#a top 10 sketches video for each season that will give me a chance to talk more in depth on a few specific sketches

[magentagalaxies]

writing out my plans for my KITH video essay series since I'm going to apply to get course credit for it as an independent study next semester and oh my god i have 17 different videos planned lmao

[hauteseeker]

Part two of my southwest road trip consisted of my long drive through New Mexico to reach my first city Sedona, AZ. It also touches on the rest of my time spent in Phoenix. On this leg of my journey, I experienced a little less landscape and a bit more modern living. Some excellent food and reconnection with both friends and family.

Day 4: Santa Fe to Sedona

I got an early start and made my way West to Sedona. The six-hour drive was effortless and slightly distracting because there’s so much to see and so many times where I wanted to get out and take pictures. There are these moments of a real “western” scene with mountain backdrops and large freight trains passing through. It’s very surreal. I was waiting for a cowboy to ride past me at some point and time.

It was highly recommended by my friend to stop at the Acoma Pueblo, a community that has been in existence since 1100 a.b. The “Sky City” is a great stop to make before crossing the New Mexico border into Arizona. The Pueblo is known as,”a place prepared and ready to live.” The oldest remaining habitat is 15 miles from the interstate and sits on top of a mesmerizing hill. Tourist can visit the town, alongside a tour guide who most likely has direct family ties to the community. Our guide’s grandparents still have a home at Acoma. During the tour, many silly and somewhat ignorant questions asked of the people who lived in town, oh and to me, as I was the only black person there. Those curious Caucasians got a double dose of a minority culture that day!  It amazes me how so many people forget that this 2017 and the modern amenities that happen in the biggest of cities, most likely occur in the smallest of towns, especially when it comes to technology. Besides the unavoidable ignorance, the overall experience of this historical foundation not only insightful but compelling. I would love to go back to celebrate a holiday with the people of that community one day.

    I continued my drive making stops only to refuel. I drove by reservations, shops, and signature Navajo restaurants as I continued my passage to Sedona. I did make one pit stop in the city of Holbrook to see one of three remaining Wigwam Motel in the country on Old Route 66. The histroic site is nostaligc and fun. I can only imagine the types of families who were fortunate enough to travel and stay here. It makes me think of all the gimmicks hotels do now to attract guests. I can easily see this property getting a few improvements and turning into the “Wigwam Luxe” or something like that. What was once fashionable always comes back around.

  A few short hours later I arrived in Sedona. A beautiful city built on hills and red soil about two hours away from the Grand Canyon and Phoenix, respectively. After arriving in Sedona, I desperately needed a recharge, mostly a phone recharge and overall��stretch after driving for several hours straight. I found a great deal using the site Homeaway to score a reasonably priced hotel in Sedona, prices in this region can easily range between $175-$500 during peak season. I got a nice stay at a resort hotel and timeshare not including tax for about $100.

Later that night, I grabbed dinner at The Hudson, a place I was planning on dining at once I made it to Sedona. Lucky I was a party of one, so I was seated pretty quickly on the outside patio during the busy Saturday night. Unfortunately, the sun had already set, so I was unable to take in the scenery in the area. The Hudson sits on a hill, giving patrons great views of the landscape. For dinner, I got the special for the evening, a Cornish Hen. The dish featured mixed vegetables such as peppers and asparagus as well as cornbread dressing with raisins. My taste buds were treated to an early Thanksgiving feast. The dinner and ambiance were overall excellent. After a huge meal, I was more than ready to make my way back to the hotel and chill out. It was only  9 p.m., when I passed out for the evening.

Day 5: Sedona to Phoenix

The next morning I got up around 6 a.m. to hike and watch the sunrise at Red Rock State Park.  I did not expect the challenge that lied ahead of me. The climb up Bell Rock was pretty moderate to hard in terms of hiking. Bell Rock is about 4,000 ft above elevation. I don’t I went quite that high, but I was certainly up there. The hike was amazing, I had an incredible amount energy and was up for another round of hiking, but I had to keep it moving for the next part of my trip to Phoenix.

Let the Hike to Red Rock begin!

{"type":"video","tracklist":true,"tracknumbers":true,"images":true,"artists":true,"tracks":[{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/20171015_082846-mp4\/","type":false,"title":"Let the Hike to Red Rock begin!","caption":"","description":"","meta":[],"dimensions":{"original":{"width":1080,"height":1920},"resized":{"width":654,"height":1163}},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/20171015_082846_dvd.original.jpg","width":676,"height":381},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/20171015_082846_dvd.original.jpg?w=150","width":150,"height":85}}]}

After my morning hike, I repacked my things to make my way to Phoenix. About a two-hour drive South of Sedona. The winding roads through the cactus-filled mountains were steep, deep, vast, and acutely elevated the whole way through.

I made great timing arriving in Phoenix and met up with my lovely host for the next three days Olivia. She was previously my a coworker at Bloomingdale’s. Just like me, she is all about exploring. We immediately hit the road, after dropping off my rental car, and made our way to the downtown Phoenix area check our their art district. It was Sunday, so it was pretty deserted while we were there, which is good when you don’t want anyone blocking your photo opportunities! The wall art there is impressive. My favorite was this abandoned house that was painted with all different types of graffiti and sketches. In the same neighborhood was a modern coffee shop that we stopped by to grab some drinks to cool us off in the sweltering Arizona heat. It’s the epitome of minimalism, something that would be perfect in Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago.

After we walked around for a bit, we both decided that the next move had to be for food. Earlier in my planning, I found out the area was hosting a Taco Fest, so we made our way to Scottsdale to check it out. It was a fantastic food festival. Super organized, fair prices, and fabulous tacos! Compared to ones that I have been to in Chicago, it was supremely better. They had several different tents to grab drinks, VIP access for optimal margarita tasting(if you were trying to spend some big bucks) and a lot of food vendors. I think what sold me were the prices. Tacos were only $2 each! I spent $20 on seven tacos and a drink. Not bad at all!

After a long hot day, we made our way back to her place. It was still pretty nice outside, so we went to the pool to soak in the hot tub and spill the tea. We had a lot to catch up on from the past two years that we hadn’t seen each other. It was great to talk about where we were and where we so desired to be. A fabulous way to end my first night there.

  Day 6: Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Mesa

The sixth day I was able to catch up on some long ignored e-mails as well as some news and gossip. Crazy how much you don’t pay attention to those things when you are busy soaking up a new place. It’s almost like the rest of the world stands still.

After we got dressed, we went out to explore some of Olivia’s favorite spots, which are fabulous and Instagram-worthy. We made our way to Luci’s for brunch. The grocer/restaurant was charming. The food, eh. The best thing about the meal was the drink. An “Arnold Palmer” like a concoction of green tea and watermelon flavored lemonade.

After that, we made our way to AZ Pops to grab some popsicles. Super nostalgic. I can’t think of the last time I had a homemade popsicle like the one at AZ Pops. I chose the peach and prickly pear combo. It was very different; prickly pears are flowers found only on a particular type of cactus. As I later learned at the Desert Botanical Garden, they can be made into candies or eaten raw.  The popsicle was great, and I even had a chance to chat with the store owner. Another person on my trip who had some pretty strong ties to the Chicago area( her husband was born and raised in Oak Park). We also stopped into some nice stores in the area. One, in particular, had a friendly Cali vibe, which is to be expected in this area of the country. Clothes were cute, but sizing was limited.

  We were both parched after a light afternoon of walking so we made our way to the Royal Palms Resort for a refreshing beverage and a little exploration. The hotel has amazing architecture, a Spanish Colonial Revival villa that was once used as a winter home back in the 1920’s. The resort is at the base of Camelback Moutain and is absolutely fabulous.

    After our daytime romp of the lavish resort life, we made our way to dinner at Cornish Pasty. A pleasant looking restaurant with the feel of an Olive Garden on the outside and an underground dive bar on the inside. That was my first impression, at least at this location. I had never heard of a pasty and was excited to try the British born dish. A pasty is associated with Cornwall, England, a once well-known mining community. The original pasties would be filled with both meat and vegetables as well as sweets, each on their respective ends of the pasties.

The pastys at Cornish are so varied that anyone from carnivore to vegan can find something that they like. I decided to try to Roast Beef Sarnie. The pasty was a combination of house roasted beef, red and green bell peppers, portabello, onions, swiss and cheddar blend served with a horseradish sour cream sauce. Oh my gosh, so good! Everything blended well and was perfectly seasoned. The beef wasn’t too tender, and the sauce was the perfect addition. A chef recommended another sauce which was excellent as well, not sure what it was called though. Something to note about Cornish Pasty is the dishes come as they are described, you cannot pick and choose the ingredients you want inside the pasty. It is literally all or nothing. Go with the all; it’s totally worth it.

Olivia was dead set on making it to the Fountain Hills neighborhood to watch the sunset. So we quickly got dressed and dolled and made our way to the high-priced neighborhood. We found our way up to Copper Wynd Resort, looking absolutely fabulous. I swear, I had a Waiting to Exhale moment here. It reminds me so much of the area that the film was shot. I know the movie is old, but buildings last a long time so I could be right! We arrived just in time to see the sunset and get some glamour shots in as well.

After Copper Wydn we made our way back into the downtown Phoenix area to see what bars were popping on a Monday night. Not too many. We found our way into the Valley Bar, where we grabbed another drink(excellent drink prices), talked life, and finished up another fabulous night.

Day 7: Phoenix to Chicago

Day seven was an early start to a very, very long day. We kicked things off with a trip to the Desert Botanic Garden. I would be surprised if there is anything else like it in the world! The garden was amazing. Cactus from all different parts of Central and North America, other desert found foliage, as well as a majestic butterfly garden that was locked down tighter than the White House. Seriously, they were doing the most to keep those butterflies in that garden! We continued exploring the gardens and came across beautiful sculptures as well as some very quirky volunteers who taught us a few things about our surroundings.

one man + one leaf =

{"type":"video","tracklist":true,"tracknumbers":true,"images":true,"artists":true,"tracks":[{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/20171017_110454-mp4\/","type":false,"title":"one man + one leaf =","caption":"","description":"","meta":[],"dimensions":{"original":{"width":1080,"height":1920},"resized":{"width":654,"height":1163}},"image":{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/20171017_110454_dvd.original.jpg","width":676,"height":381},"thumb":{"src":"https:\/\/thehauteseeker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/20171017_110454_dvd.original.jpg?w=150","width":150,"height":85}}]}

  After the garden, we had just enough energy before lunch to make it to the landscape wonder, Hole in the Rock at the Papago Park. The hike to the hole in the natural formation is a quick 7-minutes up the rock. This is an ideal place to catch at sunrise or sunset if your timing is right.

  After our morning of walking and hiking, we proceeded to have a mini sweet and savory tour of the city. We made our way to República Empanada, a super cute restaurant located in the South Side Heights neighborhood of downtown Mesa.The empanadas were incredibly delicious. We were there for the lunch special of two empanadas plus rice and beans. We both added classic Coke De Mexico’s and enjoyed a less than $10 lunch on the cute patio in the back of the restaurant.

We also stopped by one of Olivia’s favorite spots to grab dessert, The Coronado.  They made one of the best brownies I ever had, and it didn’t contain one bit of dairy or eggs. Amazing!  We then proceeded to search for some and came across one that featured a mesh of vintage goods, artifacts and other apothecary furnishings called, The French Bee. After perusing that we made our way to a hipster-ish bar to chill and kill some more time before my flight and dinner.

It’s an unspoken rule, that if you find yourself in a city where you know someone and have a pretty good relationship with them, that you let them know you are there. At least, that’s what I try to do. Even if you never have a chance to see the person, at least you let them know you were in town. This day in age, it’s always good to let a few people know you are around. Seriously. If anything for safety reasons. Anyways, I had told my cousin who lives in Arizona that I was visiting. Shame on me that I waited until the morning that I was leaving to see if we could meet up. I know, tsk, tsk.

I asked my cousin Eric to meet us at this restaurant called Fire and Brimstone located at Barnone in Gilbert. Barnone is an innovative retail/workspace for handcrafted goods. It features everything from handmade stationary to experimental winemakers. Great place to craft a small business. At Fire and Brimstone, I opted for The Fire and Brimstone pizza. The 12-inch pizza came dressed in spicy tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, jalapeños, house-made merguez sausage, and cilantro. It was by far one of the freshest pizza’s I have ever tasted! I had a couple of slices that I devoured on my flight back to Chicago. After my week-long adventure, this was a beautiful night, over pizza with friends and family.

I would arrive back in Chicago at 4 a.m. that Wednesday morning.

#gallery-0-50 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-50 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-50 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-50 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

  Reflections Part Two

During the second half of my trip, I was able to reconnect with friends and family. During that time, a lot was discussed that challenged me to consider my relationships in general. Does this person care about our friendship? If so, what type of effort are they putting in? Am I doing my part as well? The trip also resurfaced ideas of changing my own personal landscape. Many people move to an area to be fully submerged so that they can break into a certain industry or career. Others, move far from it and reach a market untapped allowing for success in that arena too. It’s a reminder that growth can happen anywhere, you just have to be the one to make it happen!

Travel Trips

If you are wondering how I managed to have such a successful trip solo, here are my ‘haute’ Do’s and Don’ts:

Do Plan ahead. I looked into accommodations, flights, rental cars, and connections before my trip. This allowed me to use my time in the most optimal manner. I would be surprised at the end of the day how much I was able to get done. Something I need to implement more in my everyday life as well.

Do get Advice. There is nothing wrong with asking people for things to do, especially if they live there. I asked my friend who grew up in Arizona if he could recommend some things to do in Santa Fe. He gave me my whole ‘cultural’ itinerary. I made sure to connect with my previous co-worker and cousin as soon as booked my ticket to the area.

Do stay hydrated. There is a lot, and I mean a lot of exposure to the sun in that area. Be sure, especially if you are driving to buy a couple of liters or packs of water, so you never run out. Oh, and snacks too if you are in a time crunch.

Do look for discounts. You can ask anybody who knows me well. I know a lot of things to do, but I don’t spend a lot of money to enjoy them. If you are traveling, make sure you look into resident discounts, reciprocal memberships, library affiliations, free entry days, Groupon, etc. It will save you money.

Do try new things. Going to Ojo and experiencing the hot spring was one of the highlights of my trip! I am hooked and want to try every natural spring out there!

Do carry two phones. I chose to bring my work phone with me as well as my phone. Best decision ever. It’s great for navigation and music if you are forgoing a tradition map. Plus, you never know what will happen, better to have an extra device, just in case.

Do savor the moment. It is such a blessing to travel. It’s beautiful to see the sunset into various shades of purple, yellow, and orange hues. To look at the starts, uninterrupted by city lights, to see the landscape barely touched by humanity. Breathe it all in. You never know when you will be back.

Final Thoughts

I am so overjoyed that I had the opportunity to visit these two great states and tackle all the unique cities in between. I was exposed to not only massive amounts of sun, people, culture, art, food, and community. I am hooked on the beauty of the southwest and look forward to seeking more of it in the future. Don’t be surprised if you see a future post of my travels through Utah and Denver or something within that range!I am so blessed to have had this soul seeking experience and can’t wait to revisit both places!

