#initial thoughts--6x21-6x22

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Initial Thoughts—6x21-6x22: The Final Battle, part 3

In the first part of this meta, I discussed the gang’s adventures in the Enchanted Forest (here). In the second part, I discussed what was going on in Storybrooke throughout the finale (here).  Now, I’m going to finish out my season 6 meta-ing with a little discussion of the “happy beginnings” and a look forward to the storyline they’ve set up for season 7.

Happily Ever After

--I really liked the montage they gave us showing everyone living out their happy beginnings.  It was a nice touch that as soon as the clock began moving again, all the lands of story were restored.  I liked getting a chance to see that it’s not just our favorite characters in Storybrooke that had their happy beginnings restored to them thanks to Emma’s sacrifice; it was all the realms.  From Neverland to Wonderland to Arendelle to Agrabah, we got one last chance to see all the lands our favorite characters have traveled to through the years, and it was both very nostalgic and very satisfying.

--And then, we got to see the montage of our Storybrooke family’s happy beginnings.  What I loved about this montage was that there was a little something for just about every segment of the fandom—CS, SQ, Snowing, OQ, Mills sisters, Regina, Rumbelle.  I couldn’t have come up with a better ending to this particular story!  

--(Okay, well, I might have made one change: I would have had CS’s scene be them getting home from a day of sheriffing and then having pancakes.  I mean after everything they’ve been through, they deserve pancakes, right? Don’t we deserve CS pancakes? Lol.)

--So, it’s not how I would have written the story, but I kind of liked what they did with Regina and the EQ and their happy endings.  Both got a chance to be redeemed.  What’s more, it seemed there were two possible happy endings for Regina—1. True Love with Robin Hood. 2. Reunited family with Zelena and Henry. The way A&E worked it—with the split remaining between Regina and the EQ—she ended up getting both.  Having Robin propose by shooting an arrow containing the ring was adorable!  And as for Regina in Storybrooke…I do wish she could have also had Robin Hood, but there’s something I kind of like about what they did with her there.  This show is fundamentally about hope, and I like the thought that there’s hope for happiness no matter what you’ve been through. There are plenty of people in real life who have lost loved ones in some manner or other.  This story gives those people hope that even though it no doubt seems like the end of the world, they can get through it and come out on the other side.

--I really liked the moment when the dwarfs showed Regina the door to her office, where they’d painted “Queen” after her name.  I love that they bowed to her.  That was a beautiful moment and a reiteration of how very far she’s come since her season 1 villain days.

--I do like that Rumbelle get a chance for fresh start, this time without secrets and lies.  I’m glad they get their newborn baby back and have a chance to raise him.  I think they have a lot of issues they need to work through, though.  Rumple making the right decision in the finale doesn’t make all of the past go away. What I hope for them is that they book a whole bunch of sessions with Archie and really work through all those issues so that they can heal their marriage and go forward in a healthy way.

--I likewise loved Snowing’s happy ending.  Giving them a farm with a nice big farmhouse and a dog was perfect!  David could go back to being a shepherd, while Snow returned to doing what she loves—teaching.  It’s also a lovely place for baby Neal (and any other possible future Snowing babies) to grow up!

--I really like the idea of Captain Swan moving forward as sheriff and deputy—married, living together, working together, driving off into the sunset together.  Perfect!

--Having the final scene of our Storybrooke favorites be of them having a big family dinner with the entire family, was a wonderful way to close their book.  We started the series with Emma alone, friendless, with no family, celebrating her birthday all by herself.  To end up with Emma having a family dinner with her true love, her son, and her whole crazy, mixed up family is all I could have wanted for her!

Looking forward to the Future

--I have to admit I went into the finale feeling pretty…meh…about whatever new story they’d set up for season 7. After all, we know it won’t focus on the characters we’ve known and loved for six years.  As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised about what the writers did in setting up adult Henry’s story with his daughter Lucy.  They managed to pique my interested and make me eager to watch this story play out.

--So we have 3 scenes in the finale of Henry and Lucy, but it’s not entirely clear when they occur or what relation they have to each other.  Let’s talk about the scenes in the order they occurred in the episode, and then we can discuss their correct chronology.

--The first scene we get is clearly in the Enchanted Forest or some other land of story.  We get the very, very vague time-stamp of “In a time of great upheaval”.  Henry and Lucy are living in a cottage of some kind, and clearly someone or something is about to attack their village.  Henry chooses to stay and fight, while insisting Lucy take the storybook, looking just like the one we’ve seen all through the series, to safety because the realms’ only hope is preserving the book.  Nice job of hooking us right from the start, writers!  This left me wondering what’s going on and what led to this moment…not to mention why the storybook would be so important.

--The second scene we get clearly comes not long after the first scene.  The battle has come to a close, and it’s clear Henry and Lucy’s village suffered huge casualties.  Lucy, however, has come out unscathed.  She finds Henry’s abandoned sword, but her father is nowhere to be found.  In the midst of this, Tiger Lily finds Lucy and tells her that the fairies have foreseen that she will be reunited with her father again, but that for the time being, she needs to get the book to her mother. She also made this uplifting statement: “You just need to learn the lesson imparted by this book.  Never lose hope.”  To me, that makes it clear that someone, somewhere will lose hope, and that hope will need to be restored.

--I’m fascinated to find out just who Lucy’s mother is, what happened between her and Henry, how Henry ended up in the Enchanted Forest (or wherever that was), what or who the new darkness is, and how Tiger Lily fits into everything.  So many questions to be answered.  That’s exactly what you want from the introduction of a new arc!

--The final scene that we get, and the final scene of the episode, is Lucy in Seattle, holding a storybook, but one that looks very, very different from the one we’re used to. She knocks on Henry’s apartment door (815, because of course it is), introduces herself as his daughter and tells him his family needs him.  Interesting! More questions arise.  Why does his family need him?  What happened to them and how can he help?  

--Now the question remains, when did these three scenes occur in relation to each other? (Clearly 1 and 2 occurred within a day of each other, so it’s really only the EF scene and the Seattle scene we need to figure out.)  I could make an argument for either one of them being the first chronologically, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think the EF scenes actually happen first.  My guess is that what caused Henry to be missing in the EF was a curse brought on by the new darkness.  It ripped him from his world and gave him a life in Seattle—a life where his memories were wiped.  Lucy has to come make him believe again.

--It will be interesting to see where they go with this.  With CS on the back burner, I’m sure I won’t be as emotionally invested in season 7 as I was in seasons 1-6, but I still look forward to the return of my all-time favorite show!

[freechoicedreamer]

Musical Episode

OUAT - Going full circle?

Before wondering a bit, a preamble:

These are just initial thoughts, of course I’ll have to watch 6x12 to get a better idea.

Yes, I think the season will more effectively start in March 12, sort of, because 6x11, apart the Gideon-Emma arc, which I assume will unfold mostly at the end of the episode, will deal with the whole bringing Robin Hood 2.0 to SB (and that was the only and true reason for creating the whole Wish Realm mess, let’s be honest)

So, looking at the broadband settings for 6x20, I think that they look like a recap. And from such a recap (with choreographed sung songs in so many scenarios) we could infer that the main plot and its derivatives are evolving towards a climax, which means a closure for a story (and its main settings) that has been told since season 1: all 6 seasons. The fact that season 6 deals with the Savior mythology indicates that. There is no way to deny that Emma is at the center of the mosaic, a mandala-like mosaic, and the Savior is her mythology. She has a foil so, under this perspective, it is natural that Regina has gained a lot of focus in 6A. Of course, the fact that Emma has being paired with her Kindred Spirit is a strong indication that Killian is also at the center of the mandala, which indicates that he will gain a lot of focus in 6B. The placement of Killian and Emma at the center is structural, in terms of narrative. I’m not saying that they are more important than the other characters, it is an assemble show (which means Rumple most likely will also gain a lot of focus too, in 6B, because he is Killian’s foil - and we expect that from the Black Fairy plot). 

In a way, we could place the other characters (I’m talking about David, Snow, Belle, Gideon, Zelena and Henry - as well as the supporting characters, such as Granny, the Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Archie and others) at the center of their individual mandalas, but they gravitate around Emma and Killian and their respective foils, Regina and Rumple. So, I want to make it clear that I don’t intend to minimize their importance neither maximize the importance of Captain Swan, but as whole, as a major pattern that encompasses the other patterns, I see Killian and Emma at the central point, they are the main reference and all characters’ development revolve around their development.

Because this musical “closure’ is 6x20 and not 6x22 (or 6x23), what will come after that could be a warm up for the next phase, or a better conduction for a final closure. We may suppose, for example, that the whole Storybrooke, at least as we know it, will vanish the moment the first dark curse finally breaks for good- by a Savior, maybe in 6x19 or 6x20. The dark curse is associated to the Dark One (and by extension to the Black Fairy), so the counter part (the Savior and the Sorcerer - and the Author) will be responsible for breaking it (we know that 6B will bring closure to the Savior mythology arc, at least).

So,  similarly to what happened in season 5, where the Underworld arc ended in 5x20, the last 2-3 episodes of season 6 would be a set up for an eventual season 7. A new Storybrooke, maybe, without the barriers that separate it from the external world, without that town line that separates a magic world from a world without magic could be in their plans. Maybe season 7 will deal with Magic spreading to the world, which could imply in the insertion of SB in Google map and the real modern world upgrading the city and its citizens...

By the time they will start filming 6x21 they will have known for sure, I guess, if Ouat will be renewed for a seventh season and the 2-3 final episodes of season 6 may be written properly for both scenarios.

Art: Swan Mandala (by June Walker)

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Initial Thoughts—6x21-6x22: The Final Battle, part 2

In the first part of my meta, I discussed the Charming/Jones/Mills family and their adventure in the Enchanted Forest. (You can find that here, if you missed it.) In this part, I’m going to discuss what was going on in Storybrooke throughout the finale.  Rather than group things thematically, I’m basically going to go through the episode chronologically.

--We start out with Henry waking, still on the rooftop where CS were married.  He’s got the book and he’s obviously got his memories.  As we learned later that no one else (other than Fiona, obviously, and Gold) retained their memories, I can’t help but wonder why Henry got to keep his.  (I mean, obviously, it was important for plot purposes, but in story…why would Fiona allow one of the two people most likely to help Emma remember and believe keep his memories?)

--I thought it was an interesting idea to have Fiona’s curse basically work the same way the original dark curse worked.  It makes sense, of course, because Fiona was the one who created that original dark curse to begin with.  I liked that the curse reset everyone’s memories to the moment just before the first curse broke, yet the writers gave an explanation about the obvious passage of time.

--The Black Fairy obviously took over Regina’s season 1 life, but she was far darker and more twisted than Regina ever was as Mayor Mills.  The BF continues to be a frightening villain.  Her danger is less physical (although, she obviously wasn’t above using physical violence, as Henry can attest.  Yikes!), but far more psychological.  She comes off as this sweet, gentle woman who wants nothing but the absolute best for those in her town, but underneath it all she’s more manipulative than anyone we’ve seen on the show (with the possible exception of Rumple).  She spreads poison with a smile.  The way she managed to convince Emma to choose to burn the storybook and give up her belief was frightening.  Even more so was the cold and cruel way she taunted Henry about his inability to do anything about it.  I can’t even imagine how powerless Henry must have felt!

--I love all the call backs to season 1 with the Swan Believer scenes.  It really brought the show full circle and served to remind the audience just why we fell in love with this show to begin with.  We get Henry once again trying everything in him to make his mom believe in the truth of their crazy magical existence.  Only this time the stakes are much, much higher.

--One thing I’ve mentioned in past metas is that villains always, always make fatal miscalculations and it leads to their downfall. The major miscalculation most villains make is in not understanding the strength and enduring power of love and the heroics it leads people to undertake.  The same holds true of the Black Fairy.  Her fatal miscalculation was in taking away Belle.  She was so very, very close to getting all she wanted with her son by her side as her right-hand man, but when she took away said son’s wife, it reminded him that she doesn’t have the family’s best interest at heart; she only has her best interest at heart, and it was this very thing that finally gave Rumple the strength and courage to oppose his mother and do the right thing.  Good job, Rumple! (A phrase I’ve very, very rarely used throughout this series, lol.)

--Henry has a very good plan about how to jog Emma’s memories.  Taking her back to the place of her wedding, the moment her “happy beginning” started was an excellent plan, and to an extent it worked.  I love that when Emma stood on the spot she married Killian, she had flashes of memories of him and of their lovely ceremony.  

--But Fiona has done quite a number on her.  Throughout what felt to her like 2 years’ worth of time in the mental hospital, Fiona convinced Emma she was crazy, and her craziness led to her son’s near death. Given that fact, it only makes sense that she would have difficulty believing her own flashes of memory.

--My heart goes out to Emma here.  She’s so broken, so in pain.  She just wants to get well so that she can have a normal life with her son.  She’s tired of fighting and just wants to rest. It makes perfect sense that she would be very tempted to return to Boston, to a life that’s familiar and “safe”.

--I did like the fact that Rumple and Gideon had a happy relationship in the curse.  It would have been easy for Rumple to just go with that and enjoy having what he’s always wanted—life with his son while retaining his power, but Rumple doesn’t do that.  Rumple takes every opportunity to remind Gideon of his mother and the fact that she did love him, whatever else has happened.  I liked that.  It was really, really tragic that the Black Fairy made Gideon believe his mother abandoned him.  It hurt to see how much loathing Gideon held for the mother who was willing to make any sacrifice for him.

--I kind of like that Henry gets more of a “starring” role in this episode.  The Black Fairy doesn’t treat him as a kid to just ignore or brush off. She treats him as a real threat. Quite the scene in Archie’s office when she let him know she was well aware he was awake and she wasn’t going to let him derail her plans.  I’m still shocked she went so far as to throw a 14 year old down the stairs!  Talk about chilling!

--Back to Rumple.  I think, though he didn’t trust his mother, Rumple very much wanted the vision she offered him in 6x19.  He went along with it, hoping he’d be able to have his family, his power, and a good life.  When he realized the Black Fairy had obviously done something to Belle, he started to rethink the situation, but I think the moment he decided once and for all to fight against his mother was the moment she showed him the very, very badly photoshopped photos of Belle around the world. (Seriously, though, Fiona, you have the strongest magic out there yet you can’t figure out photoshop? I’m disappointed in your deception skills.)

--Near the midpoint of the double episode, we reach a moment when all seems hopeless.  Fiona succeeds in convincing Emma to burn the storybook for Henry’s own good.  I do love, though, that when it begins to burn, it flips to the picture of Captain Hook, and that obviously stirs something in Emma.  

--One of the most chilling moments from the BF comes next—when she goes to the hospital to gloat to Henry. She gleefully tells him that his mom burnt the book…which not only destroys her belief, but also all the realms of story and the remainder of their family.  It’s hard to fathom that level of malice.

--I liked getting a chance to see Emma’s Boston apartment again.  Quite the callback to the pilot, complete with the discarded birthday candle just before everything started.  Emma tries (very briefly) to go back to her old life, even accepting a job with a new mark, but Henry, the truest believer, comes to the rescue once more. His last ditch effort to leave a hastily-rewritten book detailing Emma’s story in her bag is just the spark he needs to convince Emma to go back and choose to believe.

--I love Henry just walking into Gold’s shop and into the back room, not even caring that Gold’s there trying to stop him.  He’s just so done with everything.  He’s going to destroy the Black Fairy and get his family back, and no one’s going to stop him.  I love that Henry is able to figure out that Rumple’s awake simply from his magical concoctions.  Rumple is still not willing to fight for anyone but Belle and Gideon at this point, but at least he gives Henry what he needs.

--(Speaking of which….um Henry…planning to use the sword on the Black Fairy is very, very brave, but what were you thinking, dude?  She’s one of, if not the most powerful musical being around, just what did you think you were going to be able to do with that sword?)

--Such a wonderful moment when Emma shows up again just as Henry’s about to go up against the Black Fairy. I love, love, love the message of Emma choosing to believe in the story Henry wrote her.  I love her deciding that even if she doesn’t remember what happened, she chooses to be the woman Henry wrote about in the book, because that’s the woman she truly wants to be.  Such a powerful moment of character development!

--As the conflict really starts to heat up, we learn that Fiona did not, in fact, return Gideon’s heart to Rumple.  She kept it for herself.  As Emma returns, and thus starts to put a damper on her total world domination plans, Fiona’s calm, cool exterior starts to crack.  She gives up the pretense with Gideon and simply orders him to kill Emma. As she holds his heart, he has no choice but to obey.

