PREVIOUSLY ON: Once Upon a Time – Season Five, Episode Two (“The Price”)

First Aired October 4th, 2015.

The Seven Dwarfs are prepared to leave Storybrooke to flee from Dark Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison). Although The Evil Queen/Regina (played by Lana Parrilla) warns them that the new curse has repercussions one dwarf leaves and is turned into a tree.

Six weeks ago in Camelot, the group asks King Arthur (played by Liam Garrigan) for help finding Merlin (played by Elliot Knight) and learn he’s been turned into a tree. Merlin can only be freed by the Savior and because Emma is now the Dark One, Regina steps up and claims to be the Savior. She uses the dagger to keep Emma from revealing the truth because otherwise Emma would be forced to use dark magic to save Merlin. Everyone is invited to a ball that night and Regina reveals her embarrassment that she never learned to dance. David/Prince Charming (played by Josh Dallas) and Snow White/Mary Margaret (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) teach her. Percival (played by Andrew Jenkins) learns during their conversation that Regina isn’t the savior through a necklace he had given Regina as a gift. During the ball, Percival dances with Regina and reveals as a boy she terrorized his village, Percival tries to kill Regina and injuries Robin Hood (played by Sean Maguire) in the process before David kills him. Percival’s sword was enchanted to kill Regina so her magic can’t save him, which forces Emma to use her powers.

Trees have become a major factor suddenly. Maybe Mother Nature is working with Emma out of frustration for how people treat the planet (it’d make sense; so many other fairy tale and fantasy characters have been on the show). Regina asserting her will over Emma with the dagger was a great scene, not only funny but it showed the continually growing relationship between them. The people of Camelot throwing balls every other night seems ridiculous but it brought Regina’s dancing insecurity to light. Regina spent all her time terrorizing the kingdom, of course she never had time for dance lessons. And the dancing lesson gave a chance for Mary Margaret and David to do something other than cheer on the others. Percival’s story brought up an interesting point about Regina’s quest for redemption and that’s whether she could ever find it. This is a woman who massacred a village just for fun. Some of these people may have forgiven her but can Regina find true redemption after all the evil she did? Learning the answer is what makes Regina one of the more complex and intriguing characters on Once.

In Storybrooke, Hook (played by Colin ) does his best to find and save Emma, she finds him and Hook is dismayed to see Emma is enjoying herself as the Dark One, while Henry (played by Jared Gilmore) summons Emma to talk to her. Regina arrives and Emma tells them a new threat is coming and without a Savior they are doomed but Henry believes Regina can truly become the Savior. King Arthur and some of his subjects are revealed to be in Storybrooke and the group is forced to confess that Emma is the Dark One. Robin is later kidnapped by a winged creature called a fury which injures Regina as it escapes. The fury came after Robin to take him to the underworld as price for the magic that saved his life in Camelot and Emma reveals that Regina must either sacrifice Robin to the fury or find someone to replace him. The fury prepares to take Robin when Regina offers her life, but when Mary Margaret, David and Arthur join her, the fury is overwhelmed and explodes.

True love’s kiss wasn’t enough to save Emma, which was good because Evil Emma makes a great villain and true love’s kiss is used way too often as a quick fix. I really hope that Emma does some truly terrible things during her stint as the Dark One, it’ll make the fallout after her eventual rescue more impactful. Besides, if Regina can find forgiveness after burning villages to the ground, surely everyone can look past Emma being bad for a few weeks. Emma should have been the fury’s target, but that thing knew better than to mess with her (another perk of the dark side). The fury was a decent monster of the week, and it managed to tie the past and present together. Whether it died because it was overloaded with souls or if the human sacrifice overwhelmed it with goodness was unclear. But given that Once is always promoting hope and goodness (seriously they should have it embroidered on pillows), I’ll go with that.

Back in Camelot, Regina confesses that she was the Evil Queen but he believes she saved Robin which makes her good and therefore the Savior. While everyone celebrates at the diner, Emma watches from outside and is later visited by the apparition of Rumpelstiltskin (played by Robert Carlyle). Rumple tells her that to truly embrace the darkness she has to use the dagger to make Excalibur complete but cannot remove the sword without paying a price. Arthur really needs that sword whole again because who wants a king without a complete sword? There’s little chance he’ll get to it now that Emma is going to use it purge any remaining goodness out of her and become the darkest Dark One ever. I’m sure whatever the price is it’s something terrible but the evil Emma won’t have a problem paying it.

Quotes & Thoughts

“You want to believe you’re the Savior, then step up and do what needs to be done.”

Storybrooke should have more hotels built to house all of the frequent guests from other realms.

“I should be figuring out how to free Merlin, not foxtrotting my way across Club Medieval.”

Emma must be resisting the evil at least partly; she hasn’t used the phrase “dearie” and her skin is not scaly yet.

 If you enjoyed Manny’s tale, 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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