‘Once Upon a Time’ season 6, episode 10 (winter finale) review: Robin Hood, Rumple’s son, and Flashpoint Emma
What would happen to Emma Swan in the event that she wasn’t the Savior? This was a question that the “Once Upon a Time” winter finale on Sunday night was keen to answer, and in the process, they gave us what has to also be considered to be one of the crazier episodes that the show has ever come up with.
Flashpoint Emma – We refer to the story as this thanks to another Vancouver-based series in “The Flash,” though the reality is that this particular storyline is one that’s being done quite a bit across TV these days. After getting a hold of the genie’s lamp, the Evil Queen used Aladdin (currently in genie form as a part of his latest attempts to get to Agrabah) in order to wish Emma away to a world where she didn’t have her famous label. This is something that Emma said in passing, but did not actually want.
When we saw Emma over in this world, it’s fair to say that nothing was as it once was. She was a princess living in the Enchanted Forest, and a woman with a very different sort of life. Henry, Snow White, Charming, and everyone else was there, as well, and within this world, the Evil Queen was banished long ago. By and large, everything was peaceful in this alternate reality … until Regina arrived. She managed to trick the Evil Queen in order to get access to what she really wanted, and that was the ability to wish to join Emma over in that world.
Here is what she didn’t see coming, and much of this was hilarious: Nobody believed that she was Regina. As a matter of fact, they all thought that she was the Queen once more. She couldn’t convince Emma of anything, and then Snow and Charming came to stop her. Eventually, she resorted to paying Rumpelstiltskin in prison, a scene that was reminiscent of what we saw in the pilot. What she realized through this discussion was that Rumple, somehow, still knew more about where she came from than he had a right to, including that she was from Storybrooke and trying to find her way back.
The new twist was that Rumple convinced her that in order to turn Emma back into the Savior, she would have to present her with a reason to become one again. Specifically, this meant transforming back into the Evil Queen once more. She made a rather epic spectacle in front of Henry during his knighthood ceremony, and took advantage of the opportunity to threaten Emma, taking away her parents and forcing her to try and find the hero in herself. It was in some ways really funny; the scene felt like one of those choose-your-own-adventure books where someone really wanted you to pick one option over the other.
The culmination of all of this was really fantastic, especially when it comes to the performances of it. Watching Jennifer Morrison play a completely different Emma was all sorts of fantastic, especially when it comes to her being meek and trying to even surrender to the Queen in order to save her parents. This was incredibly dark and at times depressing, given that Regina had to kill Snow and Charming in order to get her to come to her senses. Interestingly, it was actually Regina being willing to let Henry almost kill her that was really the thing that snapped her back.
With that, we’re all heading back to Storybrooke … or were we? “Rumple” gave Regina the chance to portal back home that he first offered her as a part of their deal, but it wasn’t quite what it seemed. We assumed that it was going to be Rumple who tricked them and they were heading elsewhere, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, Robin Hood turned up in the closing seconds, and Regina had incentive to stay. Cliffhanger alert!
The Storybrooke story – There were a few separate events going on back in the tiny town, but the all felt a little more scattershot than what we saw in the alternate universe. For example, we had Rumple continuing his search for his son to little effect, or at least at first. The story didn’t really pick up until David and company launched a new mission that involved taking the lamp away, and then using it in order to try and wish that the Queen got what she deserved. Too bad that didn’t do anything, given that she was already miserable and then some.
Before getting into anything else, let’s touch for a minute on Rumple’s bad news: The Black Fairy has his child. No real surprise there, given that we had to figure this character would be turning back up in due time. Is this set to be his story for the second half of the season. The one thing that this story did was cause Rumple and Belle to realize that they need to work together in order to get the child back.
Now back to the lamp, as Jasmine and Aladdin seemed to be set to head back to Agrabah, and for the time being, that seems to be a success! Unfortunately, there was little time for celebration of their victory thanks to the arrival of a hooded figure in the town. He transformed the Evil Queen into a caged cobra, and it was revealed that this was known other than Rumple and Belle’s child as an adult! What does this mean? We shall see.
Overall – A killer winter finale, an amazing Jennifer Morrison performance, and the best episode of the season. Grade: A.
Want to see what’s coming up on the next new episode of “Once Upon a Time”? Then head over here to get some preliminary details for what is coming up! (Photo: ABC.)