Once Upon A Time, after a looong winter hiatus, has finally returned just in time for the 100th episode. The first half of Season 5 was some of the best work they’ve done in years, exploring the dark sides of Hook and Emma, and battling King Arthur as Regina found her good side. Naturally, when there are nearly three months between episodes, you worry about whether or not the quality will remain at a high level. Though there were some parts I didn’t like, the episode turned out to be a strong one, with lots of emotional payoffs along the way.
This week on Once Upon A Time: Emma, Charming, Snow, Henry, Regina, Robin, and Rumplestiltskin explore the underworld in search of Captain Hook. Instead, they stumble upon souls from their past who have unfinished business in the underworld. In the flashbacks, Regina’s parents battle for her favor on her birthday. Special Guest Stars include Michael Raymond-James, Barbara Hershey, Tony Perez, Giancarlo Esposito, Robbie Kay.
Any time you have a milestone episode like this, they’re hard to anticipate. Guest stars from the show’s past are common, and sometimes they’re integrated well and sometimes not. I thought that this episode in particular did a wonderful job integrating its guest stars, and instead of just being a one-off episode, they used it to kick off the whole Season 5B plot. I’m especially interested in how the underworld continues to affect these characters as the season moves forward, and very much because of the emotional appeal of the mid-season premiere.
There were two big moments in this episode that got me a little teary-eyed. The opening scene, in which Emma was “visited” by Neal, was fantastic. It did make me wonder if they were able to secure Michael Raymond-James at the last minute, since it was only between the two of them, and his appearance was revealed so late. No matter how it came about, though, Raymond-James and Jennifer Morrison slipped right back into their old chemistry and made for an incredibly moving scene. I was always team Neal, anyway. It was an incredibly moving and heart-warming scene.
The other big moment was the double Henry scene at the end. By double, of course, I mean Regina’s father and son. Lots of fans were clamoring to see Neal one more time, but the story about Regina’s father, told mostly in flashback, was entirely about revealing Regina’s character. Even though she’s clearly going to have to deal with demons from her past, Regina’s goodness was solidified in the way she acknowledged her father’s wishes. The scene at the end in which the two Henry’s meet and Regina gets closure was emotionally satisfying and it got a little dusty in here.
Sidenote: I’m the last person in the world to catch that the last name “Mills” is because Cora was a miller’s daughter? Yeah. Thought so.
I thought there were some minor pacing issues with the episode, and I really didn’t care for the Rumplestiltskin/Peter Pan stuff at all. I think both are compelling characters, but it seemed like they were trying too hard to add a third layer to it. Really, the episode worked pretty well and it didn’t need the added Rumple drama, but I’m still intrigued to see how everything plays out.
Overall, this episode was a compelling and emotional milestone for the long-standing ABC series (which was just renewed for Season 6 by the way). I was more excited than I’ve been in years for Once to return to my screen, and I was not disappointed.
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the episode? Let us know!
Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars