‘Once Upon a Time’ season 5, episode 5 preview: ‘Dreamcatcher’ and the soul of Jennifer Morrison’s Emma

Sunday night’s new “Once Upon a Time” episode contained a few necessary storylines to set up what lies ahead, but for the Emma Swan character in particular, perhaps the most important thing that we saw was a deeper dive into her psyche. She wants to use Merida in order to force Rumpelstiltskin to become heroic, and as a result of that, she will then use him to help reunite the sword Excalibur with the oh-so-famous Dagger, which is still branded with her name as the new Dark One.

Is there going to be a way to extract this? It’s only going to be a matter of time before we find out, given how important this next episode is. This will be a chance to learn fully whether or not there is a firm plan in place to stop Emma, while not hurting her in the process.

Also, judging from the fact that there are tears in the promo below, it’s also going to be a great showcase for Jennifer Morrison. She’s clearly getting more opportunities to shine and show off layers of what she can do than ever has before and we love it.

As for Merida, the only other thing that we’d say on her right now is don’t count her out. We know that she will have a huge role to play a little bit later this season with Mulan and Ruby, who will all be going off on some sort of mission for a while.

If you missed it, you can head over here right now to get some other news when it comes to the show, and that includes a review for Sunday’s episode! Also, sign up to get TV stories and exclusive news from us weekly, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. You won’t want to miss it! (Photo: ABC.)