    Albuquerque to Phoenix: Seven Days Seeking the Southwest Pt.2 Part two of my southwest road trip consisted of my long drive through New Mexico to reach my first city Sedona, AZ.

[tomeandflickcorner]

OUAT Episode Analysis- Awake

Now, this is what I’m talking about! I’m finally feeling like I’m watching the show I fell in love with again.  It makes me wonder what in the Land Without Magic they were doing during the Patchwork arc.  I don’t know if they’re only upping their game now because of the uncertainty surrounding Season 7, but at least they’re making an effort to end this season on a high note.  And this episode is probably one of my all-time favorites.  Leave it to this show to make me say ‘I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m still loving every second’

As the episode begins, Regina and Zelena are teaming up to bring an end to the Sleeping Curse hanging over Snowing’s shared heart.  Because, thanks to Henry’s little trance-induced sketches, they know Emma’s final battle is fast approaching, and Snow and Charming don’t want their daughter to have to face this battle without both of her parents by her side.  So, the Mills Sisters do this thing with the Snowing heart, placing the two halves into what looks like one of those deep fryer nets and dunking them in a potion that was apparently supposed to weaken the Sleeping Curse somehow.  But it turns out Evil Queenie Poo placed a fine print clause on this new strain of the Sleeping Curse.  And, by the Mills Sisters trying to weaken the curse, they actually weakened Snowing’s heart.  Which means that in a few hours, both Snow and Charming will succumb to the effects of the curse, and they’ll both be asleep at the same time.  I do wonder, however, why Regina seemed taken by surprise from this revelation.  I thought they said Evil Queen passed on everything there was to know about the advanced form of the Sleeping Curse before she headed off to Wish World with Robin Clone.  So, did Evil Queen forget to mention this little detail?  Because that’s a pretty significant element to have slipped your mind.

Regardless, before Zelena goes back to being nonexistent alongside Baby Neal and Baby Robyn (who are once again nowhere to be seen), they go break the news to Emma, along with a video message from Snow.  And it’s clear this is a pretty hefty blow.  Because it’s looking like Emma’s going to have to go into her final battle without either of her parents.  And, since Killian is still unable to return home because of the spell Gideon placed on him, it doesn’t look as if he’ll make it back in time, even though Daddy Charming does his best to reassure Emma that he’s undoubtedly fighting to make it back to Storybrooke.  But that’s when they end up noticing something strange in Snow’s video message. There are flower petals blowing past her.  But they’re no ordinary flower petals.  Zelena, magical protégé that she is, is able to identify the petals as Pixie Petals. Because apparently there are Pixie Flowers now.  Sure, why not?  After six seasons, I’m not even going to question it anymore.  Anyway, these magic flowers are supposed to be super valuable, as they have the power to reunite you with someone you share True Love with. But they can only grow in the presence of a great evil.  

So this is both good news and bad news.  The good news is that they can turn these flowers into a potion that can lift the Sleeping Curse and reunite Snow and Charming again.  The bad news is, the presence of these flowers indicate the Black Fairy is in Storybrooke.  Deciding there’s no time to lose, Emma heads off into the woods to locate some, with Snow accompanying her.  

On a side note, I’m kind of scratching my head why Snow and Charming are still switching off at this point. They know time is off the essence, so why are they taking the time to tag team each other?  Because I’m sure it’s wasting valuable time filling the currently awake person in on what they missed while asleep.  Maybe they’re trying to prepare for the worst case scenario and ensuring that they both get to spend a little more time with Emma while they can?  I don’t know. Regardless, Snow and Emma locate an entire field of these magic Pixie Flowers in the middle of the woods.  But before they can harvest any, the Black Fairy pops up, pretty much being all ‘hi, I’m here to ruin everything.’  And then she orders Gideon to get rid of all the flowers.  

After those two teleport off, Snow starts to feel despair begin to creep in, because she knows that they’ve lost their chance at ending this Sleeping Curse, and Emma’s going to have to go into her final fight without them.  And she also begins feeling guilty for placing the burden of Savior on Emma’s shoulders in the first place.  Emma tells her mother that it wasn’t her fault, but Snow disagrees because of the events within this week’s flashback story.

Back in Year 10 of the original Dark Curse, when everything was still stuck in that Groundhog Day loop, everyone in Storybrooke were doing their standard routine.  Mary Margret is heading down to her volunteer job at the hospital, but she’s bringing down some flowers to leave on the bedside table of John Doe, the comatose cursed!Charming.  Along the way, she bumps into Regina, who is as snippy as always. After Regina delights in being all around nasty and unpleasant, she heads off, and Mary Margret throws out the flowers she was carrying, as her literal run-in with Regina caused the flower heads to fall off.  But that’s when she notices a single flower growing out from the pavement.  Seeing that reminded me of those flowers of hope that grew in the Underworld.  But this flower was apparently one of those magic Pixie Flowers.  Which is interesting, as they’re only supposed to grow in the presence of a great evil.  I guess they’re telling us that Regina was evil enough to conjure up these flowers.  I’m kind of wondering what the script writers are planning to do with Regina, considering they’re giving us all these reminders of how evil and corrupt Regina was.

Anyway, Mary Margret ends up bringing that flower to John Doe instead.  But when she places the Pixie Flower down next to him, the magic of the flower activates, and Charming wakes up.  While he’s initially disoriented, it’s clear Charming’s true memories are intact.  I guess the coma protected Charming’s mind, preventing the cursed memories to sink in.  After a few moments of confusion from Mary Margret, the magic of the flower affects her as well, and her memory is also restored.  Which leads to a rather beautiful reunion.  I’d almost forgotten how much I loved Snowing as a couple, so I really appreciated this moment.  It was a much needed reminder that this was Snow White and Prince Charming, the iconic couple whose love story laid the very foundation of this entire show.

After Snow and Charming are reunited, they decide that it’s time to locate their daughter, Emma.  But that is easier said than done, as Snow points out that they’re the only ones who remember.  And Regina is probably not going to react very well if she finds out they’ve regained their memories.  So Snow, keeping up her persona as Mary Margret, comes up with a cover story that she saw John Doe sleepwalking out of the hospital and heading off into the woods. While Snow leads everyone out on a wild goose chase, Charming makes his way to Gold’s shop to question Rumpelstiltskin on Emma’s whereabouts.  But it seems Gold honestly doesn’t remember anything.  Which puts an end to a headcanon I’ve had up until now.  I thought Gold had always remembered who he was, and every time he acted ignorant of the truth around Regina, like in the ‘Save Henry’ flashback, he was just playing mind games with her.  But it looks like that wasn’t the case, and he genuinely didn’t remember.  Until Charming starts to leave the shop.  Right when he’s leaving, he mention’s Emma’s name, which seems to be the trigger word for Rumpelstiltskin’s memories to activate.  I guess that was the clause he added to Regina’s curse- Emma’s name would be the magic word that jogged his memory.  With his memory restored, Rumple is able to speculate that Snow and Charming were able to remember who they were with the help of the magic Pixie Flower. He tells Charming that if they find another flower, they might be able to open up a door portal that would bring them to Emma, stating that the flower can reunite the user with someone they share True Love with.

While Charming is off grilling Rumple for information, Snow is still in the woods with the party looking for John Doe.  When Archie decides to check the mines, Regina begins to voice her suspicions. She is (correctly) speculating that Snow has somehow regained her memories, especially considering the disappearance of John Doe/Charming.  She decides to try and test Snow by threatening to set off a detonator that will trap Archie in the mines, stating that Mary Margret would never have the courage to stand up to her, but Snow White would.  And this was the point when I regained my respect for Lana’s acting. With this performance, she proved she does remember how to act the part of the Evil Queen.  I was seriously starting to question that, especially after her campy over-the-top performance she gave during the Patchwork arc.  (Seriously, Lana.  What was with the twirling in ‘The Other Shoe?’)

Thankfully, before Snow had the chance to prove Regina’s suspicions by stabbing her with a scissor that she just….happened to be carrying with her (did I miss the part that explained why Snow/Mary Margret was carrying around a pair of scissors?), the rest of the search party show up, with Marco stopping Regina from pushing the detonator button. Taking advantage of the distraction, Snow slips away, meeting up with Charming at the abandoned farmhouse that will one day be claimed by Zelena.  By this point, Snow has managed to find a magic Pixie Flower that they could use, presumably in a deleted scene.  But before they could go off to find the door portal that would bring them to Emma, they’re stopped by Rumple, who informs them that it’s too early for them to act. It’s only Year 10 of the Dark Curse, and they still have 18 more years to wait before Emma reaches the designated age. He advises them to drink a potion he’s brewed that will return them to their cursed states.  I do wonder how Rumple managed to concoct this potion, as he’s not supposed to have magic at this point, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen magical happenings occurring in Storybrooke during the duration of the Dark Curse.  In the ‘Welcome To Storybrooke’ flashback, we clearly saw Regina Heart Controlling Graham.  Not to mention the magic contained within Daniel’s ring that enabled Jefferson to retrieve The Apple so Regina could make the turnover laced with Sleeping Curse.  So obviously, there is still a residual amount of magic within the town, despite the fact that magic hasn’t been allowed to enter Storybrooke yet.

Initially, Snow and Charming are planning to ignore Rumple’s words and use the magic flower to create a door portal.  When it opens, they catch a glimpse of 10-year-old Emma.  The scene that follows is a rather touching one, with Snow and Charming reacting to seeing their long-lost-daughter, who is busy reading a book while listening to an old Walkman.  (As such, she doesn’t notice them.)  But that’s when Snow realizes that they can’t go through with reuniting with Emma.  As Rumple pointed out, the curse over Storybrooke remains, and if they do anything to alter the prophecy of Emma being the Savior, then the town and everyone in it will remain cursed.  So they decide to let the door portal close and drink Rumple’s potion, resulting in Charming to become comatose again, and Snow to once again return to her Mary Margret persona.

Now, I can see the arguments for both sides in this moment.  On the one hand, how would Snow and Charming’s presence in Young Emma’s life keep her from breaking the curse over Storybrooke?  Wasn’t the original plan be for Snow to go with Emma and guide her along the way?  So wouldn’t that mean the presence of her parents wouldn’t automatically keep her from that path?  Logically speaking, I’d have thought the presence of Snow and Charming would be aiding Emma in fulfilling the prophecy.  Because there would be someone who could tell her what needs to be done.  (Because Pinocchio/August is doing a pretty poor job of that.)  I’m just saying, they’re putting a lot of faith in sheer chance here.   Storybrooke is a town that doesn’t appear on any established map, as it technically doesn’t even exist.  How is Emma expected to even find the place unless someone is there to tell her where it is?

On the other hand, I can see the reasoning behind Snow and Charming’s decision to not go through with their initial plan on reuniting with Emma prematurely.  Where exactly would they go?  If they brought Young Emma back to Storybrooke with them, Regina’s gonna notice there’s a child walking about who wasn’t there yesterday.  That alone would probably raise some alarm bells in her head. On the other hand, if Snow and Charming stayed on the other side of the door portal with Emma, Regina’s also going to notice Mary Margret and John Doe have both vanished.  And that’s also going to put her on alert.  Not to mention it wouldn’t be farfetched to believe she’d start resorting to her old tactic of killing random people to try and draw Snow White out of hiding.  Obviously, this was a no-win situation.  And, to Snowing’s credit, their brief glimpse of Young Emma didn’t give them any indication of what kind of life their daughter was living.   10-year-old Emma is just sitting on the bed, doing her own thing.  All they have to go on is this brief moment in time.  And there was nothing in that moment that would make them believe their daughter wasn’t being well-cared for by a loving pair of adoptive parents.  There was no way they could have known that their daughter had been living on the streets just three years prior to this moment.  Or that she would end up back on the streets 5-7 years later.  So, when Snow and Charming decide to leave things as they were and drink Rumple’s position, they believed they were doing the right thing.  While they knew they were denying their daughter the chance to grow up under their care, they knew they couldn’t forsake the rest of the town. And again, they had no way of knowing from that brief glimpse of Young Emma that their daughter didn’t know love of any kind.  For all they knew, Young Emma might have had a pair of loving adoptive parents.  So, I can’t completely fault Snow and Charming for their decision in this flashback.

 Now, I’ve seen some people say this whole flashback was a retcon, but I really can’t bring myself to agree. While it’s clear this little flashback story wasn’t a part of the original plan for the show, they at least made an effort to keep it within the rules of pre-established canon.  Sure, it does make you wonder why no one made any mention of ‘John Doe’s’ habit of sleepwalking in his coma in ‘Snow Falls,’ but there are worse plot inconsistencies. And it makes me wonder a few things. It eventually became a plot point that S1 David Nolan had blackout periods, when his memories as Charming apparently tried to resurface.  I don’t think it was ever explained what that was about.  Unless we were supposed to conclude his coma kept the memory-alteration aspect of Regina’s curse from sinking in too far, and the blackouts were the result of it.  And, after seeing this, I wonder if Sleepwalking ‘John Doe’ was only looking for Snow like Henry speculated.  Maybe he was also trying to locate that door portal to Emma again?

Returning to present day, Snow and Emma are coming to terms with the fact that they’ve lost access to the field of Pixie Flowers.  Until they notice Gideon missed one.  They hurry back to the loft apartment, where Regina quickly whips up a potion that would lift the curse on Snowing’s shared heart.

However, this is where Killian’s storyline comes into play.  We rejoin him where we left him- running from the Lost Boys.  They eventually surround him, stating they plan on making him pay for what happened to Pan.  To be fair, if the Lost Boys want to avenge Pan’s death, they probably should be going after Rumpelstiltskin, as he was the one who actually killed him.  But I guess that’s just semantics.  Killian, while stating he doesn’t want to hurt the Lost Boys, still draws his sword, willing to fight them if he has to.  Because he’ll do what he must to survive and get back home to Emma.  Before the fight could begin, however, the Lost Boys are all hit with tranquilizer darts. The person responsible for this turns out to be Tiger Lily, who clearly knows Killian somehow.  It’s not really explained how they know each other, though. All we get is a throwaway comment about Skull Rock.  I guess it could be similar to the part in the original story by J.M. Barrie, which had Captain Hook hold Tiger Lily hostage on Skull Rock.  But if memory serves, the Captain Hook in the book was trying to get Tiger Lily to surrender the location of Peter Pan.  I can’t think of a reason why Killian/Hook would need to hold Tiger Lily hostage to locate Pan.  So I’d like to get more backstory on this.

Anyway, Killian is initially pleased to see Tiger Lily, which does suggest they weren’t necessarily enemies.  But then Tiger Lily states she didn’t knock out the Lost Boys because she wanted to help save Killian, right before she jabs him with another tranquilizer dart she had hidden in her fist.  And I’m once again wondering why they couldn’t have placed this scene in the last episode. Leaving off with Killian getting knocked out by Tiger Lily seems like a much better pausing point than him just running away from a horde of angry Lost Boys.  But maybe that’s just me.  Regardless, when Killian comes to, he finds himself tied up in Tiger Lily’s lair. Obviously, he’s less than pleased, and demands to be let go, as he knows Emma is in danger and he HAS to get back to her immediately.  Tiger Lily is completely uninterested in his story and tells him that she needs him to do her a solid by delivering a specific weapon that can put an end to an approaching battle.  But Killian doesn’t give a bat’s behind about Tiger Lily’s war, because he only cares about getting home to his Swan.  It isn’t until Tiger Lily mentions the weapon she has is meant for a great hero called The Savior that Killian’s attention is fully snagged, with him realizing that they have the same goal in mind.  He tells Tiger Lily that the woman he’s trying to get back to is the Savior.  At first, Tiger Lily is skeptical, as she has a hard time believing them man she knew would ever fall in love.  Strange thing is, Tiger Lily seems to scoff at the notion that Killian Jones would fall in love.  I think the script writers made a slight goof there.  Because Killian Jones was always capable of falling in love. Or did they forget about Milah. Personally, I think it would have made more sense for Tiger Lily to question the fact that Captain Hook would fall in love.

To prove his story, Killian shows Tiger Lily the ring he bought for Emma.  That alone is enough to convince Tiger, as she knew Captain Hook would never be carrying around a ring, let alone buy one.  So the fact that he has one proves he’s sincere.  Now that she knows they’re on the same side after all, Tiger Lily explains the weapon she has is a piece of an old wand that was used to banish the Black Fairy to the Dark Realm years ago.  If it can be brought the Emma, then it could be used to defeat the Black Fairy again.  In Tiger Lily’s story, she reveals that she was once a fairy herself.  But after the Black Fairy’s banishment, Tiger imposed exile on herself, feeling like she should have done more to keep the Black Fairy from going astray.  Which makes me wonder what Tiger Lily’s relationship with the Black Fairy was.  Were they best friends once, or is this going to turn out to be a story of romantic love gone wrong?  I suppose we’ll get our answers in the episode after next.

Either way, the question remains as to how Killian can bring the wand shard to Emma, as Gideon’s spell is still preventing him from getting home.  Tiger Lily comes up with the idea of utilizing some of the magic Pan had stored up in his old camp.  But she warns that the camp is being guarded by the remaining Lost Boys.  Despite the unfavorable odds, Killian is not to be swayed, as his determination to return home to Emma is epically strong.  He doesn’t care what he has to face, as long as it gets him home.  So they head off to the Lost Boys’ camp, and while Tiger Lily acts as a distraction, Killian sneaks in to infuse his hook with the magic that can make your shadow become a conscious entity.  But when he’s in the process of cutting off his shadow so it can carry him back to Storybrooke, a random Lost Boy notices him and alerts the others.  Despite Killian’s best efforts, the Lost Boys manage to apprehend him.  Before they can tackle him to the ground, however, Killian is able to pass the wand shard to his shadow, instructing the shadow to bring the wand to Emma.  No sooner are the instructions given that Killian’s hook breaks off from its brace, remaining attached to the shadow’s foot as the Lost Boys overtake him.

Killain’s shadow ends up making it back to Storybrooke, entering the loft apartment just when Snow was about to drink the Pixie Flower potion.  And I adore this entire scene and everything it stands for.  The moment they identify the entity as a shadow, Emma is instantly able to realize its Killian’s shadow.  While the shadow does have a hooked hand, which is probably a dead giveaway, I’d like to think this was synonymous with Killian recognizing Emma’s handprint on sight in ‘Smash the Mirror.’  She immediately stats asking the shadow where Killain is, but being a shadow, Killian’s shadow cannot reply.  All it can do is pass the wand shard to Emma.  Emma is understandably confused, unable to tell what the wand is for.  And when Killian’s hook falls to the floor, her trepidation skyrockets.  Because the fact that Killian is somewhere without his hook doesn’t bode well.  And it is entirely possible that Emma is having flashbacks to that moment in the Underworld, when Hades showed her Killian’s bloodstained, chewed up hook.

So Emma is visibly scared what this might mean.  What happened to Killian?  Why doesn’t he have his hook?  Is he bleeding out in a ditch somewhere?  The shadow, of course, cannot answer Emma’s questions.  All it can do is reach out to stroke her cheek.  This moment, though, was so masterfully done, it’s probably in my top 5 favorite CS moments to date.  Killian’s Shadow is basically just a black silhouette apart from having a pair or white ‘eyes,’  But in that moment, Killian’s Shadow is still somehow able to display sadness.  It’s clear that this shadow contains at least a trace of Killian’s feelings for Emma, and as such, it tries to express it by reaching out to her in an attempt to give Emma some comfort.  Even so, it’s clear that the shadow’s touch is meant as a farewell.  Because Killian, and therefore his shadow, knows that the Lost Boys have no intention of letting him live.

Seconds later, Killian’s Shadow vanishes from sight, which leaves Emma feeling frantic.  She has no idea where Killian is, or what happened to him. She doesn’t even know if he’s even still alive.  That’s when the heavily lethargic Snow makes a decision.  For the first time in a long time, she decides to put her daughter first, instructing Emma to use the Pixie Flower potion to find Killian.  Because the potion can bring the user to someone they share True Love with.  (And hooray for the show for acknowledging that Snow knows Emma and Killian share True Love. I’ve always wondered if they ever told anyone about how they passed that True Love test down in the Underworld.) Snow goes on to explain how she and Charming were able to use a Pixie Flower to open a Door Portal that would bring them to Young Emma, but they decided to not go through for the sake of everyone else in Storybrooke.  But this time, Snow is putting Emma first, by allowing her to use the Pixie Flower potion to find Killian, stating that Killian’s need is greater, and that she’s sure the Nevengers will find another way to cure Snowing’s Sleeping Curse. Before she succumbs to the curse, Mama Snow laments how they took so much from Emma, but she’s not going to take Emma’s True Love away from her.  I have to say, I felt the need to award Mama Snow a gold star for this one. I’d pretty much given up on her in terms of her relationship with Emma.  While this moment isn’t quite enough to negate how many times Mama Snow has virtually ignored Emma unless it involved scolding her for something, it’s a start.  (I still prefer Emma’s relationship with Daddy Charming, of course.)

In Neverland, the Lost Boys are preparing to have Killian burned at the stake.  But our pirate prince is resigned to his fate.  And he has no regrets, as he’s sure his shadow was able to get the wand shard to Emma.  As long as Emma has what she needs to get through her final battle, nothing else matters to him.  At that moment, a door portal appears a short distance away, and Emma charges through, having used the Pixie Flower potion.  After a very brief scuffle, Emma is able to get Killian back through the portal leading back to the loft apartment, and Tiger Lily takes her chance to escape as well.

Once they’re safely back home, Killian wastes no time, apologizing to Emma for not admitting what he did to Grandpa Robert sooner, and for even considering leaving.  Emma insists that he’s already forgiven, acknowledging that she wasn’t blameless either, as she didn’t really give him much of a chance to explain.  But when she starts to move in order to tend to the injuries Killian sustained from his ordeal with the Lost Boys, Killian stops her, stating that there’s something he needs to do before anything else could happen.  As he speaks, he pulls out the ring.  (And props to Regina for stepping away to give them privacy here.)

And so commences The CS Proposal: Take Two, with Killian delivering the typical romantic speech that most proposals feature, stating he wants Emma to know that he will always be by her side, no matter how uncertain her future is.  And, in a symbolic gesture of how they’re equal partners in the releationship, Emma kneels down so she’s on the same level as Killian before accepting the proposal.  

But while the CS engagement is back on, there’s still the matter of Snow and Charming, who are both under a Sleeping Curse.  That’s when Regina gets an idea.  She calls in the dwarfs, Granny, Marco, Archie and a few other townspeople and proceeds to talk about how much Snow and Charming have given up for the town. She suggests it might be time for everyone to return the favor.  Regina’s plan involves everyone taking a little of the Snowing Sleeping Curse upon themselves, theorizing that doing so might end up weakening the curse enough that it would break on its own.  While Leroy briefly voices his skepticism, Killian doesn’t hesitate to be the first to step forward, stating that he owes Snow and Charming his life, as he would have been burned at the stake if Snow hadn’t given Emma the Pixie Flower position. One-by-one, the rest of the group drink the Sleeping Curse elixir.  Seconds after everyone has drunk, there’s magical shockwave, and everyone drops to the ground, with Snow and Charming both waking up.  At first, it looks like the plan backfired, as everyone else is asleep with only Snow and Charming awake.  But slowly, the others regain consciousness as well.  And it’s all’s-well-that-ends-well all around, complete with Killian getting verbal confirmation that Charming forgives him for the death of Robert.

However, in the final moments of the episode, we get a confrontation between Gold and the Black Fairy.  While they had another run-in earlier in the episode, there really wasn’t much to say about it.  Just the Black Fairy popping in to announce her presence and show how much stronger she is than her long-lost son.  She even proves she can take the Dark One Dagger from him without him even noticing.  Although, I’m glad we didn’t have to see Black Fairy insulting Belle, or making her feel bad for sending Baby Gideon away.  Because she wouldn’t have done that if Rumple hadn’t made her afraid for Baby Gideon’s safety.

Anyway, in this second confrontation, Gold reveals he knows Gideon is being Heart Controlled, and tells Granny Black Fairy that Gideon is still trying to resist her in spite of the Heart Control.  To prove his point, he mentions how Gideon intentionally left one Pixie Flower behind for Emma and Snow to find, which indicates he’s trying to fight against the Heart Control. So kudos to Gideon for that. However, I’m now wondering if Gold’s going to bother telling Emma and the other Nevengers about Gideon being Heart Controlled.  Because they genuinely believe Gideon is acting on his own accord.  So how are they supposed to know that Gideon is not actually their enemy?  As much as I don’t particularly like Gold, I will consider cutting him a bit of slack if he does the smart thing this time around and actually level with the Nevengers about this.  If he really wants his son to stay safe, why not inform Team Hero that Gideon is being Heart Controlled, the way Killian was during the Frozen arc?  That knowledge will most likely give Emma and the others reason to reconsider their current ‘no mercy’ stance they’re taking with Gideon. Of course, this is Gold we’re talking about.  He does have a tendency to go through things thinking that his way is always the right way, despite the fact that the Nevengers have a relatively better track record than him.  So, I guess we’re going to have to see which way he goes this time.

(Click here to read more Episode Analyses)