‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4, episode 21 review: Meet the new Emma Swan

Since “Once Upon a Time’s” two-hour episode was actually two separate episodes more so than a movie of sorts, we do feel like this really yields to two separate reviews.

The first part of “Operation Mongoose” to us wins some bonus points for creativity, and for also giving us a sense of what the Author really wants more so than anything: Glory. He wants people to shout his name from the rooftops, or at least turn up in droves to buy his latest book all about a world where the villains win over the heroes. We also love his “no spoilers” line, almost like he is channeling the spirit of showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz in some way.

From here, we saw Henry end up being the one to figure out his gameplan, and then travel to the fairy tale world in order to see if he could get all of his family their own endings again after the Author took them away.

Within this world, we had the delightful opportunity to see an Evil Snow White, a good Regina, and Rumpelstiltskin as a knight in shining armor. Everything was topsy-turvy, and the only hope that Henry had was finding her two moms and using them in order to change the course of history. This was one of the best episodes that the Henry character has ever had on the show. For the most part, we’ve thought of him as the kid character along for the ride. This was mostly an enjoyable setup to the end of the season, and while there were a few fun moments here and there, this should be remembered more as a foundation episode at its finest. Grade: B.

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