Sunday, May 1, 2016

Once Upon a Time 5.20: "Firebird"

“If you help me save her, I’ll take everyone’s names off the headstones. So what do you say Savior? Do you want to send your family home or not?”
- Hades

Can you believe we have almost finished another season of “Once Upon a Time”? It honestly seems like season 5A was forever ago, when Emma was the Dark Swan and everyone was kind of freaking out. I’ve said it many times before but season 5B has felt really strong to me. Maybe it’s because they’ve been wrapping things up to some extent but I’ve definitely been enjoying the Underworld arc a lot. I like that it wasn’t just about Hercules and Meg. It really has focused on our core characters and their drama and struggles and growth as people. And hey, if the Evil Queen and the Dark One can find love, then why not the Lord of Hell and the Wicked Witch right?

Things aren’t going to be quite as easy getting out of the Underworld as we might hope. Just as Regina is filling the heroes in on nudging Zelena towards Hades, the Lord of Hell show sup offering a proposal. He’ll wipe the names from the headstones if Emma helps rescue Zelena. It all looks good at first. I mean Hades rips up the contract for Rumple as requested and thanks to Emma, they get Zelena free (leaving Rumple and Pan to deal with their own personal spat). And Hades makes a show of wiping the names from the headstones. But he is the Lord of Hell after all and even our redeemed and somewhat reformed villains take a while to get there.

There’s also the problem of Emma splitting her heart. Hades points out that when David and Snow did it, he’d been dead less than a minute and his soul hadn’t left his body. Hook’s been dead a while. But he says there’s a possible way to get Hook back. He recounts the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. The only two souls to escape his realm thanks to the fruit of the gods. It’s a perilous journey though and he cautions Emma that failing the test to get to the stuff could be fatal.

While Emma and Hook hunt make their trek, Rumple and Pan are working out their issues. Pan wants a heart so he can return to the real world and at first we see Rumple take Robin’s heart which made me worry for Outlaw Queen. But then, as the time drew near to hop through the portal back home, he reveals he tricked his papa and returned the heart to its rightful owner. Instead, he shoved a glamored bottle filled with River of Souls water into his father’s chest. Bye Peter Pan. It was nice knowing you! I will miss the hotness that is Robbie Kay though. The boy needs to get on another show (and one with a better chance of making it past season 1).

As Emma and Hook make their journey (along the way realizing they are true love…yay?) we see how Emma became a bail bonds person. She’s looking for her family when a woman named Clio finds her. She’s going to take her back to Phoenix for shoplifting back in her juvenile days with Lily but makes Emma a deal. They’ll look into her past if Emma goes quietly. Emma gets super frustrated at the lack of information and breaks into the local courthouse to get a better look at her file. Unfortunately, the cops have been called and in the escape, Clio ends up bleeding out thanks to a shard of glass in her gut. But it prompts Emma to search for Clio’s daughter (whom was given up at birth) and give the girl a little closure. And we see Emma get her signature jacket (her armor). Back in the Underworld, Emma and Hook realize that Hades has tricked them. The tree has been cut down long ago and there’s nothing for them to find. In a sort of tearful goodbye, Hook makes Emma promise not to close herself off again now that she’s losing him. She makes him promise to move on and not wait for her to eventually die. I’m not going to be very sad with the sinking of this ship. Let’s be honest. I don’t want Emma to be lonely or anything but again, I’m Swan Thief for life baby.

Hades has also divined a way to keep the rest of the heroes from leaving, too. Henry’s decided to use his Author powers to tell everyone their unfinished business so they can move on. We get a nice little visit from Stealthy (which is a nice call back) before Cruella and the Blind Witch barge in, claiming now that Hades is gone, they’re going to take over and the Blind Witch casts a spell to lock the heroes in the library. I really hope Zelena gets mad at Hades for leaving the rest of the family to rot but she hasn’t been redeemed that long and one sisterly memory may not undo the years of damage. But in the end, it looks like everyone (minus Hook obviously) gets through the portal before it closes. I think this means we are done with the Underworld now (returning as we do to Storybrooke for the final few episodes of the season). Even though Outlaw Queen is currently intact, I fear that we may be losing another ship this season. It appears the only one that can manage to stay intact is Snow and David. Come on writers, give some other people some happiness. I know Regina realized that there is more to her happy ending than Robin but give her a break. She has come a long way in five seasons. I am eager to see how the season closes out and where we are heading in the next year. It has definitely been a fun ride and I am glad we will get to continue it for at least another year, although I would say that ending it next season wouldn’t be the worst thing. Six seasons is respectable for a show these days.

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