Luffy Reacts - Once Upon a Time S3E16 - It's Not Easy Being Green

It's Not Easy Being Green- Thank you so much for another fabulous reaction for Once Upon a Time, Luffy!!! I really love this episode a lot! The snark between Regina and Zelena is absolutely amazing! I really love their banter. And I had a blast watching your reaction to this episode too! :) Zelena's reasons for becoming the Wicked Witch and hating everyone, especially Regina and Rumplestiltskin... is almost ridiculous. I understand them, absolutely. Her past is heartbreaking. So, of course I understand why she's in so much pain. It's just that... Wow!!! Her obsession grew so fast and hard. As did her envy. Yikes! Zelena is phenomenal at being wicked, and Rebecca Mader plays her brilliantly. Now, as for my favorite scenes in this episode... First, I absolutely love the big battle between Regina and Zelena. I absolutely love that Regina wins it by being smart enough not to keep her heart in her chest so long as Zelena is a threat, thanks to her learning this lesson from Cora. Gold may have been right about Zelena being stronger in her magic. However, Regina certainly wins the fight in the end because she is able to outsmart her. A very exciting battle, and I love it!! Also... Zelena looks sensational in all her glory, when she appears before everyone dressed in her full Wicked Witch glory! Her costume is incredible! :) However, with this being said... My absolute favorite moments throughout this episode, are actually the moments between Hook and Henry. I absolutely love these moments, when Hook tells Henry about Neal from when he was a boy, and shares with Henry that he has more in common with his father than Henry knows. So, so beautiful, and very touching. And seeing the sadness in Hook's eyes as he talks about Bae having been abandoned by his father like Henry believes right now about his own, and just as Hook too had been abandoned by his father as well, as he reveals to Bae back in season two's finale... And Straight on 'Til Morning. Beautiful! I love seeing all of Hook's emotions that he wears on his face so strongly. Colin O'Donoghue is phenomenal!! Hook really is a good man underneath the villain we've known him to be up until the Neverland arc. Hook truly wants to be there for Henry and for Emma, and not for himself in an effort to try to win Emma's heart. It's like Hook had told Emma in Neverland, back in the seventh episode... Dark Hollow, "I also believe in good form. So, when I win your heart, Emma... and I will win it... It will not be because of any trickery. It will be because you want me." I definitely believe Hook meant this then and now, and that he has absolutely no intention of tricking Emma in order to win her over. His intentions here with Henry, are honorable and good. As are his intentions with Emma. And I absolutely love it! Hook truly cares about Emma and Henry, just as he had cared about Bae/Neal too. Oh... and it's also funny how Hook talks to Henry about knowing Neal and teaching him how to sail and navigate the stars when Neal was just a boy, and that Henry becomes even more confused by him and his father when he asks Killian about him and Neal being the same age. So funny. And I absolutely love that this episode really shows just how much Hook truly cares for Bae/Neal too, because of their time together when Bae was a boy. I love that Hook's time with Henry throughout this episode shows that he's truly grieving like the others, and that his time with Henry is helping to give him some comfort as well, just like Hook told Emma he hoped it would. Beautiful! :) Another of my favorite moments... I absolutely love the brief moment at Granny's between Hook and Emma, as he encourages Emma to not allow her lust for revenge against Zelena get the better of her. This moment shows us just how much Hook really has grown and changed into a good man, given his past and his own lust for revenge against Rumplestiltskin for over two hundred years. It's just incredible! For me... Hook's redemption arc throughout this show is my favorite out of any of the villains' redemption arcs that we may be given. Because you can truly see all of Hook's efforts to become a better man, and the sincerity of his new desire to change in all of the emotions we see him wear on his face. It's really beautiful. And then my final favorite moments... I really love the moments between Regina and Robin too. I love that Regina has given Robin her heart to hold onto while she's fighting Zelena, and how she asks him to continue protecting her heart for her. Very symbolic indeed. I love that Regina's slowly coming around to accepting him at least as a possible love interest for herself. She may not be there quite yet to accept that they are meant to be soulmates, but she's coming around. So beautiful. They really are so cute and perfect together. And both Lana Parrilla and Sean Maguire have great chemistry with one another :) Oh... And I also really love their earlier scene together in the woods as well, when Robin pick pockets Regina's letter and states that he is a pick pocket by trade, and that he has become the best thief by learning from magicians. Fantastic!! And again... their chemistry is beautiful. Especially when Robin looks at Regina in awe of her beauty upon reading the words he initially believed Cora had spoken about her. The words stating that she is beautiful in every way. I love it! And I love seeing Tinker Bell again as she tries to help Regina realize that she and Robin belong together once more. Sadly... Regina continues to act ungrateful for Tink's help, which Tink doesn't deserve, but I am still happy that Tink is always still there willing to help Regina when she needs it nonetheless. Also... I really enjoy Zelena's backstory overall, showing why she's become the Wicked Witch of the West. How she came to be taught by Rumple, how she came to Oz, how she came to become green because she grew envious of Regina being Rumple's favorite, why he chose Regina to cast his curse over her, and how she met and turned Walsh... the "Great and Terrible Oz", into her first flying monkey. I love it all! I actually quite love that Zelena is green because her envy of Regina and her lust to be the one chosen by Rumple over Regina has caused her jealousy and envy to manifest into a physical attribute as a consequence of her giving in to her rage. It's quite brilliant. Next... I really love that we get to know Walsh and how he was once the Wizard of Oz and the man behind the curtain, then how he also comes to be Zelena's flying monkey who she later comes to send to New York in order to keep Emma oblivious to the truth about herself. Until of course Hook arrives to restore Emma's memories for her and to remind her of her true self. And as for the slippers in this show being silver... In the original story of The Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy's slippers are actually silver, not ruby slippers. They only became ruby slippers when The Wizard of Oz was made into a movie starring Judy Garland. I think it was partly because they wanted the color on them to pop on screen and red shined far brighter like all the rest of the colors throughout Oz shown within the movie, than silver ever could. While I love the ruby slippers because they're so iconic, I love all the more that Once Upon a Time chose to go with the original silver slippers as they were originally created. Next... I really love the beginning scene showing the heroes mourn as they bury Neal, as they all take turns shoveling dirt over his casket. I love that Hook is also the first of them to do so, and that Belle is there for Gold when he can't be. Which is really, really sad. It's a beautiful scene. And all the more sad, because it shows that Gold feels pain upon the dirt hitting Neal's casket every time the heroes drop it too. Also... I believe that from the way Zelena's adopted father spoke to her about her mother, that the mother had died not too long before Zelena leaves her father to find the Wizard of Oz. Her father states something along the lines of... "Now that your mother's gone, I can finally tell you the truth." Meaning that he can finally reveal to Zelena that they had found her one night in a storm, having been abandoned. And he states this cruelly. But given Zelena's age in this scene... Seeing that she is a grown woman, it leads me to believe that her adopted mother died fairly recently before this moment between her and her adopted father. Otherwise, I think he would have told her the truth about them not really being her parents much earlier. And lastly... You are absolutely right upon putting together the idea behind the ingredients that Zelena is collecting for her dark spell she's planning to cast. Charming's courage that represents the Cowardly Lion's desire for courage, and now Regina's heart that represents the Tin Man's desire for a heart from the Wizard of the Oz. And in the previous episode... Quiet Minds, it is briefly spoken by Zelena to Rumple that she is holding Rumple for his brains, representing the Scarecrow's desire for a brain. I just absolutely love the symbolism and nods once again to The Wizard of Oz, and I really, really love the idea that these are the ingredients needed for Zelena's spell. It's brilliant! What a fabulous episode! Again... I absolutely enjoyed your reaction for it, Luffy. And I absolutely can't wait for your reaction to the next episode!!! Because it is another of my all time favorite episodes throughout this season and throughout the entire show too!!! I'm so excited to see your reaction for it!!!! Thank you, my dear friend... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum