OCELOT
Once Upon a Time episode analysis - Nerdy Girl Notes
Not Once Upon a Time related, but little analysis of The Selection! - https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/09/11/fangirl-thursday-summer-love/
Plus, A WHOLE POST on the Selection series! (first three books, that is) - https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2016/01/24/something-really-amazing-a-letter-to-the-women-of-the-selection-series/
And, interestingly, a post for the female characters in Ghostbusters - https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2016/07/25/lets-go-a-letter-to-the-women-of-ghostbusters/
One about the Hunger Games - https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2012/04/20/a-true-american-horror-story-violence-childhood-and-the-hunger-games/
And one about Katniss - https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2012/08/20/why-we-need-katniss/
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/06/10/a-matter-of-opinion/
Thanks for the Magic (final post about Once Upon a Time - thank you/goodbye, May 2018)
A Happy Beginning: A (New) Letter to Emma Swan (October 2017)
Fangirl Thursday: The End of an Era (June 2017)
Guest Post: A Love Letter to Once Upon a Time (February 2016)
Fangirl Thursday: Shared Joy Is the Best Joy (November 2015)
Fangirl Thursday: Let's Talk About Strength (August 2015)
100 Episodes of Hope: Once Upon a Time's Most Hopeful Moments (March 2016)
Choosing to See the Best: A Letter to Emma Swan (July 2015)
Fangirl Thursday: A New Dress And an Open Heart (October 16, 2014)
Fangirl Thursday: A Magical Anniversary (October 2014 - a post about the 3-year anniversary of OUAT's pilot)
A New Hope: Emma Swan, Captain Hook, and a Different Kind of Fairytale (September 2014)
Love Is Strength: Once Upon a Time and Truth about True Love (March 2014)
No Longer a Lost Girl: Emma Swan and the Power of Choice (February 2014)
Other Posts that Feature Once Upon a Time Characters
Fangirl Thursday: A Matter of Trust (October 2014)
Fangirl Thursday: Making an Impact (September 2014)
NGN's Best of 2015: TV Relationships (features Hook and Emma)
NGN's Best of 2014: TV Relationships (features Hook and Emma, Snow and Regina, and Elsa and Emma)
NGN's Best of 2013: TV Relationships (features Charming and Emma, Charming and Snow, and Hook and Emma)
NGN's Best of 2015: TV Shows
NGN's Best of 2014: TV Shows (section on Once Upon a Time)
NGN's Best of 2014: TV Episodes (features section on 3x21-3x22)
NGN's Best of 2015: TV Episodes (features section on 5x11 "Swan Song")
NGN's Best of 2014: TV Moments (features section on 4x10 "Shattered Sight")
NGN's Best of 2015: TV Moments (features section on 5x07 "Nimue")
NGN's Best of 2014: Character Arcs and TV Performances (features a section on Emma and a section on Regina)
NGN's Best of 2015: TV Performances (features Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan)
Season 6 Posts
Season 6 Posts
6x01 "The Savior" - As Hyde and the others from the Land of Untold Stories arrive in Storybrooke, Emma struggles with side effects of being a Savior, including visions of her death. Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin attempts to wake Belle, and Regina tries to work through her grief after losing Robin.
6x02
6x03
6x21 / 6x22 - "The Final Battle" Parts 1 and 2 - After the Black Fairy casts her curse, Henry has to try to get Emma to believe the truth about herself and her family, who are trapped in an Enchanted Forest that is rapidly disappearing along with her belief. Meanwhile, flash-forwards reveal the next generation’s Truest Believer and her skeptical parent.
6x01 "The Savior" - As Hyde and the others from the Land of Untold Stories arrive in Storybrooke, Emma struggles with side effects of being a Savior, including visions of her death. Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin attempts to wake Belle, and Regina tries to work through her grief after losing Robin.
6x02
6x03
6x21 / 6x22 - "The Final Battle" Parts 1 and 2 - After the Black Fairy casts her curse, Henry has to try to get Emma to believe the truth about herself and her family, who are trapped in an Enchanted Forest that is rapidly disappearing along with her belief. Meanwhile, flash-forwards reveal the next generation’s Truest Believer and her skeptical parent.
Season 5 Posts
Season 5 Posts
5x01 "The Dark Swan" - As Emma struggles with fighting against the darkness she’s continually tempted by after becoming the Dark One, her loved ones search for the best way to get to her. However, even after they find her, it appears their mission to save her didn’t go as planned, since six weeks later, Emma is the only one who can remember what happened in Camelot—and whatever it was that led to her fully embracing the darkness.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2015/10/04/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-927-104/ - Features ^
5x02 "The Price" - As flashbacks to Camelot reveal that Regina pretended to be the Savior for Emma’s safety, Emma in all her Dark One glory puts the full pressure of being the Savior on Regina in Storybrooke. This involves coming up with a plan to save Robin from being taken to the underworld after Regina asked Emma to save his life using her new dark magic in Camelot.
5x03 "Siege Perilous" - Secret motivations are revealed in both Camelot and Storybrooke as Charming and Arthur team up on quests in the past and present. Meanwhile, when Hook refuses the temptation of the Dark One, Emma is forced to find someone else to pull Excalibur from its stone.
5x04 "Broken Kingdom" - In flashbacks to Camelot’s past, the truth of the legendary Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle is revealed, shedding more light on Arthur’s obsession with finding the Dark One’s dagger. In the more recent past, Snow and Charming face a challenge when they don’t know who to trust, and Emma and Killian work to fight the darkness in her together.
5x05 "Dreamcatcher" - In Camelot, Emma’s desire to get rid of the darkness in her by freeing Merlin causes her to step further into the darkness by breaking Henry’s heart. When Henry finds out the truth about what Emma did to him, it ruins the relationship they were trying to work on back in Storybrooke, while Merida works to make Rumplestiltskin brave and the heroes discover Excalibur hidden in Emma’s house.
5x06 "The Bear and the Bow" - Emma’s quest to turn Rumplestiltskin into a hero takes a dangerous turn when she sends Merida after Belle. In flashbacks, we see a better side of Merida and Belle’s relationship, as Belle helps Merida believe in her own ability to save her brothers and take back her place on the throne.
5x07 "Nimue" - While most of the Storybrooke crew attempts to get Excalibur from Arthur in Camelot with Zelena’s help, Merlin takes Emma on a quest to face the original Dark One in order to get what’s needed to make Excalibur whole again. In flashbacks to Merlin’s past, we discover the identity of that original Dark One and her connection to Merlin.
Video - Emma and Nimue face off ("I was not nothing! I was never nothing!" scene)
5x08 "Birth" / 5x09 "The Bear King" - In “Birth,” Killian’s desperation to learn the truth about what happened in Camelot leads to a surprising revelation not just about why Emma fully embraced the darkness but what happened once she did. In “The Bear King,” Merida’s quest to find her father’s killer and retrieve his lost magical helmet brings her, Mulan, and Red together.
5x10 "Broken Heart" - After Hook becomes a Dark One, his centuries-old feud with Rumplestiltskin rears its head once again. However, there appears to be much more to his motivations than simply vengeance, as his ultimate plan seems to be the release of all the former Dark Ones from the Underworld, and nothing—not even Emma’s love—is enough to deter him from that plan.
5x11 "Swan Song" - When the arrival of all the past Dark Ones in Storybrooke threatens to send our heroes to the Underworld, Emma believes the only way to save her family is to sacrifice herself. However, as we learn through flashbacks about the impact Killian’s father had on the man he became, we learn in the present that the man Killian wants to be might be different from who the Dark Ones thought they were dealing with.
5x12 "Souls of the Departed" - As Regina’s relationship with both of her parents is explored in the past and present, she begins to sew the seeds of hope in the Underworld. That hope will be needed, as the quest to save Hook is revealed to be even more challenging than initially feared.
5x13 "Labor of Love" - As flashbacks reveal Snow’s connection to the young demigod Hercules, she works in the present to remind him of what he’s capable of, while also rediscovering what she’s capable of. The two heroes team up with Meg to bring down Cerberus, while Henry runs into an old foe with a new plan and Hades continues to find new ways to torture Killian.
5x15 "The Brothers Jones" - When Killian reunites with his brother Liam in the Underworld, he discovers the truth about how they came to survive a shipwreck and join the navy in the past. Meanwhile, Henry’s quest to find the Author’s pen proves to be a potential key to defeating Hades.
5x16 "Our Decay" - When Hades gets Rumplestiltskin to open a portal between Storybrooke and the Underworld, Zelena, her daughter, and Belle are all brought to the realm of the dead, leading to revelations for both Rumplestiltskin and Belle and Hades and Zelena. The latter pair of characters is the focus of the flashbacks, which reveal Hades own plan for vengeance against a sibling and the love that made him reconsider his plans.
5x17 "Her Handsome Hero" - With Belle and Rumplestiltskin working together to try to save their unborn baby from Hades, the Lord of the Underworld enlists a familiar face from Belle’s past to throw a wrench into their plans: Gaston. Meanwhile, Emma’s nightmare of a beast attacking her mother forces her to confront her guilt about her family’s participation in her quest to save Killian.
5x18 "Ruby Slippers" - After Ruby lands in the Underworld, she begins searching for a way to return to Oz and wake Dorothy from a sleeping curse, which ultimately leads Snow and Charming to discover a way for one of them to return to Storybrooke to be with their son. As Ruby worries about who will give Dorothy True Love’s Kiss, Snow helps her see that the answer is clear: It’s Ruby herself, who we see fall in love with Dorothy during flashbacks to her time in Oz with Mulan.
5x19 "Sisters" - When Regina enlists Cora to help stop Zelena and Hades’ blossoming romance, a major secret is revealed about a lost moment in the sisters’ shared past. Meanwhile, Charming finally comes face-to-face with James, and Rumplestiltskin reunites with a member of his family as he attempts to protect his child.
5x20 "Firebird" - After the heroes help Hades rescue Zelena, they’re free to return home—except for Killian, who ventures with Emma into the depths of the Underworld to retrieve the ambrosia needed to come back to life. During this quest, Emma is reminded of the reasons she first donned her armor as she works to save the man who helped her shed it.
5x21 "Last Rites" - As Emma and the other heroes try to defeat Hades in Storybrooke, Killian and Arthur team up to help them from the Underworld. When Hades activates the all-powerful Olympian Crystal, it proves to be a weapon of terrible consequence for the heroes as well as the Lord of the Underworld’s own undoing.
5x22 "Only You" / 5x23 "An Untold Story" - Growing weary of the pain magic has caused his family, Henry sets out with Violet on a quest to destroy all of Storybrooke’s magic, which brings both of his mothers and Rumplestiltskin to New York City to find him before he can put his plan in motion. Meanwhile, a portal gone awry sends Snow, Charming, Zelena, and Killian into the Land of Untold Stories, where they meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, whose separation tempts Regina to separate herself from her own dark side.
5x01 "The Dark Swan" - As Emma struggles with fighting against the darkness she’s continually tempted by after becoming the Dark One, her loved ones search for the best way to get to her. However, even after they find her, it appears their mission to save her didn’t go as planned, since six weeks later, Emma is the only one who can remember what happened in Camelot—and whatever it was that led to her fully embracing the darkness.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2015/10/04/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-927-104/ - Features ^
5x02 "The Price" - As flashbacks to Camelot reveal that Regina pretended to be the Savior for Emma’s safety, Emma in all her Dark One glory puts the full pressure of being the Savior on Regina in Storybrooke. This involves coming up with a plan to save Robin from being taken to the underworld after Regina asked Emma to save his life using her new dark magic in Camelot.
5x03 "Siege Perilous" - Secret motivations are revealed in both Camelot and Storybrooke as Charming and Arthur team up on quests in the past and present. Meanwhile, when Hook refuses the temptation of the Dark One, Emma is forced to find someone else to pull Excalibur from its stone.
5x04 "Broken Kingdom" - In flashbacks to Camelot’s past, the truth of the legendary Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle is revealed, shedding more light on Arthur’s obsession with finding the Dark One’s dagger. In the more recent past, Snow and Charming face a challenge when they don’t know who to trust, and Emma and Killian work to fight the darkness in her together.
5x05 "Dreamcatcher" - In Camelot, Emma’s desire to get rid of the darkness in her by freeing Merlin causes her to step further into the darkness by breaking Henry’s heart. When Henry finds out the truth about what Emma did to him, it ruins the relationship they were trying to work on back in Storybrooke, while Merida works to make Rumplestiltskin brave and the heroes discover Excalibur hidden in Emma’s house.
