FULL | Once Upon a Time Reaction S04E18 Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold- Zelena is back!! What a shocking revelation!! Wow! I was so excited for you to see this huge revelation that Zelena is still alive, because I was curious what you would think, Tim! I was certainly excited to see that Zelena was still alive too, because as a villain throughout this show... I absolutely love her!!! I love to hate her! She's easily one of my favorite villains throughout this show, along with Rumplestiltskin, the Evil Queen, and Peter Pan. And boy... I didn't see this twist with Zelena coming at all! :) With this being said... I do wish that they had come up with a slightly different way to bring Zelena back again. Because while I do love that she's back, I do feel that there are some sketchy details that really don't make too much sense regarding Zelena's so called "death". How does she get her body back after we see Gold shatter it into tiny pieces upon Gold turning her body into glass, as we see Zelena alive again within the flashbacks to the time travel adventure? But this is really my only dislike regarding this revelation that Zelena is alive. I can overlook any of the other perhaps sketchy details. I can even look past this detail too, enough to still love that Zelena is back, because I do still love her and love that she's still alive!! And yes... Zelena having been disguised as Marian the whole time, is the reason why the creators and writers of this show purposefully didn't have Marian throughout this season enough for us to actually grow to like or love her character. It's the reason why they wrote in Marian being frozen throughout the Frozen arc the first half of this season. Because they certainly didn't want us to fall in love her character, because I do believe it was always their plan to bring Zelena back. Now... I do love this episode! And while this twist is huge and I do love it, and I love Robin Hood's storylines... This episode for me isn't one of my favorites, just because the rest of the characters are barely in this episode. Yet this episode is very much needed for the big revelation that Zelena is still alive and has been in disguise and Marian ever since Emma and Killian fell through the time portal and mistakenly messed with the past. First... I really miss seeing more of all that's going on back in Storybrooke between Emma, her parents, and especially now that they have released the Author from the storybook. Emma, Hook, the Charmings, and even Regina, all very much took a backseat in this episode and I missed them. I especially missed Hook, who was only in it two seconds as he joins with Emma and the Charmings in their search for the Author in the woods. Sadly, he didn't even have a single line in this episode. But that's just me, and not every episode can always be centered around my favorite characters. :) But to back up a little... The beginning scene between Emma and her parents is so sad, as Emma is still very, very angry with them. It's very sad and I hate seeing them at odds. Emma's anger towards them is understandable, even justified. But of course, I want to see Emma come to understand why they did as they did and to forgive her parents too. Next... The scene between Gold and the Author is great!! I really enjoy it, especially the Author's line about Rumplestiltskin being the biggest pain in the butt he has ever had the displeasure to write. I can absolutely understand this, and I just love it!! Unfortunately, Gold has convinced the Author to join him in his quest to change everyone's happy endings. To give the villains their happy endings, while each of the heroes will suffer for always defeating the villains. Not good. But I love it! And then... Gold is talking with Regina who has now become his prisoner within her own vault, which is when the backstory for Robin, Zelena/Marian, and Gold begins, when Gold reveals Zelena is alive to Regina in order convince Regina to join him in darkening Emma's heart as well. I love these moments, just as I continue to love any moment between Regina/the Evil Queen and Gold/Rumplestiltskin!!! And I do love them! :) As for the backstory for Robin in New York... I really enjoy it for the most part! I especially love seeing Robin chase after the thief who steals Marian's purse on horseback. It's the perfect act for a hero like Robin Hood from the Enchanted Forest to do. Brilliant and beautiful. And as for the big revelation that Zelena's alive after all, when she comes to the hospital to reveal herself to Gold after his darkened heart lands him there... I absolutely enjoy it!! Because this scene not only reveals that Zelena is alive and that she has been Marian ever since Emma knocked the real Marian out in the past before she and Hook bring her back to the present with them, but it also reveals another big reason why Robin's supposed True Love's Kiss way back in this season's third episode, titled... Rocky Road, meant to help him wake Marian after she becomes frozen by the Snow Queen's frozen spell over her, really doesn't work to wake Marian. Everyone assumes that his kiss didn't break the Snow Queen's freeze spell, simply because Robin was already in love with Regina. Which he was and therefore the spell wouldn't break. But it's also because Marian has really been Zelena all along, and Robin certainly doesn't love her. And I really love this part of the revelation of Zelena being alive! Marvelous!!! Some even better reveals that has come from one big twist! :) Oh... And regarding Zelena being frozen that whole time... She certainly wasn't faking it. Zelena was actually frozen because there is no way she could have possibly predicted that the Snow Queen would have cast her icy magic over the ice cream she had given to who she too believed was Marian at the time too. And if Zelena had some kind of way of knowing, or if she had a deal with the Snow Queen all along, they would have revealed so in this episode in some way. So, I don't believe Zelena was faking being frozen at all, nor do I believe she could have anticipated this happening to her. I only believe she had faked nearly freezing to death a second time in order to get Robin to leave with her into the Land Without Magic, shown in the twelfth episode this season, titled... Heroes and Villains, so that she could split Regina and Robin apart. And in the end when she is talking with Robin about him needing to choose who to be with while still disguised as Marian, Zelena is purposefully playing on Robin's honor, knowing that his code of honor would convince him to stay with her and to turn his back on Regina. So wicked! :) Next... I love Zelena's tauntings, as she taunts not only Gold while in the hospital, but I also love the very end when she taunts Regina over the phone upon revealing herself to her sister as well. Zelena is just phenomenal all throughout this episode. The actress who plays her... Rebecca Mader, is brilliant as Zelena!! I absolutely love her! :) Also... Gold reveals that his heart problems that land him in the hospital isn't because he's had a heart attack like the doctors within the real world believe, but because his heart is blackened to the point that without the potion he seeks Robin out to steel from the Wicked Witch back in Oz, all of his dark deeds are going to kill him. And he's afraid of this happening. And as for the backstory with Robin before he becomes Robin Hood, and Rumplestiltskin comes to him asking him to steal the Elixir of the Wounded Heart... I love how everything brings Robin to becoming Robin Hood, who now steals from the rich and gives to the poor. The rich who are evil and selfish, to the poor who are poor because they've had their livelihoods and things stolen from them by these evil rich men. It's a brilliant take on his storyline, and I also really enjoy seeing him confront the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz to steal the elixir from her. When I saw Rebecca Mader's name appear in the credits as a guest star and seeing the Emerald City on the title card the first time I watched this episode when it first aired on television, I assumed Zelena would only be making a brief appearance in this episode's backstory. But I was so happy to be wrong!! :) As for the scenes between Robin and Will Scarlett... I really like these moments too. Will has always just been an okay character for me, like I've said in my comments for past episodes. However, I feel like Will being a part of this backstory with Robin, makes far more sense for his character being a part of this show all together, than him being a small character in any episodes before now. Because he is Will Scarlett... One of Robin Hood's Merry Men from all of the stories and tales of Robin Hood. I do certainly like some other scenes with Will in the previous episodes of course. Especially those between him and Hook. However, I've always felt his character seems a bit out of place here in Once Upon a Time until this episode. Especially because they don't do enough with Will. If he was a bigger character, I might like him more. So, these scenes between him and Robin were really nice. Robin also reveals to Marian in the backstory, that he had stolen Zelena's six leaf clover pendant that allows its wearer to disguise their faces, as Zelena disguises herself as Marian within the present storyline and has ever since Emma's and Killian's time travel adventure. I love this!! Because this revelation within this episode also gives an actual storyline explanation for why Robin Hood originally had a different face when he had broken into Rumplestiltskin's castle back in season two's episode, titled... Lacey, other than Robin simply having a different face back then because Robin Hood was originally played by a different actor... Tom Ellis. And I think this is really cool. Because now we can think of Robin using the six leaf clover pendant to disguise his face and become a simple, unknown thief, given that Robin Hood never actually told Rumplestiltskin his name at all while he had been a prisoner and was being tortured. He never even told Belle who he was. This is why Rumple didn't know he and this thief he had caught trying to steal for him have met before when they interact throughout season two's episode, titled... Lacey. Absolutely brilliant!!!! And I am guessing that Zelena might have discovered the six leaf clover pendant among Marian's things when she killed her during Emma's and Killian's time travel adventure in order to be able to become her, and decided to use it on herself upon figuring out an all new and twisted way to make Regina pay. Either that... or Zelena simply used another one of the pendants that were a part of the six leaf clover, seeing as there were six pieces there. Robin just happened to take one piece. Sadly... Marian's fate is tragic. I never really cared all that much for Once Upon a Time's version of Marian throughout her time in this show. However, I do feel badly for her because she is a good, kind hearted woman. And not only had she originally been killed by Regina back in the original timeline before Emma messed it up during hers and Killian's time travel adventure, but upon the changes made to the past, Marian has now been killed by Zelena, Regina's wicked sister instead. And while I don't care much for Marian's character, or for the love triangle created to split Regina and Robin up by her coming back, I really do like that Zelena is back. And lastly, regarding why Gold is now currently seeking out the Author to help him gain happy endings for all the villains... Gold having to find the Author to help Zelena in order to honor the deal now between them is a big part of why Gold is doing all he's doing to find the Author and to convince him to help him, and why he's now working with Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella too. However, when Gold first arrives at his son's apartment in New York and is surprised to find Robin living there with his family, Robin states that Regina had told him that Gold was also already seeking out the Author. So, Rumple certainly already had plans to find the Author in order to gain back his happy ending and to make all of the heroes pay for what had recently become of him. Only now... His need to find the Author has become far more dire. Because of his heart problems and of course because of Zelena now too. Overall... I really enjoy this episode a lot! Once Upon a Time is phenomenal with all of its twists, and I've never been so surprised throughout watching any television show before, as much as I have been with Once Upon a Time!! :) And there are so many phenomenal twists and revelations to come! Just you wait, dear friend!!! So many more great and phenomenal twists and revelations to come!!! :) Thank you again, Sora! Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum