Once Upon a Time season 6 episode 16 review: The Black Fairy; a final battle

Did we need a Gideon backstory episode for Once Upon a Time? Going into Sunday night’s new episode,  we nonetheless had a chance to learn more about who this guy was, and precisely where he came from. This includes the training that he received at the hands of the Black Fairy, who was, by the way, all sorts of evil. Jaime Murray really was the perfect cast for that character.

Oh, and tonight also had some giant terrible spider, which is for the record the last thing that we wanted to see on television.

In Storybrooke, Gideon found himself in a tricky position, one where he was forced to seek out a little bit of help courtesy of Emma Swan to help him get back to defeat the Fairy once and for all. Or, this was at least the story he was selling her. The reality was that he hadn’t changed his mind about killing her at all. He did still want the Black Fairy gone, but he felt that the end of Emma would be the best way to ensure that he had to capacity to do so.

As Gideon was the first to admit, though, eradicating this Savior was far harder than he’d envisioned. Having a giant spider try to do his bidding seemed like the best course of action to help out. (We admit that we probably closed our eyes more during this episode than in any other this season — a crippling fear of giant spiders will do that to you.)

Back during some of the flashbacks for the episode, we did a chance to learn a little bit further about how Gideon grew up, and how merciless the Black Fairy was. He was a boy who wanted to good, but repeatedly had said good eradicated from his soul. As he got older, he did his best to rebel against the Black Fairy, but his big plan to distance himself from her fail time and time again.

Through these flashbacks, what we did learn is that, twist alert, it wasn’t actually Gideon who was controlling his actions at all! Instead, it was the Black Fairy who was in control of Gideon’s heart, and was ordering him to do away with Emma Swan. She’s stuck in her world, and apparently, this is the one way for her to free herself.

Oh, and the Black Fairy’s now back in Storybrooke.

Hook’s journey

We know that he’s doing everything that he can in order to get back to Emma, but it’s also painfully clear that this is going to be a long, arduous process to get to the point where he is going to be able to be back. While he had a reunion with Blackbeard, he also had a reunion with the Lost Boys on Neverland. To make matters worse, Blackbeard ditched him there.

Overall

We gotta say that the spider was a big turn-off, but that is a matter of personal preference. This episode was mostly heartbreaking, mostly because of Gideon’s impact on Storybrooke and learning precisely what the Black Fairy’s role in all of this is.

As for the cliffhanger, let’s just say that Isaac (who was freed by Regina and Henry) told the two of them that a final battle is coming for the Savior. Brace yourselves. Grade: B.

Next time on Once Upon a Time 

We’re going to have a story all about Snow and Charming! If you want to see more about “Awake,” be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: ABC.)