As was established at the end of last episode, Neal is now dead. And for real this time. The episode even begins with his funeral,
just to drive that point home. I suppose
I’m supposed to feel bad that he’s gone for good, but I’m really not. And it’s not just because I never really
warmed up to his character. (Maybe if they'd actually developed his character by putting more emphasis on him mending the strained relationship with his father and building a relationship with Henry instead of just presenting him as a part of the pointless love triangle, I might have liked Neal a bit more.) Perhaps this
scene would have been more impactful if they hadn’t already given us the whole
‘Neal’s dead…wait, never mind, he’s still
alive’ fake-out at the start of the season.
But they did give us that fake-out, so watching his funeral didn’t do
much for me. Of course, I do feel bad
for everyone else. I feel bad for Emma,
as he was the father of her child and she of course cared for him as such. I feel bad for Gold/Rumpelstiltskin,
especially since this was his son and there was no question of how much he
loved him, particularly after we’ve all seen how long he’d been trying to find
him again, and the extreme lengths he went to.
And I of course feel bad for Killian, as Neal was not only his last real
connection to Milah, the woman he’d carried a torch for for centuries, but also
because, for however a short a time they were together, Killian was genuinely
coming to love Boy Baelfire as a son. (It
was so impactful that he was the first one to place the dirt over the
coffin.) I suppose I also feel slightly
bad for Henry, as this was his biological father, and in the few weeks they
knew each other, they did seem to actually love each other. But you know, Henry still has Grandpa
Charming. Not to mention not one, but
two potential stepfathers in Killian and Robin.
This kid is not lacking at all in the father-figure department; he’ll be
fine without Neal. So, yes, I do feel
bad for the people who actually liked Neal.
However, I don’t feel bad for Neal himself. The fact remains that he decided to use dark
magic to resurrect his father, knowing that the method he was using would
enable Zelena to get the foothold she needed.
While it is understandable that he’d want his dad back, his actions were
still very self-centered, particularly since it would undoubtedly put everyone
in danger and it also contradicted the fact that Gold/Rumpelstiltskin had
sacrificed his life to save everyone from Pan, which was quite possibly the
first genuinely selfless act he’d performed in who knows how many years. In the end, if Neal had just been smart and
listened to Belle, he might still be alive.
It’s really his own fault he’s dead.
Much like that guy from Maine that I read about who died when he decided
to launch a firework off his head, I simply cannot bring myself to feel all
that sorry for people who die because they did something stupid (my sincere
apologies to the people who knew the guy in question).
Emma and Killian once again show they really have no concept of
personal space. Even though Emma is still
not willing to completely lower her walls, she still doesn’t back away when
Killian gets up close and personal. Killian
was really in the zone in this episode.
It all starts when he once again reaches out to Emma, using his wisdom
to keep her from making the same mistakes he’d made. This time, he warns her against letting her
anger at Zelena cloud her judgement. He
knows all too well that going after your enemy with feelings of vengeance fueling
you will not lead to feelings of fulfillment.
He loves Emma too much to allow her to be consumed by the void revenge
begets. He then makes a gesture that
clearly means more to Emma than flowers, chocolates and extravagant gifts. He offers to share what he remembers of Boy
Baelfire with the amnesiac Henry, to help him feel connected with his
biological father. Emma has made it
known very well that she will always put her son first, as is the case with any
decent mother. By offering to reach out
to Henry, Killian has shown that he also cares about Henry and considers his
well-being a high priority. What mother
wouldn’t be touched by that? And Emma is
clearly no exception, as this episode marks the moment when she starts trusting
Killian with Henry, allowing the two to have time to bond with each other. And that bonding time gives Killian the
chance to show he has the potential to make a great stepfather to Henry someday
(as well as another brief Killian vs. the Modern World moment, with his obvious
unfamiliarity with the term GPS.)
We also sorta learn through something Henry said that during the
missing year, when Emma and Henry were living in New York with their false
memories, that Emma had a habit of leaving Henry in the care of associates who
owned boats while she was working. I
can’t help but think that this was one more instance of Emma’s subconscious
mind trying to remind her of her true past during that period of time. If so, it’s very telling that Emma would
leave her son with boat people, considering a certain character’s connection
with seafaring vessels.
