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.

The Vampire Diaries 7.18 "One Way Or Another" Review

                                               
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) goes all out to rescue Stefan (Paul Wesley) and to swap his body as he gets Alaric (Matt Davis) to drive to Memphis with him and help.  Of course this wouldn't by any ordinary road trip but also a chance for Alaric to tell him how he's moved on and how much he found a relationship with Caroline within those three years he wasn't around.  That he doesn't really want to help him with Stefan and find Ambrose, having been over this insecurity with Valerie (Elizabeth Blackmore) last ep.  Damon's sorry he left him but he didn't want to be around to constantly keep hurting people and he selfishly thought (my words) this was a good out for him and now he comes round asking for favours, even if it is for Stefan, who no one really wants to save except for Valerie and Damon.

Damon gets the paramedics to help him so he can go off and save Stefan, at least keep his human body going for as long as possible, as Valerie prepares to cast the Gemini spell getting Stefan his own body back.  In the meantime Ambrose continues with his killing spree just like a poor man's Ripper Stefan and Damon finds he can't get into the frat house cos he's not invited in.  Ambrose has conditions for returning Stefan's body and this includes Damon finding Rayna (Leslie-Anne Huff) and killing her, or at least he'll kill her himself.  Seeing as he was the one who turned her boyfriend too.  Rayna heads to the frat house too, as she still suffers from her nightmares; but is side tracked by Enzo (Michael Malarkey) who wants a cure for the pills the Armoury were testing on Mary Louise. Valerie does a locator spell for Rayna but obviously Enzo beats them to the punch!

Bonnie's (Kat Graham) at a session in the psych ward and talks of how Damon really messed her up as a girl sits and watches her.  Later Bonnie takes away her pills as she asks if she's had any message from her doctor.  She follows her and finds Bonnie's been taking her pills, as Bonnie tells her it's cos they're making her ill.  She knows her name is Virginia St John (Aisha Duran) and her family put her here.  But she needs answers so eventually after bonding over the nurse's secret stash of chocolate, which was shortlived, Bonnie needs to know why the Armoury are after her and why she needed to hide out here for the best, or worst part of three years.  Apparently they can't find her cos of those same pills Enzo gave her, which suppresses her magic.  Virginia finally says there's a vault in the basement of the Armoury but she doesn't want it opened and it was sealed by a Bennett witch, Lucy. But doesn't tell her what's in the vault cos she can't let it out.  Oh great we get a game of 'what's in
the vault' now.  She tries to kill Bonnie with a broken piece of mirror for which she'd have bad luck alone, even more badder than having to live in a psych ward!

Ambrose manages to hear Damon telling the paramedics where to take Stefan so Valerie can do the spell and he kills everyone at the frat house and leaves to get hold of Stefan's body by stopping the ambulance.  Stefan escapes into a house where Ambrose can't get in cos he's not invited, the perks of being human still Stefan tells himself, but then Ambrose tries to gas him out by setting the house on fire.  Luckily Damon arrives and Alaric knocks him out.

In the Philippines, Stefan writes Caroline a letter but she doesn't reply back, clearly she's moved on and as Alaric told Damon, Stefan left her.  Well it wasn't his fault he was marked by Rayna and what's more he was marked saving Damon, not that Alaric would have any sympathy for that cos Damon's no longer his bestie, he's found other friends,as has Caroline.  Oh and Damon won't be getting an invite to the wedding either.  Valerie does the spell, but she appears in Stefan's head where they share a moment together of how she really loves him.  Then her nose bleeds and he says he can't do the spell any longer and not to save him.  But she's pushed on by Damon, as Stefan says she can't sacrifice herself for him.  Which is exactly why Damon chose to leave the world, so that Stefan ad others wouldn't keep sacrificing themselves for him, but no one gets that!

Finally there's some heart wrenching moments here as Alaric tells Damon he found a fiance, has two girls he loves and got a job which he earned.  He did it all without Damon around and honestly he doesn't want him  around anymore cos he's doing just fine.  Ooh cut the air with a knife which can also be used for backstabbing.  Everyone's deserted Damon all cos of that nameless girlfriend of his and cos he tried to do the right thing by not wanting anyone else hurt by him.  Seems that plan of Damon's backfired, as always.  Stefan also admits he wants Caroline back and that Valerie wasn't what he really wants.  Even though back in his head he said she wasn't just a distraction for him. Well clearly she was.  Valerie was going to write him a letter just like he wrote to Caroline, but then she must be confusing that with Damon, cos he left letters for everyone three years ago!

Alaric telling Damon where Bonnie is so he can make it up with her instead, maybe she'll forgive him.  Enzo tells Bonnie to stop taking the pills and promises to do everything he can to save her.  She doesn't want to die cos, been there done that quite a bit and she hated it.  Damon shows up with flowers and is speechless, but she's not having any of it as she closes the door on his face.  As they say with one door closing, another opens.  Suppose he'll also have to help Bonnie now out of his guilt, again.  Damon and his guilt is getting to be old news like he can't ever do anything right!  What was she doing closing the door on him anyway, was it cos he left but cos she has deeper feelings for him as she tells Virginia Damon's not her boyfriend and she doesn't really know what he is. Probably everyone's punching bag poor guy!

Once Upon A Time 5.5 "Dreamcatcher" Review

An improvement on the last ep with a harkback to the early days of the show especially when Henry (Jared Gilmore) and Emma (Jennifer Morrison) share that moment when Neil played Yazoo's Only You song for them and she just melted, Henry hoping to do much the same with Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer) as he plans a date with her.  Awkward for many reasons, firstly back in Camelot her father, Sir Morgan (Ryan Robins) has told him he's not a squire and thus won't be able to fight the ogres to protect his daughter.  That's all the bad villains they ever had to deal with, just the ogres!  She has her first taste of soda and then she realizes he's 'courting' her and tells him she doesn't feel that way about him.

Emma sees Merlin (Elliot Knight) being turned into a tree as he bemoans his lost love by a Dark One who's wearing a mask, which leaves open the question and future plotline of who this could be.  She watches it all through the dreamcatcher and tells Regina (Lana Parilla) what she saw.  Regina gets the idea that they could get Merlin out by using first lost true love's tear.  Only her moment of losing Daniel didn't work as Emma tells her probably cos she's got Robin now and is over it.  Though she does sympathize with her over what Cora did to Daniel.  Which was hypocritical when we later learn she did much the same thing to Henry sabotaging his first love!  So much for saying she doesn't know how a mother could do that, her motives aside, it was cruel.

She also stopped Regina from handing over the dagger to the Charming's who were under the spell and told Regina they had to rescue Merlin so they could undo the magic.  That Arthur wanted to kill Merlin and then she'd remain the Dark One.

In Storybrooke Henry thought they'd improve morale by throwing a party, especially for the Camelot bunch can't do anything without a ball or two!!  Emma wants Gold (Robert Carlyle) to be brave but he tells her it won't work and she'll just lose everyone that she cares about if she becomes dark by using Excalibur.  You see the sword can remove light magic also.  Belle (Emilie de Ravin) tells the others Gold's missing like two eps later and they also waited two eps to break into Emma's by having Henry lure her away to find Violet's missing horse who apparently likes pumpkins.  Was that a variation on the Cinderella tale?  ha.

Breaking in they find Excalibur in the basement and Belle notices it looks just like the dagger, as well as finding Gold's ropes.  He's meanwhile stuck in the forest with Merida (Amy Manson) who wants to teach him to be brave, use a sword and then take down Emma.  As they leave the house Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) notices a box on the table and being a curious pirate with an eye for trinkets, I had to get that in, he opens it up and finds the dreamcatcher, recalling how Neal gave her one.  Yes the one that hung in his apartment in New York.  Regina uses it and it shows Emma taking Violet's heart back in Camelot and wanting her to break Henry's heart, as Henry sees everything.

Regina confronts her about what she did and tells her she knows all the tricks about being dark and she can't fool her.  As Emma explains she needed his tear to free Merlin and Regina finds out that Merlin's free.
Henry and Emma had a moment from the past as he says she's still inside, his real mother and he found the horse and brought it back for Violet, so they could hang together as her father was grateful.
In Camelot Merlin (Elliot Knight) is freed and also releases the Charming's from the spell.
Also Regina, Hook, Belle and Robin (Sean Maguire) realzing it was Emma who took their memories, so much for the bad thing she said they did to her in Camelot, which we still haven't had any reveal of.

Emma's and Regina's confrontation on her porch as just like the good old days when Reggie was dark and evil and Emma was new in town wanting to see Henry.  Yet this was turned around and now we'll have to see why Emma really took their memories again, as if losing them once wasn't enough.  Just not into this season as long as the Camelot plot is still around.  But talking of taking their memories, she still can't recall meeting Merlin when younger seeing as all her memories are intact.

Some funny lines when Regina remarks if David learned big words like "implicitly" from shepherd school and also Merlin saying being a tree is good for the skin.

Once Upon A Time 5.4 "The Broken Kingdom" Review

                                                  
This was a boring episode if ever there was one, concentrating on Arthur (Liam Garrigan) and Camelot, I mean who's idea was this inclusion and why should we be interested in it aside from Emma (Jennifer Morrison) wanting Excalibur.  Arthur and his quest to find the dagger so he reunite his kingdom, was more about his personal feelings and motivations to be king, so much for going on about Merlin and his prophecies.  We even get to see Arthur the stableboy (are there no other 'professions') and Guinevere when they were children, with his grandiose notions and wanting to be king.  To make matters worse the ep kept jumping from Camelot five years earlier to later to earlier like a broken record in search for the dagger.

Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) confides in David (Josh Dallas) and the others about not being able to trust Arthur and that Lancelot (Sinqua Walls) is alive, with Emma thinking she can get her hands on the dagger, fuelled by Rumple (Robert Carlyle) in her mind.  For starters the one reason why Emma will never be as good a dark one as he was, cos she needs help and can't really think for herself.  She then tells Hook (Colin O'Donohue) about him who thinks it's a good idea to do what Henry (Jared Gilmore) did with Violet (Olivia Steele-Falconer) and go riding.  But she still sees Rumple everywhere until later he disappears.  Thee they kiss amongst a field of roses, but no declarations of love from any of them.  Regina (Lana Parilla) having placed a spell over the dagger meant Emma couldn't get to it like Rumple wanted her to.

Regina hides the dagger so Arthur can't find it, as Snow and David have a blue and he goes rushing off to Arthur to spill the beans!  So set on giving Arthur the dagger but Snow tells him then he'll be able to  control the dark one who is their daughter.

Five years ago Guinevere (Joana Metrass) used the gauntlet to find the dagger after Arthur showed her some symbols on a scroll and it was her birthday but he wasn't interested in the frivolities of celebrating and so she danced with Lancelot, then went off with him in search of the dagger herself. Coming to its protective place through a door and finding Rumples there.  Who wants the gauntlet in return for sand from Avalon which will unite the kingdom and their love.  Back home Arthur watches her with Lancelot and then says he doesn't believe he w as only saying goodbye.  She didn't bring the dagger but shows him the sand which he uses on her and hey ho, she's all obedient.

Snow had Lancelot hiding out at Granny's along with the dagger and they took it to the secret hiding place of Rumples, where Snow recalled this was the place where Emma took her heart when she was younger.  Thus she always was going to become dark.  Arthur arrives cos he followed them and they give him the dagger, but it's the fake dagger.  David also shows up to save the day cos they planned it all but their fight was real.  Cos she's his daughter and he wasn't about to let Arthur have the dagger. Tied up back at Granny's Arthur's an ace up his armour as Guinevere shows up to throw Lancelot in the dungeon, where he meets Merida (Amy Manson) as well as Guinevere using the sand on the Charming's.

Back in Storybrooke Emma has Merida tied up and is going to use her to turn Gold into a hero despite his protestations that he can't be a hero.  She removes her heart and wants her to make him 'brave.'  In reference to the movie of course.  Don't want to see the epic of Arthur and Guinevere's love triangle along with Lancelot, but that was changed for this episode as Guinevere's been under Arthur's command for all these years cos their relationship can't be fixed, only the sand made her believe it was okay.  SOOOO bored with it, sorry but I was!  The broken kingdom, never mind that, it broke this ep completely, Camelot popping up in the forest in the opening credits, well fancy that. There wasn't much added to the general and main storyline of the main characters in this, it just plodded along with villainous Arthur.

Mysteries of Laura 2.1 "The Mystery of the Taken Boy" Review

                                               
Laura (Debra Messing) investigates the kidnapping of a boy. Theo (Jared Rascio) from his home, after he was almost abducted when he was in the park, as a man stops a taxi from coming towards him and is killed.  It appears the man was actually out of rehab and was going straight  also having a girlfriend.  Theo wasn't the parents biological son since Laura notices the husband, Carl (Peter Rini) telling his wife, Julie (Cara Buono) to take her pills to calm her down, which gives Laura a clue since she was meant to have had a birth without any meds.  Also thought the daughter, Candace (Taylor Rose) was hiding something too, of course one thought was he could've been her son really, but that wasn't the case.  There had to be a catch too of Theo needing his insulin cos hes diabetic and the kidnappers not knowing this, meaning having to work against the clock.

We did get illegal adoptions though being run by a shady doctor, Pamela King (Claudia Fielding) when Meredith (Janina Gavankar) and Billy (Laz Alonso) visit her in desperate need for a baby.  The precinct gets a new Captain Santiani (Callie Thorne) who's meant to be there temporarily since Jake (Josh Lucas) was off on sick leave and he returns early.  She lets him investigate the case with Laura, but they all want her gone.  Only she's not leaving cos she likes the place and she thought she'd be promoted at her old precinct so was horrible to everyone there, turns out she didn't get the promotion. She is a stickler for getting the job done, but at the same time she doesn't really want to get to know her team and how they operate before coming in all gung ho and wanting things done her way. Almost wish Jake did use that info on her to get rid of her.  Whereas in comparison, we have Jake who came back early to work and wanted to get back into the swing of things, but is partnered with Laura which he didn't really object to at all.  One way to be with your ex, or close to her is by working with her so closely.  Even if he can't recall what he said in the hospital at the end of last season, we do, about still having feelings for her.  Ultimately we know this is gonna come back and bite!

But all Laura could do was go on about how for the past five months she had to care for his ass and do everything for him, well he has a pretty cute ass.  Erm, yeah including bringing up his "smart ass" sons.  Well you're their mother!  Anyway she must have some iota of feelings for him if she was willing to do all that and not just cos he's her babies' daddy and out of the goodness of her heart.

Santiani has her own way of doing things which causes the case to go south almost as she doesn't listen to Laura when she tells her the kidnapper isn't the one who has the boy, but he was in the van when Julie was making the drop, cos the cable van doesn't service this area.  As always some piece of foreshadowing accompanies the ep and this time it was Laura's throwaway comment at the beginning of how everything's expensive and she's got  cable bill to pay.  Along with her gluten free comment and how everything tastes better with gluten, in front of Theo and Julie.  It appears Candace knew the dead man as they were both in rehab together, and that's what the family were hiding.  As well as giving them the break they needed as to where the kidnapper was hiding out.

Jake isn't getting his job back, so takes a demotion just to stay at the precinct and goes back to being a lieutenant.  Which was a shame cos he had a laid back way of doing things, not that he was lax cos things did get done, but Laura got leeway on her cases, not that she didn't and wasn't going to get her own way as usual.  No mention of Billy and Meredith and whether they got together, not even when they went undercover in that short scene.  Frankie disappears so I don't know why they bothered bringing her into the show last season, she was a much better addition than Santiani, who comes across as a bit of a bully.  And a little like the Captain in Castle!  Surprised she doesn't want to be called "sir" as well!

Once Upon A Time 5.3 "Siege Perilous" Review

                                             
Back in Camelot Regina (Lana Parilla) et al still hide Emma (Jennifer Morrison) being the Saviour and the Dark One which obviously still gets on Emma's nerves.  As Snow (Gennifer Goodwin) comes up with the idea of getting Merlin to talk with them.  Which Regina finds they can do with the help of a magic mushroom.  Which sets David (Josh Dallas) and Arthur (Liam Garrigan) onto a quest.  Taking his sword and also the lasting light, well okay the eternal flame from the Burning Bush to guide them.   Which had to be a Biblical reference cos of the knight's crusades and all that.  Before telling him of the Knights of the Round Table and how Lancelot (Sinqua Wells) betrayed him, but he got his wife back.  The chair is reserved for those he can trust.  David tells him that Lancelot is dead.  Setting off in search of the magic mushroom, which they find across a bridge.  Each one swapping stories of how they're not noble and Arthur isn't royalty but a peasant.

In Storybrooke, Emma steals the dwarf's axe in the hopes of using it on the sword, since their swords can go through anything.  Only it won't work on magic.  Rumple (Robert Carlyle) tells her she needs to find someone who is pure of heart.  As Regina finds the book she marked with a question mark on the mushroom's page.  They need to find it.  Arthur's informed of the missing contents in the chest and they had a magic bean which would take them back to Camelot.  Everything from the chest is gone and they surmize it wasn't Emma who stole the contents as the lock was broken.  Obviously it was Grif (Giacomo Baessato) he was too obvious a suspect and as David and Arthur chase him, they finally find the mushroom back at the camp.  As David arrests Griff.  Arthur later pays him a visit and tells him he played his part well and gets him to drink poison all in the name of Camelot.  See Arthur had the mushroom all the time.

Regina tells Zelena (Rebecca Mader) she can't escape to Oz and take Robin's baby with him as she's still harping about how the baby will love her.  Regina threatening to hurt her but not her baby, which was a pretty pointless scene, six weeks earlier at Camelot.

Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) talks to Robin (Sean Maguire) about Emma as Granny (Beverley Elliott) gives him his order and Emma's note to meet him on his ship.  Belle (Emilie de Ravin) searches for something that Gold touched when he was a man as she found a spell which could wake him up. Hook has dinner with Emma and they talk of how she's not the same and she questions if he still loves her.  He used to, well not in that dress though!  ha; and now he doesn't cos he doesn't trust her and she won't tell him what's behind the door in her house.  He tells her about the Dark One and she's dark now as she recalls how Belle and Gold loved each other.  So they can do the same.  As Hook divulges how he was the villain on this ship as he held Gold to ransom, so he's the only one who's really changed.  He leaves her.  Asking Robin to hep him break in cos he needs a thief, he says he's reformed and Hook replies, he's like him, once a pirate always a pirate.

Belle notices the petal's almost fallen off but then the flower grows to be intact but Gold isn't at the shop.  Obviously Emma has him, along with Hook's sword which was the last object he touched as a man.  He's surprised at seeing her but he's no longer the Dark One.  She tells him he can help her and become a hero cos he's neither light or dark, hence she can can get him to pull the sword out.  What exactly does she need with the sword anyway.

Back in Camelot David is knighted and given the seat belonging to Lancelot, as Snow finds Lancelot lurking, he's still alive and he tells her Arthur's not good.  Thus we see him back in Storybrooke getting Grif to take the bullet, so to speak and poison him, cos there's no magic bean but they need to get back to home.

Hook shouldn't have been so quick to break up with Emma cos up to this point she still wanted him and he could've seen what she was up to, somehow.  Maybe she would've trusted him in time.  The title referring to the seat occupied by Lancelot which was hypocritical seeing as Arthur's up to no good, but he had the gall to say Lancelot betrayed him.  The scene with the truck and jousting when Arthur could've just left Griff escape.  Seems this ep was just to let David have his day and show he's not worthless like he thinks he is for not being able to save Emma, as well as losing the mushroom, which Arthur actually stole from him, cos he took along time coming to his help when he was fighting the knights on the bridge.  Arthur just seemed to have vanished.
Hook and Robin over their prospective love interests with Robin secretly viewing Zelena's sonogram of the baby.

