Spoilers Ahead

“Tougher Than the Rest” was a solid season premiere that finally addressed something we’ve all been wanting to know.

Episode Summary: In flashbacks, we learn that a little last-name-less Emma was about to burn away pages of The Ugly Duckling story in order to keep warm after running away, but a kind stranger talks her out of it by telling her she’s capable of changing her fate. Back in the Evil Queen’s wish realm, Emma seeks August’s help to rebuild the wardrobe that sent her into our world while Regina seeks out Robin to learn if he’s happy in this land. Killian and Charming do everything in their power to find the hooded figure who’s after Emma while Rumple and Belle attempt to figure out their infant son is suddenly standing before them as an adult.

Review | Analysis: Once Upon A Time is truly at its best when its focus is on telling our heroine’s story. And perhaps that may appear to be a biased opinion to some, but the truth is, while it’s engaging to get a twist on our classic fairy tales, it’s inexpressibly beautiful to watch Emma Swan’s story unfold. At its core, this series is about self-discovery and understanding the importance of our choices. It is a series that often highlights the prominence of rising after tremendous falls and persevering while climbing the steepest hills. While “Tougher Than the Rest” had its flaws, it was thematically exquisite.

“If we believe in something strongly enough, we all have the power to change our fate.”

Continue Reading

Continue Reading

Continue Reading

This Week’s Most Noteworthy Performance | Actor

April 12-18: “Heart of Gold” | Once Upon A Time Sean Maguire 

Once Upon A Time 4x17 “Heart of Gold” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Moment of appreciation for the fact that no series does plot twists the way Once Upon A Time does. 

Enchanted Forest Flashbacks: We see Robin’s first acquaintance with Zelena as he attempts to steal a potion from her for Rumplestilskin. And during his journey to her castle in OZ, he meets Will who tells him about his broken heart form grief. The flashback concludes with a beautiful scene of Marian assuring Robin that she’s in it for the long haul with him.

Present Day Storybooke and New York: While Robin, “Marian”, and Roland are trying to get used to their new lives in New York, Rumplestilskin pays them a visit, but things go south when he has a heart attack. And once he’s bedridden in a hospital, he asks Robin to find an elixir that can fix the heart from Walsh’s apartment by assuming that Zelena wouldn’t send him into our world empty handed. However, what he doesn’t know is that the elixir was switched out for cold medicine (probably DayQuil since it was non drowsy and everything), and Zelena has the real one. As it turns out, Zelena’s still alive and thanks to a six-leaf clover necklace that can transform a person, she’s Marian.

Once Upon A Time 4x11 "Heroes vs Villains" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Tonight’s episode was interestingly filled with a lot of fantastic things to process, and the Queens of Darkness made a killer introduction. 

Enchanted Forest Flashbacks: After Rumplestilskin returns from Camelot with the goblet which points out a person’s weakness, he and Belle “discuss” her intense desire to travel and his inability to choose anything over power. While doing laundry in the forest, Belle is taken by the Queens of Darkness and they’ll only release her if Rumple hands them the goblet. He eventually agrees when he realizes all of his students, Maleficent (Kristen Bauer), Ursula (Merrin Dungey), and Cruela de Vil (Victoria Smurfit) are present. 

Present Day Storybooke | Arendelle: While in possession of Killian’s heart, Rumple has him tell Emma about the portal that leads to Arendelle. Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff go back home, and it’s Anna’s curiosity that eventually leads Emma to the discovery that her instincts about Killian’s state of mind were indeed correct. After Belle realizes the truth, she makes a painful decision about her and Rumple’s future. And when Marian falls once more after her recovery, Regina realizes that she must go to a land without magic in order to be completely healthy. Robin, Marian, and Roland leave Storybrooke. We say goodbye to the Frozen cast. The Queens of Darkness are being recruited and after the six weeks of sanity, Storybrooke will become madness when we come back in Spring. 

Once Upon A Time 4x08 "Smash the Mirror" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Does anyone want to help us create Wanted posters for Rumplestiltskin because what he’s done in this episode doesn’t fit the okay category. 

Arendelle | Enchanted Forest Flashbacks: In the Enchanted Forest, the Sorcerer's Apprentice sends Ingrid into our world telling her that in time, she'll meet the one who'll become the third sister. In Arendelle, Elsa pretends to believe Ingrid when she says that Anna wanted to strip her of her powers using the Sorcerer’s Hat, but later teams up with Anna to trap Ingrid in the urn instead. Realizing what the sisters are up to, Ingrid casts the Spell of Shattered Sight on Anna which forces her to trap Elsa in the urn regretting it shortly after once she’s herself again.

