‘Once Upon a Time’ season 6, episode 11 preview: Return date hopes; who’s getting engaged?

Tonight marks the winter finale of “Once Upon a Time,” and an episode presumably that could have a lot going on in between Emma Swan’s prophecy, an alternate universe, and a wide array of storytelling when it comes to the relationship between Belle and Rumpelstiltskin.

One other thing that we do absolutely know is that this is an episode that is setting up a wide array of big surprises that are coming up in the second half of the season. The title for the next new episode is “Tougher Than the Rest,” and unfortunately, there’s not much else revealed as of this writing about it just yet. Hopefully, ABC will update this when they release a promo at the end of the winter finale, as they tend to do when announcing return dates.

Structurally, one thing that we do know is different between this winter finale and many others shown over the years is that this one is that the season this time around is not necessarily being thought of as in distinct halves; there will be a little bit more of a consistent thread this time around, and we just have to wait and see what that is.

Update – In the wake of tonight’s episode, we’ve got some further news. For one, somebody’s getting engaged! Emma and Captain Hook are the most likely candidates, but how that happens given their present state of things remains to be seen given how the episode ended. Regina and Emma are now off in their own separate world still, where Regina has a chance with a not-dead version of Robin Hood. We just wonder how complicated it is given that this isn’t exactly the same Robin she came to love.

There is no official return date just yet, but the series will be back in March.

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