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Heidi Elizabeth Marcum

Dreamcatcher- Thank you once again for another fun reaction, Travis! Overall... I really enjoy this episode. And my favorite scene within this episode doesn't actually have Hook in it, which is rare. But I'll come back to that in a bit... First... This episode begins with the same man we first saw come to young Emma in the movie theater within the very beginning of The Dark Swan, as we see him seeking out the Dark One with the dagger in hand. Until this point, we still have yet to learn who this man is. Yet it's clear he is powerful and brave. And when he summons the Dark One with the dagger, he or she swiftly appears before him. Then, the man cries as he reveals the Dark One had murdered the woman he loved. He then raises the dagger to try to kill the Dark One, only he can't bring himself to do so for reasons unknown. And when he drops the dagger, the Dark One then picks it up, and uses the man's tears upon the blade to turn him into a tree, revealing at last that this man is in fact Merlin. Knowing that Merlin in the present storyline within Camelot is still a tree after so many years have passed. I love the eeriness of this scene and it's sad to see Merlin so weak, since we know just how powerful he's meant to be. And then... It's shown that Emma is watching this moment in Merlin's past played out through his memories caught within a dreamcatcher. And once again, I really like the transition from scene to scene here. One thing I love, is that if you remember back to this season's premiere episode... The Dark Swan, we see Disney's, The Sword in the Stone playing in the movie theater within the opening scene, when the usher warns little Emma not to remove Excalibur from its stone when the time comes. We don't know who this usher is at the time, and yet if you pay attention to the scenes shown from the Disney movie onscreen in front of Emma in this moment... A number of scenes with Merlin are being shown, which is a brilliant way of foreshadowing that this mysterious man may very well be Merlin, even before we know who Merlin is. Absolutely brilliant!! :) Oh... And I absolutely love Merlin's quip when they're all inside Granny's after Merlin is freed, in regards to David's confusion about expecting someone much older, given that in the Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone, and in most other renditions of the tales about Merlin, he is seen as an old man with a long white or gray beard. So funny!!! I love that Merlin is played by a much younger actor, rather than by an old man. :) Sometime later... Regina is walking through the forest with David and Mary Margaret, whom she doesn't know are currently trapped under Arthur's enchantment, as they have tricked Regina into showing them where the Dark One dagger is so they can steal it and bring it to Arthur for him. Luckily, Emma arrives in time to freeze her parents upon seeing through the dreamcatcher that they are under Arthur's spell. Emma and Regina then discuss how they might be able to free Merlin, through the use of dark magic, and I really like how Regina warns Emma of the slippery slope using dark magic could lead her down, even in using it for the smallest of tasks. I really like how Regina acts as a voice of reason throughout this episode on Emma's behalf. It's been rare up until this point to see these two characters act polar opposite from how they have been up until this point. But I also like how together they come to understand how they can finally free Merlin through Merlin's memory, as they must collect a tear of lost love. This leads Regina to force herself to watch her most painful memory of when her mother murdered her first love, Daniel. In the hope her tears from her memory of losing him will be powerful enough to help them. I like how Emma is able to see the memory as well, and apologizes to Regina for all her pain that caused her to hate Snow White and her family for so long, and to become a villain. And yet Emma also senses that this tear won't be strong enough to work, just as it is later revealed that her instincts were right. And sadly, yes... she absolutely takes inspiration from Cora upon seeing what she does to Regina and Daniel. And unfortunately, they both soon come to learn that Regina's tears of her lost love aren't powerful enough just as Emma suspects, because Regina has found love again with Robin. Because she's found love again. She's healed and moved on. So instead, they then must find another way to collect the tears they need. Sadly, this leads Emma to commit one of the darkest acts she's ever committed in her life, as she uses Violet to break Henry's heart. While I understand why the creators and writers decided to write this storyline for Emma's character... I'm not sure I really like it. While Emma is the Dark One and we know how the Darkness corrupts all of those possessed by it, having Emma rip out Violet's heart so she can break Henry's heart seems a little too much out of character for Emma, even if she has good intentions for doing so in spite of the Darkness within her. And yet I do appreciate her reasonings for why she does this. There's a difference in what something she does later on, and what she does to Henry, which I will get into more when I come to my thoughts for the episodes later on. Needless to say, what she does to Henry isn't done out of love, but out of necessity. And I most definitely understand Emma's reasoning for doing so, just as I love how her act parallels perfectly to how Cora always acted supposedly to protect her daughter too. I'm just not sure if I really like the act itself from the perspective of seeing who Emma is as a character. You would think that for Emma, hurting Henry is out of bounds. You would think it would be the last thing she would ever do. Yet it's so sad that she is wiling to hurt him so deeply, even if it is out of necessity. Nonetheless... Regina is able to collect his tears while she tells Henry that he is a hero in their eyes for giving them the tears they need to free Merlin, then she and Emma use the tears and their potion to enact the spell that finally frees Merlin. This is my favorite moment throughout this episode. I love seeing Emma expel her powers from the light and dark magic, as well as from the potion in order to free Merlin from the tree at last. I love the music and the special effects. And I love how Merlin is all knowing when he stands to face Emma, as he reveals he's been waiting for her, then seeing him turn to Arthur demanding that Arthur and his men stand down. I also love how Merlin states simply that the broken sword that is Excalibur cannot hurt him, forcing Arthur and his knights to stand down and walk away. But before this... Arthur acts like a spoiled child as he whines about how Merlin sent him on impossible quests and how Merlin has ruined his life. This is the point when Arthur really does begin to get on my nerves within the Camelot storyline. And then within the Storybrooke storyline, it is a bit later that he gets on my nerves too, even after it's revealed he's a villain. Next... I don't like the first scene between Henry and Violet's father, Sir Morgan, inside the stables at all. Sir Morgan treats Henry so cruelly and not like how I would expect a Knight of the Roundtable to act. However, in Storybrooke... Sir Morgan is so much kinder towards Henry. Just like a Knight of the Roundtable would act. Between these two scenes... They strangely seem like two completely different people. I just really don't like the stark differences of these scenes shown with this character that we hardly get to know. Now, as for the Storybrooke storyline... I like the continued scenes between Emma and Rumple down in the caves beneath her house's basement, as Rumple talks with Emma about how the darkness made him feel and pleads with her to resist the temptations. However, Emma brings Merida in and orders her to take Gold away to help him become brave enough so he can become the hero she needs in order to remove Excalibur from its stone like she's been trying to do since Siege Perilous. Later... Violet is upset because her horse has gone missing, and Henry assures her he will find it for her. He then goes to Emma for help in his search, and later it's revealed Henry has only gone to Emma so that Killian, Regina, Robin, and Belle can break into Emma's home in order to find out what she's been hiding from them. In doing so, they discover Excalibur encased within its stone, as Killian and Belle immediately recognize the blades designs matches those belonging to the Dark One dagger as well. I love the moment Killian reaches out in attempt to pull the sword, until Regina quickly stops him. I love their banter when she warns him he could be killed, as Killian is surprised that she cares, only for Regina to retort by saying he's useful-ish. Their banter is always hilarious to me. :) Killian then finds the dreamcatcher Emma leaves out on the table in her living room, which Regina and Robin take back to Regina's home to reveal what memories are captured within it. Unfortunately, and sadly, Henry oversees Violet's stolen memories, as Emma rips out her heart. And Henry is crushed by his mother's actions. Rightly so. So sad, and I feel so badly for Henry. Now... I think Henry's reaction to this revelation is absolutely justified. Because Emma not only ripped out Violet's heart, which is a cruel act, but Emma also has done so in order to break Henry's heart. When Emma never would have done so without the Darkness inside of her, even without them needing to free Merlin out of necessity. And Emma sadly succeeds in breaking Henry's heart. I absolutely love the end conversation between Regina and Emma, as Regina warns Emma to stay away from Henry after seeing what Emma did to her son. And rightly so. I love how Regina stands up to Emma to defend Henry, finally getting Emma to let slip that they had managed to free Merlin when they were in Camelot, although Emma doesn't continue to explain what happened afterwards. This is just a great confrontation. In the meantime... Killian, David, and Mary Margaret are at the festival in town talking with Arthur, not yet knowing that he isn't the honorable man they believe him to be. I like how they talk to him seeking information about how and why Excalibur and the Dark One dagger bare the same markings. I like how Arthur reveals to them the truth about the two blades being one long ago until it was broken into two pieces. Henry also has a sweet moment with Violet just before he becomes crushed by the reveal of Emma hurting her to hurt him. It's sweet how he comes riding into town on her horse and returns it to her. Meanwhile... Merida is working hard to toughen up Gold, finally using their chipped cup in order to force Gold to fight her. While this overall storyline is just okay, I like how Merida uses the chipped cup to try to make him stand up and fight to get it back. And it works momentarily, but Merida also knows that he'll need more to make him the hero Emma needs him to be. Overall... This episode is pretty good. I like far more than what I dislike. But both of the main storylines, or even the smaller storylines, aren't as strong for me as they are in other episodes. Thank you so much again for your reaction, dear friend! Until the next episode... Thank you!! Sincerely, Heidi

Missy Johnson

Daniel is the same guy who was in 9-1-1 beat Athena almost to death, and then kidnapped her son. Athena shot off his magic wand 🤣

_11

This episode (and later parts of this season too) explore a very interesting theme: If using "the end justifies the means" to justify your actions, and the "end" is something substantial i.e. destroying the darkness forever, one can rationalize enough to become the very thing they swore to destroy. In this case, to destroy the darkness, Emma used her darkness to destroy Henry's first love. This episode also has some fantastic parallels: Firstly, we've got 2 similar storylines of mothers doing horrible things to their child because they think it's the best/right thing to do; Cora killing Daniel (revisited via the Dreamcatcher in Camelot), and Emma ripping Violet's heart/destroying Henry's love. Secondly, there's a much more subtle parallel to the end of the pilot episode: At the end of the pilot, before checking into Granny's inn, Emma and Regina have a heated argument regarding Henry. As Emma walks away, she looks back and sees Henry in his window, and he smiles at her. This episode's ending is similar (them arguing regarding Henry), but this time when she looks back, Henry moves away from the window and shuts his curtains, unable to look at her. I will agree, both this storyline and S3B (Zelena's main villain arc) that use both the "split timeline" style (similar to stuff like Arrow, Quantico, etc), as well as dotting in the out-of-order flashbacks that OUAT loves, can be a bit confusing. You're doing good though! Your comments at the end were certainly interesting, very much looking forwards to seeing your reaction to the remainder of the season!

Lexa Hoppenfeld

Um, I think you labeled the title wrong... this is supposed to be 5x5 not 3x5 lol