5x06 "The Bear and the Bow" - Emma’s quest to turn Rumplestiltskin into a hero takes a dangerous turn when she sends Merida after Belle. In flashbacks, we see a better side of Merida and Belle’s relationship, as Belle helps Merida believe in her own ability to save her brothers and take back her place on the throne.
5x07 "Nimue" - While most of the Storybrooke crew attempts to get Excalibur from Arthur in Camelot with Zelena’s help, Merlin takes Emma on a quest to face the original Dark One in order to get what’s needed to make Excalibur whole again. In flashbacks to Merlin’s past, we discover the identity of that original Dark One and her connection to Merlin.
Video - Emma and Nimue face off ("I was not nothing! I was never nothing!" scene)
5x08 "Birth" / 5x09 "The Bear King" - In “Birth,” Killian’s desperation to learn the truth about what happened in Camelot leads to a surprising revelation not just about why Emma fully embraced the darkness but what happened once she did. In “The Bear King,” Merida’s quest to find her father’s killer and retrieve his lost magical helmet brings her, Mulan, and Red together.
5x10 "Broken Heart" - After Hook becomes a Dark One, his centuries-old feud with Rumplestiltskin rears its head once again. However, there appears to be much more to his motivations than simply vengeance, as his ultimate plan seems to be the release of all the former Dark Ones from the Underworld, and nothing—not even Emma’s love—is enough to deter him from that plan.
5x11 "Swan Song" - When the arrival of all the past Dark Ones in Storybrooke threatens to send our heroes to the Underworld, Emma believes the only way to save her family is to sacrifice herself. However, as we learn through flashbacks about the impact Killian’s father had on the man he became, we learn in the present that the man Killian wants to be might be different from who the Dark Ones thought they were dealing with.
5x12 "Souls of the Departed" - As Regina’s relationship with both of her parents is explored in the past and present, she begins to sew the seeds of hope in the Underworld. That hope will be needed, as the quest to save Hook is revealed to be even more challenging than initially feared.
5x13 "Labor of Love" - As flashbacks reveal Snow’s connection to the young demigod Hercules, she works in the present to remind him of what he’s capable of, while also rediscovering what she’s capable of. The two heroes team up with Meg to bring down Cerberus, while Henry runs into an old foe with a new plan and Hades continues to find new ways to torture Killian.
5x15 "The Brothers Jones" - When Killian reunites with his brother Liam in the Underworld, he discovers the truth about how they came to survive a shipwreck and join the navy in the past. Meanwhile, Henry’s quest to find the Author’s pen proves to be a potential key to defeating Hades.
5x16 "Our Decay" - When Hades gets Rumplestiltskin to open a portal between Storybrooke and the Underworld, Zelena, her daughter, and Belle are all brought to the realm of the dead, leading to revelations for both Rumplestiltskin and Belle and Hades and Zelena. The latter pair of characters is the focus of the flashbacks, which reveal Hades own plan for vengeance against a sibling and the love that made him reconsider his plans.
5x17 "Her Handsome Hero" - With Belle and Rumplestiltskin working together to try to save their unborn baby from Hades, the Lord of the Underworld enlists a familiar face from Belle’s past to throw a wrench into their plans: Gaston. Meanwhile, Emma’s nightmare of a beast attacking her mother forces her to confront her guilt about her family’s participation in her quest to save Killian.
5x18 "Ruby Slippers" - After Ruby lands in the Underworld, she begins searching for a way to return to Oz and wake Dorothy from a sleeping curse, which ultimately leads Snow and Charming to discover a way for one of them to return to Storybrooke to be with their son. As Ruby worries about who will give Dorothy True Love’s Kiss, Snow helps her see that the answer is clear: It’s Ruby herself, who we see fall in love with Dorothy during flashbacks to her time in Oz with Mulan.
5x19 "Sisters" - When Regina enlists Cora to help stop Zelena and Hades’ blossoming romance, a major secret is revealed about a lost moment in the sisters’ shared past. Meanwhile, Charming finally comes face-to-face with James, and Rumplestiltskin reunites with a member of his family as he attempts to protect his child.
5x20 "Firebird" - After the heroes help Hades rescue Zelena, they’re free to return home—except for Killian, who ventures with Emma into the depths of the Underworld to retrieve the ambrosia needed to come back to life. During this quest, Emma is reminded of the reasons she first donned her armor as she works to save the man who helped her shed it.
