Back on fall 2011 when I watched the pilot of Once Upon a Time I thought the show was a fresh breath of air that could take a rather predictable, but enjoyable development: the show would last 6 seasons in my mind, it would shake up things in Storybrooke every so often, but magic wouldn’t have introduced until later on in the series and its impact on the storyline would be minimum, the dance of the dual identities would continue until its final season and Emma Swan would defeat Regina and break the curse on the series finale.
I bring this up because I find it amazing how my first impression of the show was wrong on so many levels, and I’m really glad it was: I would have watched the show I described above, but I think the show has much more to gain from the changes it has done from season 2 and onwards. Granted, sometimes the show makes mistakes and takes the wrong routes, but most of the times it’s pretty damn entertaining and delivers some incredible unexpected turns, just like this stellar season finale.
I’ll shake off what I didn’t like of the finale right away: near the end of the episode the woman who Emma rescued in the past turned out to be Robin Hood’s wife, effectively destroying his relationship with Regina. This was a completely unnecessary move and it risks to send back Regina to her evil core despite all the character development she had gone through since season 2. She fought so hard to become a true hero that I will be furious at the writers if she goes back to be evil next season.
Now that I’ve told you what I don’t like- and what worries me about season 4- let’s focus on everything else that the show did right on this finale. For one, it is homage of Back to the Future (even Emma gives that reference right away) and it relives the whole plot of the movie while having fun at it. It’s such a delight to have Emma exploring the past with Hook, and while both of them seem a bit worried of coming back home after all they have been through they know they will find a way, so we don’t need minutes of complains and worries about their situation, instead we see them interact like real people and get closer than ever.
And it’s fun that they have the chance to see the past version of every person they know! While Emma knew the evil Regina of season 1 she never had the chance to see the real Evil Queen and it’s really amusing when she’s struggling to find a way to call her by (she goes with Regina, which the queen doesn’t like much). She has the chance to see her parents meeting and ruin said meeting at the same time, and she gets to meet Rumple as the dark one and play his game to revert the damage she had done.
It is all so delightfully fun to watch. Some of my favorite moments include Emma changing into Fairy Land clothes, Hook punching himself on the face (knocking his past self out), Hook and Emma at the ball, Hook helping Snow escape from the castle, among many others. The little moments are some of the strongest in the episode and they come so constantly that I was really pleased through these 2 hours, I think I smiled and laughed through the whole episode.
It’s hard for Emma accept who she is now, because she has always run away from what it might hurt her- which is why she wanted to go back to NY so badly-, but after seeing her mother about to die she realized that she can’t run away anymore, there is a place where she is loved, a place she misses when she’s not there, a place called home. And with that realization she gets her magic back, which is a predictable, but nice touch: magic is based on emotion and you have to embrace it, but to do so you also have to accept it. By accepting that she actually has a home Emma was able to bring out her power and open the portal to go back home.
It’s a really nice way to bring her magic back. The show recognizes who Emma is, she is an orphan who lost faith in ever finding home, but in this finale she has finally learnt that she has been home for 3 years now, Henry brought her there, and now she is able to take a step forward into becoming the woman she want to be. This is the kind of character development I want to see in every episode of OUAT.
It might have not felt like a finale, but this a perfect season ender for me; Emma finally grew- and she even opened up to Hook-, we had a fun trip re-exploring the Enchanted Forest of the past and we get a more than welcome visit from Elsa at the end, possibly to cause some havoc on Storybrooke next fall.
More often than not I found myself enjoying this third season: Neverland had a couple of good episodes, but it never really lived up to its potential until its final episodes, I felt there were some moments that were nothing but a waste of time. Oz brought some of the fun back in the game and it exploited Rebecca Madder and Lana Parrilla’s chemistry to its fullest, but it still had some dumb or lackluster moments, but I’d say it mostly had great funny ones.
On my first review I said that Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite shows and that stays true to today. While I prefer watching Game of Thrones, Homeland or Arrow for substance, and Revenge for complete pleasure, Once Upon a Time- as flawed as it is- is always enjoyable, albeit silly and dumb at times. I just have a really good times following these characters and their stories, even when I get frustrated or think that the writers could do better, but this show it is still the fresh breath of air on the TV Landscape that I thought it was back when it premiered. And despite all its turnaround and changes, I still love it, and I think it will always have a place in my heart.
Finale Grades: A-
Neverland: B-
Oz: A-
Stray Observations:
-I like that Storybrooke still uses Beta Max, after all this town was frozen in time for almost 30 years.
-Hook: “So, any ideas of how to get back?”
Emma: “How would I know how to get back to the future? Who do I look like? Marty McFly?”
Hook: “Marty McWho?”
Emma: “The kid with the… lightning and the delorian and… they went back in time…”
Hook: “He is… a wizard?”
I swear to god I loved these exchanges between these two.
-Who was amused as hell to see Emma flirting with past Hook? I sure was. And present time Hook and his jealousy was just perfect.
-Carlyle made this episode extra enjoyable playing the dark one helping our heroes. By the way, someone predicted that Emma would tell him about the curse and that everything would come to pass because Emma told him that; not exactly what happened, but pretty close!
-Hook letting a rat live and telling Smith that he would get it one day was another golden moment.
-Smith: “I thought you were below desk! And why does your vest keep changing?!”
-Prince Charles and Princess Leia. OUAT you really brought some laughs into the mix this week!
-Is it me or does Emma look like Felicity Smoke from Arrow when she wears glasses?
-Ruby is back! With Intelligence gone is safe to assume that she will resume her role next season, right?
-Hook says Emma defeated the wicked witch. Don’t steal Regina’s credit!
-I find it utterly adorable that Snow and Charming named their baby Neal. Great moment.
-If season 4 manages to do episodes as enjoyable as this on a weekly basis OUAT might finally step out of the shadows of season 1 that keeps hunting the show to this day. That’s a wishful thinking.
