The fifth season of Once Upon A Time has come and gone and like season’s past, the ending left you with something to savor till it returns in the fall. The two-hour finale was divided into two parts. Warning, spoilers ahead…
The first part served as a capper to the previous week’s death of Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) by the hand of Hades and the return from the dead of Hook (Colin O’Donoghue). A grieving Regina (Lana Parrilla) is not too receptive to being comforted. This is the second time she has lost someone she has loved and wonders if she was destined to be alone. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that Hook is alive before Emma (Jennifer Morrison) had a chance to break the news to her. Emma’s attempt got interrupted by a spell Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) had cast a spell using the Olympian crystal from Hades to tether all of Storybrooke’s magic in order to save Belle from her slumber.
It doesn’t take long for Emma, Regina and Zelena (Rebecca Mader) to decipher his intentions but also fear the cost it could have on all of Storybrooke. When Emma suggests to Regina that she should sit this one out, Regina questioned Emma wondering if she and the others feared the return of the Evil Queen. An angry Regina leaves stating that she’ll deal with this on her own. Meanwhile, after Henry gets reunited with Violet, they go on their own quest to stop his Grandfather dubbed “Operation Mixtape”.
Rumple arrives to warn Regina and Emma of Henry’s plan to rid magic could actually destroy Storybrooke. As Regina, Emma and Rumple try to find Henry before anything dire occurs, back in Storybrooke, Zelena uses her magic to open a portal to send everyone back to their homes for their protection. After doing so, Zelena struggles to close the portal but instead it pulls herself, Snow, David, and Hook through before closing up for good.
After dealing with being part of the underworld, Zelena and the others now find themselves in an unknown realm where a mixture of different realms resides. They encounter a gardener who warns them that they don’t belong there. Someone else named Poole appears and uses magic to knock them out. When they wake up, they’re caged. A warden appears and he’s convinced that the Dark One, Rumple had sent them there. It will turn out that the gardener and the warden are one of the same as we are introduced to Dr. Jekyll (Hank Harris) and Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer).
Henry and Violet arrive in New York City with Emma and Regina not too far behind in an effort to get there before Rumple does. They soon discover that magic works outside of Storybrooke. Henry tells Violet that he wants to finish what his father had once tried to do when he wanted to destroy magic. As Emma and Regina try to locate Henry, Regina comes across an old letter written by Robin that was meant for her. She was reluctant to read it at first until Emma urged her to do so. She does so and she is reminded of the love he had for her. Regina admits to Emma her own fears of letting the Evil Queen take over. She feels cursed and no matter how much good she does the people closest to her, dies. In many ways her struggle mirrors that of Dr. Jekyll and his struggle with his evil alter ego. Back to Henry and Violet, the two of them find a “Holy Grail” that it said to hold all magic. But before Henry could do anything with it, they bump into Rumple who quickly puts them to sleep before taking back the crystal. The first part ends with Rumple trying to free Belle from Pandora’s Box unknown to him that Mr. Hyde was opening a portal from the other realm and was now in possession of Belle.
Part two opens in Dr. Jekyll’s realm where Jekyll tries to create a serum that will separate the evil from the good. He’s however overtaken by Poole and forced to transform back into Mr. Hyde. Hyde then injects himself with the serum and Jekyll and Hyde become two separate individuals. Hyde attempts to kill Jekyll only to be taken down by Hook.
Back in our world, Rumple tries to figure out what happened to Belle and Emma learns that her parents and the others had disappeared. Regina confronts Rumple in his hotel room as Emma tries to recover the crystal. Rumple wasn’t easily fooled and threatened to vanquish them both when Henry arrived with the Holy Grail and destroys all magic. At the time, Henry had no idea his grandparents and the others were trapped in another realm with the possibility that they may never return.
Rumple introduces them to The Dragon (Tzi Ma) who attempted to open a portal to the other realm and save the others but failed to do so. He advises them that magic surrounds everything; they just need to know where to look. Henry always the believer leads everyone to a city fountain and has each of them toss a coin into the water. Having faith will bring back their loved ones. Henry goes as far as convincing a crowd of onlookers to do the same.
Back in Jekyll’s realm the group tries to find a way back when they encounter Hyde. Suddenly, those same coins that were being tossed into the fountain were making their way down to this realm. A portal opens up and the group goes through it leaving Hyde behind. Everyone returns to the fountain is reunited. Later that night, Regina and Snow discuss Regina’s earlier fears about never getting rid of the Evil Queen inside of her. Emma joins them and Snow has an idea of using what was left of Jekyll’s serum to help Regina rid herself of the Evil Queen once and for all. Regina injects herself and the Evil Queen appears. The Queen mocks Regina my calling her weak and pathetic. Regina faces her fears and destroys her evil side.
The conclusion of the final act returns to the other realm where Hyde is in his laboratory having a temper tantrum. Rumple appears to him with an offer Hyde can’t refuse. Back in Storybrooke, Violet tells Henry that she was going to make this her home much the Henry’s delight. Emma and Hook finally have a moment together with a little foreshadowing in the background of a wedding dress appearing in a window. Regina uses her magic to restore all magic back to normal. Hyde appears and tells her of the deal he made with Rumple now claiming Storybrooke as his own. And lastly, just when we thought the Evil Queen was gone, she appears at The Dragon’s shop and rips out his heart, declaring war.
With that, Season 5 comes to an end. A season that was filled with lots of emotions, both good and bad, life and death, love and sacrifice. I expect much more of the same when Once Upon A Time returns this fall with best big bad you’ll ever see, The Evil Queen is back!
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
