Once Upon a Time REACTION - S01E16 - Heart of Darkness

Thank you so much for your reaction for this episode!!! It's one of my favorites from season one. I really enjoy it a lot. First... one of my favorite scenes from it and sadly also one of the shortest... is the first scene of the episode between David and Red as David saves Red's life when one of the guards shoots an arrow at her, then Red pulls off her cloak so she can transform into her wolf form so she can give David a head start. I love seeing Red's eyes turn yellow, then run directly towards the soldiers, before we suddenly see the wolf charge the men. I just really love how this scene was done and would have loved it if it was a little longer. Red is amazing. :) Next... as for the Storybrooke storyline... I like how it starts off right where the last episode left off with Emma having to arrest Mary Margaret, then seeing them next inside the sheriff's station as Mary Margaret is taking her mugshots and fingerprints. I feel really bad for Mary Margaret of course, but also Emma too because she has to act as the bad guy for having to arrest her closest friend who she knows didn't kill Kathryn. Emma doesn't show a whole lot of emotion, at least not in this scene, but you can tell she's struggling with the whole situation. Later... Regina comes in and pretends to be so understanding of Mary Margaret's actions, as if she cares about her. Only we know she's only trying to strengthen the case against Mary Margaret by talking about her motives for wanting Kathryn dead. I love Emma's unwavering faith in Mary Margaret that she's innocent and she never once gives into Regina's accusations and her attempts to make Mary Margaret more guilty. And I love how Emma tells Mary Margaret she has to do things as she's doing them, in order to avoid getting herself fired by Regina so that Regina can't bring in someone who won't take such care in trying to prove Mary Margaret innocent. Later, Emma finds the knife that she and Henry assume is the murder weapon. Not good. Next... we have another one of my favorite scenes, between Henry and August inside Granny's Diner. I love that August continues to keep up his mysteriousness about him, as he encourages Henry to continue to look for answers that can help Emma save Mary Margaret, but by looking in his book, rather than going off to do something dangerous. But more importantly, I love how August talks to Henry about how powerful belief can be and that he's in town to help Emma to believe. I also love how Mr. Gold comes into the sheriff's station a little later while Emma and Mary Margaret are talking again, as Mary Margaret's growing more and more frustrated. And how Mr. Gold is supposedly a lawyer on top of being simply the owner of a pawnshop. It's interesting how he also talks about his experience with being arrested, then states he convinced a judge to drop all charges brought against him in regards to what went down between him and Moe in the previous episode, Skin Deep. And once Emma leaves, Mary Margaret asks Gold why he is willing to help, to which he replies... "Let's just say... I'm invested in your future." The very words he uses when he's talking to Snow White in the Enchanted Forest storyline too. Brilliant. Yes... Gold hates Regina, but there's so much more to his willingness to help Mary Margaret. Later... Henry comes to Emma with the skeleton keys that opens every lock and door throughout the town, and tries to convince Emma to believe that Regina could have used them to frame Mary Margaret, by asking her to pick one final key to stick into the lock after the one he tried to use on the door failed. Of course, this key works when Emma sticks the key inside the lock and opens the door to Mary Margaret's and her apartment. Yes... I'm pretty sure Henry did this purposefully, in order to get Emma to begin to believe... like he spoke with August about. Now... in the meantime, we see that David has gone to Archie to ask for help, and Archie puts him under hypnosis to see if David can remember what's happened to him while trapped under his blackouts. And unfortunately, David then has the wrong memory... as his true memory of Snow saying she is going to kill the Evil Queen creeps in. And it's too bad that it's enough to get David to believe that Mary Margaret could be capable of killing Kathryn. And this brings us to another one of my favorite scenes and yet one of the saddest scenes as well, as David walks into the station and asks Mary Margaret straight up if she really did kill Kathryn. This scene was acted so beautifully by Ginnifer Goodwin. She is definitely one of the strongest actors in this show, especially when she has to cry and make us feel the deep emotions. She's amazing. Josh Dallas is a strong actor as well, but I do agree that Ginnifer is slightly stronger in how she shows her emotions. And then... unfortunately, Emma comes back to reveal that there is enough evidence against Mary Margaret for them to move forward with the case building up against her, which leads to Mary Margaret losing faith in Emma and Gold being able to save her, and using the key slipped into her cell so that she can escape. It's not good. And then... Emma comes to Gold in his shop seeking help, knowing that working with him might be the only way to bring Regina down so she can save Mary Margaret. I love the smugness in Gold and this scene between them is just really good. Now, as for the backstory within the Enchanted Forest... I really love the overall storyline. I love how Snow drinking the potion did more than just cause her to forget about David, but that the price of drinking it also was that Snow would lose all capability to love, anyone or anything. And she is super mean to the dwarfs and to Jiminy Cricket. While it's fun to see a different side to Snow, I missed the good hearted Snow and wanted to see this problem become cured. Snow quickly realizes she has to kill the Evil Queen and runs away from the dwarfs cottage. And speaking of the cottage... the dwarfs come to live there after they move out of the mines upon Stealthy's death and they then take in Snow, seen in the previous episode, 715 AM. Snow can't live in the mines with them, so they needed to find themselves someplace else to stay. Snow then catches one of the Evil Queen's Black Knights, interrogates him for information about Regina's whereabouts and how to get into her castle, then steals his clothes and armor so she can use it all to sneak into the castle. However, Grumpy then comes up to her and soon convinces Snow to come with him to see Rumplestiltskin in hope that he can fix his dark magic... except that we later learn Snow has no intention of being cured even if it was possible. She is determined to kill the Evil Queen, and asks him for something that will help her. I love that he gives her a magical bow that will always hit its target. David later comes to Rumplestiltskin for help in finding Snow, and in exchange for the information, he asks for Charming's cloak. Rumple like always is so much fun in this scene, just as he was in his scene with Snow too. And I love that Rumple doesn't explain to Charming why he wants his cloak too. I love the storyline and result of Charming bringing the real Snow White back with True Love's Kiss once he reminds her of who she is, and just how much he truly loves her by jumping in front of the arrow she lets loose to kill Regina. I absolutely love these scenes... first between Snow and Charming when his first attempt to kiss Snow fails, then between Charming and Jiminy Cricket when he comes to help Charming to save Snow, and at last between him and Snow again when he shows Snow how much he loves her by taking the arrow to his shoulder. So beautiful. Again... the acting between both Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow) and Josh Dallas (Charming) is brilliant. I love, love, love this scene! Unfortunately, Charming is captured by King George's men and is too weak from being wounded to fight them. Snow is nearly killed, but thankfully one of the soldiers shows her mercy and let's her live, while Charming is being taken away, as he cried out her name, and she responds, "I will find you. I will always find you." Their main theme for each other. So good. Next... I love the scene between Snow and dwarfs when she comes home again and apologizes to the dwarfs for treating them so wrongly, then tells them she has to leave again so she can go save Charming. And I love that all of the dwarfs stand up as they insist on going with her to help her save her True Love. And lastly... we get one final and brief scene with Rumplestiltskin... as he is seen picking a hair from Charming's head off from the cloak, then bottle it along with the strand of hair he took from Snow's head, seen back in the episode, 715 AM. And when the hairs come together, Rumple's magic creates the potion for True Love he's struggled the longest to make. Brilliant! Overall... such a beautiful episode. I really love it and I'm glad that you still enjoyed it. Thank you again, so much! I can't wait for more!! The next episode isn't one of my favorites, but it's still good.

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum