Once Upon a Time S03E19: A Curious Thing (Full Reaction)

A Curious Thing- Quite a beautiful episode! Thank you so much for your amazing reaction to this beautiful episode, Reds!! I am so happy how the curse is finally broken, and what a twist! I couldn't believe that it was Snow and Charming who cast the curse all along when I first watched this episode!! I didn't see this coming at all! Because Charming is alive in Storybrooke, so of course we wouldn't speculate that Snow could possibly be the one who cast this dark curse. How heartbreaking for Snow knowing she has to crush the heart of her True Love in order for them to get back to their daughter, so that Emma can defeat Zelena and save everyone else. And yet... As beautiful, or strange the concept of Snow splitting heart to bring Charming back as it might be for some people, or maybe even cheesy for some people... I absolutely love that Snow believes so much that her heart and her love for David is strong enough to withstand being split into two in order to save him. True Love is most definitely the most powerful magic of all, and Snow and Charming are the epitomes of True Love within Once Upon a Time. Which is why this is one of my favorite moments throughout this episode! So beautiful and so romantic. And you can absolutely see these actors' real love for one another. Josh Dallas and Ginnifer Goodwin truly do have so much love for one another, and their love most definitely shines onscreen. Unfortunately, Zelena is clever too, and ruins their plans as much as she could by adding the forgetting potion into the curse. Another twist that I really love too. It's a good thing she makes one strong enough to wipe away everyone's memories only for the last year, and not completely like Regina did in the original curse cast back in season one. Ooo... She really is wicked and terrifyingly so. I really love Zelena throughout this episode. As a villainess. She's really incredible! I really love the flashback scenes with Snow, David, and Regina that include Zelena, Glinda the Good Witch of the South, as well as with Zelena and Rumple, and then Neal too, who we finally discover sends Hook the message along with the memory potion, knowing that if anyone would fight to get back to Emma and to save her, it would be Hook. Because Neal knows very well that Hook loves her too. What a brilliant reveal! And yes... This is one of the other moments where I do really see Neal as a hero more so than ever before. As for the storylines within Storybrooke... First, I love how Mary Margaret finds the storybook inside the box after Emma had looked and couldn't. It shows that Emma's once again has lost belief in herself and in being the Savior, and that she's denying it so hard because she's struggling with finding out what she truly wants. She thinks she wants to return home to New York with Henry, but there's much more for her wanting to leave. So much more. This is why Emma couldn't find the book, and Mary Margaret could. And Emma most definitely resents Hook for taking her away from their life in the first place, and it's so sad and unfair of her to blame him, just as it is later on too, which I will talk about shortly... But first... The storybook only appears to those who need it most, as the book represents hope. If you remember... The book vanished within the smoke cloud when Pan's curse was cast and took everyone away to the Enchanted Forest. This is the moment the book first reappears again. And a part of Emma, while she wants to defeat Zelena and for Henry to remember the truth so they no longer have to keep secrets from him, she doesn't want Henry to be burdened by the truth and she doesn't want him to remain in danger. But more so... Emma just wants to escape her life where she can go back to living in ignorant bliss. This is why the book doesn't appear for her, yet does so for Mary Margaret. Next... I absolutely love that the relationship with Regina and Robin has developed further and it's so beautiful. I really love them as a couple and they're so perfect for one another. They're opposites, but they're both so good for one another. I also love how in the past scenes, Regina denies she likes Robin and pushes him away from her, yet in Storybrooke, she continues to gravitate towards him. For a long time, Regina has believed she doesn't deserve to have happiness again after Daniel, especially after what happened to him and after all the pain she's caused so many people. However, I love how Robin continues to try to get her to believe that she does deserve happiness again. That she deserves to find love again. So beautiful. :) Now... I also really love how Hook tries to protect Henry after Zelena threatens him again, even if it might have been wrong for Hook to help Henry run away. However, Hook is only trying to do the best he can, given the circumstances. Taking Henry away isn't the best plan he could have come up with, but he cares so much for both Emma and Henry, that he was desperate. And in a hurry, so he didn't exactly have much time to come up with a better plan. I appreciate that he tries to do what he can, for Henry and for Emma. Hook has most definitely come to care for Henry very much. And it's so sad that Emma is now angry with him for not telling her the truth and trying to protect him. Hook had no choice. Like Hook says to her when she becomes angry with him... Zelena has backed him into a corner, and he couldn't risk telling anyone, out of fear of Zelena hurting those Emma loves, and whom he's come to care deeply about as well. Even more so than she's already hurt them all. And then David and Mary Margaret unfortunately only add to his pain by getting mad about him supposedly lying to them too. Although, in their case, they don't believe him about how he got the memory potion and a message telling him to find Emma. But given that Hook doesn't know, and couldn't possibly know that it was really Neal, it makes sense he would believe it was Snow. Hook was sent the message and potion by a bird and Snow is famous for sending messages to people this way. So, it's understandable why he would think the message was from her. And this is what he had told Mary Margaret, David, and Emma back when they were first talking about their return back in the previous episode... Witch Hunt. He tells them that someone had sent him a message by a bird, and he assumed it was from Snow because she often has sent people messages by birds. Sadly... No one trusts Hook right now and it's crushing him, as we can clearly see in his eyes. And Zelena of course rats him out to Emma, making Emma think for a moment that he is actually working with her in order to taunt him. Poor Hook. I'm kind of mad at Emma for treating Hook so badly while he's struggling with trying to help her and protect her and everyone she loves. I understand that she struggles with trust and has her whole life, but it's still wrong of her to be so angry with Hook, when all he is trying to do is protect her and her son. And the resentment she's holding against Hook is most certainly only adding to her distrust in him. Which is so wrong. And another of my favorite moments within this episode is the scene when Gold drives up to Zelena near the town line, then reveals he has abducted Hook, who is tied up within the trunk of his car. I love the symbolism of Zelena tossing the rose on top of his chest upon threatening to kill Henry once again, as she states that the next rose will be for the top of Henry's grave. I also love Hook's smugness and bravado towards her too. And you can also see his anger in his eyes upon having to listen to Zelena threaten Henry and Emma as well. Fabulous scene. :) And lastly... Henry's memories have returned, and he remembers Regina is his mother once Regina's kiss on his head breaks the curse, proving that Regina has True Love in her life. Not only with Robin, but most of all the love she feels for Henry. And their love is powerful. So beautiful. And now... The heroes have to defeat Zelena and free Rumple. Unfortunately, Mary Margaret is now in labor. Which means Zelena's very close to getting everything she wants too. Ooo... What a cliffhanger! Oh, and in answer to your recollections regarding Regina tossing her father's heart into the brewing potion and her not crushing it... If you think back to season two's second episode, titled... The Thing You Love Most, we see Regina rip out her father's heart to kill him, without us actually seeing her rip out his heart and showing his heart to us, the viewers. I suspect this was because the creators and writers felt it would have been too dark for us, the viewers to actually see her father's heart and to see it get crushed, given that he is Regina's father and that she killed him. So we don't actually see Regina rip out her father's heart and crushing. We only see the motion of her ripping his heart out. What you are remembering, is also from this same episode. We see earlier on in the episode, that Regina pulls a different heart from a small box and then we see her toss this other heart into a fire as she attempts to cast the dark curse. Only, this first attempt fails, because Regina didn't crush the heart, and because it isn't the heart belonging to the thing, or person she loves most. This other heart belonged to her prized childhood stallion. I hope this long explanation answers your questions. Overall... I absolutely love this episode!!! So, thank you so much for another fabulous reaction from you, Reds!! I can't wait for the final episodes!!! They're incredible! Until next time, my dear friend... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum