Once Upon A Time 5.12 "Souls of the Departed" Review

                                            
Emma (Jennifer Morrison) has a dream about seeing Neal (Michael Raymond-James) and how he's moved on and is in a happy place now, guess he got his happy ending then and he knows she wants to get Hook (Colin O'Donohue) back.  Then wakes up in a Storybrooke which which as all red filters and the clock tower lies broken on the ground.  Finally something destructive happened to that clock seeing as everything took place there. This is the Storybrooke as seen in the underworld, or created there.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina (Lana Parilla) tries a berry pie which has been made for her birthday and is about to wreck some more of her havoc until Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) arrives to save the day again.  The best birthday gifts were yet to come, as her father wanted Regina to stop her nonsensical quest for power and revenge and summoned Cora (Barbara Hershey) with the help of Regina's mirror, (Giancarlo Esposito) from Wonderland.  She came to make things worse for everyone and she did what no one else could do, took Snow's heart and gifted it in a box to Regina.  Regina couldn't resist crushing the heart of her rival, only one of her guards carked it instead, as daddy dear had switched hearts.  He doesn't have magic, so how was he able to do this, did he raid Regina's vault or something.  Which made her even more angry cos no matter how much she loves him, she still exacted her revenge on him by shrinking him and placing him in the box instead and then showing off her new miniature to Cora.

Regina finds a new boss in her seat, none other than Cora, only she can't be in charge of the underworld cos not even OUAT would dare change the story of the underworld and Hades.  Anyway didn't she become good or something or was that not done, after Snow crushed her heart too.  See Snow got her revenge on Cora doing that to her, well at least for taking her heart.  Not so much crushing it.
At the diner Snow looks for Hook, as do the others and meets with the wicked blind witch (Emma Caulfield) from Hansel and Gretel who now cooks there.  Er, does she serve up departed children. Was that some sort of a terrible Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett pie moment.  (See connection: Regina and pies, oh never mind!)   When Snow is kissed and doesn't recognize true love's kiss anymore it seems, cos she didn't realize that was James and not David!  Cue David (Josh Dallas) as he leaves and nothing else was spoken!  So he's going to be David's unfinished business perhaps, or not, since it appears everyone roaming the underworld hasn't had their chance at putting things right.

Cora wants Regina to be safe and tells her to leave otherwise she'll have to burn the one person she loves the most, that being her father, Regina having found Henry Mills' grave.  But no one had still located Hook, cos this was being dragged out as far as possible, you'd have thunk they'd have wanted to drag out him being dark, sorry that only lasted two eps, would've been good to have seen for longer.

Gold walks on over to the pawn shop and there he forlornly looks at the chipped teacup and also his father's doll!  Well Pan (Robbie A Kay) shows up.  He wants to get back home and asks Rumples to do this just by ensuring one of the people he came here with doesn't make it back, or he can piggy back on them or something.  Though they haven't really mentioned their unfinished business, isn't he supposed to get redemption, ask for forgiveness for being younger looking than his own son and move on to the light.  Guess that wasn't happening.  He gives Gold some magic potion on the house, enabling people to talk to their dead when poured onto their graves; so later on he can say there were strings attached to it and not just in the Pinocchio sense either.

This potion didn't work for Hook who was tortured to the nines, but Regina could speak withe her father and also introduce his grandson Henry (Jared Gilmore) to him.  Giving her some more of his wisdom of how she can't leave here without her friends and now she's turned that corner and isn't like Cora, she listens to him, for once.  He must've been proud.  A stairway to heaven (can I say that) appears as Cora vanishes when Regina decides she will stay and her father leaves for a better place. Well that was easy.  So if Hook hadn't done all that he did after going dark and ending up in the underworld after dying, their loves ones would have been suffering still.  Hmm so turns out they had him do something meaningful.  As Regina returned to the clock tower, the hand moves a minute thus symbolizing a soul had been taken to its rightful place with Regina smiling, she did something right.

Funny scene must've been Jimmeny Cricket popping out of Snow's corset and what prithee tell was he doing there??  Just as Regina crushes her heart! Seriously what was the purpose of this scene if not for comic effect?   That potion was "the Ale of Seonaidh from the land of Dunbroch" as Gold tells them, back there again hey.  What would they do without the wee Scots.

Then the reveal of Hades (Greg Germann) not very exciting and Cora being turned back into the peasant that she was, for failing to do her job, as if that could possibly be the worst of her worries.  I just miss the Guyliner quotes!!  It must be saying something about this show now when I only watch for Hook!! and Regina too of course, but mostly Hook!!

Once Upon A Time 5.11 "Swan Song" Review

                                                
Regina (Lana Parilla) having confronted Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) about his secret she knew when he was a pirate and when she used him as a test when she wanted her mother killed by him, reminds him here that the secret is what he needs to face.  As they stand poised at the lakeside and Hook going to send Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) whole family to hell.  In fact it was all to do with the Dark Ones alighting their ferry and going through the town marking people which meant the Dark Ones would each take over a living person's soul.  As Rumple (Robert Carlyle) explained how they'd be ferried to the underworld when the moon was full. This included Rumple too and as he gave Belle (Emilie de Ravin) her dream ticket out of Storybrooke, he said she should leave, live her dream and see the world, cos there's a whole world out there.  Well there's plenty of worlds out there in all sorts of realms.

Emma decided the only one she could save everyone was if she took all of the Dark Ones powers into the sword and then killed herself with it, making the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone.  Which was a bad idea, but she knew Regina would understand and even help her.  She decides to leave a note for her family when they're all meant to be having a farewell meal at the the diner, sort of a last family supper together and doesn't turn up, and heck they didn't even notice.  That's cos Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) decided she didn't want to stick their last moments together into a book and would rather spend it with her family.  Wondering who would look after baby Neal, well Emma would still be around, left holding the baby.  Somehow couldn't picture that.  Rumple even gave Emma the sword, no questions asked, adding she was brave (wrong film/show) and he would part with it cos he wouldn't have to make any such sacrifices.

We get a flashback to Hook when he was a wee lad by the name of Killian and how his father told him he needs to make a choice of the sort of man he wants to be.  Before deserting his two sons and basically selling them off to slave away on a ship.  As Regina takes Hook to the inn where she tells him there's a man he needs to take care of first.  Whereupon he's confronted by a tall man who she knocks down with a spell.  It's the barkeep, none other than his worthless father.  He wants revenge on him too, seems his whole life is one chapter fuelled and filled by revenge after another and it probably started the moment he was sold as a worthless piece of meat, or "soiled" goods!!  Anyway father has a sob story of how he's learned his lesson after falling foul of a sleeping curse, is a changed man and how the woman who nursed him changed him and became his wife, then succumbed to a plague.  They have a son now and Hook ensures safe passage for him and his son by getting them letters of transmit.  For a moment there I thought were magically portalled to Casablanca here!!  Ha.  "Save me Rick..." we need those letters of transit.

As Hook brings them by, he overhears his father tell his son the same thing he told Hook and also hears him call him Liam, which he says was out of honour for his brother and not a betrayal.  Hook can stand his lies no more and actually kills him!  This is the secret he and Regina shared all those years and she tells him not to do the same again.  Not to sacrifice Emma's family like that.  Anyway why did Regina need Hook to kill Cora when she had magic and could've done it herself and as I recall didn't Hook have a thang for Regina too!

In Storybrooke Regina does one final thing in ridding her sister and sending her back to Oz, using that "withered knob of that sad, old man" aka the sorcerer's apprentice, language Zelena!!  (Rebecca Mader) As she tried to cling onto the clock tower for dear life, see everything happens in that clock tower, it may as well be labelled the foreshadowing tower instead or something.

Anyway back at the lake, Hook still wanted revenge on Emma for how she changed him and for saving his life, even when she said she loved him, but that was what he used to say, not so much actually.  Hook then realizes what he's doing wrong and he decides to make the sacrifice himself by taking all of the Dark Ones into the sword and then Emma stabbed him with it.  Kind of defeating the purpose of her saving him to begin with, when all this could've been avoided and heck Merlin would still be around too.  Proving her actions to save her lost love were hasty and pointless (no pun!)  Then Emma transformed back and lost that awful hair, as the paramedics arrived and didn't wonder how he got that gaping wound in his neck which ultimately killed him!  (Again!)

Belle returns and realizes what Gold was doing in sending her away before they had a stint of making up to do.  Emma confronting Gold about what he did when he admits he took apart Excalibur with a spell and still has the dagger, thus becoming the Dark One again, cos it's always about power and never about love and no you can't have both, Gold wanting to remain the Dark One, so much for his pure heart, which he just needed to be saved so he could go back to his evil ways again.  Emma agrees to keep his secret if he takes them to hell,  so she can do a rehash of what Snow did for David (Josh Dallas) by giving him half his heart and bring back Hook to life.

It was good to see how evil Hook was as a pirate cos what's the ultimate thing he could've done to become like that (or even more darker) he got revenge on his father for deserting his children.  A little aside to how Rumple deserted Bae too in the hopes of becoming the Dark One and for power.  Hook's descent into darkness could be understood better with this flashback since he had already killed his father and on top of that we can see why it was so easy for him to have also killed Merlin when he was dark.  Consequently, it was also easy to see why he sacrificed himself, cos killing wasn't an honourable thing to do especially when he had come so far in his transition.  Thus the sacrifice was his one final act of redemption and in turn saving not only Emma but her family too.

The downside of this was that Hook didn't have to make that sacrifice after all and Gold was back as Rumple, though a tad confusing.  His descent from hero to villain once again was as dramatic and as fast as Hook becoming dark.  Hook had his reasons and Gold just wanted power cos he saw what being powerless really meant and how vulnerable he was, at everyone's mercy.

An interesting ending though Emma once again has to suffer Hook dying and as for wielding the sword, this was something she would've wanted Regina to do with the dagger, only she ended up doing that herself.

Once Upon A Time 5.10 "Broken Heart" Review

                                        
This ep shows how Emma (Jennifer Morrison) only became dark after her decision to save Hook and that's understandable as Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) did the same thing, or rather Snow says they did the same and then she gave her heart to save David (Josh Dallas).  Which was a parallel here. Though it seems Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) goes off the rails even more than Emma and so suddenly as he kind of agrees with Zelena (Rebecca Mader) about being dark and living it up.  His darkness however seemed to be more a result of Emma making him become a Dark One when he said he just wanted to die.  She gave him no choice which is what he gave her when he told Snow she'd have to make up her own mind.

Seems Hook was even more prone to darkness after he discovered Emma lied to him about the sword and that she had it all along, probably using it in an effort to control him.  Nice touch watching him emrge from the Dark One's secret lair in his cloak but apparently he didn't get the Crocodile's skin, as Nimue (Caroline Ford) did. What's more he seems to be influenced more by Nimue than Rumple (Robert Carlyle) in his mind.  Since when push comes to shove he took Merlin's (Elliot Knight) heart and he crushed it even though Emma tried to stop him.  This led them back to Storybrooke with another curse which Hook was responsible for this time.  Thus bringing all of Camelot with them and Merida (Amy Manson) too.  Have we finally seen the end of the Camelot story with Merlin's demise now!  Especially since there was no mention of where they'd all vanished too, along with Merida. Emma even warning Hook that if he crushed Merlin's heart then he'd lose his happy ending.

                                         
Eek more purple smoke!!  Curses!
In Storybrooke Hook sets out on the ultimate revenge he waited 300 years for, to kill the Crocodile and in Gold's shop, we get some of the finest acting from Colin when he emulates the mannerisms of Rumple and challenges him to a duel on his ship.  If he can defeat him, Gold'll have Excalibur. Whilst everyone tries to stop this from happening.  Hook even says he would have given up his 'soiled' love Milah if he had won him back then.  So his love is now 'soiled,' a nasty way of describing her, even if he is dark.  Loved also the hair change from his left parting when he's good, to his right parting when Hook is evil.  As well as the change of clothes from the cloak to the usual leathers which Rumple comments on how he also loves leather too.  Hook is hellbent (no pun for future eps) on exacting revenge and treating everyone cruelly, as once was in his nature, so it didn't come as a surprise that he did become dark quickly and even superceded Emma in her darkness when he discovered also that she wasn't really dark at all, but was all this to save him.

Regina (Lana Parilla) thinks Emma should have let him die too but Emma conveniently brings up how Regina saved Robin (Sean Maguire) and used Emma to do it.  As well as Hook taking their memories in the dreamcatchers which he's hidden somewhere.  Leaving Henry (Jared Gilmore) and Emma to come up with Operation Mongoose II to find them and return everyone their memories, cos Emma has a bracelet on her now to stop her magic like Zelena did and Merida's been entrusted to guard her, but she manages to get away when Hook arrives, knocking her out.  Then Hook insulting Emma some more.

As Regina headed to the hospital cos Zelena wanted to see her baby but said baby was with Robin back at the apartment and she'd get to visit her only if one of them was there to supervize.  So said baby still doesn't have a name yet either.  Henry removes Emma's bracelet cos he believes she can help them and they find the dreamcatchers at the clock tower, Hook couldn't find a better place to put them, considering everyone knows that's not such a secret hidey hole anymore.  Remember Regina used to got there a lot in earlier seasons when she was still evil, Zelena went there and even Gold had Hook hostage there when he was about to crush his heart, my how things never change.

Gold wins the duel and even has the sword at Hook's throat, after Hook gave him an even field by removing his limp.  But Hook vanishes in a poof of smoke as per usual.  Rumple heads to the well where he told Belle (Emilie de Ravin) he'd be if she changed her mind and she was there, but decided she couldn't be with him for the millionth time cos he hurt her too many times.  (Still continuing!) Ironically he says his heart is pure now and she knows he's changed.  Emma returned their memories as Hook and Rumple ended up at the lake again as the boatload of Dark Ones approached.  Emma now remembering Hook's going to open a portal to hell. With Nimue leading them as she was the original Dark One.  (And there were some thinking it was Rumple.)

Always great seeing Hook go dark, but somehow they should've fleshed it out more as they did with Emma, cos she was the Dark One for a long time and they could've got much more mileage out of it. Including getting his hair gelled into that style, very fetching it was too love!  Hey I'd like to get my vote in for Colin O'Donoghue for the next James Bond, no really, he's got the looks and he's got the personality to match.  I mean anyone's better than Daniel Craig, but actually Colin would be a good choice.  Plus he's Irish like Pierce Brosnan and those same blue eyes too!

Oh and where's Lily disappeared to, so much for her mentioning her necklace and wanting to find her father.  I say her father was the dragon from Camelot!  Well whilst Camelot is still around who knows, not like there was an abundance of dragons for Maleficent to mate with and procure said human baby!  Who knows!

Think Hook and Regina had similar thoughts when she was implying how Zelena basically seduced Robin as Marion and that was wrong cos it was verging on a criminal act, but also the way in which Hook so vilely described Milah as 'soiled'  Could've used a better word than that!  Not like he was implying she was covered in dirt or anything like that!

Anyway that's why we didn't get to see Merlin finish his voicemail to the others, cos Hook arrived and killed him.  Does he get redemption for the killing though or forgiveness and does he recall doing that, cos no mentions was made of it later.  However it is easy for Hook to go dark so easily cos he loved Emma and yet she not only lied to him and not just about Excalibur, but stealing his memories too and thinking he could remind himself that way.  So if it was so easy why didn't she do the same with her own memory and thus forgetting she was the Dark One and why didn't anyone else think of it.

Mysteries of Laura 2.3 "The Mystery of the Locked Box" Review

                                             
Laura (Debra Messing) investigates the murder of a computer genius, Zac Romero (Christopher Reed Brown) in his penthouse after he's found with several stab wounds.  The dilemma being there's no way in or out without being seen and the apartment is too high for anyone to access it.  No knives are missing and there's plenty of food in the fridge which his mother cooked for him, as well as a Popsicle stick in the bin which the maid (Karina Arroyave) emptied hours before.  He didn't have any in the freezer either.  There's also no phone which Jake (Josh Lucas) suggests Max (Max Jenkins) should trace.  Zac loved Superman and called his place the fortress of solitude.  Which it literally was.  Meredith (Janina Gavankar) has a few ideas being their computer genius and also the concierge says no one entered and Zac didn't leave his apartment as he was the only on with a key.

Santiani (Callie Thorne) wants to know what happened and sends them out on various leads.  Laura speaks with his mother, Rosalie (Linda Powell) and Billy (Laz Alonso) and Meredith talk with Shane (Gabriel Mann) his business partner, who essentially Meredith accuses of being nothing without him. Thought hey Nolan, typecasting here from Revenge, you know computer mogul and all that!  Ha.  He helped Zac move to the apartment cos he had a stalker, Abby Pollard (Rebekah Brockman).
She attacks them with a knife when they see her, registered under 'A Romero' thinking she's his wife. After good cop, bad cop between Laura and Billy, she tells Laura she and Zac had dinner at a Chinese place and they were there for around forty minutes and he always order the no 8.  She only attacked them with the knife cos she thought the killer was after her now.  Abby says a White man in his '40's wearing a baseball cap followed Zac.  Which they see on the jewellery store camera from across the   road.

Laura and Jake attend the autopsy where of course she'd be reprimanded for eating.  Renaldo (Marc Webster) tells them there aren't any prints, hairs or other fibres on the DB and that the knife is too blunt to have been used.  Max finds the stick belonged to an ice cream and that he most likely bought it from a bodega cos it only has his prints on it.  Jake and Laura head there and the owner recalls him. He was nice and he most likely returned to his apartment, Laura had to shop there and is surprised at the high prices, so why shop now then.  He had a secret passageway Zac used so that's why no one saw him come and go.

Jake forgets the conversation they just had in the bodega and Laura tells him they already discussed that.  He takes another pill and checks his heart rate.  Laura reminds him of this at the end and he says he's got a minor heart condition as a result of the shooting and his college doctor friend confirmed it for him, he has to take a pill a day to thin his blood; keeping it under the radar and away from the PD, cos he loves being a detective and being out on the street.  If they knew then they'd stop him from doing this.  Well he could get his office job back as a captain.  (More on this in later eps.)  That involved plenty of sitting around and paperwork.  She does look up memory loss but didn't get much headway with that, being disturbed by Santiani who didn't think his mother was very good if she let him alone in the city at 16.  But Laura says she's a single mother too just like her, though Santiani adds she does have Jake around.

The baseball hat man attends Zac's wake as one of his friend's, Jordan (Bubba Weiler) gives a elegy and the man runs off with Jake in pursuit.  Always a chase in every ep, be it on foot or in car!  He's Zac's father and thinks he can inherit but Jake tells him if he didn't pay any support for 21 years then he can't get any of his money.  His father told him he shouldn't sell the company for nothing which is what Zac wanted to do.  Also Shane has a meeting with a mysterious woman, which Meredith thinks is a date.  At wouldn't you guess it, the restaurant that's Laura's new favourite.  He speaks with Grace (Sejal Shah) who Laura knows cos of the boys and then they see Zac's phone with a Superman cape cover.  Jake gets the phone and Laura arrests Shane.

He has an alibi and he wanted to sell his wifi idea which Meredith gets angry at cos Zac wanted to use it to save the world.  They find Zac had plenty of unanswered e-mails and voicemail where Laura recognizes the wheezing noises were from Jordan.  He also used a drone to get into the apartment and kill Zac cos he didn't help him out and didn't care enough when he told him he was going to kill himself.

For a moment there in the bar, it almost felt like Laura was more worried about what would happen to their children than she was about Jake.  Though he tells her he's fine and he'll pick them up in the morning and drop them off at school.  Also kissing her on the forehead, as well as some hand touching.  Of course, should he be guzzling beer, no, that's not what I was going to say, I was going to say, let's hope this isn't the reason why Laura mellows with him and confronts her feelings for him, out of pity, cos that wouldn't be right, or romantic.

Jake didn't have that much to do in the ep and also Billy disappeared too after a while.  Not much of a surprise with the drone killing cos CSI:NY did something similar years ago using a remote controlled helicopter cos drones weren't that big back then in 1.18 The Dove Commission.

Once Upon A Time 5.7 "Nimue" Review

                                             

1,000 years before Arthur

Merlin (Elliot Knight) roams the desert with an extra who gets blasted into dust after he drinks from a chalice, meant for Merlin, aka the Holy Grail!!  Liberties here with timelines and the like!  He drinks from it and thus gets magical powers.  Starts to help those in need and meets Nimue (Caroline Ford) who wants to plant some flowers, known as middlemist flowers cos Vortigan aka The Dark One (Darren Moore) invaded her village and killed everyone.  She wants the flowers as a reminder of her people and that's her revenge, though she changes her tune later.  Merlin plants said flowers, helps them grow ASAP and then says she can come see them anytime.  Falling in love he says he doesn't want to be with her and then see her die whilst he's still here and he can't make himself mortal or immortal when she suggests she should drink from the grail.

Merlin tells Hook (Colin O'Donohue) he needs the sword if he wants Emma (Jennifer Morrison) to stop being dark.  As he will take Emma on a quest to find the Prometheus flame.  Merlin was also going to use the grail to make a sword and then remove his magic so he could become mortal and get his happy ending. Hook also handing one of his ring necklaces he got from some man to Emma, thought he was going to say it was mine, er I mean Milah's ha!!  Yes so confusing, in my mind, or rather my dreams, I'm his Mila!!! ha.  Okay not going there!!

Merlin forged the sword to be confronted by the Dark One hiding behind a mask cos this seemed like Phantom of the Opera barring the  music as his face was so disfigured.  Anyway he took hold of Nimue but she killed him even after Merlin's protestations and became the Dark One.  But not as pretty as the Crocodile!  After he killed her, unknown to Merlin, she had drunk from the grail so she didn't die.  Also she didn't get poofed into dust either.  Merlin tethered Nimue to the dagger and also put Excalibur into the stone.

Merlin and Emma find the pile of ash and Nimue appears urging Emma to kill Merlin but she fought against it and took Nimue's heart instead which was Prometheus's flame or part of it or something.   Whilst Arthur (Liam Garrigan) concocted a magic potion of acid and will use it on the Storybrookers, as Hook comments it was meant for them, which wasn't used.  Also Nimue put Merlin's name on the sword too.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma having gotten Gold to retrieve Excalibur from the stone, was being watched by countless Dark Ones.  I didn't know what to make of this ep, hence short review cos a lot of it really beggerd belief and had to suspend our belief too when watching.  How this show has come to this, the most boring telling of Arthur and the Camelot legend moulded into OUAT.  Why?
Regina (Lana Parilla) trusting Zelena  (Rebecca Mader) and that she'd actually help them, more like helping herself to get free and meddle some more in their plans.

Emma still making comments to Hook that he wont understand, "working my way back to you."  But he nonetheless doesn't tire of hearing them.  Am missing Hook when he was a lone pirate on the waves, not softened by true lurrve!

Once Upon A Time 5.6 "The Bear and the Bow" Review

                                                
Back to ye olde mushy again, the mushroom that is and how it should help them summon Merlin. More jumping around from realm to realm and times past.  Seriously some people couldn't follow these time lapses, even more timey-whimey than Doctor Who!  Here we get more on Emma (Jennifer Morrison) wanting Gold (Robert Carlyle) to become a hero so he can pull the sword for her and it took Merida (Amy Manson) so long to think of getting the one thing he covets most and that's the chipped tea cup, er, didn't she think Belle (Emilie de Ravin) would've been more convincing as a hostage in danger, so he'd be able to do this.  Merida not getting anywhere with Gold and her training. Well two eps later we learn she wasn't any good at fighting either until her father signed her up for combat lessons with Mulan, who else.

Gold manages to escape his dungeon and heads to the library of all places and he was clearly flustered.  I mean he didn't even want to head to his shop when Belle suggested he should do that. Finally getting there he took a pouch from his safe and hightailed it out of there with Belle, as Merida showed up with her arrows.  See he got his car back.  But Belle didn't want to leave cos once again her words of wisdom were that he should stay and face his fears, as well as all her friends being here. He admits he didn't fight in the ogre wars at all and broke his foot so he could be around for Bae as a father which he failed miserably on both fronts.  She tells him to stop the car or she threatens to jump out and walks back to Storybrooke.  Of course we know he wouldn't leave either and the mini pouch contained a transformation spell so they wouldn't have any effects from crossing the town line.

As Belle heads back she's confronted by Merida who says she'll have to drink the potion Emma gave her as she has no choice and turns into a bear. Cue Gold as he rides in sans white horse and saves Belle, throwing the pouch into the bear's mouth and turning her back into Merida.  Belle calls him a hero and Emma takes him back to pull out the sword which he does for her.  Gold telling her she's turned him into a hero now and wonder if that'll come back to bite.  Not had much on the Gold front lately.  Though Merida got her heart back.

In Camelot Merida takes Belle and conks her so she can help with her magic potion and brew it up at the witch's cabin, that witch gets around, and so she can use it, turn into a bear and rescue her brothers from Macintosh (Paul Telfer).  Belle does it but then they have a talk about how she can use her arrows and rescue them without resorting to magic (see ep 9 for a rehash of this scene).  Merida confronts Macintosh, threatens them, drinks the potion but nothing happens.  Belle substituting it for water.  Merida has no choice but to uses the arrows and intercepts the three arrows fired by his men. As Macintosh and his men bow down before her.
Belle also gets recognized for her brainpower by Merlin (Elliot Knight) too, which no one else has done, not even her friends, commending her for her thinking and getting them out of tight squeezes, bookworm aside!

In Storybrooke, Emma kidnaps Zelena (Rebecca Mader) feeds her onion rings cos she's craving for them, all cos Emma knows what it's like to give birth in jail, so who's fault was that anyway.  For being dark, she's not that dark is she.  All Zelena can do is talk of how Emma took Henry's (Jared Gilmore) girlfriend's heart and wrecked his first love.  She didn't want to help Emma with the wand thingy.

Having got the potion ready to summon Merlin, Arthur (Liam Garrigan) said he needed to be alone and the others left.  Stupid thing to do obviously cos he said Merlin only communicated to him alone and no one else.  So he did the decent thing for himself and threw the mushroom into the fire.  Then told them it didn't work.  David (Josh Dallas) finds the burnt out mushroom which Regina (Lana Parilla) gets Henry to use since Merlin made him the author and a hologram of Merlin appears (Princess Leia style again) Merlin saying it's too late and the Dark One's after him.  They need Nimue.  Wish they said that name correctly!  Ha.
Regina: "We're getting Merlin's voicemail.

Merlin getting his hands on that bar of chocolate that Emma stole in the cinema when she was little and then recalled he was Merlin and he warned her to to pull the sword out, but she did it anyway in Storybrooke.  What was her excuse, she didn't suffer from any memory loss.  Gold gives Belle  a heart rendering farewell just incase he can't pull the sword out and he turns to dust, about how he'd do things differently and he would change for her.  Belle replying it's not too late, in their on-again, off-again romance.  Sees he could pull the sword out, thus reinforcing his hero status.

Once Upon A Time 5.9 "The Bear King" Review

It's the new-er Charlie's Angels!!

After the fast paced events of the previous ep we where then subjected to another little borefest which concentrated on Merida (Amy Manson) and how her father wanted her to be a warrior in preparation for when she'd become queen.  Giving her his crossbow so she could use it in ere first battle, but before that he brought along a masked warrior to help her hone her skills.  Who turned out to be Mulan (Jamie Chung).  Wandering around all this time and we find that she's become a thief (must've met Robin (Sean Maguire) on her journeys somehow, ha) and was stealing from an inn keeper when Merida arrived cos her country of Dun Broc needed help.  She gave Mulan gold too.

The army was invading from the south which immediately clicked as being Arthur (Liam Garrigan) cos there wasn't anyone else around then and so her father, The Bear King, aka Fergus (that's the only Scottish name they could come up with, seeing as Crowley in Supernatural is also named Fergus!! Well it's that or Angus!!)  Merida found he signed over his gold in order to defeat the invaders.  And the witch (Lily Knight) came to get her price after his death.  Either gold or the helmet, now called the helm.  Merida found her father (Glenn Keogh) before the battle and they had a heart to heart. Knew he threw the helmet into the lake.  Merida went in search of it and needed Mulan's help.  Not knowing Arthur and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) were also on the trail of the helm.  Another one of Arthur's quests to get his kingdom back.

