So I wanted to really like this episode, and to be fair, I loved the acting. Bobby hits it out of the ballpark as per usual, and Rumple’s dynamic with his family, and actually with Emma was really great. I do wish the show had made use of the Rumple/Emma tandem more, I find their bickering quite entertaining, and it brings out elements of Emma’s character that I forgot were even there, and that I really love.
Regina/Zelena were a highlight for me this episode. I usually don’t really like Zelena’s subplots, but the Wicked sisters dynamic was both funny and touching.
But then the overall writing and narrative were a bit of a mess. Why did Fiona magically turn into a fairy? What is this nonsense with using Tiger Lily’s heart, or is the stipulation that it has to be the heart of the thing you love most a byproduct of the combined spell and not the original two spells? If Saviors are born in relation to some kind of great evil that they are meant to defeat in an act of self-sacrifice, then what do we make of the idea that Rumple actually made Emma into the savior by writing her into the curse, or is that a different type of saviorhood? Also, why is there a moratorium on creating new spells?
I’m not sure how I feel about OUAT’s creepily Freudian Goldilocks dilemma in its assessment of motherhood. Joining the motherhood-as-redemption trope we now have the “mothers who loved too much” trope. Sigh. There’s just no winning with these people.
Also, the fairy tulip room with the flower linoleum. I don’t know if I felt horrified or delighted by it. I think both.