--This leads directly to the pivotal confrontation scene between Rumple and the Black Fairy.  I find it interesting that her first line of attack was to insist that Belle was wrong for insisting he turn away from his darkness.  Fiona insists that Rumple—and those who love him—should accept him as he is, darkness and all.  We know, given the fact that this is coming from the show’s ultimate villain that this is the exact opposite of what Rumple’s loved ones should do.  In a season where a big theme has been accepting all of yourself, Rumple is the exception that proves the rule.  Belle was absolutely right in insisting he turn from his dark impulses. I honestly love that so much. Rumple had some of his own season 5 logic reiterated for him, but he finally realizes how wrong it was and he rejects it.  I really, really needed to see that moment if there was to be any hope for me to “buy” a Rumple redemption arc.

--Fiona offers Rumple a deal it’s got to be almost impossible for him to refuse.  She paints a rosy picture where she has absolute control and is not even bound by the laws of magic.  She insists at that point she’ll wake up Belle and Gideon, and Rumple can do whatever he wants to ensure they love him and are his perfect little family. What’s more, Fiona says that with her unlimited powers, she can even bring Bae back from the dead.  It’s everything Rumple’s ever wanted—his family and his power.

--But Rumple realizes that such manipulation would have a cost, and he’s no longer willing to pay the cost.  So, instead, he manipulates her until he has control of her wand and uses it to kill her.

--The good?  Fiona really, really needed to go.  The bad?  After all the buildup about how the Black Fairy was the most formidable of formidable foes, this defeat felt way, way too easy.  For me, it didn’t feel satisfying.

--The Black Fairy’s death breaks the curse, and Emma’s memories are restored.  She and Henry don’t get more than a few seconds to celebrate, though, before Gideon shows up to kill her once more.

--Before dying, the Black Fairy told Rumple her evil villain plan that was already set into motion. She’d already sent Gideon to kill Emma, thus ensuring light would destroy light, because that’s something the darkness could never do (love that thought, by the way).  My first thought was why didn’t Rumple even try to get Fiona to tell him where Gideon’s heart was before killing her?  

--But putting that aside, once Fiona was gone, and Rumple and Belle were reunited, Rumple finally started doing things the right way.  Not only did he choose to do the right thing in refusing when the Black Fairy offered him everything, but he came to realize that he can’t go it alone.  He needs to work with the heroes.  To that end, he called Henry, told him his plan and asked for his help in the meantime. Rumple found the third way.  He didn’t have to let Gideon do what he was going to do, and he didn’t have to stop him forcibly.  He could find the heart and give Gideon his free will back. Good job, Rumple!  (Wow…there it is again!)

--And with the Black Fairy out of the way, we come to the big climax of the episode—of the whole season really: Emma’s swordfight with Gideon.  I love that the breaking of the curse brought Emma’s whole family back to her in time to be there, give her strength, and help her remember who and what she’s fighting for.

--The heroes immediately realize the conundrum:  Pretty much any outcome of the fight will result in darkness winning.  If Gideon kills the savior, darkness wins.  If Emma kills an innocent person, darkness inters her heart, and thus wins.  I have a bit of a moral problem with the way this was framed, as always when it comes to heroes killing villains on this show.  There’s a very, very important distinction between murder and killing in self-defense, which this show always seems to ignore.  If Emma had gone through with the sword fight, not going on the attack, but only defending herself, and Gideon had been killed, by rights, her heart shouldn’t have been darkened at all.

--Regardless, I love how heroic and selfless Emma is here.  She wants to do what she has to do to save her family, but she doesn’t want to kill someone who has no control over his actions.  I like that Regina took her aside and gave her a hope speech, urging her to find that hero’s third way.  That was a really good moment!

--I love Emma coming into her own during the swordfight.  She kind of talks it out, and finally figures out that third way. She has to do what all saviors do—save her loved ones and all in her town—no matter what sacrifice to herself that might entail.  She realizes that if she uses the light, follows love and heroism, light will triumph. I love this statement of hers: “Light cannot destroy light, only create more light”.  I love that she decides not to give up hope no matter what.  She throws down her sword and sacrifices herself for the greater good.  This was basically the culmination of Emma’s whole arc.  The ugly duckling has finally finished the transformation to swan!

--While this confrontation is going on in the middle of town, Rumple and Belle go to the mines to try to find Gideon’s heart.  Before they make it, however, Belle twists her ankle (I feel for you Belle; I’m still dealing with a little pain from my own sprained ankle), meaning Rumple is left alone for what turns out to be his one final test.

--Just as Rumple finds Gideon’s heart—and realizes the Black Fairy put a spell on it, so it won’t be as easy as just returning the heart to his son’s chest—sparkly, golden EF Rumple shows up.  This is literally the devil on Rumple’s shoulder.  Sparkly Rumple reminds Gold that all he has to do is stand back and let Gideon fulfill his task, and he has it all—love, family, ultimate power, darkness, everything.  But Rumple realizes, at long last, that he cannot do it.  Giving in to the darkness won’t give him what he wants because none of it will be real.  He rejects Sparkly’s temptation and walks away, his son’s heart in hand.  Good job Rumple!  (Three times in one meta?  Crazy!)

--I felt bad for Rumple when he got back to Belle and had to tell her he failed.  He’d made the right choice, done the right thing, but he still failed.  Belle realizes, however, the importance of Rumple’s choice.  She comforts him, smiles at him, comes to realize maybe there’s not only hope for his soul, but hope for their relationship as well.  I knew they were going to give Rumple a redemption path, I’m just glad they went the way they did, because this was really satisfying.  I think Rumple’s still early in his redemption journey.  He’ll still backslide and stumble—just as Regina and Killian did throughout the early days of their redemption—but he’s made the choice to go down the right path, and that’s impressive!

--Back on the streets of Storybrooke, things are looking dire.   After letting Gideon stab her, Emma explodes in light and falls, supposedly dead to the ground.  In a move that parallels the end of season 1, Henry gives Emma a True Love’s Kiss and she wakes up.  In the context of this particular episode and all the Swan Believer moments leading up to it, it makes a lot of sense that Henry was the one who gave Emma the TLK that woke her up, but I’m still a bit disappointed.  I really, really, really wanted a CS TLK!  I know we didn’t need it to prove Emma and Killian are True Love, but I really wanted them to get that moment.

--I love the aftermath of the TLK!  I love that everyone finally got their happy beginning!  Snow gave one last hope speech about how they get to live out the rest of their lives together.  The storybook reappeared, with the last page filled out: “When Good and Evil both did the right thing, faith was restored.  The final battle was won.”  There was no end, because the happy “ending” is actually a beginning.  What a lovely way to finish things off!

--(One little quibble with how they ended the book.  It’s not really true that good and evil both did the right thing.  I realize what they were trying to get at there.  Both sides of the coin—the Savior and the Dark One both chose to do the right thing, but that wasn’t good and evil.  By doing good, Rumple was no longer following evil.  Thus it wasn’t that good and evil both do the right thing. Evil switched sides and joined good.)

--Alright, well that was more than 3000 words!  I think it’s time for me to stop for the day.  One last (much, much shorter) part tomorrow to talk about the “happy beginnings” all our favorites get to live out and to look at the new story they’re setting up for season 7.

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Initial Thoughts--6x21-6x22: The Final Battle, pt. 1

Wow!  What a season finale that was, right?  I really, really liked it.  It did all that a season finale—even a series finale—should.  It had action, adventure, romance.  It tied up loose ends, finished off the story, had lots of call backs to previous seasons, and ended with the happiest of happy beginnings for everyone.  This episode definitely finished the story we’ve loved for the past 6 years, and there’s no doubt that was bittersweet, but today, I’m genuinely feeling more satisfaction and gratitude than sadness.  

In this analysis, I’ll be discussing the adventures of the heroes in the Enchanted Forest, the Black Fairy’s curse in Storybrooke, everyone’s happy beginnings, and the new story for season 7 that they introduced.  I’m planning on breaking this meta into three parts.

The Enchanted Forest

--I found it really interesting that when the curse hit, the family was sent to Snow and Charming’s castle at the exact spot of their wedding.  Throughout the episode, we saw a lot of evidence that the Black Fairy’s curse took everyone directly back to what was happening just before or after the original dark curse.  That was a cool way to call back the past.

--I loved how frantic Killian was for Emma from the very moment he woke up.  That is a man who will do anything to get home to his wife.  (I still get a little thrill at the thought they’re actually married!)

--Such a good moment when Snow White immediately gave the group a hope speech.  It’s so iconically her!

--It’s good that the gang didn’t have to wonder what was happening with Emma.  Magic mirrors are really quite useful magical inventions!

--Through the little view of Storybrooke in the magic mirror, the gang comes to realize that the final battle isn’t what it seems.  Emma won’t be forced to fight a physical battle, according to the Black Fairy’s original plan.  The battle is for her belief, for her very soul.  Nice twist!

--It’s also a nice twist that Emma’s lack of belief has yet wider implications—it causes all the realms of story to disappear…along with the people living in them.  This was an inventive way to really, really raise the stakes.

--I liked that they brought back the mad hatter’s hat.  It was a good way for all the lands to come into play, and it was also another call back to the past!

--*shakes head* Really Regina?  You’re going to dismiss Killian’s idea without even hearing it just because he doesn’t have magic?  Not cool!  Still, I love that Killian doesn’t waste time arguing or brooding.  He simply walks away, determined to follow up on his plan regardless of what anyone may think.  Getting back to Emma is always his number one priority, and he’s not going to let anyone stand in his way.

--I am so, so happy the writers gave us not only a call back to the beanstalk episode, but a Captain Charming adventure on the beanstalk!  That was something I never knew I needed.  I loved Killian calling Emma his wife.  I loved Killian telling David about his first adventure with Emma there on the beanstalk.  I love Hook admitting that he was far from heroic back then.  I loved Killian’s impassioned speech about how he and Emma have made each other better people, how they were not fated true love but rather fought for their love.  I love that David listened, and told Killian he’d help him.  Excellent brotp moment there at the bottom of the beanstalk!

--At the top of the beanstalk, the guys decide to explore the table to see if they can find a bean. Both of them want to be the one to undertake the mission in order to protect the other, and here we get my favorite Captain Charming moment of the episode.  Killian insists it should be him.  Emma may be Charming’s daughter, but she’s his wife.  This ends the argument; Charming immediately agrees with his logic, and Killian is confused at his sudden decision to trust their fates to a pirate.  Charming says “I’m going to trust my son…in-law.”  I love that; so much!

--After retrieving the one remaining magic bean (lol, exactly how many “one remaining” magic beans have there been in this series?), Captain Charming begin their descent, and it’s here that things start getting tricky.  With Emma turning farther and farther from belief, the realms of fairy tale are quickly disappearing.  This upheaval causes the beanstalk to sway and eventually uproot itself.  Scenes of the beanstalk are interspersed with scenes of Emma burning the storybook, and I thought it was an incredibly effective storytelling move.

--I have no idea why, but Killian survives a fall from so far up that there are clouds behind him. He really is a survivor!

--When David falls as well, Snow feels it within herself and knows immediately that something is wrong with him.  I loved that! Such a beautiful reminder of their true love as well as reminding the audience of the first season when David felt it within himself when Snow ate the poisoned apple.

--Snow, with the help of Jasmine and her magic carpet, immediately goes after her husband, but comes upon the prone form of her son-in-law instead.  This provides a nice little moment of comic relief when Killian calls her “mummy” as soon as he sees her.  Captain Charming got an emotional moment in this episode, but Snook’s scene was comic gold.

--I love that Snow insists Killian take the bean and get to Emma.  She knows a couple of things: 1. She can’t go; she has to find David and 2. If any of them can make Emma remember who she is, it’s Killian.  This was a beautiful moment…but unfortunately the show did not follow up on it.  The perfect payoff of that scene would have been to have Killian actually restore Emma’s memories.  Quite the missed opportunity.

--Such a beautiful Snowing scene when Snow finally finds Charming.  I loved how the scene with Snow giving Charming a TLK was juxtaposed with their first TLK in the pilot.  Even the dialog once Charming woke up was similar to that very first Snowing scene.  Beautiful!

--What else was beautiful was what Charming said to Snow: “Snow, we’re going to be fine.  Darkness never wins; it just fools you into thinking it does.”  This is such a beautiful sentiment full of hope!

--I like that we got a chance to see the EQ again.  Her story seemed more or less done, but this episode kind of put a bow on it.  It makes perfect sense that she and Robin would head out of the Wish World given the danger that was waiting for them there. I also love that she and Robin are growing closer over robbing from the rich to give to the poor.  They seem to be slowly but surely helping each other along a path toward redemption.

--I love that the EQ decides to sacrifice herself to stave off the magic to give Regina a little more time to get the magic bean to work and save everyone else.  This was a totally selfless move and a great moment of redemption!

--And finally, with Emma making the choice to believe even if she can’t remember, the destruction of the realms comes to an end, and the Enchanted Forest portion of the episode comes to a close.

--Tomorrow, in part 2 if this meta, I’ll discuss what happened in Storybrooke during the Final Battle.