Hopefully you went into tonight's Once Upon a Time ready to have your feelings throttled because that's exactly what happened. From moments of happiness like watching Regina be giddy about kissing Robin to the heartbreaking scene where Snow crushed Charming's heart to relief when Henry remembered everything. Feelings.Though there was plenty of excitement, the best part of the episode was learning Zelena wasn't responsible for casting the curse – just the forgetting element. This series doesn't always nail the surprise twists, but they knocked this one out of the park. The path that led them there could only have been improved by Glinda being more interesting, but she doesn't need to be yet. She had a specific part to play, and she handled it.
Now, back to those feelings. When Charming pushed to be sacrificed to make the new curse happen, it was incredibly sad. It shouldn't have been since we've seen him in Storybrooke and knew he somehow didn't die. I should have reacted to it as if it were a death in comics books: with a non-believing shrug. However, Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas sold the goodbye moment so well – and so did Lana Parrilla (Snow trusted her enough to break her heart and not destroy it!) – you couldn't help but weep. Plus, we needed a reminder of their love.
On the realistic side, these characters rarely get off the hook. Each of them only having half a heart could and probably will cause trouble later.It's satisfying that they didn't wait until the season finale to give Henry's memories back to him. Before that happened though, I'm glad they gave Henry a moment to act like a grown-up and call Emma out. The line where Henry mentioned he was only going to steal the car to drive to the closest bus stop instead of all the way to New York spoke volumes about his personality, and it's impressive any time writers have such an effect with only a few words of dialogue.
Using the book to make him believe again was a smooth way to parallel what happened during the last curse. Plus, Regina is capable of true love now. That bodes well for her and Robin Hood.
Speaking of, Regina in this time period in fairy tale is so much fun to watch. Back in the first season, she hadn't hit the sweet spot and her evil sweeping about bit came across as too over the top – actually, Zelena has some of those affectations – but now, Parrilla and her smart ass quips light up the screen. I know I go on about her a lot, but she deserves it.
The negative part about being in fairy tale world is the unimpressive digital backgrounds. They've only gotten marginally better over time, and they're still pretty wretched in any castle scene. But, the fake effects with the flying monkeys are passable.
Things seem on track for the Storybrooke gang to defeat the Wicked Witch, but one disappointing note is how her magic is all focused into a pendant. Sure, Zelena is so powerful that getting to the pendant won't be easy, but that's it? If they crush the pendant, is she done? It seems too simple, and even if I want Emma and company to win selfishly and for the good of the story, I hope it's harder than Glinda made it sound.