5x21 "Last Rites" - As Emma and the other heroes try to defeat Hades in Storybrooke, Killian and Arthur team up to help them from the Underworld. When Hades activates the all-powerful Olympian Crystal, it proves to be a weapon of terrible consequence for the heroes as well as the Lord of the Underworld’s own undoing.
5x22 "Only You" / 5x23 "An Untold Story" - Growing weary of the pain magic has caused his family, Henry sets out with Violet on a quest to destroy all of Storybrooke’s magic, which brings both of his mothers and Rumplestiltskin to New York City to find him before he can put his plan in motion. Meanwhile, a portal gone awry sends Snow, Charming, Zelena, and Killian into the Land of Untold Stories, where they meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, whose separation tempts Regina to separate herself from her own dark side.
Season 4 Posts
4x01 "A Tale of Two Sisters" - As Elsa finds herself in Storybrooke, flashbacks show what happened when she discovered a journal that revealed her parents’ fatal journey was undertaken to figure out how to deal with their magical daughter—a journey that Anna decides to retrace, leading her to the Enchanted Forest. Elsa isn’t the only new arrival from Emma and Hook’s trip to the past to cause problems in Storybrooke; Marian’s presence forces Regina to confront whether or not she can ever have a happy ending and whether or not she’s still the “monster” she once was.
4x02 "White Out" - In her desperation to find Anna, Elsa creates an ice cave that knocks out Storybrooke’s power (which Snow is left to fix) and traps Emma in fatally freezing temperatures. To help free his daughter, Charming digs into his past and a life-altering meeting with Anna to inspire Elsa to control her magic, but there are more sinister forces than Elsa afoot, as we meet a Storybrooke resident with her own chilling set of powers.
4x03 "Rocky Road" - In flashbacks, Elsa and Kristoff work together to eliminate a threat posed by Hans and his brothers, which leads them to the urn that will later be used to imprison Elsa and was also used to imprison a woman claiming to be her aunt, who also has freezing powers. In Storybrooke, that same woman freezes Marian in an attempt to turn the townspeople against Elsa, but her villainous identity is uncovered by Hook and Elsa (after Hook blackmails Rumplestiltskin) and Will Scarlet (after Emma and Charming discover him in the woods).
4x04 "The Apprentice" - Hook uses his knowledge of the truth about the dagger to get his severed hand back from Rumplestiltskin before his big date with Emma, but that proves to have disastrous consequences when his hand appears to still possess the darkness he’s learned to let go of. As part of a deal to get Rumplestiltskin to take back the hand, Hook is forced to help him capture the sorcerer’s apprentice, whom we’re first introduced to in flashbacks, as Anna learns about the danger of making deals with the Dark One.
4x05 "Breaking Glass" - As Regina and Emma seek out the Snow Queen for different reasons, Emma attempts to mend their broken relationship, which Regina feels is damaged beyond repair. Flashbacks to Emma’s past as a runaway teenager show that Emma was once in Regina’s shoes, feeling alone and unable to forgive after feeling betrayed.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/11/02/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-1026-112/ - quick analysis of final scene of "Breaking Glass"
4x06 "Family Business" - Belle attempts to control Rumplestiltskin with the Dark One dagger in order to get answers about what happened to Anna, after flashbacks reveal that Belle was keeping a secret about her role in Anna’s disappearance. When Belle confronts a dark version of herself in the Snow Queen’s mirror, this new villain’s plan becomes clearer: get the citizens of Storybrooke to turn on one another, except for Emma and Elsa, with whom she wants to start a new family.
4x07 "The Snow Queen" - Emma’s interrogation of Ingrid turns personal when her former foster mother taps into her deepest fears and oldest scars in order to isolate her from her family, which happens when her magic begins to spiral out of control. In flashbacks to Ingrid’s past, we see where she developed her belief that even loved ones can grow afraid of people with magic they don’t understand.
4x08 "Smash the Mirror" - After Emma goes to Rumplestiltskin to get rid of her powers (not knowing he plans to have her sucked into the sorcerer’s hat), Hook and Elsa lead the charge to stop her, which leads to success for one of them and disaster for the other. Flashbacks reveal how Elsa ended up in the urn, which was a byproduct of Ingrid first casting the Shattered Sight curse on Anna, a curse she later let loose on all of Storybrooke.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/11/23/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-1116-1123/ - quick analysis of a scene between Emma and Elsa in "Smash the Mirror"
4x09 "Fall" - As the Spell of Shattered Sight looms in the distance, the residents of Storybrooke prepare for the worst. Even a happy reunion between Anna and Elsa can’t stop it, especially after Rumplestiltskin orders Hook to trap the fairies (who were working on a counter-spell) in the sorcerer’s hat.
4x10 "Shattered Sight" - As the Spell of Shattered Sight takes hold of the residents of Storybrooke, Emma, Elsa, and Anna search for a way to defeat Ingrid. In flashbacks, we learn what happened to Emma during her time as Ingrid’s foster child and how she lost all memories of that time.
4x11 "Heroes and Villains" - As Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff prepare to go back to Arendelle, Regina also has to say goodbye to Robin, as he crosses the town line with Marian, who is still affected by remnants of Ingrid’s curse. Rumplestiltskin has his own goodbye to Storybrooke (and Hook) planned, but his plot is foiled by Belle, who forces him over the town line and into an alliance with Ursula, Cruella de Vil, and Maleficent.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/12/21/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-1214-1221/ - quick analysis of a scene in "Heroes and Villains"
4x12 "Darkness on the Edge of Town" - Rumplestiltskin uses Cruella and Ursula to get back into Storybrooke, while flashbacks reveal how the two women originally teamed up with Maleficent after being betrayed by Rumplestiltskin. Their entrance into the town coincides with the arrival of a new monster, which preys on the heart with the greatest potential for darkness.
4x13 "Unforgiven" - Ursula and Cruella’s arrival in Storybrooke forces Regina, Hook, Snow, and Charming to confront past moments of darkness. Flashbacks to the Enchanted Forest reveal that an encounter with the Queens of Darkness led to Snow and Charming becoming aware of Emma’s potential for darkness, a potential that’s keeping them from revealing this secret to their daughter as well as one more: They were responsible for Maleficent losing her child.
4x14 "Enter the Dragon" - As Regina attempts to gain the trust of the Queens of Darkness in order to go undercover for Snow and Charming, flashbacks show Regina and Maleficent’s first meeting. Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin uses Hook and Belle’s new friendship in order to get his hands on the Dark One dagger, which he uses to bring back a familiar face.
4x15 "Poor Unfortunate Soul" - As Regina watches the Queens of Darkness and Rumplestiltskin attempt to get information out of August, Hook also tries to get information out of Ursula by giving her the happy ending she lost as a girl because of his selfish pursuit of revenge. As more information about the Author becomes clear, it’s revealed that Rumplestiltskin’s plan involves more than just him (or her): It all hinges on turning Emma dark, so she’ll act as the savior for the villains.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2015/03/29/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-322-329/ - Features ^
4x16 "Best Laid Plans" - When Rumplestiltkin’s plan to turn Emma’s heart dark is revealed, Snow and Charming realize they have to tell their daughter the truth about what they did to ensure she would be born a hero: stealing Maleficent’s child to transfer any of Emma’s future darkness onto the baby, who was then sent into a portal and grew up to be Emma’s childhood friend Lily. With her emotions running high, Emma decides to let the Author out of the book to question him, even though August told her this Author was the only one of the many throughout history who started manipulating events, which led to his imprisonment in the book.
4x17 "Heart of Gold" - As flashbacks to Sherwood Forest reveal the origin of Robin Hood and the strength of his relationship with Marian in the past, he faces a difficult choice in the present between what his heart wants and what his sense of honor demands. Unbeknownst to him, though, Marian isn’t who she says she is; she’s actually Zelena in disguise, and she makes a deal with Rumplestiltskin to save his ailing heart in return for a happy ending of her own.
4x18 "Sympathy for the De Vil" - When Cruella kidnaps Henry, her connection to the Author becomes something of great importance to every character, especially Emma. That connection is revealed in flashbacks, which also show how and why the Author took away her happy ending.
4x19 "Lily" - When Emma discovers that Maleficent’s daughter is the same Lily she pushed away when she was a teenager, she embarks with Regina on a road trip to find her before they go to New York City to rescue Robin from Zelena. Along the way, surprises are around every corner—from Lily’s knowledge of her true identity to Robin’s rationale for not being able to leave Zelena behind.
4x20 "Mother" - When Emma and Regina return to Storybrooke with Lily and Zelena (and Robin and Roland), Regina makes a decision to team up with the Author to finally get him to write her a happy ending, but she first needs to get blood filled with the savior’s darkness to activate the magical ink. In flashbacks, we see another attempt by Regina to control how her story ends after Cora returns to the Enchanted Forest with plans to help her find love.
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2015/05/10/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-53-510/ ^ a moment in "Mother"
4x21 / 4x22 - "Operation Mongoose" Parts 1 and 2
Season 3 Posts
3x01 "The Heart of the Truest Believer" - After bringing Henry to Neverland at the request of their mysterious “home office,” Tamara and Greg are shocked to learn that they were simply used by Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to procure Henry, and once that goal is achieved, they are no longer of any use alive (Greg’s soul/shadow is ripped from his body by Pan; Tamara is shot by an arrow and later killed by Rumplestiltskin). In their quest to find Henry, Emma, Snow, Charming, Hook, and Regina (Rumplestiltskin has gone rogue) discover that the only way they are going to survive Neverland is by putting aside their hatred and believing in one another, while another strange alliance is being formed in Fairytale Land between Aurora, Philip, Mulan, Robin Hood, and Neal.
3x02
3x03
3x04
3x05
3x06
3x07
3x08
3x09
3x10 "The New Neverland" - In flashbacks, Snow nearly destroys her own happiness when a quest to find Medusa in order to destroy Regina turns her honeymoon with Charming into a potentially fatal mission. Snow’s appreciation for small moments of happiness in the past is contrasted by her daughter’s inability to appreciate or even have such moments in the present, as Emma gets thrown into the center of another crisis when she’s the first to realize that something is wrong with “Henry” upon returning to Storybrooke.
3x11 "Going Home" - Pan’s plan to once again cast the Dark Curse (this time with fatal consequences) on the residents of Storybrooke has powerful ramifications for every character, especially Rumplestiltskin, who must finally decide if the price of destroying his father is one he is willing to pay. Regina finds a way to destroy the curse, but it comes with its own price: The inhabitants of Storybrooke will all go back to the land they came from, except for Emma, who is allowed to stay with Henry, but both are left without any memories of their time in Storybrooke—a fate Hook plans to change upon arriving at Emma’s New York City apartment one year later.
3x12 "New York City Serenade" - After getting her memories back, Emma must leave behind the life she thought was real to journey with Hook and a still-in-the-dark Henry back to Storybrooke, which has been re-created by a mysterious curse that has also wiped a year’s worth of memories from all of the town’s inhabitants. Though the residents of the town aren’t sure who brought them back there, all signs point to the Wicked Witch, who has taken over Regina’s castle in the Enchanted Forest and sent one of her flying monkeys to take some of Regina’s blood and later pose as Emma’s boyfriend in New York City.
3x13 "Witch Hunt" - In Storybrooke, Emma and Regina team up to try to figure out who is behind the new curse, while Hook, Charming, and Robin Hood learn that Storybrooke residents are being turned into flying monkeys. In flashbacks to the previous year in the Enchanted Forest, Regina and Robin journey back to Regina’s castle, where she discovers that its new tenant—the Wicked Witch of the West (aka Zelena)—is more familiar with her than she could have imagined.
3x14 "The Tower" - In the Enchanted Forest during the lost year, Charming goes on a quest for a plant to cure his anxiety after Snow tells him they’re going to have another baby, but instead he discovers Rapunzel, held captive in her tower by her own fears. In Storybrooke, Zelena causes Charming to face his fears about fatherhood—possibly stealing his courage (or at least a symbol of it)—in the process, while our heroes finally discover that Rumplestiltskin is alive and apparently on the loose in the town.
3x15
3x16 "It's Not Easy Being Green" - In Storybrooke, Zelena’s connection to Regina is revealed, and the half-sisters face one another in a “wicked versus evil” showdown. The roots of Zelena’s envy are shown in flashbacks to her life in Oz, which she left behind when the Wizard helped her get to the Enchanted Forest to train with Rumplestiltskin.
3x17
3x18 "Bleeding Through" - After Zelena uses Rumplestiltskin to take Regina’s heart from Robin Hood (by threatening his son), she just needs Snow and Charming’s baby to have all the ingredients necessary to create a time-travel spell. A visit from Cora’s ghostly presence reveals Zelena’s ultimate goal: Kill Snow White’s mother because of her role in Cora’s decision to abandon Zelena.
3x19 "A Curious Thing" - Henry’s storybook proves to be the key to getting his memories back, just in time for Zelena to threaten his life because of Hook’s choice not to kiss Emma, but Emma’s light magic proves to be stronger than Zelena’s once again, as does Regina’s love for her son, which breaks the curse placed on the memories of Storybrooke’s residents. With their memories returned, Snow and Charming remember that Snow cast the curse in order to return to Emma by sacrificing Charming’s heart, but Snow’s faith in their love proved strong enough to enable them to share a heart and bring her husband back to life.
3x20 "Kansas" - Through flashbacks to Zelena’s life in Oz, we see her initially embrace a new family with a group of sister witches, but her envy takes over once again after Dorothy’s arrival causes her to believe she has no choice but to be evil. The choice between good and evil comes into play in the present as Regina chooses to believe she can be good again, which allows her to wield light magic and defeat Zelena (because Emma lost her magic saving Hook’s life), but Regina’s decision to spare Zelena’s life falls on deaf ears for Rumplestiltskin, who kills her with his dagger.
3x21 "Snow Drifts" / 3x22 "There's No Place Like Home"
https://nerdygirlnotes.com/2014/05/18/the-best-thing-i-saw-on-tv-this-week-511-518/
Season 2 Posts
Season 2 Posts
2x01
2x02
2x03 "Lady of the Lake" - In flashbacks to the Fairytale Land that was, King George places an infertility curse on Snow White, and his men mortally wound Prince Charming’s mother with an arrow to the chest, leading to a private wedding officiated by Lancelot (formerly of the Round Table) and a parent making the ultimate sacrifice for her child and the woman he loves. In the present, the bonds of family continue to be strengthened, as Charming and Henry, Jefferson and Grace, and Snow and Emma face emotional turning points in their relationships.
2x04 "The Crocodile" - In Storybrooke, Belle and Rumplestiltskin’s relationship falters when his inability to give up magic and be honest with her causes her to leave and attempt to make her own life in the town. Flashbacks to Fairytale Land show how Rumplestiltskin lost his wife and what that has to do with how Captain Hook lost his hand.
2x05 "The Doctor" - The mysterious Dr. Whale is revealed to be Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a man young Regina goes to with the hopes of bringing her beloved Daniel back from the dead, and in Storybrooke, Victor manages to resurrect Daniel with the hopes of finding favor with Regina but instead creates a monster that she has to let go of once and for all. In present-day Fairytale Land, Snow and Emma discover Captain Hook, Cora’s plan, and a beanstalk that could help them return home.
2x06 "Tallahassee" - As Emma and Hook climb a beanstalk to retrieve a magical compass that could be the key to getting back to Storybrooke, we learn about Emma’s past as a thief, how she ended up in jail, and how it all connects to the mystery of Henry’s father. Meanwhile, Aurora and Henry are both plagued by eerily similar nightmares brought on by their time under the effects of the sleeping curse.
2x07
2x17 "Welcome to Storybrooke" - Flashbacks to the first days of Storybrooke reveal Regina’s isolation and boredom as she watches its cursed inhabitants relive the same day over and over again—until a man and his son who were camping in the woods when the curse created the town enter its limits, and Regina discovers that a child might be the way to fill the emptiness in her heart. In present-day Storybrooke, Regina embarks on a quest to cast a spell on Henry that would make him believe he really loved her, Snow’s guilt turns suicidal, and the boy who entered Storybrooke in 1983 is revealed to be Greg, the hospital patient.
2x18 "Selfless, Brave, and True" - While attempting to work through her guilt over Cora’s death and the newly-discovered “dark spot” on her heart, Snow finds a wooden August hiding outside Storybrooke. Flashbacks show us how August’s selfish, hedonistic lifestyle led to his turning back into wood, and they reveal a connection between August and Neal’s fiancée Tamara, who is far more evil (and far less interested in Neal) than she appears.
1x07 - Graham and Emma kiss scene and Graham dying - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b75UxUBRG-4