Mulan agreed to help if she didn't question why she'd become a thief.  As another jumping back in time shows her father only got Mulan to teach Merida to fight cos he didn't want her in the battle. She sees the knight about to attack her father and then misfires her arrow as she misses the knight, leading to her father being killed.  As the knight steals the helm, she doesn't wait around to see who was under the helmet, see it was Arthur.  As Mulan gets to the witch's house, she's attacked by a wolf but she notices the wolf is actually a girl, cue Ruby (Meghan Ory) and the witch was keeping her under a spell.  Ruby says she can find the man who killed Fergus cos of the scrap of cloth they found and she can sniff him out.  Also we get to see that back in Storybrooke, Ruby wanted to go back to the enchanted forest cos she was the only one of her kind here, or a convenient way for her not to appear in the show, as she shows Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) a small magic bean they grew.

Ruby finds Arthur and Zelena and tells Merida his scent is all around him and he killed her father. But he demands the helmet, which she doesn't have.  She finds her father didn't wear the helmet into battle but flung it into the sea, as said so he lost the battle but didn't lead innocent men to their deaths. As Arthur and Zelena are about to attack, Ruby uses sleeping powder on her as she did on her in the witch's cabin.  As Mackintosh (Paul Telfer) saves Merida from Arthur, both leaving for Camelot to plot some more.  Seems Merida sees Mac in a new light now as he bows down before his queen. Mulan admitting she turned bad cos she lost someone she loved!  Hey it's all about lost love which turns people over to the dark side isn't it!!

Another pointless ep!  As the quest for the helm turns out to be  a test by the witch to see if Merida was strong enough to be queen.  Just a rehash of the scene where Belle substituted water for her magic potion to turn her into a bear cos she knew she could save her brothers by her arrows alone! Seems like we were just meant to be distracted from seeing Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) dark for now!! Well he always had the potential to be dark and we just had to wait longer to see what happens next!

Once Upon A Time 5.8 "Birth" Review

                                                  
Finally everyone found Arthur (Liam Garrigan) in his tent, where else wanting to know why he lied about burning the mushroom, er, the crimson crown.  Didn't Emma (Jennifer Morrison) already tell Regina (Lana Parilla) about Arthur at the end of last ep or did I imagine it somewhere in a distant realm.  Anyway he thought he'd stop them from contacting Merlin (Elliot Knight).  Arthur however got away and was chased by Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) like why didn't they have all sides to the tent covered and where was Regina with her magic, which appears to be used the writers wantonly, when they feel like it!  Arthur stumbles and Hook fights him, but then loses his sword with Arthur remarking on how Hook was only going to fight him with his hook, not funny and Hook replying he brought a sword.  Of course we knew Emma would arrive to save him and with Excalibur too. Seeing as it's so very coveted by Arthur.

Hook was grateful for being saved but then she's the Dark One still and wanted to know about their memories and what happened in Camelot.  Cos of course he loves her and everything which was actually said at last.  Emma finally revealing she's dark cos of Hook.  Which shouldn't really have come as a shock or surprise, she ha to become dark or remain dark for someone she loves.  It was the same for Rumple (Robert Carlyle) too with Bae.  Which seemed impossible for Regina to understand, cos how could she become dark for Guyliner?  Okay now where's the line about Regina knowing what it's like to be dark cos she was evil and all that.  How she become that way after losing her lost love, Daniel and so on.  Thus thinking how I mentioned their lives being mirrored here, it wouldn't have been so easy to guess or work out that Emma must have lost her love too, not Neal but Hook. There that's a little foreshadowing on my part!

As Regina tried to tell Hook he was being manipulated by the Dark One and she was lying, by now all Dark Ones lie and manipulate, take it from Rumple.  Emma then vanishes as Hooks scourers the town in search of her and realizes the only way she'll be summoned is if he puts his life in danger, so he throws himself off the roof and she appears to save him.  This led to Hook explaining how he understands guilt and being dark cos every ring on his finger represents someone he made to walk the plank or some such pirate-y thing; but that was before he knew what love was.  Also explaining about the necklace he gave her, cos it saved him for so many years.  There another reason why he died in Camelot.  He thought he wore the rings out of punishment to remember but not anymore.  He loves her even if she is dark cos he knows what it's like.  I mean killing someone just for drinking wine! His wine albeit.  Emma wants to show him and does this by taking him to a telescope in her house, which he can look at the sea through cos she knows it calms him.

The others had taken Zelena (Rebecca Mader) to hospital cos she was giving birth and surprised that she's grown so much in two months and wasn't ready to give birth a moment ago.  Thinking Emma has the sword and now she needs a baby for nefarious purposes.  Funny quote from Zelena about knowing about babies cos she was a fake midwife!  More jokey remarks from Whale (David Anders) who reminds Zelena she knocked him out last time, not killed him.  But she won't do that this time.   No, Emma did it!  Ha.  Also remarking on his hair dye job and him saying no one commented on Emma's hair!!  Touche!  Ha.  No they wouldn't dare to comment on her hair would they?!  The baby's born and it's a girl and Zelena saying how Regina is envious which she confides in Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) that she is.  Emma shows up and takes Zelena.  Locking her up with Hook in her dungeon, well it could've been a dungeon, doesn't look like a basement at all.  She wants to get rid of her dark magic now and give it to Zelena.  Hook tries to reason with her cos it's not right, but Emma can't think of any other way.

In Camelot, as the others plan on how they can sneak into Arthur's castle and get the sword back, Zelena's given her chance to speak and tells them of a way in she found when she was trying to escape.  In return she wants her bracelet removed.  Getting inside the castle and leaving Snow in charge of her outside, which was a silly thing to do since Snow is no longer the Snow we used to watch as a bandit and can no longer fight and gets duped.  In other words, she's softened over the years.  Zelena appears and helps Arthur as she puts Merlin's name onto the sword, so he can be controlled by Arthur.  He wants the dagger or he's going to kill her family and friends by using Merlin to do the dirty deed.

Arthur thought he'd start the killing with Snow and as Merlin wound some branch around Snow's neck, even if he was a tree at one point, wasn't this going a bit too far and the ropes were too tight for Regina and Robin (Sean Maguire) to undo, but Hook managed to unhook his hook and go after Arthur, but he manages to nick him with the sword.  Which Emma healed.

Back in Storybrooke, Hook and Zelena are chained in the basement and Zelena can't use magic or cut her hand off cos of Regina's spell, but Hook can use his hook again and cut it off.  Striking a deal to set him free as well.  Outside Emma wants to confront Regina again when she turns up at her house with the Charming's not far behind and they won't let her hurt Emma.  That's why Regina reminds them Emma gave her the dagger.  Emma turns up again and puts them into some 'dome' light spell which holds them there as Hook searches for the squid ink Emma stole from Gold' s safe, to make her tell him what really happened in Camelot.  As he finds it behind a painting, Emma arrives and he throws it onto her, but Zelena returns freezing Emma and showing Hook the dreamcatcher she found outside.

He watches how his wound returned cos the sword's wound can't be fixed and Merlin can't help him either, so Emma whisks him away to their field of roses where she watches Hook die.  Making her turn dark(er.)  Of course he can't be left as just dead cos that'll send pirate hearts a-breaking all over the realms. The wound reappeared after Emma had used or was about to use Prometheus's flame and ready to give up being dark, or something about immortal magic being unbound.  But then Merlin's name was on the sword too and he didn't become dark, or was those cos he had light magic and the sword didn't work on him that way, even when Arthur manipulated him, Emma made him see the good in himself, so will she do that with Hook too?  Anyway in the field of roses she bound him to the dagger as well as his name appearing there, Killian Jones and not Hook, so she effectively turned him into a Dark One too, against his will!  Hook just wanted to die but she wouldn't let him.

Hook in a cape as the Dark One, so how long has he been dark, don't answer that cos he said he's been around for 300 years or so and I had a feeling it was him under the hood and mask, well I just did.  Seems like there can be more than one Dark One around over the ages, not to mention all those other Dark Ones too.  Do they never really go away then and remain that way, in which case why wasn't Rumples with them too.  Suppose they had to make this a bit more interesting especially as we know Hook was always a cruel pirate so he had the potential in him to be a Dark One, but she was justified cos Emma needed to save his life and that was the only way she knew how.  The other question being, why did Zelena choose to give Hook back his memory now, or was she in search of someone she could get on her side.  Especially since Emma made him dark when he wanted to die and now he's meant to be resentful and hold grudges against her.

Emma also confessing she wouldn't declare her love for him cos she was afraid of what they have, but she saw that Henry (Jared Gilmore) and Hook found the house that Hook wanted for them and making things more permanent, the house that she has now in Storybrooke.  Suppose Hook dying was a test for her too in how far she'd go to bring him back, but also how she believed turning him dark was the only way she could prove her love for him and part of that involved bringing him back. Love the Hook eps and can't wait to see him dark!

Anyway Hook was dark, that was her secret so why did she say they all betrayed her when they were in Camelot after they first came back to Storybrooke.  Has that been forgotten then?  How long could she have protected Hook from finding out he was a Dark One too if Zelena hand't butted in, cos as long as he didn't know he was no threat and this was one big reason she didn't want to stop being a Dark One.  Then he'd remain dark in her place, so much for wanting Zelena to become dark, was she actually getting the darkness out of Hook and not herself when she had them chained up, cos why else chain Hook too.  Seems like this was what she was hiding from Regina when she used the dagger and tried to find out what Emma was really hiding from them, but it was Hook of all people who stopped Regina using it!  But I also have to mention how Hook said her 'smouldering pirate would be waiting for her', again implying he wasn't really Hook all this time, at least I saw it that way.