Present Day Storybooke: After Emma accidentally hurts Henry with the magic that's spiraling out of control, she visits Gold in order to make a deal with him that'll permanently take away her powers. Elsa's understanding that the powers can only be controlled once the person has accepted herself takes her on a journey to find and convince Emma not to go through with the spell. Robin discovers something about his and Regina's past. And Rumple realizes that the one last thing he needs to free of him the dagger is Killian's heart. 

Tonight's episode highlights the importance of hope, belief, and honesty, but most importantly, it reminds viewers that as human beings, the mistakes we make can be forgiven as long we learn from them. "Smash the Mirror" as a lot of Once Upon A Time episodes illuminates the significance of our choices shaping our lives. 

Once Upon A Time 4x03 "Rocky Road" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

While last week's episode was an excellent reminder that we should strive to live and not just survive, this week's reminded us that it's okay to stumble and fall. 

Arendelle Flashbacks: Hans (Tyler Jacob Moore) of the Southern Isles comes up with a plan to trap Elsa in an urn in order to rule Arendelle as King, but what he doesn’t know is that someone’s already in the urn – The Snow Queen (Elizabeth Mitchell). Kristoff and Elsa decide to take matters into their own hands where they decide they’ll go to Hans themselves in order to stop him before he can stop Elsa. The Snow Queen freezes Hans and sends his brothers running then reveals to Elsa that she’s her aunt. 

Present Day Storybrooke: After Marian freezes to death and true love’s kiss doesn’t work Regina tries to find a cure to bring her back to life. Emma and David set out to find who’s keeping the ice barrier up, but instead find themselves dealing with Will Scarlet (Michael Socha). Killian and Elsa seek out trouble of their own. A confrontation with The Snow Queen perplexes Emma for she feels she may have known her. Elsa questions the disappearance of some of memories. Momma Mayor runs her first meeting.Rumplestilskin and the Snow Queen know each other but she's not ready to make a deal with him just yet. 

Once Upon A Time 3x19 "A Curious Thing" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Once Upon A Time has been superlative this season with its jaw dropping plot twists.

Enchanted Forest Flashbacks: Charming and Snow are about to announce their pregnancy to the kingdom, but moments before turning into flying monkeys, Aurora and Phillip reveal the witch’s plan to take their baby. Belle runs in to tell everyone that Rumple and Neal have morphed together, and the Charmings later visit him to find out how they could defeat the Wicked Witch. He doesn’t respond to them with useful information until Belle decides to speak with him and he states that the only thing powerful enough to defeat her is light magic. Snow, Charming, and Regina visit Glinda (Sunny Mabrey) but due to the vengeance in her heart, Regina’s unable to enter, and the Charmings come to understand that since Glinda’s magic isn’t powerful enough for Zelena, they must cast a curse to return to Emma – whose magic is most pure because she’s the product of true love. Because the curse requires the heart of the thing you love most, Regina’s unable to cast it because Henry’s not with her; therefore, Snow sacrifices Charming’s heart to do so. However, before the curse is complete, Zelena flies in and adds a memory loss ingredient. Snow then chooses to have faith in the fact that she and Charming could survive if her heart’s split into two pieces which Regina agrees to and it saves Charming’s life. 

Modern Day Storybrooke: Zelena makes Rumple kidnap Hook in order to threaten him about to quickening his pace or people will die. Emma, Snow, Charming, and Regina come to the realization that they need to break this current curse in order to figure out a way to defeat Zelena – finding the Story book and making Henry believe. After an argument with Emma, Henry decides he wants to run away and Killian decides to help him – to protect him, but they’re attacked by flying monkeys. Emma, Snow, Charming, and Regina come in and once Henry touches the book, his memories are restored. Using her powers then Emma saves Henry from the Wicked Witch and when Regina kisses him, the curse breaks restoring everyone’s memories. 

Snow and Charming define everlasting; no matter what life throws at these two they’ll find a way to be together – to be one, in sickness, in health, and even after death attempts to due them part. In “A Curious Thing” they did just that, overcame all obstacles and actually became one. Their momentary goodbye was essentially the most heartbreaking thing to exist and we hope it's something that's never seen again. Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas' effortless chemistry and love always makes its way onto the screen thus making their scenes most beautiful. Their hearts beat to the same rhythm and it’s now stronger than ever – there’s no connection quite as powerful. The villains on this show should learn their lesson by now. At the end of the day, Snow couldn’t sacrifice Charming, and luckily splitting her heart into two pieces worked wonderfully.

Once Upon A Time 3x16 "It's Not Easy Being Green" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Count on Once Upon A Time to not only give us a beautiful emotionally driven episode, but take us back to the Wild West with a good old duel to determine who should’ve been chosen to be Rumplestilskin’s most beloved trainee. 

Flashbacks: A childless family on their way to The Emerald City find abandoned, infant Zelena and decide to keep her. At that moment she’d  already been displaying magical abilities, and while the husband was hesitant to keep her, the wife insists she needs their help. It is later when she dies, and Zelena isn’t able to to control her magic that her “father” finally tells her the truth about where she’s from, and persistent to find her real family, Zelena sets off to visit the Great Wizard of Oz. The Wizard shows her that she was abandoned by her mother because she couldn’t have given her the life of royalty like Regina did, and Zelena chooses to use the slippers in order to visit the Enchanted Forest to meet Rumplestilskin. Though their training was successful, Zelena’s envy was far too deeply rooted for her to be able to control the way he wanted; thus, she literally began turning green. Filled with rage and resentment she visited the Wizard once more to ask him to change the past, but when he wasn’t able to grant it, he was turned into a flying monkey – howdy, Walsh! – and forced to abide by her commands. It’s then where she takes on the identity as the Wicked Witch of the West, and sets off on a journey to find ways to change the past.

Modern Day Storybrooke: The episode begins with Neal’s funeral, unfortunately the most important person to him, Rumple isn’t an attendee as he’s still controlled by the Wicked Witch. And as if the funeral wasn’t heartbreaking enough, his absence made it even worse. They each took turns to toss dirt onto the coffin, beginning with Hook and ending with Emma. Zelena then interrupts the wake at Grannie’s diner, drops the bomb about being Regina’s sister and proposes a duel with her on Main Street. 

Zelena has finally found the means to change the past as Charming’s courage, Rumple’s mind, and Regina’s heart are the necessary ingredients to fulfill her desire. She tries to steal Regina’s heart, but doesn’t know that Cora’s told her never to attend a witch fight with it in place, and knowing she's after it, Regina allows Robin to keep it safe. 

Rebecca Mader has been outstanding so far as Zelena, but she was even more exceptionally wicked and great this week. The momentary innocence and genuine heartbreak she brought to Zelena’s character prior to envy overpowering her was excellently portrayed. And even more so in the clock tower, the absolute rage she's able to illustrate with her eyes are terrifying on all grounds, and that’s truly noteworthy acting. Now if there’s one thing we can’t wait for, it’s to find out whether the green broach she’s constantly wearing holds anything. If she turned Walsh into a monkey, perhaps she somehow stole his abilities to see into the future? Who knows.

This Week's Most Exquisite TV Moment

March 30 - April 5: Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time 3x15 "Quiet Minds" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

If there’s one thing Once Upon A Time writers are able to do masterfully, it’s provide viewers with a beautiful sense of closure as a beloved character’s life comes to end. 

Enchanted Forest Flashbacks: When Neal and Belle meet Lumiere (Henry Lubatti ) he points them into a the direction of a key that leads to the Dark One’s vault. As it turns out, he’s working with the Wicked Witch, and during a battle between the witch, Rumple chooses his son over the dagger. Even though Lumiere was working for the Wicked Witch, he then chooses to help Belle escape which we’re certainly pleased with because we’re holding onto the hope that he’ll maybe make an appearance and sing “Be Our Guest”. 

Present Day Storybrooke: Meanwhile, in modern day Storybrooke, both Rumple and Neal have been found, and as in turns out they’re now one. Neal makes the choice to ask Emma to end his life in order for Rumple to be able to reveal that Zelena’s the Wicked Witch. 

The episode opens with the Charming, Snow, Emma, Hook, Regina, and Granny discussing the possibilities of what could have happened.  Regina decides to go back to the farmhouse to check for more clues while the others head to Gold’s shop in order to let Belle in on the news. It’s always nice to get playfully lighthearted yet meaningful moments in episodes as heavily dark as this one. Thus, seeing as how Hook and Belle haven’t exactly been the best of friends, it’s nice to watch him stay behind in order to protect her, and though his apology was the most awkward kind to witness, it’s great that he got a chance to redeem himself to her. Though the inept apology served to display the evident fact that he’s genuinely remorseful, it’s likely his attempt was to lighten the mood in order for there not to be as much tension between them. 

