Once Upon a Time S04E12: Heroes and Villains (Full Reaction)

Heroes and Villains- And welcome to the Queens of Darkness arc, Reds! I absolutely love this episode!!!! What a beautiful way to end the Frozen arc, as well as a tragic and phenomenal way to set up the beginning of the new arc for the second half of season four!!! I love every moment of this episode! So, thank you very much for your reaction! And I'm so happy you enjoyed the Frozen arc too, my friend. I honestly can't say whether or not it's my overall favorite story arc throughout this show because I honestly can't say for sure which arc or even season is my overall favorite. Nonetheless... This Frozen arc is absolutely phenomenal!! I love so much about each story arc throughout all the seasons. First... I will say that it is sad for me that we won't be seeing Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff again. I absolutely miss them after this story arc is over. I would have loved to see Anna's and Kristoff's wedding. But of course, there was no time. Which is why I would have loved it if we could have gotten a Frozen spinoff with these characters and their actors. So that we could see what comes of everyone in Arendelle. Instead of there being Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, I would have loved it if we could have gotten Once Upon a Time in Arendelle instead, with an entire season based on our Frozen characters!! I think it would have been stronger. At least... In my opinion. Now... In regards to what some fans of this show consider to be the strangeness of Cruella joining this show as one of this new arc's coming villains, and seeing these three villainesses come together... At first, I felt it seemed strange that this show's creators and writers would choose to bring Cruella into the show, especially as one of the main villains for the stories to come. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love Cruella as a villainess!! And I love, love, love her character here in Once Upon a Time too! She just doesn't strike me as the kind of villain who would fit so well into a story arc that has now been set up to come. However, I promise you... There is so much more to Cruella than meets the eye. And the actress chosen to play her is phenomenal! I love Victoria Smurfit in this role! As for these three coming together... It is absolutely random, and completely shocking that Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella are now the main villains for this new arc, along with Rumplestiltskin too... of course. And yet... I love this second half of season four overall as well. Just you wait and see what's to come! I hope you will come to love this story arc too. And as for Ursula and Cruella being in the real world... It will all be revealed in time. I think you're really going to like what's to come for the second half of this season. I certainly hope so. I absolutely love all three of these infamous villainesses who make up the Queens of Darkness!! I love them all in their Disney movies, and I love them all here in Once Upon a Time too!!! As for my favorite moments throughout this episode... First... One of my absolute favorite moments, is the brief moment towards the end between Emma and Killian when she pushes Killian's heart back into his chest! It's beautiful and it makes me happy to see the love of Killian's life restore his heart to him. She most definitely holds his heart, and no longer just figuratively, but literally as well. Emma is where Killian has always kept his heart and it's beautiful for me to see her restore it to him so that he can fully feel his love for her and the love she holds for him so completely. And as if I didn't love it enough as it is... Killian then tells Emma... "I told you, Swan... I'm a survivor.", just like he had told her back in the ending of this season's third episode, titled... Rocky Road. So beautiful! I absolutely love it!! Now, at times... I do love Rumple and Belle, and I absolutely love Snow and Charming, and Regina and Robin Hood together so much more. However, my all time favorite True Love couple throughout this show, like I've said so many times before now, is Killian and Emma, of course. Just as they are my two all time favorite characters throughout the show as well! They always have been and always will be. They're just so beautiful and perfect together, because they make each other better in every way. Killian gives Emma the strength and courage to believe in herself the way he does, and Emma has helped him to bring out the hero in Hook and continues to show Killian that he's a good man and not the villain he struggles to not believe himself to be. They're both just so good and beautiful together, and their love story is absolutely beautiful! :) Another of my favorite moments... I also absolutely love, love, love another moment between Killian and Emma, in Granny's Diner when Killian comes to talk to Emma about finding the portal while Gold is talking through him by control of his heart! It's so sad because you can see behind Killian's eyes that he hates, hates, hates being controlled by his greatest enemy and that it's killing him knowing he's about to die without being able to save those he loves and being able to stop his darkest enemy from hurting everyone else in the world too. And being unable to say his goodbyes to Emma because he's being controlled in his final moments with her crushes him too. And then... At last Emma finally speaks out upon continuing to recognize something is wrong with him. At last!! We've caught glimpses of Emma recognizing something's wrong with Killian before. First in this season's episode, titled... Smash the Mirror Part Two, when Killian runs up to her in the mansion to make sure she's okay just after Gold first rips out his heart, as she looks into Killian's eyes after he forcefully kisses her, as she asks him if he's okay. And then again in the next episode, titled... Fall, when Killian comes to Emma to say his goodbyes just before the Spell of Shattered Sight falls over everyone. Emma touches her lips and looks after him in confusion once he walks away. Unfortunately, both times she shrugs off her sense of uneasiness that something was wrong with Killian, most likely because she feels she's worried about nothing and because Emma has a tendency to doubt herself. Until this moment here in Heroes and Villains. Emma at last really recognizes that something is truly wrong with Killian after Gold finishes talking through him as she senses how strangely he's talking, then Killian attempts to walk away from her. But more so... I love that Killian reaches down to grab Emma's arm in plea despite Gold's power over him and Emma knows then that Killian is in trouble. He's begging her for help, without being unable to say a word or do anymore. However, this brings me to my biggest nitpick I have with this episode... I really, really hate how Emma does nothing to help Killian after she undoubtedly comes to know without a doubt something's wrong with him. It's like she still shrugs off her sense that something's wrong with him and ignores his plea for help upon grabbing hold of her wrist, and instead... she and the Charmings go with Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff to the mansion so those from Arendelle can return home. I like this moment between them as they say goodbye to their friends from Arendelle. But surely helping them to get home could have waited a little bit longer, while Emma rushed after Killian to help him. Were it not for Anna, and especially Belle saving Killian when she does by taking control over Gold with the real Dark One dagger, Emma would have been too late to save Killian, and Gold would have succeeded in crushing Killian's heart. And this makes me really quite angry. I really wish the writers would have changed this episode up just a little bit to help fix what little I dislike about this episode. But with all this being said... My final favorite scene throughout this episode is the moment between Belle and Gold at the town line, as Belle orders Gold over the town line to protect everyone from the beast she finally comes to see him as once again. As tragic as this scene is, being forced into a powerless world away from her and his real true love that is his power is most definitely what Gold deserves. Just desserts. But mostly, I love this scene because it shows Belle with the kind of strength we've seen in her in glimpses throughout the show so far, until that strength in her seems to fade a little because she continuously falls for Gold's and Rumple's lies, time and time again. While I love Belle very much, I feel she is a little too wishy washy in her feelings towards Rumple/Gold, as well as naive regarding his dark and evil ways. And it's a bit annoying to me. But at last... This moment in Heroes and Villains for Belle shows just how strong her character really can be. And while forcing Rumple across the town line breaks her heart because she loves him, she knows she has to protect all of those in Storybrooke, as well as the world from the Darkness that's inside of him. Her heart too. And by rendering Gold powerless in the outside world, she succeeds. Absolutely brilliant!! What phenomenal acting from both Emilie de Ravin and Robert Carlyle too. And this scene for me, is one of Belle's best moments throughout the entire show! This is when she is at her best and strongest. Love it! Oh, and yes... While I don't feel bad for Rumple in any way at all, Robert Carlyle's acting is so phenomenal, that a part of me wants to feel badly for Gold. Amazing! :) But... Gold isn't down yet! :) He is powerless and he's weak now that he's trapped in the real world outside of Storybrooke. But he has a plan and now he has an ally, and he is about to find more. I love this moment in the very end when Gold comes to Ursula, who also is mysteriously trapped within the outside world and powerless, after seemingly having lost a battle that made her powerless as well. And this sets up the beginning of the season's second arc with three new villains. We have met Maleficent in the show before, like you remembered Emma killing her back in season one. However, both Ursula and Cruella are new villains brought into Once Upon a Time, with the small exception of a tiny moment in season three's episode, titled... Ariel, when Ursula threatens Regina and warns her never to impersonate her again. However, we never actually see Ursula's true form. Just her appearing before Regina in her magic mirror in the form of a statue that had been erected for her. We've seen Regina appear to characters throughout the show in many different forms, just like we see with Gold and other characters appear in other forms too. Ursula is no exception. Back in season three's episode, titled... Ariel, Ariel and Eric only ever simply say that Ursula is believed to be a myth, because no one has ever seen her in a thousand years. This doesn't mean she doesn't exist. And now... It's become revealed that Ursula is absolutely more than a myth. :) And as for Maleficent... She was only seen in a few brief scenes, and in a few episodes, until she's killed by Emma way back in the second episode within season one's finale, titled... A Land Without Magic, when she was killed in dragon form by Emma. You'll just have to wait and see why she's a villain chosen to be brought back into this show for the second half of season four. I can't wait for you to see what's to come in the new Queens of Darkness arc!! Now... I really enjoy the overall backstory between Rumple. Belle, Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula, as the Queens of Darkness kidnap Belle to try to force the Dark One to give up the gauntlet that leads those in possession of it, to one's weakness so that they can use it against the heroes keeping them from finding their own happy endings, which leads us into a major theme coming up throughout the next story arc. And I love how Rumple later comes back to steal the gauntlet back, which sets up how Belle at last discovers the truth that she's blinded herself to this entire season. The tragic truth that Rumple's true love is his power and not her. Brilliant! :) Next... I was so happy to see that once the Snow Queen's magic over Marian had worn off and she appeared to be okay, Robin chose Regina over Marian, and I was happy that Marian understood that Robin's heart had moved on upon falling in love with another woman. Unfortunately, Regina's and Robin's happiness doesn't last very long, because of course the Snow Queen's magic doesn't appear to have worn off completely like they all believed, and the only way to save Marian at this point, is to send her across the town line. And sadly, Robin needs to go with her, mostly for Roland's sake so he can be with his mother, but also because it would have been bad to send Marian off on her own into an unknown world. This whole scene at the town line is so sad. And tragically... We see Regina finally turn her back to Robin as she tears up the mysterious page 23 that showed her happy ending with Robin. So sad. And if this wasn't bad enough, it makes Regina believe all the more... Just as Rumple and the Queens of Darkness all believe as well, that villains don't get their happy endings. And if this is true, then what does this all mean for other villains who have fought to redeem themselves and to try to become heroes? Heroes like Killian? I know you're frustrated, angry, and sad over Regina's and Robin's storyline. I am too, and I do wish that there were some changes in this particular storyline for them too, but I am so happy that you're not one of those people who quit watching a show when something doesn't go the way you want it to. So, thank you so very much for not ever giving up on Once Upon a Time, Reds! Be patient, and have faith in the show's creators and writers. And lastly... I absolutely love how this idea that Regina has questioned a number of times throughout the Frozen arc, is now carrying over into this new story arc and that it's about to become a major theme for what's to come!!! The belief in whether or not villains can have their happy endings. The heroes like Emma are going to fight to make sure Killian and Regina can have their happy endings, while the villains like Rumple, Ursula, and Cruella are going to fight to steal their own happy endings as well by making sure the heroes lose theirs. I am so grateful for another phenomenal reaction from you for this incredible episode, so thank you so much again, my dear friend!!! :) Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum