf form. Ruby went back to the Enchanted Forest to find others like her before the Witch trapped her. In gratitude, she uses her wolf senses to find Fergus’s killer. Zelena raises the helmet from the sea as Merida, Ruby and Mulan arrive. Fergus had thrown it into the ocean before the battle and led his army without the use of it’s magic.

Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong for Merida becoming Queen did. The job had better be worth it. It was oddly refreshing to have an episode that excluded most of the main cast, although episodes without Regina always suffer a little because of that. I liked seeing Zelena in all her wickedness but Arthur wanting the helmet made no sense. He already had that magical sand that made people his mindless slaves so why does he need a helmet that does the same thing? Fashion? The last time Ruby found other wolves like her they turned on her so it makes no sense she would go looking for them again. It was just an easy way to write off her extended absence from the show. Fergus and Merida both resorted to magic before realizing they always had what they needed to accomplish their goals, clearly a metaphor for the inner strength in us all. People on this show nearly always abuse magic in that way so there were bound to be a few people who could resist the temptation.

Mulan and Ruby subdue Zelena while Merida fights Arthur. They both flee when the clans arrive to help Merida. The Witch arrives and Merida declares her intention to destroy the helmet. The Witch surprises her by agreeing and reveals it was all a test to make help Merida come into her own as Queen. She also gives Merida a way to communicate with Fergus and they share a tearful reunion at his grave. She then decides to kill Arthur to avenge her father.

The Witch couldn’t have considered a written test over nearly getting all these people killed? Merida’s story arc in the series, or at least this season felt complete with this episode. She became Queen and prepared to start a new life. She’ll be back to deal with Arthur but there’s enough people to do that without trying to shoehorn the Brave narrative into the finale.

Quotes & Thoughts

“Arthur, you have no idea what’s coming for you.”

It’s safe to say Arthur won’t live past the finale since just about every character hates him and/or wants to kill him.

“Getting the helmet back made me understand what it takes to rule.” “Your magic’s never very direct is it?”

Merida leaving her kingdom days after being made Queen doesn’t look too good.

 If you enjoyed Manny’s kingdom days, 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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