Once Upon a Time season 6 episode 14 review: The Evil Queen, Robin, and closure
We’ve spent a good bit of time this season on Once Upon a Time discussing Regina’s second self in the Evil Queen, but for whatever reason, we haven’t spoken so much in the same vein when it comes to Robin of Loxley as the darker side of Robin Hood. Maybe it’s because he is from a wish-world, we’ve never closely connected him to Robin Hood so closely.
After we saw him and the Evil Queen, it became clear that may we should start to. He’s a pea in the same pod much in the way that Robin was to Regina, and the Queen seems ready and willing to use Robin however she chooses. Specifically, she offered him up a way to give him what he wanted (a new home) so that he can in turn help her. He dug up the shears for her, which she proclaimed she was ready to use for one key purpose: Destroying her other self once and for all.
Here’s the bad news for Robin — the Evil Queen, despite this Robin being a good better half for her — still didn’t want to accept that she was interested in anything other than destruction. She tied up Robin once she was through with him, and continued to make it clear to Regina that she was going to win and destroy her once and for all. The Evil Queen got her way, at least until she actually squared off with Regina in a heck of an incredible sword-fight. Great job producers on making that happen, and even the end of it was rather beautiful when Regina, rather than destroying the Queen’s heart, chose to do the right thing, warmed up their heart, split it, and forced them to share it. Basically, she forced the Queen to accept the goodness in the world rather than destroying it. She allowed Robin to head back to his own home, and gave him his peace.
Also, the turning of the Evil Queen meant that Regina could begin the slow process towards saving Snow and Charming from the sleeping curse. Not everyone was sold on giving the Queen a fresh start, and eventually Henry was convinced to try and write her a new story with a different ending. The ending Henry came up with was perfect — she was outside the tavern door, where she could see Robin’s tattoo. She was able to greet him within that world, and all of a sudden, these two second selves found themselves in a place that they could be together.
In the flashbacks
King George decided that he was interested in actually helping the Evil Queen for a change, which is why he took her to another realm to meet Cupid’s arrow. Specifically, he wanted her to be able to get away from the chaos, and find some sort of happiness via love.
Unfortunately for her, her whole plan to turn the arrow of love into the arrow of hate didn’t quite work when she realized that the person she hated the most was herself. Her assumption had been that it would show her Snow White.
Hook’s decision
He had just proposed to Emma — or, Emma just proposed to him. Take your pick. Anyhow, this episode was largely about his own insecurity more so than any anger that she had towards him killing David’s father. She caught him getting ready to burn the memories that he had of the murder, and she made it clear that she and her parents would get past it. The problem that she had was him not having the courage to own up to the past right away. Hiding things is something that the two should be past at this point.
Therefore, she gave the ring back. Hook went to Nemo for some advice, but he felt as though he was a broken man who couldn’t be the guy Emma wanted after everything that transpired. What made this all the more awkward for Hook was seeing Snow after that moment and having her not know about Emma and the ring.
Here’s the bad news — Hook decided that he was done running, but Gideon trapped him aboard Nemo’s ship, unable to return home to Emma. There’s your cliffhanger!
Overall
“Page 23” was a pretty fantastic hour of television anchored by two great performances from Lana Parrilla. It was heartfelt at times, and gave you hope for Regina’s future at a time when we didn’t think that there was any. Grade: A-
What did you think about tonight’s episode? Did the story of the Evil Queen satisfy? Share now in the comments!