Once Upon a Fangirl...: Bleeding Through

This episode feature the return of Young Cora (Rose McGowan), as we get to see her history with Zelena's father, revealed to be a man named Jonathan who pretended to be a prince. This shifts to her relationship with King Leopold (Eric Lange this time round) and how she had to conceal her pregnancy so she could marry him, until Princess Eva (Leopold's future wife & Snow White's mother) overhears her and Jonathan talking over it and him blackmailing Cora. In Storybrooke, the group decide to contact Cora from the underworld to find out why she gave Zelena up. But Cora in the afterlife is still craving revenge for Mary Maragret , up to the point that she completely ignores her own daughter & tosses her aside, revealing to Mary Margaret her mother's true nature by posessing her. Meanwhile, Belle discovers Zelena's plan to go back in time so she can kill Eva before Snow was born, so that Snow, Emma, Henry & Regina would never have been born. And Zelena forces Rumple to go on a 'date' with her to talk about the time travel curse & convince him to work with her by bringing Neal back when she casts it. Pretending to go along, he manages to seduce her so he can get the dagger off her, but failing as she cast a spell on it.
I liked seeing Cora again, Rose again managed to , but now showing her at the start of pursuing royalty. But, obviously, I didn't like the Cora/Leopold pairing. It was just creepy that she was with her future daughter's husband but I liked seeing more of Eva's dark side & it showed Cora had more of a reason for killing her later on in The Queen is Dead. Another thing I want to add is that I liked that the identity of Zelena's father wasn't the emphasis of the flashbacks, as at the end of the day, he wasn't worth caring about. But probably what I loved most was the character development from almost everyone! Belle calling Regina out on what she's done, Regina opening herself up to people (including Robin), Mary Margaret finally apologising to her about killing Cora and Rumple accepting his son's death & not giving in to magic to bring him back. But the only real issue I have is the Zelena/Rumple plot. Yes, it may have contributed more as to what Zelena's personal goal is, and Rumple was pretty good at taking advantage of her desperate attempts to please him, but it kind of slowed it down for me. Well, we don't have to worry now that the kiss everyone was angry over meant absolutely nothing & he wasn't cheating on Belle considering Zelena was the woman who killed Neal! Overall, a satifying episode by written Jane Espenson with nice visuals, great acting, great character development & pretty solid writing!