Once Upon a Time REACTION - S01E22 - A Land Without Magic

Wow... so I absolutely love this episode. It isn't my overall favorite episode of the season, and it isn't my favorite of the two part season finales either, but this episode along with An Apple Red As Blood, is most definitely among some of my favorites from this season. I can't say I have an absolute favorite episode overall throughout this season, but each my favorites from season one are: the Pilot, Snow Falls, That Still Small Voice, Red-Handed, Heart of Darkness, The Stranger, An Apple Red As Blood, and A Land Without Magic. As for those I feel are my favorite characters introduced to us in season one... I love Emma, Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, Snow/Mary Margaret, Prince Charming, Regina/the Evil Queen, Archie/Jiminy Cricket, August W. Booth/Pinocchio, Belle, the Blue Fairy, and Graham/the Huntsman. While I love most of the other characters introduced as well, these characters all stand out to me above the rest in this season, and I love them. As for how Emma came to remember everything and to believe in magic... for now, Emma didn't believe Henry about the curse from the beginning, because as she states in the Pilot and in The Thing You Love Most, no sane person would believe in such fairytales. It's impossible to fathom because to us in our world, fairytales are only fictional stories we were told as children. And after all the pain Emma has been through in her life, especially after never being adopted and believing her whole life that everyone who should have loved her, or who should have cared for her, all abandoned her, she didn't have any hope, or the will to believe in something as wonderful and as crazy as her family and loved ones coming from a book filled with fairytales. On top of all that, even after all the unusual things proved that there was more about these people she has come to care about and even fear, that there was something more to Storybrooke than she could possibly believe, she had come to love Henry so much that all she wanted was to protect him, and take him away from the craziness. Especially when August revealed to her the truth in The Stranger. She couldn't see the true magic right in front of her because she didn't want to believe. She didn't want anyone but Henry to need her to save them. Now... with all of this being said... yes, Emma has touched the book before this episode. On multiple occasions too. But because she didn't believe, and didn't want to believe, nothing happened. However, because when Henry ate the poisoned apple turnover that Regina made for Emma, Whale kept tearing down any possible idea Emma could come up with to explain how and why he collapsed. And Emma became so desperate to find a way to save him, in the moment she touched the book, a part of herself opened up to the possibility to believe that magic was real like Henry kept pleading with her to believe. This is why memories from her birth and of magic, and of her parents truly being Snow White and Prince Charming, all suddenly came flooding into her mind. And honestly.. for me I absolutely love how this came to pass. It's quite a powerful moment for Emma and one of the most powerful moments throughout the season, because Emma has finally become the Savior she was destined to become. I love it. And then... the moment Emma comes to believe, Regina comes running into the room. And because Emma now believes, even if she's struggling to accept what she now believes in, Emma realizes that what Henry has been saying about Regina being the Evil Queen is true and she immediately grabs hold of Regina and pulls her into the supply closet in anger, and demands to know the truth about what she's done to Henry, knowing that the poison apple was actually meant for her and never for him. I really love this moment too. And while we see throughout the season that Regina does truly love Henry, this is really the first time we see the real emotion in her eyes behind the truth. In the past... we've seen Regina be willing to hurt Henry emotionally, like we see back in the second episode, The Thing You Love Most when she makes sure that Emma comes to her office to talk and to let slip that Henry's crazy for believing in such nonsense right in front of him. But I do love this scene between Emma and Regina as they fight upon Emma seeing the truth. I also love how Regina states that while the magic of the poisoned apple works as it does in the magical world, here in a land without magic, it is unpredictable. In regards to how the poisoned apple works on Henry, at least as far as how I see it to be... I believe it does to him just as the poisoned apple does to Snow White shown in An Apple Red As Blood. It puts Henry into a death like sleep, which because no one else remembers their true lives, everyone believes Henry has died. And when Henry coded, he really was slowly dying because they aren't in a land with magic. Therefore, the poison had begun to kill him... just more slowly than what normal poison would, rather than simply keeping him in his death like sleep forever, as it would have done to Snow had Charming not given her True Love's Kiss too. It would have only been a matter of time before death took Henry, were it not for Emma giving Henry True Love's Kiss. Forgive me for rambling on. However, I also love the overall backstory with Charming being saved from the Evil Queen's knights by Graham... who I was thrilled to see they were able to get back for an appearance in this episode despite his busy filming schedule, and Charming's fight against Rumplestiltskin in the Infinite Forest... which I had stated before that it appeared once already back in True North when Regina cast Hansel and Gretel and their father into. And I love that we learn more about why Rumple wants to see Snow White and Prince Charming come together. We know from the previous episode, The Return... that Rumple helped Regina to cast the dark curse so that it could bring them all to A Land Without Magic, so that he could one day find his son. However, so long as the curse is over them, Rumple is unable to leave Storybrooke to find his son, so he also needed a Savior to one day come to town so she could break the curse. And because Snow White and Prince Charming are True Love's, he knew one day their unborn child would be the one destined to become the Savior, and that no one else could do so except for her. This is why Rumple was so desperate to know Emma's name and everything he could about her before she was ever born. Because him remembering the truth so he could guide Emma throughout the season to where he needed her to be, his life, and getting back to his son, all depended solely on her. Rumple orchestrated everything so that Emma would arrive to this point and time, as he needed her to. Very wise, that Rumpelstiltskin. And I absolutely love his character for everything about him. He is an amazing character and most definitely one of the best. And now... aside from the scenes where Emma breaks the curse with True Love's Kiss and she saves Henry, and Emma earlier coming to believe, one more of my favorite moments in this episode is the scene between Emma and August. This is most definitely one of the most heart wrenching moments throughout this episode. It's just so sad, seeing August lying there as he's slowly dying upon turning back into wood. But I also love how August at least sees right away that Emma finally does believe because she can see the wood he's becoming. While Emma isn't in time to save him from turning back into a puppet made of wood, who is no longer alive because they are in a Land Without Magic... I love that Emma promises him that she will try to help him and everyone else. And now that magic is being brought to Storybrooke... maybe there's hope for August yet. :) I also really love the dragon fight with Emma and Maleficent in her dragon form, and I love how it parallels perfectly with Charming's fight against her in the past storyline. It seems like an odd choice for Rumpelstiltskin to have Charming hide the True Love's potion inside the literal belly of the beast. However, for me I think it's brilliant upon seeing how the scenes with Emma and Charming fighting Maleficent play out. I enjoy them a lot. And I love Emma's facial expressions while she's fighting the dragon too. She's shocked and terrified, seeing as she only came to believe in magic minutes earlier. And I love how Emma at last kills Maleficent in her dragon form by throwing her father's sword directly at her chest as she's about to breathe fire. This is a nod to Disney's, Sleeping Beauty, as we see Prince Phillip in the movie kill Maleficent in her dragon form by throwing his enchanted sword into her chest. Beautifully done. As like we see with Graham coming back in this episode despite him being dead in the present day... this doesn't necessarily mean we've seen the last of Maleficent either. Next... I love seeing the curse become broken, and seeing everyone suddenly remember who they truly are, especially when we see Snow and Charming come together in the end upon finding one another again as their true selves. And that kiss they share... absolutely beautiful. As for the flashback scene we see of Snow and Charming sharing their first True Love's Kiss back in the Pilot... I love the nod back to the Pilot and seeing this scene again as a way to remind us of how True Love's Kiss is the most powerful magic of all as Rumplestiltskin and Mr. Gold says more than once in this episode, to both Charming and to Emma. I also love the expansion from this beautiful, where Charming proposes to Snow and gives her his mother's ring, then they state that they plan to take back their kingdom and to bring down the Evil Queen and King George, as they will do everything from that point onward... together. Beautiful!!! And lastly... I love how while everyone is busy in the hospital with trying to save Henry, that Jefferson slips through them and sneaks down into the psych ward to free Belle, and that he tells her to find Gold so she can tell him that Regina was the one responsible for Rumple believing she was dead all these years. Nothing did come of this right away, but this isn't the end of this storyline. I like that Jefferson is unable to kill Regina himself for her constant betrayals, but I love how he was smart enough to know how to find someone who will be more than happy to see to Regina's death for him, as wrong as it is. It's a brilliant set up for what's to come. As is Rumple going to the well that yes... August explained about to Emma back in What Happened to Frederick... that it's connected to Lake Nostos where the siren attacked Charming, and that Gold uses the magic from the well's waters below, as well as the True Love potion he made from Snow's and Charming's hairs, to bring magic to Storybrooke. Because magic is power, even if all magic does come with a price. What an amazing set up for season two and I cannot wait for you to continue watching!!! Overall... such a beautiful and fantastic finale. And I am so grateful to you for continuing to watch this show for me, especially as often as you're doing. Truly. So, thank you again! Until season two... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum