Just as it felt wrong earlier this season to still call Killian “Hook,” it now feels wrong to call Killian while under the influence of the darkness “Killian.” Therefore, for most of this post (from the moment he said he was playing Emma on), I’ll be referring to him as “Dark Hook” as opposed to “Killian Jones.”

Source: ign.com

Title Broken Heart

Two-Sentence Summary After Hook becomes a Dark One, his centuries-old feud with Rumplestiltskin rears its head once again. However, there appears to be much more to his motivations than simply vengeance, as his ultimate plan seems to be the release of all the former Dark Ones from the Underworld, and nothing—not even Emma’s love—is enough to deter him from that plan.

Favorite Line “There’s never been a moment where I didn’t believe in you, where I didn’t trust you. But you clearly don’t believe in me anymore, so how am I supposed to fight this?” (Killian)

My Thoughts “Broken Heart” was so much more than an episode title. It was a mission statement. By the end of the hour, there were broken hearts all over the place: Killian’s, Emma’s, Rumplestiltskin’s, Merlin’s, and everyone watching. It seemed the goal of this episode was to break everyone, and to that I will say: Mission accomplished.

Once Upon a Time has always had its dark moments, but it’s also done a nice job of having hopeful moments amid the darkness to keep dramatic stories from turning into bleak ones. But “Broken Heart” was about as bleak as this show gets. In fact, it’s tough to find things to feel hopeful about after that episode that don’t sound like the ranting of a desperate fangirl grasping at straws. But until this show gives me a reason to stop grasping for those straws of hope, I’ll keep doing so. Because otherwise, why bother watching? There are plenty of other shows on TV to watch if you want bleak, hopeless storytelling. I’m still going to believe Once Upon a Time isn’t one of those shows, but I can understand why “Broken Heart” might make some doubt that belief.

There’s a fine line between angst that’s believable and moves the characters and story forward and angst that just exists to twist the knife in further. While “Birth” was a wonderful example of the former, parts of “Broken Heart” felt like the latter. Some of the dialogue (especially Dark Hook taunting Rumplestiltskin about Milah—even more than anything he said to Emma) felt a bit too callously mean, even for a Dark One. I know the whole point was to make viewers uncomfortable, and it worked. And to include Belle walking away from Rumplestiltskin in an already devastating hour of television felt like overkill—even if I was proud of her for standing up for herself. I know this is what penultimate episodes are all about; they’re the “darkest before the dawn” episodes. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit overwhelmed by the darkness.

Ultimately, this isn’t an episode we’re supposed to like. We’re supposed to respect it, find meaning it, and appreciate the performances in it. However, we’re not supposed to think this was a particularly likable or enjoyable hour of television. It was supposed to leave us feeling devastated, confused, and heartbroken. It said so in the title!

But that’s the way it goes in most fairytales, right? There’s always that moment when hope seems lost—Henry “dies” after eating the turnover, Emma and Henry lose their memories and their family, or Charming and Snow realize they can’t break his sleeping curse while they’re in different realms. Those moments are needed in order to make the hero’s triumph feel like it’s a triumph over something big and important. And what bigger triumph is there than a victory over the darkest force to ever exist? The stakes had to be raised in this episode because—let’s be honest—Dark Swan isn’t really the best representation of a Dark One at their worst. (That’s what happens when the darkness is in the same body as the lightest Savior magic ever created.) Dark Hook, however, is a different story. He had to be even worse than we could have imagined in order to make us long for the destruction of the darkness like we’ve never longed for it before. And to that, again, I’ll say: Mission accomplished.

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Source: ABC/Jack Rowand

Title Birth/The Bear King

Two-Sentence Summary In “Birth,” Killian’s desperation to learn the truth about what happened in Camelot leads to a surprising revelation not just about why Emma fully embraced the darkness but what happened once she did. In “The Bear King,” Merida’s quest to find her father’s killer and retrieve his lost magical helmet brings her, Mulan, and Red together.

Favorite Lines
Emma: But our future…
Killian: I’ll just be happy to know that you have one.
Emma: That’s not enough for me!

My Thoughts “Birth” and “The Bear King” highlighted so many of the things that make Once Upon a Time special: its ability to be both intimate and sweeping, its darkness and its light, its focus on creating beautiful romantic love stories and its focus on the bonds of family and friendship, and—most of all—the talents of its cast. From a thematic or even a plot perspective, there was very little tying these two episodes together, but their different elements helped create a comprehensive picture of all the things fans have come to love about Once Upon a Time. And, let’s face it; we needed an episode like “The Bear King” to give us time to process everything that happened in “Birth” without worrying that we’d missed anything too important for the main characters.

“Birth”

“Birth” was a perfect one-hour tragedy. Everything about it was carefully crafted and expertly acted to inflict maximum heartbreak. But it wasn’t just heartbreak for heartbreak’s sake; it wasn’t just for shock value. Every decision and every line made sense for the characters, and that’s where the best angst comes from. Even if I didn’t agree with certain choices or the actions of certain characters throughout the hour, I understood why they all acted the way they did, and that’s a sign of writing that reflects complex and well-developed characters. And even though I know the road ahead will be rocky and perhaps even more heartbreaking than this episode, I still believe that all hope is not lost. “Birth” might have been a tragedy, but it’s just one tragic chapter in a larger story—a story that has always been about the power of love and light to defeat darkness, even when things look bleak.

Let’s not put off the pain any longer: The title of “Birth” referred to so much more than just the birth of Zelena’s baby girl. (I need one second to say how adorable Sean Maguire looked holding that baby before I continue to talk about sad things.) It also referred to the birth of a second Dark One—none other than Killian Jones himself, the man who spent centuries trying to destroy the Dark One. The way the episode built to that reveal, amplifying the sense of dread with each scene, was nothing short of brilliant. It used the contrast between the bright daytime scenes in Camelot and the midnight scenes in Storybrooke so well, visually creating a captivating tension between the past and the present. And Colin O’Donoghue’s increasingly desperate performance as the hour went on was some of his best work on the show to date, painting a picture of a man rapidly coming apart at the seams until he reached a chilling depth of pain, hopelessness, and simmering rage in the episode’s final moments.

What made the revelation of Killian’s fate even more painful was the way it was preceded by incredible moments of faith, hope, and love in both Camelot and even in Storybrooke. This was the saddest chapter in Killian and Emma’s love story so far, but there were still so many reminders throughout the episode that their love is a powerful force against the darkness and something worth fighting for. Besides, what’s a good fairytale without darkness to overcome? In this case, that darkness is something Killian and Emma will have to fight within themselves and not something an outside villain has set upon them—and that reinforces the idea that this is a new fairytale romance with relatable roots. And that’s what makes it so special.

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Source: tvfanatic.com

Title Nimue

Two-Sentence Summary While most of the Storybrooke crew attempts to get Excalibur from Arthur in Camelot with Zelena’s help, Merlin takes Emma on a quest to face the original Dark One in order to get what’s needed to make Excalibur whole again. In flashbacks to Merlin’s past, we discover the identity of that original Dark One and her connection to Merlin.

Favorite Line “I am not nothing! I was never nothing!” (Emma)

My Thoughts Belief is everything in the world of Once Upon a Time. And most of the time, that belief is rooted in the same idea: that love is strength and that love can be enough. Those who choose a dark path don’t believe that love can be enough. They want power, too. They always want to be more powerful because they don’t love themselves for who they are—with their weaknesses, flaws, and human vulnerabilities. They believe they’re nothing without an outside source of power because they never believed they could be enough exactly as they are.

The beauty of Once Upon a Time is the way that damaging belief has been proven wrong time and time again. Love is strength. Love is power. And yes, the love of those around you can help you find that strength, but the real power comes from loving yourself and choosing to believe that you’re good enough and strong enough as you are.

“Nimue” was the best episode so far in this fifth season of Once Upon a Time (and that’s saying something because I’ve really enjoyed this season), and so much of its beauty and emotional power came from the way it wove the theme of choosing to believe you’re enough as you are through the episode’s three main stories. It came as no surprise to me that an episode as tightly written as this one was came from Jane Espenson. If you’re looking for episodes that capture the true spirit of Once Upon a Time, just pull up every episode she’s written for this show.

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