I have written kind of a long review here and approached it a bit differently than usually in this thread. Hope that’s okay. Im gonna be jumping a bit all over the place, so I hope you bear with me. I will try to divide it in Characters and talk about one character at a time.
I have just rewatched the episode and I’d like to bump its grade up to >>10/10<< I really love it. As I see it, its actually genius..
Before I go to Characters I’ll just say– First, the acting from everyone was ON POINT—> Bulls Eye, they nailed this one 😉
Secondly, this episode has given me so many things. So many things to dive into, about what makes Emma, Emma? what makes Regina, Regina? what is a Genie? Also lots of little details, throw backs and awesomeness. I even feel more invested in Aladdin now and his story as the Savior and now Genie, I hope he isn’t gone for good, I really enjoyed him this episode
Okay now Characters:
Evil Queen: Was awesome!! She puts up a good fight in this episode, but ends up a caged snake.. that made me LOL.. in the first scene, She said Robins death was the best thing that ever happened, because it freed her- Later She is a caged snake and as we see in the Promo for the spring premier Regina is in what looks like a prison in the AU.. This is after Robin comes back…interesting. I’m thinking it might be a comment on Regina now being trapped/imprisoned by her own inability to let Robin “rest in peace”, like she was in season one unable to let Daniel go,, which led to her creating what was essentially her own prison- Storybrook.
EQ’s scene with Aladdin and Regina was hilarious, that was some great acting from Lana acting opposite herself. Also a great throwback to Regina and Sidney/Graham’s relationship. Then there was the scene where Rumple puts the golden bracelet on EQ… This might be viewed as the Golden chair which the Goddess is chained to in the legend of Hepheastus’s Hammer. Is this perhaps a foreshadowing that it will be her son Henry that frees her from her golden chains, first and foremost, but also from her cage and snake form?? Like Hepheastus freed his mother from her prison.
Emma: The scene with her picking flowers and humming “Someday my prince will come” Was hilarious and then Regina’s-“What the hell happened to you!“ Was what we all were thinking. This was such a good parody on the Fairytale stereotype Princess. To me, it was quite interesting seeing this version of Emma, but there is another post on the forum for discussing that. Jennifer acted it real well, and it was heartbreaking “no pun intended” when Regina killed her parents in front of her.
Regina: Her, Aladdin and the Evil Queen’s scene was awesome. Had everything, it was a fun scene, it was a surprising scene when Regina makes her wish. Secondly, I enjoyed her reaction to the Wishworld, her encounters with the other characters- the dwarfs, the Charmings and with Rumple especially. And boy was I scared for her when Henry almost killed her. Then Robin shows up and wants to rob her and this leads to her and Emma being trapped in the AU- Again Robin leads to Regina being trapped -hmm did EQ’s words, as I pointed out above, have more meaning then first assumed, I wonder? Also was it Charming’s wish for the EQ to get what she deserved, that led to Robins return into Regina’s life ..hmmmmm?
AU Rumple: Was SOOO GOOOD! I vote we bring him back to the real world somehow and replace Gold with him…. Can we make this happen? I LOOVE him when he is like this and I care about him as a character, I don’t care about Gold.. He said to Regina “Show her your inner darkness and the Savior will be reborn” but it was the opposite that happened, it was when Emma saw Regina would die for Henry that she woke up. Is this foreshadowing of what’s to come?. Or was it that she saw Henry, her son about to go down a dark path,, so she saw the darkness that could potentially grow in him and THAT is what woke her up?
The Rumple, Belle and Evil Gideon Storyline I don’t care about yet, so really don’t have anything to say about that..
Henry: Seeing him as a Hero/Knight I Loved it. Im so happy Henry gets a lead hero role in this Wishworld please let that rub off to the Henry back in the real world. He almost killed Regina… that was an intense scene and for a minute there I thought this would be it- the actual death scene of Regina, since it would be somehow poetic justice for her to be killed by her son Henry, in the same place as she killed her father Henry… But boy Im glad it didn’t happen… I was real scared there for a second …phew!
The Charming David: him trying to be heroic but failing is always fun to see, but I also feel bad for him. However I did not get why he thought he was becoming his brother? But I bet this will tie into the story of what happened to his father. My theory is still that his father was the Woodcutter that he killed himself in “Heartless” I loved that the scene of him throwing down the sword to the floor next to Evil Queen comes right after the scene of Regina disrupting the coronation, which was the throwback to when Charming threw the sword after Regina in season one, that made me LOL, and then Henry is the one to throw the sword for real in the scene after that- That was So well thought out.
And finally a couple of scenes I would like to enhance: The Coronation scene was too awesome for words, it had everything,, from famous lines the whole fandom loves, to the great parallels, seeing this Regina “acting” as her former self. Having Emma and Henry take part in this scene, the scene that -MADE Once Upon a Time, that was so great. Then there is the Regina, Emma and Henry scene in Regina’s castle, as I said above this scene scared me, first it was so sad when the Charmings died, then I thought Regina was gonna die by Henry’s hand. Also the whole- Regina trying to convince Emma this was all a dream (that’s Regina’s interpretation of this place but not mine), that was hilarious.
Finale verdict on this episode- It was brilliant!!! In the writing, the acting, the look, the feel. Definitely one of the best episodes ever to come from this show. So Thank You OUAT for that gem <3<3<3