Once Upon a Time: The Search for Agrabah Continues

First Aired April 2nd, 2017.

Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) tells Prince Charming/David (played by Josh Dallas) that Hook (played by Colin O’Donoghue) killed his father. Meanwhile, aboard the Nautilus, Hook is told they were sent to another realm and are trapped there and need the blood of a kraken to get them home.

Regina (played by Lana Parrilla) and Snow White/Mary Margaret (played by Ginnifer Goodwin) take Emma out drinking to get her mind off Hook. In the Enchanted Forest, Aladdin (played by Deniz Akdeniz) and Jasmine (played by Karen David) continue searching for Agrabah though Aladdin feels it’s a wasted effort. Jasmine finds a ring without a stone and flashbacks reveal it once held the crown jewel of Agrabah. In the past, her father attempted to marry her off to a prince, but Jafar (played by Oded Fehr) attempted to force her to marry him to control the kingdom. In the present, Aladdin and Jasmine are attacked by a kraken but are saved by Hook. But it costs Hook the chance to get its blood. Jasmine reveals it was Jafar that made Agrabah disappear and Hook offers to help find him in hopes he can force Jafar to send him to Storybrooke. Jasmine and Hook bond over their misery and Jasmine reveals she keeps spurring Aladdin because she feels he’s too good for her. Damage from the kraken causes the Nautilus to take on water so Jasmine uses the lamp to wish for Aladdin to transport them all to a nearby island where Jafar is thought to be.

After all the drama surrounding David learning the truth about Hook, he took it well, almost too well. What should have been a dramatic reaction and possibly an episodic story for David was processed and seemed to move past it in about thirty seconds. It was a fresh change of pace for the main action to be focused outside of Storybrooke and away from the usual characters. But the search for Agrabah and the “will they or won’t they” dynamic between Aladdin and Jasmine wasn’t an entertaining storyline. Coupling it with Hook’s journey to get back to Emma was the only thing that made the episode engaging at all. However, the way Hook’s story intertwined with Aladdin and Jasmine’s search for Agrabah was clumsy at best. Meeting by chance is one thing, but the idea that Hook thought he could convince Jafar to help him was ludicrous. The saving grace was that as uninteresting as the story was, it was clear from the episode setup that Aladdin and Jasmine’s story on the series would close rather than drag on for two or three episodes.

After watching Mary Margaret drunkenly challenge Vikings who attempted to not pay their tab, Emma opens up to the bartender and finally cries over Hook leaving and resolves to move on. While searching for Jafar, Hook and the others instead find Ariel (played by Johanna Garcia), who Jasmine met in Agrabah when Jasmine tried to reunite Ariel with her prince. However, it was Jafar in disguise. In the past, Ariel tried to convince Jasmine to stand up to Jafar; she ultimately agreed to marry Jafar, but he made the city disappear. In the present, the group learns Jafar is a genie and plan to use him to their advantage but once summoned he frees himself. Jafar puts the others to sleep and confronts Jasmine; she demands to know where the city is and he tells her it’s in the ring. Jasmine finally stands up to Jafar and uses magic to transform him into a wooden staff. Aladdin and Jasmine share true love’s kiss, which releases the city from the ring and Aladdin from his genie curse.

First Jasmine and then Ariel, I was half-expecting Pocahontas or Tiana to make a surprise appearance. The flashbacks were not that interesting and the dramatic showdown where Jafar took Agrabah was lackluster.

In fact, the present day confrontation also lacked any dramatic punch. Being a genie was made to be a huge curse, but he literally shrugged it off in a second and it took about ten seconds for Jasmine to defeat him. It was almost like the writers were just trying to quickly end Aladdin and Jasmine’s arc. So much so that the old crutch of “true love’s kiss” was used to free Aladdin and Agrabah. But, on a lighter note, the bar scenes were great: Emma finally opened up. But, the real enjoyment came from Mary Margaret: watching her drunkenly play the “hero” with the Vikings was a riot—she would be a great drinking buddy.

Ariel prepares to return home, but, first, gives Hook a shell to call back home to Storybrooke. Hook gets a message to Emma, but he’s unable to hear her; the bartender then reveals himself to be Gideon (played by Giles Matthey). Gideon has a tissue with her tears, which he can use to keep Hook from returning home and keep Emma from contacting him. She is forced to help him kill the Black Fairy in exchange for getting Hook back. After this experience, Emma is not going to open up to anyone ever again. Gideon has resolved to use Emma instead of killing her, which could suggest that there is hope for a redemption story for him. Or he realized how hard killing her would be and came up with a different plan. But, after being on the sidelines, Gideon is back in full force. So, we can finally see where his story goes.

Quotes/Thoughts

“When you talked to her earlier, did she say anything about me?” “I’m not a bloody matchmaker!”

Since Regina has officially dropped her Evil Queen persona, I think it’s fair to just refer to her as Regina from now on.

“Son of a fish!”

Emma was ready to move on pretty fast after she thought Hook left, she gets over relationships quickly.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, 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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