OMG: Oh My Gold

Last weekend's special two hour Once Upon a Time episode was in my opinion, the best one so far this season. There was magic, romance, betrayal, backstabbing, true love, hope, and hate. I came to love certain characters more, hate certain characters less, and completely detest a character I was just starting to understand.

The episode began with a quite risque scene between our favorite Evil Queen, Regina, and her lover/boyfriend/true love/affair/I-don't-even-know-anymore, Robin Hood. First of all, where the heck do they find these men, and how can I get there? Almost every male character in Once Upon a Time is smoking hot, and it's not even fair! I digress. Anywho, the modern day part of the episode started out in Regina's crypt where Robin Hood stated that he had just had the best "sleep" in his life. Mhm, sure you did Robin, but don't worry, your secret is safe with us. Regina seemed genuinely happy, but, always the logical type, explained that their not-so-secret affair couldn't continue. Robin wasn't ready to give her up so quickly and stole Henry's storybook to try to find out how to rewrite Regina's future. I mean come on ladies! Who wouldn't be completely wooed by a man stealing your 14 year old son's storybook/family history to explain that your affair with said man is perfectly okay? It turns out that stealing that book paid off in the end. After questioning why a cat would want a hat, Robin found a page in his messenger bag that was definitely not there before. This page just so happened to have Regina and Robin together as a couple. True love prevails! Something repeated more than once in the episode was that you write your own future. It seems that Regina is finally learning that, and accepting that she might actually have a future with her hottie, Robin Hood.

 After that glimpse of hope, the episode went downhill very quickly. However, I found myself feeling bad for the Snow Queen. This episode revealed that she might not be the main villain in this season. She just wants to have a family again and has a weird obsession with Emma and Elsa. Every step she has taken so far is to reach the goal of getting her family back together. Sadly, those steps might cause destruction for the rest of Storybrooke. At the end of the episode, she released the spell of shattered sight to turn the inhabitants of the town against each other. Right now, I am just hanging on the hope that she doesn't have enough power to enact a spell of that magnitude on her own, because I cannot imagine if Emma and Killian are turned against each other.

Speaking of Killian, Storybrooke's perfect pirate was in a boat load of trouble this week. For almost the entire first hour of the episode, he hung around the Charmings' apartment sulking. He obviously missed Emma and felt terrible about not being able to get her to stay. As soon as he found out she had found a way to get rid of her magic, his thoughts immediately jumped to Rumpelstiltskin and his magic hat that could obliterate, not only her magic, but also Emma herself. His first step was to find his "talking phone" and call her, explaining not to trust Rumpel. When he arrived at Gold's shop and saw Emma's hand-print burned into a box, he called her again. Killian's second voice-mail was much more passionate. In it, he explained how he knew about Rumpel's hat and how he had been lying to her. At the end of his voice-mail he said he hoped she would never forgive him for what he had done, because that would mean that she had lived long enough to listen to it. That was about the point that I lost it. Hook has never been that apologetic in his life, as far as we know. Hearing him say those words while realizing that Emma could die, broke my heart and made me pray (to the all-knowing Eddy and Adam) for some sort of Sunday-night drama miracle.

Emma has struggled with feeling accepted since day one of Once Upon a Time. Seeing the look in her parents' eyes made her feel even more of an outcast and forced her to lose control of her emotions and her powers. My heart broke for her when she accidentally hurt Henry. In that moment, she must have felt so hopeless and like a danger to everyone around her. It is not that hard to see why she went to Rumpelstiltskin for help. Luckily, Elsa was there when she was about to enter a room with magic that would kill her. She explained that in order to control her magic, she would have to accept herself and embrace her uniqueness. As soon as Emma listened, she gained control of her magic and was able to even put on a fireworks display for her family within a few minutes.

Rumpelstiltskin showed his true colors in this episode. I had finally started to feel like he was trying to change, and then he decided to go all psycho on me. How could he revert to being so terrible after the sacrifice of his son to save him? If nothing else, his actions were a flagrant disgrace to the memory of Neal. At first, I could see where he was coming from, because he is addicted to power. Once he started endangering his family, however, there was no going back. The last straw came at the end of the episode when he viciously ripped out the heart of my favorite character in the show, Killian Jones and inadvertently ripped out mine as well. Not only does he now have the ability to kill Killian with a squeeze of his hand, but he can also control everything that Killian does. Rumpel was finally becoming a good guy, and I was actually starting to like him, but then he messed with Killybear. No one messes with Killybear!

There is no OUaT episode this weekend because of some music awards, but tune in on November 30 to find out what happens in the not-so-peaceful town of  Storybrooke, Maine.

The Good, the Bad, and the Magical

In the past few weeks of OUaT, so much has happened! I have so many thoughts and reactions to what has happened so far, that I'm not sure it will all fit into one post, but I'm sure as heck going to try. Each character has become more personal over the last few weeks. The more time they spend in Storybrooke, the easier it is for me to understand them and see some of myself in them. Being in Storybrooke also leads to some of them making some big mistakes that may change their lives forever.

Emma Swan has been one of my favorite characters since I began to watch the show. Recently, I have begun to feel like I can relate to her more and more. In the past few episodes, Emma has been struggling with feeling like she doesn't fit in.  Having magic when the rest of her family is "normal" (I hate that word!), takes a big tole on her. Also, she feels as though her parents view her differently because of it. In the past, we have always seen a rough exterior to Emma. This season, she began to let her guard down a little bit. Her family and friends' reactions to her situation with the magic might cause her to put those walls right back up, and I'm afraid we might see her revert back to square one.

Mary Margret and David have taken a step back in the show since their son, Neal was born. Not only do Snow and Charming have a baby in the show, but Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas (the actors who play them and are married in real life), have a new baby. The writers might be shortening their roles in the show for both reasons. However, the moments that they are on the show are significant. Just a few weeks ago, Snow and Charming were acting like loving parents towards Emma. Since they have seen her magic blossom, they have treated her differently. It is understandable that Snow is protective of her baby, but Emma is her child as well, and I feel as though she could have handled situations much better. David really hasn't changed too much. He has always seemed to treat Emma the same, no matter what, and I think he is a more accepting person in general. Watching the most recent episode and seeing the look of disappointment and hurt in Emma's eyes really made me annoyed at Mary Margaret in particular, but it is understandable that she would act that way because she is a "new" mother.

The Snow Queen is one of my favorite villains so far. Instead of just using magic to mess with things, she is playing mind games with the people of Storybrooke. In some way or another, she has influenced their actions without actually using magic. Also, I find her back story with Emma to be very interesting, and I am excited to see what will happen with that. She is one of the most creative characters that the writers have thought up in my opinion, and even though she endangers some of my favorite relationships in the show, I cannot help but find her pretty awesome.

Elsa has become a good friend to Emma. They are really perfect for each other as friends, and are the only ones who can truly understand the other. I'm not a huge fan of Elsa, but I really have no good reason not to like her. Something about her seems just a little off to me, and I cannot put my finger on it. However, I cannot deny that she brings a lot to the show and gets along well with the characters. 

Hook, like Snow and Charming, has taken a step back in the past few episodes. Since his and Emma's date, we haven't seen much of him. Any time he has been on the screen, though, I am always happy. Emma's relationship with Hook up until the end of last episode seemed to have been solidified. They were treating each other more like newlyweds then two people who had just gone on their first date. Also, Hook offers some comic relief to the show. His constant one-liners and mumbles under his breath always make me and the characters in the show smile. Hook still remains one of my favorite characters, and I don't think that will ever change. However, he seemed to be in some kind of peril in the preview for this week, so all I can say is that the writers better not kill him of or there will be a horde of furious fangirls at their doors (including me)!

 Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold seems to be back to his old ways. I was really excited to see the change in him when he married Belle, but the honeymoon effect has worn off, and he has slipped back into being a very shady character. Rather than do things for the greater good of Storybrooke and his family, Rumpel is always trying to get something out of it. Even his relationship with Belle seems to be under extreme stress. Last episode, he was treating her more as an annoying servant than a wife. It is really upsetting to see a character who had come so far revert so drastically.

Regina and Robin are the final two characters that I really feel need to be mentioned. Their relationship has been confusing for them over the past few episodes. While Regina was saying that he needed to forget about her, the hurt in her eyes was obvious. She has really come so far, and deserves the best. Luckily, Robin agrees. After struggling between love and duty, love finally won out for him, and he decided that Regina was the one for him. This gave us the second-best kiss of the season (behind the Captain Swan one after their date, of course), and made me jump for joy. I really hope that they can work everything out and Regina will receive the happy ending that is so rightfully hers.

 Tune in this Sunday to find out what happens to Emma, why Rumple is so fond of the Snow Queen, and why Hook was telling someone "Don't do this!"