Once Upon a Time 5x21
Ohh goodness, I have a funny feeling this is going to get long. Let's get to it!
-Y'know, poor little Pistachio better be asleep in Hades' arms because killing a man while holding a precious little infant is all kinds of not okay, Hades. (Also, Arthur was basically a Richard Cranium but he didn't deserve to die like that. So here's something I couldn't have imagined saying in 5A: poor Arthur.)
-I love the little touch of Sleepy muttering that his name is Walter after Snow angrily sends him and Merida on Arthur Patrol. Hee!
-The Charming Family reunion is so precious. I grinned like an idiot at Snow and Charming's kiss but oh how my heart for poor Emma. When Snow asks her if Killian made it back, she can't speak. She can just barely shake her head. And Snow just wraps her in a hug and poor Emma is numb and second-guessing everything.
I still stand by what I said earlier when I commented about the script tease of this. I do think Emma's just defeated and numb at this point and she's saying things she doesn't mean. I'm sure she feels it would have been less painful for both her and Killian if she hadn't mounted the rescue mission. Because they wouldn't have gotten their hopes up about being reunited and those hopes wouldn't have been dashed.
And Snow's way of gently reminding Emma what they accomplished while they were down there and that she and Killian got the chance to see each other one last time was pitch perfect. She didn't dismiss what Emma was feeling but she also reminded her of the good the rescue mission did, and I love that although they're not hugging at this point, Snow still has both of Emma's hands in hers.
-Okay, Regina's WTF face when Zelena tells them little Pistachio is with Hades is hilarious. Like she honestly cannot believe her sister left a defenseless infant with the God of the Dead. Ha!
-All right, Once, you can't just introduce poor little selectively mute children in the Underworld and expect me to forget about them. What's this kid's story? Who is he? What's his unfinished business? Why has he been there so long? What are you doing to me, show??
-Killian: "I need to know what's going on up in Storybrooke. Who killed you?" Arthur: "No no no!!" Killian: "Denial, grief, anger, can we just get to acceptance?" Me: *snerk*
Also, Killian Jones and King Arthur going on a quest to defeat Hades was something I never knew I needed until it happened. This is brilliant!
-The unexpected Daddy Charming moment with Emma on the bridge where Merida led them to Arthur was not only, y'know, unexpected but also quite lovely. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, charging after the god first and asking questions later is a terrible strategy (as we shall learn later) and I like that Charming grabbed her and forced her to take a breath for a minute.
-Hades playing Zelena makes me so ... grrr. Like, I understand that he's a villain but it bugs.
-I've had this love of the secret hidden tunnel trope since I was in elementary school. (Like, I always wanted to find a secret passage in my house and when we went to the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, my absolute favorite part was going through the secret passage.) So tunnels under Storybrooke Town Hall? Yes please!
Also, I probably could have been more on board with Outlaw Queen if Robin had been allowed to call Regina on her shit more like he was doing about Zelena. I understand that Regina was 1) trying to do something nice for Zelena, and 2) caught between a rock and a hard place but it wasn't her place to be deciding things for Robin when it came to his daughter's well-being.
-So, Moe and Rumple. Part of me snerked when Moe refused to wake Belle to spite Rumple but at the same time, Moe, that's your little girl and you're letting her stay trapped in a fiery netherworld just to spite Rumple?
I mean, I don't want Belle to go back to Rumple, either, but the choice to do so or not should be hers.
Also, no, Rumple, Emma did not "get [you] into this mess." If you want to be technical, you did since you hijacked Killian's sacrifice, which gave Emma the idea to go to the Underworld. Or technically you did since your portal brought Zelena down to the Underworld, thereby rekindling the love between Hades and Zelena. Or you could be a grown-up and recognize that Hades is a big god and made his own choices and the responsibility for those choices lies with Hades and only Hades.
-Killian: "The last promise I made was that I would move on from this place and I can't do that, no while she's still in danger." Me: Awww. Also, Killian's desperation here is gut-wrenching. The only thing he wants is for his Swan to be safe and he wants to keep his promise to her. The only thing he wants is to know she's going to be all right. My poor sweet baby.
-Between the Blind Witch calling out Killian and Arthur's new bromance and Cruella's lusting after Arthur, I am so bummed we have to leave these characters down here. Stubble sandwich, indeed.
-A subtle but nifty little sight bit: Snow, Charming, and Henry are just surrounded by books in the library because without their resident research assistants (Belle and to a lesser extent Killian), they're just pulling anything that looks like it would be remotely helpful off the shelves.
And even though it made me misty, I absolutely loved Emma's admission that the reason she's so hellbent on defeating Hades isn't revenge, it's so that Killian will be all right. These two are separated by death itself and they're still working in tandem, still working for the other's best interest. This is how you OTP.
-Zelena's dreams of just settling in Storybrooke with Hades and little Pistachio are surprisingly sweet. (Also, little question raised by this scene: Hades is an ancient god who spent much of his life in the Underworld. How does he know what a phone is and how to answer it?? Unless he also made use of the Underbrooke Haunting Line ...)
-The scene in the tunnels with Robin and Regina before they storm her office is really sweet and this is the point I know for sure Robin was not surviving this episode. (Especially when Robin admitted that he had no plan. Y'all, Hades is a god. How about you actually have a plan when you confront him??)
-I kinda love how Killian decided to take Arthur for a little jaunt down the River of Lost Souls and apparently didn't tell him about what happens when you touch the water prior to the scene. Heh!
And there is where, if there was any doubt as to Killian Jones' hero status, it's completely obliterated. Killian is on a quest with the man who killed him. The man who killed him is being dragged into the River of Lost Souls by one of said lost souls. The man who killed him is telling Killian to leave him to his fate and get the book.
And what does Killian Jones do? He goes back to save Arthur. The man who killed him.
It doesn't get much more heroic than that.
(And I love that Arthur returned the favor when the lost soul was trying to make off with the book. The interaction between these two was surprisingly awesome.)
-The fact that Emma has a bookmark in the storybrook at the illustration of her and Killian at the ball from the CS time travel adventure made me awww. The way she tenderly caresses the picture made my heart hurt.
When the book opened on its own and started flipping pages by itself, the Charmed fan in me was all, "Hi Grams!" But really, I love the little smile on Emma's face and the shake of her head like she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Killian just gave her the answer.
-I am loving Emma's one-handed use of magic lately. I don't even really know why. (Also: oh yes, haters, Emma's so weak now. She's no longer the badass she used to be. Here she is literally attempting to singlehandedly take down a witch's protection spell and the God of the Dead, but yeah, I can see your point.[/sarcasm])
-Y'know, I didn't really care for the character or his romance with Regina but I do feel like Robin deserved better than this. It's appropriately sad and I'm sure it was needed for the upcoming story but ... I don't know. Maybe it's because I was spoiled for it but it just didn't feel ... right? If that makes sense.
-In a weird way, Zelena killing Hades hit me more emotionally than Robin's death. (Maybe because I wasn't spoiled for that? This is why I don't like spoilers, as a rule, y'all.) I did like the bittersweet shot of the two Mills sisters grieving together.
-And now the light comes from Killian (and maybe Arthur) and I get sniffly. (Also, to reiterate, Killian Jones is asking the man who killed him to join him in eternal paradise. I don't want to hear another word about how he's not a hero.)
When Killian walked into the light, I got massive Touched by an Angel feels. And there's Zeus, who's come to escort Killian to where he belongs. *sniffle*
-Emma by Killian's grave absolutely broke me. Now that she knows he's okay, she can finally start processing his death and letting herself grieve and just oh my poor sweet baby.
-I liked the touch of everyone leaving roses attached to arrows on Robin's casket. (The shot of Roland doing so was just mean. Poor little adorable orphan child.) And of course the baby's name is Robin, which is sweet, but I'm sorry, I'm still calling her Pistachio. ;) Like I said, you gave us this joke, Adam and Eddy, and now we're running with it, haha.
-Loved Snow telling Emma that this wasn't her fault. Because it's not. Hades killed Robin. Not Emma, not Regina, not Zelena. Hades did. If I see anyone blaming anybody but Hades for Robin's death, I'm calling shenanigans.
-I want to give the Captain Swan reunion its own little point because oh my goodness, how freakin' adorable is this?! The flash of light practically knocking Emma off her feet. The disbelief on her face when she turns around and sees him. The way she runs at him and kisses the hell out of him. The two of them gripping each other as if their lives depended on it. Emma clutching his jacket in her fist as if it convince herself that this is real, this isn't a dream, he's really here.
And you will never convince me that the constant cheek attack-kisses were scripted because something about Killian's little giggle and the way he keeps trying to get the story out despite kiss after kiss after kiss struck me as really genuine, like Colin wasn't expecting Jen to just keep kissing the hell out of him but was trying to recite his lines anyway.
And Emma's little "What?!" and Killian trying to explain with this "Can you believe this really happened?!"-type tone is so stinkin' cute. Because they're both so damn happy and so damn excited and they don't understand what's happened but it doesn't matter because they're together and oh my goodness, this is everything I could have ever hoped for.
-Rumple rooting around in Hades' ashes: ew. I have no idea what he wants with that crystal but it's clearly nothing good. Dun dun dun!
-Y'know, poor little Pistachio better be asleep in Hades' arms because killing a man while holding a precious little infant is all kinds of not okay, Hades. (Also, Arthur was basically a Richard Cranium but he didn't deserve to die like that. So here's something I couldn't have imagined saying in 5A: poor Arthur.)
-I love the little touch of Sleepy muttering that his name is Walter after Snow angrily sends him and Merida on Arthur Patrol. Hee!
-The Charming Family reunion is so precious. I grinned like an idiot at Snow and Charming's kiss but oh how my heart for poor Emma. When Snow asks her if Killian made it back, she can't speak. She can just barely shake her head. And Snow just wraps her in a hug and poor Emma is numb and second-guessing everything.
I still stand by what I said earlier when I commented about the script tease of this. I do think Emma's just defeated and numb at this point and she's saying things she doesn't mean. I'm sure she feels it would have been less painful for both her and Killian if she hadn't mounted the rescue mission. Because they wouldn't have gotten their hopes up about being reunited and those hopes wouldn't have been dashed.
And Snow's way of gently reminding Emma what they accomplished while they were down there and that she and Killian got the chance to see each other one last time was pitch perfect. She didn't dismiss what Emma was feeling but she also reminded her of the good the rescue mission did, and I love that although they're not hugging at this point, Snow still has both of Emma's hands in hers.
-Okay, Regina's WTF face when Zelena tells them little Pistachio is with Hades is hilarious. Like she honestly cannot believe her sister left a defenseless infant with the God of the Dead. Ha!
-All right, Once, you can't just introduce poor little selectively mute children in the Underworld and expect me to forget about them. What's this kid's story? Who is he? What's his unfinished business? Why has he been there so long? What are you doing to me, show??
-Killian: "I need to know what's going on up in Storybrooke. Who killed you?" Arthur: "No no no!!" Killian: "Denial, grief, anger, can we just get to acceptance?" Me: *snerk*
Also, Killian Jones and King Arthur going on a quest to defeat Hades was something I never knew I needed until it happened. This is brilliant!
-The unexpected Daddy Charming moment with Emma on the bridge where Merida led them to Arthur was not only, y'know, unexpected but also quite lovely. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, charging after the god first and asking questions later is a terrible strategy (as we shall learn later) and I like that Charming grabbed her and forced her to take a breath for a minute.
-Hades playing Zelena makes me so ... grrr. Like, I understand that he's a villain but it bugs.
-I've had this love of the secret hidden tunnel trope since I was in elementary school. (Like, I always wanted to find a secret passage in my house and when we went to the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, my absolute favorite part was going through the secret passage.) So tunnels under Storybrooke Town Hall? Yes please!
Also, I probably could have been more on board with Outlaw Queen if Robin had been allowed to call Regina on her shit more like he was doing about Zelena. I understand that Regina was 1) trying to do something nice for Zelena, and 2) caught between a rock and a hard place but it wasn't her place to be deciding things for Robin when it came to his daughter's well-being.
-So, Moe and Rumple. Part of me snerked when Moe refused to wake Belle to spite Rumple but at the same time, Moe, that's your little girl and you're letting her stay trapped in a fiery netherworld just to spite Rumple?
I mean, I don't want Belle to go back to Rumple, either, but the choice to do so or not should be hers.
Also, no, Rumple, Emma did not "get [you] into this mess." If you want to be technical, you did since you hijacked Killian's sacrifice, which gave Emma the idea to go to the Underworld. Or technically you did since your portal brought Zelena down to the Underworld, thereby rekindling the love between Hades and Zelena. Or you could be a grown-up and recognize that Hades is a big god and made his own choices and the responsibility for those choices lies with Hades and only Hades.
-Killian: "The last promise I made was that I would move on from this place and I can't do that, no while she's still in danger." Me: Awww. Also, Killian's desperation here is gut-wrenching. The only thing he wants is for his Swan to be safe and he wants to keep his promise to her. The only thing he wants is to know she's going to be all right. My poor sweet baby.
-Between the Blind Witch calling out Killian and Arthur's new bromance and Cruella's lusting after Arthur, I am so bummed we have to leave these characters down here. Stubble sandwich, indeed.
-A subtle but nifty little sight bit: Snow, Charming, and Henry are just surrounded by books in the library because without their resident research assistants (Belle and to a lesser extent Killian), they're just pulling anything that looks like it would be remotely helpful off the shelves.
And even though it made me misty, I absolutely loved Emma's admission that the reason she's so hellbent on defeating Hades isn't revenge, it's so that Killian will be all right. These two are separated by death itself and they're still working in tandem, still working for the other's best interest. This is how you OTP.