The main storyline of the episode begins when Zelena has the audacity
to crash Neal’s memorial service. And it
goes without saying that NO ONE is pleased to see her. However Zelena, being the nasty piece of work
she is, doesn’t pay the least bit of attention to this and challenges Regina to
a showdown, revealing her identity as Regina’s long-lost half-sister in the
process. Through Regina searching
through Cora’s belongings and the episode flashbacks, we learn that Zelena had
been abandoned by Cora when she was only a baby and, after being carried off by
a cyclone (just go with it), she was adopted by a couple who happened to be
passing by. However, Zelena’s adopted
father proved to be a major jerk who actually made Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter franchise look good. I mean, come on guy. While I can totally understand how you might
be shocked that a tiny baby can have such a strong control of magic that early,
she saved your life from a falling tree branch!
Show a little gratitude, will you?
When Zelena grows up and has had enough of her adoptive father’s verbal
and emotional abuse, she seeks out the Wizard of Oz. From him, Zelena learns of her past, and of
how Regina was learning magic from Dark One Rumpelstiltskin. But Regina didn’t have Zelena’s unbridled
mastery of magic, so with a pair of magic slippers that Oz gives her, and a
warning against not allowing herself to feel jealousy over what others have,
Zelena ventures into the Enchanted Forest to also learn from Rumpelstiltskin. While he does agree to take her on as a
pupil, Zelena gets ticked when she finds out that Rumple is continuing to train
Regina, angrily stating that he doesn’t need Regina anymore as she is more than
capable of casting the curse that would create Storybrooke. As she starts to allow the jealousy to take
hold, she literally starts to turn green with envy. She then tries to kill Regina to force Rumpelstiltskin
to choose her as the curse-caster, but she discovers too late that who she
thought was Regina was really Rumple in disguise, who tells Zelena that her
actions have led to her being more-or-less expelled from his school of
teaching. The enraged Zelena taunts
Rumple before teleporting away, telling him that she could have gotten him into
the Land Without Magic without the curse with the use of the magic slippers the
Wizard of Oz had given her. Which is
awesome, when you remember Rumple had asked Jefferson (who I really wish they’d
bring back for even a just a cameo) to locate a pair of slippers in ‘The Doctor’ flashback.
As we learn of Zelena’s backstory, we also see Regina finally stop
backpedaling in regards to her connection to Robin. Much like with how Killian instinctively
knows exactly what Emma needs to hear, Robin effortlessly convinces Regina to
let him in when she has doubts that she’s strong enough to defeat Zelena, who
was a magical protégée. Robin clearly
gave Regina the encouragement she needed, as Regina does end up going up
against Zelena, and two engage in a full-on battle, causing quite a bit of
property damage in the process. (Who’s
exactly going to pay to clean up that mess?)
In the end, Zelena does get the upper hand, but when she tries to take
Regina’s heart, she finds that it’s no longer in her chest. Because she’d given it to Robin for
safekeeping. And in a very touching
moment, she asks Robin to continue holding on to her heart. Her exact words were '
The episode ends with us learning what Zelena’s ultimate plan was,
and why she wanted to collect Charming’s courage and Regina’s heart. She plans to use them in a spell that will
enable her to travel back in time to prevent Regina from being born. Oh, and Walsh the Monkey was also the Wizard
of Oz who got turned into a monkey by Zelena.
This show.
An alternate title for this episode could really have been ‘The Grass is Always Greener.’ Zelena’s malfunction is how Regina was the
one who Cora kept, and the one Rumpelstiltskin chose to train to enact his
curse. Something she felt she was
entitled to due to her being the firstborn and the magical protégée. At the same time, we’ve all seen how horribly
Cora’s child-rearing and Rumples’s training had messed Regina up. Really, Zelena, you really weren’t missing
out on anything all that great. Try
using all that energy on forging your own
path. Even though your horrible adoptive
father didn’t appreciate it, your magic skills could have been hugely
beneficial to a lot of people.
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