By: Isabella Montenegro
Previously on OUAT: Zeus stopped Hades’ ticker, Belle decided to take a long nap, Liam threw away the book pages with Hades’ story, everyone except Hook went back to Storybrooke.
Storybrooke – The Toll Bridge
Hades is revealing in the fact that he is free of the Underworld, and while Zelena is happy for them, she is worried that Regina still has not returned from the Underworld herself. Hades assures Zelena that Regina will be okay, but does not want to head into town because people still believe him to be the bad guy. Zelena then decides to leave the baby with Hades, and go into town to relay the good news. As Hades is left shocked over the fact that Zelena would trust him with her daughter; we see a figure cut across the background. King Arthur has escaped jail and is running away apparently. Arthur tells Hades he has been wrongly imprisoned and that he was meant to rule a broken kingdom, and all the stuff he keeps harping on about, but Hades don’t care. Hades then snaps Arthur’s neck, and sends him off to the Underworld for some reason. While I have loved the evolution of Zelena’s character and her newly found ability to trust people… I don’t think Hades counts. Regardless of him being her true love, he had a plan before her, and he certainly has not forgotten about it.
The Loft
Snow is reprimanding Merida for Arthur’s escape, until the true culprit is revealed: Sleepy (to be fair, you put the dwarf who sleeps on watch duty in the first place). Snow send out the search party for Arthur, and as she wishes for her family to come back, the door opens and surprise! Henry, David, and Emma drop by the loft, and reunite with Snow and baby Neal; and as Snow tries to comfort her daughter, David tells her the news about Hades.
In the park, Robin and Regina are having a bit of a discussion, when Zelena gets there. Robin tries to grill her, but Regina holds him off. Zelena informs them baby girl Hood is with Hades, but she does not take the current news of Hades’ betrayal really well. Angry with Regina, she warns her of going against Hades, and poofs away.
I think I just noticed how un-transparent the poof smoke is. I get it when she is in the middle of it, but once she is gone, the smoke just vanishes as opposed to it slowly disperses. They really need to add some money to that VFX budget.
Underworld Granny’s
Arthur enters the dinner, and asks a little boy where he is… which makes for a really creepy moment; only made worse by the child eating witch behind the counter. Poor kid. Killian reveals himself, and Arthur attacks him, only to find out you can’t kill dead people (Which isn’t strictly speaking true). Arthur has a moment of denial when he realizes he is dead, as Killian (who apparently tried to move on and couldn’t), needs to know who killed Arthur. The blind witch points out that Hades never revealed his weakness, and Killian realizes that the missing pages of the storybook might hold the truth, and since Hades isn’t there to stop him, he can go find them. Killian tries to enlist Arthur to help, who refuses, but when Killian points out that he is trapped by his unfinished business; Killian also makes sure Arthur understands that right now, all his bad deeds are likely going to send him to hell. Arthur agrees to help on the search for Killian’s Holy Grail.
The Toll Bridge
Merida is showing Emma and David where she found Arthur’s body, and Emma intuitively knows it was Hades, and resolves to stop him by killing him once and for all. David then moves to stop Emma and urges her to slow down, and to deal with Hook’s death by grieving, and not blindly pushing forward. Now, I have never been a person that complains when things make sense, I don’t think David was all correct when he says that all people deal with death by grieving; it’s different for everyone, and for Emma who only just recently let people in, it might be difficult to deal with loss by letting herself feel. Also, Charming, his name is Killian, not Hook.
In the mayor’s office, Hades plays Zelena by deciding to turn himself in, knowing full well she won’t let him. Zelena is much too fearful he will die, and therefore is not trusting Regina at the moment. Hades steers the conversation into Zelena having to admit that if the heroes fight, they might have to fight back, and Hades reveals his weapon: The Olympian Crystal, which apparently belonged to Zeus. Again, we are very clearly seeing how Hades is manipulating Zelena.
Storybrooke Street
As Zelena casts a protection spell around the Town Hall building, the hero team discuss what the next move is. Regina tells them of a tunnel that leads to her office, and says she will go, with Robin following; but she doesn’t let Emma go, on account that she is too emotional. Emma is relegated to the research team.
Robin and Regina descend to the tunnels, and Regina takes a moment to apologize for trusting Zelena with the baby. Regina tries to defend Zelena, by saying she only wants to be loved, but Robin is offended that Regina is still trying to defend Zelena’s actions. To be fair, Robin should have been benched on account of being emotional as well.
In another part of town Gold visits Belle’s dad in his shop to try and convince him to wake Belle. Moe doesn’t want to do it, if it is the only way to keep Gold away from his daughter, but Gold starts to threaten him, but is stopped by Emma entering. Emma is looking for a way to kill a God, but Gold refuses to even help, blaming her for the whole mess in the first place.
Underworld
Killian and Arthur make it to Hades’ Throne room, and start looking around for the pages of the book, which he has explained are very special. Arthur despairs pretty quickly, but then realizes that this is about Killian saving and helping Emma. Killian asks Arthur as a fellow king where he hid his treasure, and Arthur goes to Hades’ chair, as he would have hidden stuff in the one place people did not dare touch: his throne. While I don’t think everyone thinks the same, I don’t think Killian implied Arthur would know because he was also a king, and they all think the same, I feel that he was genuinely asking where would Arthur hide it, just to see if there is a place they haven’t looked at. Arthur moves his hands around the throne, looking for something, until a secret hatch opens, and the book pages fall out. Killian reads the pages and realizes he needs to get the pages to Emma, as they hold the key to killing a God.
Killian and Arthur arrive at the dinner to question Cruella on where the ‘Haunting Telephone’ is, and Cruella reveals that she not only destroyed it, but that she has hid the storybook to make sure people can’t leave. Cruella tells them she put the book in the River of Souls, but Killian is not willing to give up, and with Arthur sets out to find the book.
Storybrooke
Emma enters the library in a hurry, and finds her family and Merida trying to find information about Hades. Emma is frazzled and starts walking away to go confront Hades but David stops her again, and this time points out that going after revenge won’t bring Killian back. Emma explains that she can’t grieve Killian since she knows he is still trapped in the Underworld, although there is little explanation as to how. Snow calmly asks Emma to help them find a way to beat Hades so they can help Killian. Emma visibly has to push down her emotions, but stays to do research.
In the mayor’s office, Hades is trying to magically restore the Olympian Crystal, and explains that when his heart was not beating, that this was not possible. They discuss their future, and we see the differences in what they want: Hades wants to rule a kingdom, but Zelena just wants a peaceful loving life. As Hades tries to convince Zelena that the heroes will not let them live in peace, and they need to show their strengths, they are interrupted by Gold. He is calling on accounts of making a deal: Gold will help protect Hades if he receives a piece of the crystal in return.
In the tunnels, Regina and Robin have finally made it to the town hall, and they take a moment to talk. Robin thanks Regina, and she apologizes again about Zelena and the whole baby thing. Robin, who has had quite the walk, finally admits that they should give Zelena a chance as they have all had second chances, and it is only fair that she gets one as well. They then discuss the plan: but Robin does not have one. Robin has been much too worried to come up with a plan, and despite that Regina and him keep going, and apparently pray for the best
Underworld
Killian and Arthur are on the way to where Killian had been kept previously, and Killian explains what the River is and what it does. They arrive at the gateway, and see the book on the hands of one of the statues. Killian charges Arthur with making sure the boat doesn’t float away, while he gets the book. Arthur is then attacked from behind by one of the lost souls, which can now apparently just grab and pull people into the water. As Arthur is being pulled, he tells Killian to get the book, but Killian chooses to help Arthur, grabbing a torch and attacking the creature. The things can burn. A second one goes after the book, but Arthur torches it as it tries to get away, and the book falls, sliding towards the water, but Killian makes quite the catch and saves the book. Killian assumes that since Hades is gone, that things in the Underworld are changing. He also explains the magic of the book can traverse through realms, and so adding the pages to it, might mean its counterpart in the world of the living will get the pages as well. At Arthur’s question, Killian explains what the pages in the book hold, that the Olympian Crystal can obliterate anything, even a God, and sets his hope on Emma.
Storybrooke
Emma is in the library looking for information on Hades, when she takes a look at a page in the storybook of her adventure in the past with Killian, and an image of them dancing. She bottles down all those feelings and puts the storybook to a side to continue her research, but then magic happens, and the book opens to the pages Killian just added. Killian literally helped from the Underworld.
At the Mayor’s Office, Hades finally completes the crystal, and it is a small spear like weapon. Zelena tries again to reason, and suggest leaving the town behind and starting over, but Hades refuses, and says they would be hunted down, and believes the only way to protect themselves is to be strong. Unbeknownst to them Robin and Regina are lurking outside of the room, and trying to figure out how to get the baby, and they are in need of a distraction. With all the luck in the world, Emma chooses that moment to attack the Town Hall, and Zelena goes to deal with her. Hades on the other hand, goes off to check the building, and they both leave the office, giving Regina and Robin a moment to get the baby back.
Outside, Emma is blasting Light Magic at the shield, but Zelena appears, but Emma is unwilling to hurt her (Glad to see the Hero team is trusting Zelena). Zelena guesses that the plan is to hurt Hades, and takes the pages of the book Emma has brought with her, and finds out there is a way to kill a God. Zelena, in her rage, immediately questions if Regina knows and if she agreed.
Inside, Robin and Regina get the baby but they are interrupted in their escape by Hades. Hades is actually a little psychotic in this scene, and is immediately targeting Regina. Regina warns him that Zelena won’t ever forgive him, and Hades says that he won’t tell her. This is the real Hades, the one who wants the power no matter who falls for it. He explains what the Crystal does: it essentially erases you from existence, with no Underworld or moving on. Hades’ motivation is that Regina tried to turn Zelena against him, but we all know it’s about power. Robin tries to talk him out of hurting Regina, but Hades refuses and attacks, jumping in the middle and taking the bolt of lightning meant for Regina. Robin turns to face Regina, and then his body drops, but his soul remains in place, and slowly it just poofs away. Regina, in her immediate grief, kneels down to Robin’s body, and as Hades is about to attack Regina, her sister walks in. Hades lies and says Robin was going to kill Zelena, and so Hades had to kill him, but Regina calls him out on his lie.
Zelena is still upset, and shows Zelena the pages that Emma had, but Regina tries to explain that Hades has been lying to her all this time. Hades then reveals that he did try to trap them in the Underworld, and that to create a kingdom they need to die. Zelena realizes that Hades had been lying about giving anything up for her. He even goes as far as admitting that this has been about revenge for him and for her. Regina tackles him as he is distracted and goes for the crystal, but Zelena grabs it first. Regina breaks down a little to tell Zelena that she believes in her, and has defended her on every turn, and wanted her to be happy: she also tells her that love is about sacrifice (explains how Robin died), and how true love is about giving up everything for the one you love. Something Hades has not done for her. Hades tries to push her towards the revenge, and Zelena seems to be going there, but as she yells that love isn’t enough for Hades, she stabs him with the Crystal, killing him forever. That was predictably unexpected. Like, I saw it coming, but like Ned Stark, did not believe it would go down literally like that. The scene ends as the sisters grieve together.
Underworld
Arthur and Killian are still at the prison area of the river, and Killian thanks Arthur for his help. Killian somehow feels Emma got the pages and helped sort of save the day. Then the gateway to move on opens, as Killian’s unfinished business was defeating Hades. Killian tries to get Arthur to move on, but Arthur has realized the Underworld is the kingdom he has to repair. They say their goodbyes, and Killian crosses over to move on.
He ends up in a hall, with a man who lets himself be known as Hades’ brother, Zeus. Zeus is there to escort Killian onward. Zeus says he is taking Killian where he belongs, and the scene ends with Killian walking on to a blinding light.
Storybrooke
Emma places Killian’s flask on his grave, and lets him know about Hades, and urges him to move on; we finally see her feeling his death. Impressively enough, while I am not particularly sad during the scene, I can acknowledge it is a beautiful scene to watch. The scene changes to Robin’s funeral, as everyone is placing arrows with roses tied to them on his casket, and we see poor little Roland, and how Zelena is now a part of the hero team. It is another beautifully shot scene. Zelena names the baby Robin, in honor of her father.
As the crowd of mourners walk away, Emma stays with her mother, who tries to comfort Emma, and assure her it is not her fault. Snow walks away, and is left alone. Suddenly a blast of magic goes through her, and the scene pans out and Killian is back! Emma runs to him, and kisses him. Killian explains Zeus has apparently rewarded him, but Emma doesn’t care and just kisses him. Emma shows him the casket, and I assume tells him about Robin.
The final scene is at the Mayor’s Office, with Gold digging in Hades’ ashes and pulling out a piece of the Olympian Crystal.
RATING: 7.0 GOOD. I really like the majority of the episode, especially that we have finally brought back Killian (we all knew it was bound to happen), and was slightly sad about Robin’s departure. I did find the repetition of Zelena not trusting Regina, and her ignoring of Hades’ true character a little annoying. I did like that Killian went on a quest in the Underworld, and that they killed Arthur; who had previously annoyed me to no end. The thing I disliked the most, is what it’ll mean for the last episodes, and how in the trailer they show how AGAIN Regina will battle her inner Evil Queen. There is only so many times this character can deal with the same conflict over and over