-Zelena's dreams of just settling in Storybrooke with Hades and little Pistachio are surprisingly sweet. (Also, little question raised by this scene: Hades is an ancient god who spent much of his life in the Underworld. How does he know what a phone is and how to answer it?? Unless he also made use of the Underbrooke Haunting Line ...)
-The scene in the tunnels with Robin and Regina before they storm her office is really sweet and this is the point I know for sure Robin was not surviving this episode. (Especially when Robin admitted that he had no plan. Y'all, Hades is a god. How about you actually have a plan when you confront him??)
-I kinda love how Killian decided to take Arthur for a little jaunt down the River of Lost Souls and apparently didn't tell him about what happens when you touch the water prior to the scene. Heh!
And there is where, if there was any doubt as to Killian Jones' hero status, it's completely obliterated. Killian is on a quest with the man who killed him. The man who killed him is being dragged into the River of Lost Souls by one of said lost souls. The man who killed him is telling Killian to leave him to his fate and get the book.
And what does Killian Jones do? He goes back to save Arthur. The man who killed him.
It doesn't get much more heroic than that.
(And I love that Arthur returned the favor when the lost soul was trying to make off with the book. The interaction between these two was surprisingly awesome.)
-The fact that Emma has a bookmark in the storybrook at the illustration of her and Killian at the ball from the CS time travel adventure made me awww. The way she tenderly caresses the picture made my heart hurt.
When the book opened on its own and started flipping pages by itself, the Charmed fan in me was all, "Hi Grams!" But really, I love the little smile on Emma's face and the shake of her head like she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Killian just gave her the answer.
-I am loving Emma's one-handed use of magic lately. I don't even really know why. (Also: oh yes, haters, Emma's so weak now. She's no longer the badass she used to be. Here she is literally attempting to singlehandedly take down a witch's protection spell and the God of the Dead, but yeah, I can see your point.[/sarcasm])
-Y'know, I didn't really care for the character or his romance with Regina but I do feel like Robin deserved better than this. It's appropriately sad and I'm sure it was needed for the upcoming story but ... I don't know. Maybe it's because I was spoiled for it but it just didn't feel ... right? If that makes sense.
-In a weird way, Zelena killing Hades hit me more emotionally than Robin's death. (Maybe because I wasn't spoiled for that? This is why I don't like spoilers, as a rule, y'all.) I did like the bittersweet shot of the two Mills sisters grieving together.
-And now the light comes from Killian (and maybe Arthur) and I get sniffly. (Also, to reiterate, Killian Jones is asking the man who killed him to join him in eternal paradise. I don't want to hear another word about how he's not a hero.)
When Killian walked into the light, I got massive Touched by an Angel feels. And there's Zeus, who's come to escort Killian to where he belongs. *sniffle*
-Emma by Killian's grave absolutely broke me. Now that she knows he's okay, she can finally start processing his death and letting herself grieve and just oh my poor sweet baby.
-I liked the touch of everyone leaving roses attached to arrows on Robin's casket. (The shot of Roland doing so was just mean. Poor little adorable orphan child.) And of course the baby's name is Robin, which is sweet, but I'm sorry, I'm still calling her Pistachio. ;) Like I said, you gave us this joke, Adam and Eddy, and now we're running with it, haha.
-Loved Snow telling Emma that this wasn't her fault. Because it's not. Hades killed Robin. Not Emma, not Regina, not Zelena. Hades did. If I see anyone blaming anybody but Hades for Robin's death, I'm calling shenanigans.
-I want to give the Captain Swan reunion its own little point because oh my goodness, how freakin' adorable is this?! The flash of light practically knocking Emma off her feet. The disbelief on her face when she turns around and sees him. The way she runs at him and kisses the hell out of him. The two of them gripping each other as if their lives depended on it. Emma clutching his jacket in her fist as if it convince herself that this is real, this isn't a dream, he's really here.
And you will never convince me that the constant cheek attack-kisses were scripted because something about Killian's little giggle and the way he keeps trying to get the story out despite kiss after kiss after kiss struck me as really genuine, like Colin wasn't expecting Jen to just keep kissing the hell out of him but was trying to recite his lines anyway.
And Emma's little "What?!" and Killian trying to explain with this "Can you believe this really happened?!"-type tone is so stinkin' cute. Because they're both so damn happy and so damn excited and they don't understand what's happened but it doesn't matter because they're together and oh my goodness, this is everything I could have ever hoped for.
-Rumple rooting around in Hades' ashes: ew. I have no idea what he wants with that crystal but it's clearly nothing good. Dun dun dun!