NCIS 13.20 "Charade" Review

                                        
Phony Tony's was a little like the season 2.12 Doppelganger, episode where we got to see the entire NCIS with their so-called doubles in the PD, at least they were meant to be in mannerisms and similar names, not so much in looks.  This one had Tony's (Michael Weatherly) Id being cloned, ripped off and the like and that's what you get by having a loose woman in you apartment.  So she, Leah from 13.17 After Hours was just on a date with him cos of who he was, ie an agent rather than actually wanting him.  As he said he got picked up in a bar, which is how he usually meets women.  Must really be desperate lately ha!

What stood out about this ep was the relationship/bromance between Tony and McGee (Sean Murray).  They really have come a long way and easily watch each other's backs and have each other's backs should I say, after all that teasing and mucking around over the years, especially since McGee was Probie.  Though Ellie (Emily Wickersham) doesn't get the same sort of treatment as a Probie, she's not really treated as one so much as McGee was and Ziva too.

So the highlight or main of this episode is when McGee bails Tony out from the police station and he says he's quite frankly giving it up, or fells like he wants to leave the job.  How he doesn't want to be doing this anymore.  Sounded to me like something that may be written in when Michael leaves.  But probably think the writers/producers will have something completely different in mind.  More memorable of a swansong for Tony, as long as it doesn't involve any deaths or women, will be fine by me.  Think the title was a bit of a clue as well, heck Tony got a title to a film that's been mentioned before.  Okay I know that's not why.  Since we also had Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and McGee posing as Senators, didn't anyone think McGee looked a little young for a senator, nah more interested in the money.  But these phony Tony's nowhere looked like our Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo,

Maybe this episode is an extension of Bounce from season 6, one of my faves, but at least that fake Tony had a resemblance to him, even in passing.  As said Tony agreeing with the phonies that he doesn't have a life outside of work and no family of his own to show for it.  Doubt he has that many friends either, outside of work.  But his personal crisis will be a stepping stone to his decision to leave, however he does take that final step.
Tony: "I feel like I don't know who I am and it's strange because she stole my identity...What is this, seriously is this some kind of weird metaphor for my current psychological state."  We know Tony is more than that and has more potential, he's a damn fine agent and if he wasn't he wouldn't be on Gibbs' team for starters and that he was getting his own team but preferred not to take it at that stage. Now he's ready and so he can make other changes in his life too.

Aside from that, best line has to be Abby (Pauley Perrette) at Tony's apartment "Ziva's putting on weight."  Oh and didn't Miss Blondie Cloner touch the photoframe when she told him he likes dogs too, or some such nonsense, but Tony recalled the chardonnay bottle!!  Didn't After Hours seems like a prequel of sorts to this episode in that we get to see what he does in his time off (as if we don't already know) but that most of his time off and dates are mostly deja vu for him (and for us).  That he needs to change now he's getting older, age aside, that he has to find something more in his life and to his life than work.  To be fair, he did want Jeanne (Scottie Thompson) and would've gladly settled down with her, but she's married now
But Tony 'dying' in a car crash, a little too close for comfort, not to mention he's been lucky evading those, like when his car was blown up is season 5.1 Bury Your Dead, when he was undercover.

Was reading some comments from fans, no-fans generally when they mentioned how Gibbs is too old to be in front of the camera now and Mark Harmon should do the decent thing and leave or go behind the cameras.  That was harsh and such an ageist comment, why should he and he still looks good for his age.  Whilst others were bemoaning how Tony has just remained stagnant throughout the 13 seasons and is always portrayed as being nothing but a comic and always getting the funny lines and comments.  Well enjoy it while it lasts cos we won't be getting those again and no character like him either.  Begging to differ, he has evolved in many ways.  He's had his sad moments, heart broken, he's been almost given his own team, but preferred to stick around for his old team, especially when they needed him.  He's made headway with Senior (Robert Wagner) and even become friends with McGee.  There's plenty more he's done too like going undercover, rescuing Ziva and taken plenty for the team too.  SO if sometimes he needs to be be the clown, it's his right to be!