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"Lily"
Episode Review
This week's Once Upon a Time introduced us to the long-anticipated egg-child of Maleficent, none other than Emma's childhood partner-in-crime Lily. We were also given a glimpse into baby Emma's past - another happy ending that was snatched away from her by fate.
I was glad to see a real-world flashback, since this half is mainly about Emma and her story. It grounds the story in a way that EF flashbacks cannot. I also appreciated the Apprentice making an appearance to show Lily the truth about her darkness and her mother. It took a whole season to make Emma's trust in the curse believable, and I'm glad the writers didn't make Lily believe instantly or show us multiple episodes to get there. It bypassed a lot of extraneous storyline and still made it work. Nice job. But although I was glad to see Maleficent's daughter, I haven't seen enough of her to really be interested. She was literally in part of one episode - not really enough for the child of a major character. Even though we only saw Neal Cassidy in one episode before his reveal as Baelfire, we had seen Baelfire himself as a child. But maybe more of Lily will help ease her in.
It was nice to see Emma's "superpower" actually working in this episode, especially as it isn't always exactly reliable. And while I always enjoy a roadtrip, this one wasn't given enough time to do it justice. The Emma/Gold/Henry roadtrip in season two was way more interesting, just because it took the time to slow down and give proper screen time to the plot, while also throwing in some funny elements of a fairytale character being in the outside world. An Emma/Regina roadtrip could have been amazing, but it was over too quickly.
In the same vein, Emma seems to be going dark WAY too quickly. She was trying to save her son from a murderer, not giving into her evil side. Just as her powers became suddenly uncontrollable in the first half of the season, now her darkness seems to be descending at an unbelievable rate. If she has so much good inside her since Lily was given all the bad, then why has it been so easy? Was the writer just messing with Snow and Charming? She was even contemplating killing her friend, all to save her parents, who just two seconds ago she completely ignored to go on this trip? It didn't add up. One thing was interesting though: Emma was about to murder the same person that she's angry about her parents for hurting, and she doesn't even have the excuse of being ignorant of her actions. Hopefully that will wrap up this grudge against poor Snow and Charming, because let's face it: she's behaving like a hormonal teenager. Her parents have done nothing but bend over backwards to protect her, and it's time they got a little credit, even with their mistakes. They're only human.
The car chase scene was pretty epic (I love seeing Emma getting in touch with her thief side) but the part with Lily opening her arms and welcoming a shot was kind of overdone. I mean, I know they kind of ruined each other's lives in different ways, but that's a major overreaction. I could understand if it was Zelena kneeling on the ground, but not Lily. Although Lana Parrilla killed it in this scene; her urging Emma not to go dark was extremely well-delivered. It's Regina who knows best what it's like to have gone down the dark side, and only her real experience could have persuaded Emma not to pull the trigger. I do have to wonder what made Lily go from being nothing more than a pretty unlucky kid always ending up in trouble to being a cold-blooded murderer. And even though Emma did the right thing by not killing her, I'm not at all convinced that Lily is safe running around in Storybrooke.
As far as Gold goes, I was happy to at last see him with the real Belle. But I've had enough of the Will/Belle romance. It literally came out of nowhere and feels forced. Will himself seems very out of place in this show. He doesn't have chemistry with any character (Belle included), and every storyline has been wedged in and unnecessary. We have no history of this relationship to go on, and it makes we want to shout out to remind him that both of them are MARRIED!!! Seriously, where the heck is Anastasia? But I was glad to see that Gold was honest with Belle, apologizing for being unworthy to hold her heart. It's simple, genuine gestures like these that touch our hearts and humanize the character. I was glad to see Belle pull her hand from Will's and watch Rumple walk away, looking as if she wanted to follow him. It gives me hope for them - but I don't suppose it will happen until the very end of the finale, if not next season. (Season 5 everybody! Can't wait!!)
And the ending...yeah. Let's talk about that. I've never liked Zelena, and was happy to see her die, which I assume will have to happen eventually, but I was glad to see her come back for the mere sake of explanation, a possibility of Regina's happy ending, and to break the trend of "introduce the villain and kill him/her off by the finale" trend. However, making her pregnant seemed like an unnecessary soap opera move. To begin with, it seemed out of character for Robin to be so distrusting of Regina, when he himself has felt that Marian has changed, not to mention Regina has been nothing but honest with him. I'm not sure why Zelena would tell the truth whenever she could just stay in Marian's body, either. I would almost guarantee that the pregnancy is all a ruse though, or at least that Zelena's child is not Robin's. It can't be. Other than the fact that it would destroy Regina's happy ending, it's...disturbing, to say the least.
All in all, I give this episode a 6/10. While it had possibilities, everything about it felt rushed. We've also been missing Henry and August, and Rumple needs some showtime also. The author's storyline was also a big plot that was left to cool, so hopefully we get back to it this week. Stay tuned as we gear up for the finale!