Once Upon a Fangirl...: Going Home

After 10 episodes, we're now onto the midseason finale before a 3 month hiatus when OUAT comes back on March 9th with a new story arc involving the new villain of the season, The Wicked Witch of the West, played by Rebecca Mader. What did I think of it? I loved it! Now I know people reading this will go 'WHAT?!' but let me explain! The Storybrooke scenes were amazing, including one which is probably the most controversial scene in the whole show, even though it surprisingly worked! And it's (SPOILERS) Rumple's 'death' (I don't think he is, I think that's what they want us to think) This just showed he'd do anything to be rid of his father, including taking his own life, and I can understand why! His dad never wanted him and even tries to find a way out of dying by claiming he wanted a fresh start. And I think that scene was such a pivotal moment for Rumple and his character, he's defined the anti-hero character perfectly (the 'villains don't get happy endings' line was delivered amazingly)
As for the flashbacks, they were more like little segments rather than a cohesive narrative, but honestly, I didn't mind! They all had one thing in common: hope. The first one with the Blue Fairy convincing a pregnant Snow to have hope with the curse, Hook in Neverland meeting Tinker Bell hoping to kill Rumplestiltskin, Rumple doing a remembrance of Bae's birthday and Belle convincing him there's hope of finding him, and finally, Mary Margaret finally giving Henry the book so he could have hope! I liked them all, but they were nothing compared to the second half of the episode! The emotional stakes were amazing from every character, and I could really feel for them all, including Regina, Belle, Emma, everyone! I did not see giant twist at the end coming at all, where it's revealed that once Emma leaves Storybrooke and the curse is enacted, she will lose her memories of everything that's happened in the past two seasons. This causes Emma to change her mind in the past, deciding to keep Henry rather than giving him up, revealing a year after the curse was enacted in Storybrooke that Emma and Henry (I bet she probably changed his name since he was named after Regina's father) live happily in New York. And it looks like they found a way back because Hook finds Emma and tells her that her family is in trouble, even though she doesn't remember anything. I loved this twist and it feels very refreshing to see a whole new narrative with the flashforwards, and it seems that the new flashbacks in the second half will reveal how the group came back from the Enchanted Forest! This episode makes me so excited for the second half of season 3 because this season is just getting better and better. (have faith in Rumple, I think he's alive)