This is proving a rather difficult review to write.\u00a0 There are a lot of things in this episode that I really like.\u00a0 However, there are also parts that concern me, particularly in how it relates to the direction of the show as a whole.\u00a0 It’s only the first tingling of concern; my trust in the writers is still reasonably strong.\u00a0 That said, this episode – and the last few, for that matter – have been quite dense adventures that really demand a second viewing.<\/p>\n
We were previously left with a family tree for Emma and Henry that looks more like a Bradford Pear after the tornado.\u00a0 We had the unholy trio of Regina, Cora and Hook seemingly plotting death and destruction to half of Storybrooke.\u00a0 And who knows what’s been going on with Red, the dwarves or the rest of the “royal council.”\u00a0 Though we’ve been got answers, it seemed like every answer led to two new questions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First of all, Snow White?\u00a0 WHAT. A. BRAT!\u00a0 Who would have though?\u00a0 Both the Queen and Johanna were wonderfully acted.\u00a0 You connected with them almost as soon as they first came on screen.\u00a0 Likewise with young Snow.\u00a0 She looks and acts so much like Gennifer Goodwin’s character that it is scary.\u00a0 These performances were critical to the story if any of the drama was going to be effective and all three came through in spades.\u00a0 These weren’t just guest appearances that died and the plot moved on.\u00a0 This was our<\/b> Snow suffering through the turmoil of what would she do to save the life of someone she loved.\u00a0 Once again the writers took a huge chance — this time trusting much of the emotional tie and plot setup for the back-end of the season to guest roles.\u00a0 They were truly impressive performances.<\/p>\n
What really get’s my curiosity going here is why is Cora so intent on corrupting her?\u00a0 There’s clearly more to her whole plot than simply making Regina the queen.\u00a0 There is obviously a connection between Cora and Snow’s mother.\u00a0 Could they be sisters?\u00a0 The Queen and the Miller’s daughter, with Cora feeling slighted of the status she felt she<\/i> deserved?\u00a0 Is everything that is happening entirely about Cora’s revenge?\u00a0 That may be a part of it, but I think there’s more. At first I wondered if this was the only time Cora has disguised herself as Blue; giving Bae the magic bean sticking in my mind.\u00a0 However, in afterthought, I realized that wouldn’t have been the case since the bean was given a couple hundred years prior. So that would\u00a0 mean that Rumpel was on his path long before Cora was even born.<\/p>\n
My biggest confusion<\/i> in the series right now is Regina.\u00a0 She’s obviously walked away from the light; at least for the moment.\u00a0 I’m taking her at her word when she asks Mary Margaret what good did goodness get her?\u00a0 Yet I still don’t know the extent to which she’s embracing evil.\u00a0 She’s clearly not in the same league as Cora any more with respect to her willingness to kill.\u00a0 I’m sure she wants to beat<\/i> Snow and Emma insofar as gaining Henry’s love is concerned, but she’s not acting as if she is really committed to killing them.\u00a0 Her conversation with Mary Margaret though hostile, doesn’t seem disingenuous.\u00a0 She really comes off as warning Mary Margaret to stay away from her business, not like she was planning another round of mass murder.\u00a0 Likewise with the murder of Johanna, Regina had a look of shock initially though she did pull herself together.\u00a0 If this had just been Regina, I really do not think she would have killed Snow’s nurse.\u00a0 I had to do a rewatch, but after that I’m sure.\u00a0 It’s also quite clear from the look on her face at the end that she is not pleased with Cora’s plans, but what is<\/i> Regina up to?\u00a0 Is she going along to gain her mother’s approval?\u00a0 It seems that Cora somehow knows everything that is going on, so perhaps Regina is doing what must be done to hide her true intent?\u00a0 How much of Regina’s actions is trying to survive Cora and how much is it a true re-submergence into evil?<\/p>\n
The other obvious question for this part of the story is what about Snow?\u00a0 It seems that Cora has gotten her wish of sending her down the dark path.\u00a0 What will Mary Margaret do when she learns what Cora is really up to? \u00a0While I’m expecting to see temptation and even those first steps down that dark path, I also expect to see her abandon it.\u00a0 I just cannot see her willing to pay the price for winning under Cora’s terms.\u00a0 One last thought before turning to the other part of this episode’s story… Will Cora be willing to sacrifice Regina<\/i> in order to corrupt and ruin Snow?\u00a0 There are not many episodes left this season, so I hope we will soon see.<\/p>\n
Back in Manhattan, the situation for Emma seems to be going downhill.\u00a0 Gold is quite “grumpy” where Henry is concerned, though with last week’s prophecy running through his head that is understandable.\u00a0 It seems that regardless of what he quipped to the Seer in the past, he has no intention of killing Henry.\u00a0 That doesn’t mean he is going to be happy about it.\u00a0 Gold does need to remember what he told Henry just a little while ago; prophecies are never what they seem.\u00a0 Who’s to say that the Dark One being “undone” is a bad thing?\u00a0 It may well be the only way of getting what Rumpelstiltskin truly wants.<\/p>\n
We certainly see a first hints of that.\u00a0 There has already been a shift in the relationship between he and Emma.\u00a0 There seems a bit more cordiality in it already.\u00a0 Even more significant is the way she refers to her, Bae and the Charming’s as Gold’s family.\u00a0 It also looks like that, deal or not, Gold owes Emma a favor now for saving him from Hook. \u00a0Incidentally, in case anyone is keeping score I think this makes it Hook – 0, Emma – 3.\u00a0 For a ruthless pirate he sure has this bad habit of getting the tar beat out of him by Emma.<\/p>\n
Of course, this family question has become, as Neal said, “complicated.”\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Understatement of the season.\u00a0 Ok, Neal knows Hook.\u00a0 He can control Hook’s ship.\u00a0 He’s also a couple hundred years old – and the look on Emma’s face at that confession was priceless.\u00a0 The producers\/writers have confirmed in the official podcast that he spent time in Neverland.\u00a0 Can we get any more complicated than that?\u00a0 It seems we can.<\/p>\n
Neal is engaged.\u00a0 I actually feel sorry for Tamara.<\/p>\n
I mean, think about it.\u00a0 This beats the family get together I mentioned a couple of posts prior.\u00a0 If finding out he has a son isn’t bad enough, just consider the family!<\/p>\n
“Hey, uh, Tamara? \u00a0I’d like you to meet my father, Rumpelstiltskin.\u00a0 Some people know him as the Dark One, the most powerful sorcerer in all the land.\u00a0 And this is Henry’s mother, Emma.\u00a0 She’s the prophesied Savior and it turns out a fairly powerful sorceress herself.\u00a0 Yeah, and I forgot to mention…\u00a0 Umm, I’m two hundred years old and had this fling with a fairy named Tinkerbell?\u00a0 You may have heard of Peter Pan?\u00a0 Uh, nice to meet you?”<\/p>\n
Getting back to Hook…\u00a0 So he’s just strolling around our land in pirate garb with nobody batting an eye?\u00a0 Well, I suppose since we are talking about New York City, that may not be much of a surprise.\u00a0 Assuming they get his ship, I wonder how long it’s going to take for him to get back to Storybrooke?\u00a0 Honestly, I’m not going to be upset if he is<\/i> gone for awhile.\u00a0 His fixation on killing Gold is getting a bit old.<\/p>\n
As far as killing Gold is concerned.\u00a0 I thought that the Dark One’s dagger was supposed to be a secret.\u00a0 Remember that he was quite upset to find that August knew about it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It seems that pretty much all of Storybrooke knows about that thing and what it does!\u00a0 Both “Team Cora” and “Team Snow” were fully up to speed on it and racing to find it.\u00a0 In the end, it seemed that Cora ended up with it far too easily.\u00a0 I think we may find it not quite as easy to control Rumpelstiltskin as Cora may expect.\u00a0 I know I have heard some people question if this was the real dagger.\u00a0 I would reject the possibility of a decoy.\u00a0 Knowing Cora is still alive, it would be a smart thing to do.\u00a0 However, it may have more to do with the Dark One’s “undoing” that was prophesied.\u00a0 It could be that this becomes part of what will be happening to remove the dark magic from Gold.<\/p>\n
If that is<\/i> the case, also remember that the prophesy points to a boy being responsible.\u00a0 Sure it could be August — i.e. Pinocchio.\u00a0 But it could also well be that Henry is going to be the one who saves his grandfather, thus undoing the Dark One.\u00a0 Indeed, this “final battle” that Rumpel predicted years ago could end up being Henry defeating Cora.\u00a0 That would certainly put Regina in a difficult spot.\u00a0 I do still think that there is going to be True Love’s Kiss involved, however, between Rumpel and Belle.\u00a0 I don’t see why they would foreshadow it then just drop the idea.<\/p>\n
Finally, there is a growing list of arcs that have been set aside.\u00a0 There is Mulan, Aurora and the wraith.\u00a0 There is the book of dark spells that Regina has hidden.\u00a0 And let’s not forget that Emma has magic of her own, as well.\u00a0 Add all this into the coming war, magic beans, Neverland and all the other characters that seem to have been set aside lately (where have you been Red?) and there is the potential for a huge roller coaster ride to end this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is proving a rather difficult review to write.\u00a0 There are a lot of things in this episode that I really like.\u00a0 However, there are also parts that concern me, particularly in how it relates to the direction of the show as a whole.\u00a0 It’s only the first tingling of concern; my trust in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[25,39,46],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ymfK-5c","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}