‘Once Upon a Time’ season 6 winter finale: Should the Evil Queen die?
On Sunday night, “Once Upon a Time” concludes the first part of season 6 with “Wish You Were Here,” an episode that immediately makes us think first and foremost of an Incubus song. Go listen to it if you want to plug your brain into some nostalgia
Moving beyond that … this should be a really exciting episode, and one that sets the stage for the remainder of the season in an interesting way. The sneak peeks below provide some perspective on that given that you have a battle of wills between Emma Swan and the Evil Queen on the grandest scale we’ve seen to date. First, the Queen does a tremendous job of riling Emma up over the idea that love always loses, because nobody has the guts to kill her given that it’d mean Regina would die, as well. (They’re like what would happen if Harry Potter and Voldemort were identical twins). Emma loses her cool, strikes the Queen with her sword, and then realizes moments later that with this, the Queen can actually be hurt! The moment this happens, you can immediately see the alarm bells going off in her eyes (great job by Lana Parrilla immediately flipping things around with this character); she needs to figure out what to do next.
This is where Aladdin comes into play. Remember what happened with him and the lamp? Well, the Evil Queen is apparently like Varys in “Game of Thrones” and hears everything. She’s now in possession of the lamp, and will use Aladdin in Genie form to make one of Emma’s “wishes” come true. By “wishes,” we more mean “something that he said once in passing that she doesn’t really mean.” She grants Emma the unwelcome opportunity to live life without being the Savior, one where she is off in the Enchanted Forest presumably as some princess with far less to worry about. Maybe it’s a good life, but it’s not her life.
(Aside: Is 2016 the year of the alternate universe? There was “The Girl Who Has Everything” on “Supergirl,” “Flashpoint” on “The Flash,” the 100th episode of “Arrow,” an obvious joke we could make about the Presidential Election, and now this.)
Let’s get to the question in the title now: Should this episode be the last for the Evil Queen? Like any good villain, she does have an expiration date where things start to become boring if you keep her around for too long. Luckily, it doesn’t appear that we’re at that point just yet. The idea of Emma being transported to a separate timeline, transported back, and then also killing the Queen in a single episode feels like a little much. This isn’t a feature-length “Once Upon a Time” movie here.
Also, the character is amazing and Parrilla plays her well — we do wonder why she didn’t just wish for unlimited power and world domination right away and been done with it, but she’s still got two wishes left. Also, that may not be precisely what she wants given that the Queen was a creation of hurt and pain rather than pure malice and inner anarchy. The way for the Queen to go is a truly epic battle, one where Regina fully conquers the demon — with the help potentially of Emma (it’d be a great moment for the two of them), they can vanquish her once and for all.
Regardless of whatever happens to the Queen, here’s to hoping Regina continues to stick around. She’s effectively the fulcrum of the show at this point.
Do you think that the Queen should die in closing off the winter finale, or at the very least, become a part of Regina once more? Vote in the poll below!
Also, take a look at some other teasers from the “Once Upon a Time” winter finale right away. (Photo: ABC.)