Once Upon A Time 3x13 "Witch Hunt" Recap

Spoilers Ahead

The best part of this week’s episode was the marvelous interactions and how quickly every revelation occurred -- things are about to escalate and brilliantly. Not sure how anyone else feels, but we’re pretty fond of this whole Oz arc so far. When’s the last time a witch actually flew on a broomstick? It’s always incredible to have classics being brought back into our television screens. 

Back in the enchanted forest, a flying monkey, perhaps Walsh pre-Emma, tries to attack Regina but Roland happens to be standing in his direction and without a single thought Regina sweeps him off the ground and turns the monkey into a stuffed one for him. Realizing that there’s a tunnel way into the castle Regina plans to remove the protection spell in order for everyone to enter. Being a man of honor, Robin feels it’s his duty to accompany her and the two set off an adventure to save the civilians. What Robin doesn’t know is that Regina plans to put herself under a sleeping curse because of her heartbreak from losing Henry, but what essentially changes her mind is the fact that she now has a life to destroy. We then learn that Zelena is in fact Regina’s half sister and she’s now going to make Regina suffer just as she did. Good luck with that, greenie.

Meanwhile in Storybrooke, Emma’s teamed up with Regina to figure out who’s behind this new curse, Charming, Hook, Robin Hood, and a few other merry men are attempting to figure out what’s happening to those who’ve been disappearing. Little John then gets carried away by a flying monkey and later turns into one at the hospital. Regina’s having a difficult time replicating the memory potion; therefore, she and Emma go on a stakeout only to find that whoever’s in Regina’s office has disappeared with green smoke. Luckily by the end of the episode two and two is put together with the understanding that the only person who could be behind all of this is the Wicked Witch of the West. And best for last, Rumple’s still alive, probably a bit insane, held captive by the witch, but at least alive – Three cheers for the fact that Robert Carlyle could grace our television screens with his superlative acting again.

As always the best parts of this week’s episode were the excellent interactions between characters and little moments that served as a reminder that there’s hope everywhere.

Once Upon A Time 3x03 "Quite A Common Fairy" Recap

Tinkerbell not only met all expectations we've had but without a doubt exceeded them. I remember crying during the cartoon when no one believed in her, and I'm not going to lie, I held back tears as Blue lost faith in her. What a scene. 

Pixie Dust never lies, does it? That being said, Robin Hood and Regina were meant to be soul mates. Surely though, that flashback wasn't the end of Hood Queen. What's to come in the future definitely looks promising of greatness. 

Speaking of Regina, it's always good to see her heart and not literally, as we saw that as well. She is slowly redeeming herself and giving Tink her heart to crush was an enormous form of sacrifice for Henry and the group. It's also pleasant to see the bond she and Emma are building. Regina wanting to use Emma's powers as well depicts that she can be selfless, and thus understand that someone else can be strong with magic as well. Let's be real? Who didn't tear up during the talk about "Operation Henry" and how he'd definitely come up with a more clever name?  

Neal, Mulan, Robin Hood, and Roland. If you aren't petrified of the fact that this isn't the end of the shadow then we aren't watching the same show. Yes, Neal successfully made it to Neverland without harming the boy and the group, but we all know nothing is ever that simple. Magic always comes with a price and we're terrified. Roland is a child. Despite almost being taken by the shadow, who's to say he won't be curious? Who's to say he won't be tempted to say "I believe" again?

Henry is warming up to Pan. We have a few theories on Pan and here's one of them: at the end of the day, he's a child as well; what if all he wants is truly, just like in the cartoons, to stay young and something other than him on that island is forcing him to grow up? And that's why he needs Henry's heart as he's the truest believer and if he believes in youth, it cannot be taken from them? What're your thoughts on Pan's motives? 

As we predicted in last weeks recap, Hook would notice Charming's wound first but who's going to heal it? It's not going to be pixie dust, but his one and only darling daughter. We believe Emma is going to heal him with her magic, and from that, we'll get the exceptionally heartfelt father/daughter scene we've been waiting for. 

Hook and Emma's closeness grows more and more with each episode, and in the most graceful way the two lost souls find home in one another. Though Neal is set to return rather quickly, there's no doubt that not only is forgiveness not going to be easy, but feelings between Captain Swan are going to be difficult to deny. The parallels between Snowing and Captain Swan are far too evident to ignore.

It seems a congratulations is in order for Philip and Aurora as they're expecting a child ,and Mulan has joined the Merry Men. Do you think it's possible for Mulan to get over Philip? Surely this keeps things open for Mufire to evolve. What're your thoughts on this triangle?

Next week: Tink's helping with "Operation Henry", Rumple and Neal are reunited, and the roller coaster continues.