“It’s the fate of Saviors. You give and give, and for what? They pick the fruit, cut the branches until all that’s left is this shaky stump. That’s why you never ever hear these words about a Savior, they lived happily ever after.”
- Jafar
Well folks, we are back for another season of Once Upon a Time and this year, we’re getting back to more of a season 1 format (with shorter arcs instead of two half-season arcs). If you’ve forgotten, we’ve left our characters in quite a pickle. Emma and Hook have been reunited but Hyde has announced that he’s taken over Storybrooke (thanks to a deal with Gold) and the denizens of the Land of Untold Stories are moving in!
Before the real action kicks off in Storybrooke, we find Aladdin—former Savior—hiding out from everyone. A man shows up asking for help when Jafar (not quite as sexy as when Naveen Andrews played him but still formidable) appears and taunts the fallen hero who seems prone to uncontrollable tremors. This is key to a plot that they are setting up with Emma. When we first happen upon her, she and Hook and getting hot and heavy at home when they are interrupted by a crash-landing dirigible from the Land of Untold Stories. Hyde taunts them and Jekyll points out that it could either suck for the town’s residents (depending on whom he brought) or not be too bad. And the blimp is made of the same stuff used in the orderly’s stun gun. As our band of heroes is searching through the rubble, Emma starts having weird flashes of herself fighting someone and her hands start to shake. This gets extra complicated when Jekyll finishes the weapon and Emma’s hands are shaking so much that she nearly lets Hyde choke out Regina before they capture him.
Elsewhere in town, Regina and Zelena are shacking up as roommates and it’s more than a little awkward. For one thing, Zelena’s got boxes everywhere (seriously where’d she get all this stuff?) and on top of that, she can’t find the little gift Roland left for Regina. Regina doesn’t know how to handle things, even when Snow suggests she just be open and honest with her sister. But things get touchy when Regina goes back to her office for the first time since Robin died. She wants to be alone and admits that she blames Zelena for what happened (not Emma for taking her to Hell). Zelena is pissed that Regina got rid of the part of herself that made them similar. This makes me think that when the Evil Queen does show up in town again, Zelena will be siding with that version of her sister. Regina tries to use a locator spell to find the gift from Roland but as Henry points out, it’s looking for Robin and he’s gone. But he doesn’t believe that Robin’s soul was obliterated like Hades said. Rather he’s waiting somewhere heroes go at the end of their stories.
And Rumple, now with the information on how to wake Belle, is heading off to her dream world where he finds a handsome robed British man (aka Morpheus, God of Dreams) waiting for him. As Morpheus explains in short order, dreams pick us and this dream has put Belle in Rumple’s castle and it’s rather dreary. She clearly still sees him as just a beast and she’s terrified of him. Rumple initially thinks he’ll just recreate when they fell in love but Morpheus warns that it would be a lie. So Rumple sets out to make her fall back in love with him properly. And I have to say it was really super sweet. They dance together, like they did on their first day as husband and wife to the theme song and it was lovely. Unfortunately, things don’t go like Rumple hoped. It turns out Morpheus isn’t actually who he says he is. He’s in fact their son (that magic sand got sprinkled on the fetus … embryo? (whatever) and he made sure Mama didn’t fall for Papa’s lies again. True Love’s Kiss works and Belle wakes up. But she is heeding the baby’s warning and not trusting Rumple.
Back in the action, Emma goes to visit Hyde in lock up to demand to know what’s going on with her. He tells her to follow the red bird to the person that can explain everything (I admit, I thought it was Iago and was leading her to Jafar). But after Emma ditches Hook (he was less than pleased), she goes off and we see that it is the young woman who was with Aladdin. She says that the visions Emma is seeing are the story of her future. Well that can’t be good! And Snow and Charming have found some of the refugees and invited them to Granny’s for some food and shelter. I’ll be interested to see who all ends up being there. Anyway, the girl (who is an oracle) shows Emma the final battle that ends in Emma’s death. Despite wanting to change it, the oracle says that the path to the moment can’t change, but the battle and her death are set. Well, that’s gonna suck! Hyde then points out that the villain that kills her could already be someone she knows or someone from his realm. Well crap!
We do get to see Regina and Snow have a very sweet heart to heart (before Zelena arrives home to find the Evil Queen hanging out with cocktails) and Regina decides to start a new story where she is going to be happy. I have to say, I really like the relationship these two have been building over the last few seasons. It is very much a friendship and I really do enjoy it. I feel like this was a really good episode as it lays out the new mystery for the season and we’ve got different villains to pop in and out and Emma now has the dilemma of deciding to help people even if it means she’s closer to her own death. And I did enjoy Archie showing up briefly (it was really amusing).
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