A Land Without Magic

Following 1x21 in both the flashbacks & the Storybrooke scenes, this season finale is actually pretty solid & one of my personal favourite episodes! With the help of the Huntsman, Charming manages to escape from the Queen's castle & avoids getting executed, which leads to him meeting Rumplestiltskin, who offers him a deal to give him back his mother's now enchanted ring which can help him find Snow for putting his True Love potion inside the dragon form of Maleficent. When he suceeds, albeit with lots of effort required, Rumple reveals that he wants them together as he's a fan of true love & what it can create, pretty much implying their child would be the Saviour. When he sucessfully finds her & breaks the Sleeping Curse, Charming proposes to Snow, which she of course accepts & then she proposes that they take back their kingdoms from King George & The Evil Queen together, leading into their plot in season 2, which we see little to nothing of (sorry, but it's true!). In Storybrooke, Emma finally believes in the curse after Henry's book triggers memories of her birth in the Enchanted Forest & confronts Regina, revealing it to be true & they go to Mr Gold for help. It then turns out Emma has to defeat the dragon form of Maleficent inside the basement of the library with Charming's sword in order to obtain the True Love potion which can help save Henry. When she succeeds, she stupidly gives the egg to Gold, but then finds Regina tied up & gagged & that Henry has sadly died from the poisoned apple. However, thanks to some smart writing, it turns out her love for Henry not only broke his Sleeping Curse, but also the Dark Curse as everyone regains their memories of their Enchanted Forest selves. However, Gold, intent on revenge on Regina as he finally finds Belle alive (thanks to Jefferson freeing her from the asylum), brings magic to the town, mixing the true love potion with the water from the well which is meant to return that which one has lost. This pretty much leaves a cliffhanger as to what'll happen to the town now that magic has been brought to it. Oh yeah, and August has turned into wood!
The writing for this episode is just phenomenal, from the pacing, to the dialogue, to the cliffhanger, everything! Emma has finally become a more likeable character now that she believes in the curse after the last few episodes of her being cynical & a killjoy! Even Regina manages to be more sympathetic as we get to see that she does genuinely love Henry after the season painting her to be an emotionally abusive parent. Rumplestiltskin in the flashbacks was also enjoyable to watch with his snarks being rather funny & showing that he had carefully planned for everything to happen so that Snow & Charming could create the product of True Love that would break his curse. I also enjoyed seeing some old characters returning like Maleficent, Belle (who'd be promoted to a regular after this episode) & even the Huntsman of all people! They all seamlessly fit into the plot & I loved seeing the reunion between Belle & Gold after everything between them. Another part I liked was the action, including rather nice visuals (for a TV budget anyway) & the parallels betweenthe  scenes with Emma & Charming fighting the Maleficent dragon fitting well together! The twist with Emma breaking the curse with True Love's Kiss on Henry was a nice twist (if not a bit predictable) as the show manages to prove family love can be as, if not more, powerful than romantic love. And this was before Frozen came out! If I had an issue, it would probably be the fact they try to cram in a little bit too much, but that's just nitpicking as this episode is still enjoyable to watch regardless. With solid writing, great acting & huge emotional depth & character development, it's no wonder why I like to rewatch this episode! Now that I've finally done my season 1 episode reviews, now I can finally wait for season 4 to come out so I can be on track with everything (I will also eventually review Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, which I have seen, as Will Scarlett (played by Michael Socha) will be joining the main cast which I'm excited for!)

OH MY GOD JAMIE DORNAN IS BACK!!! Sorry, I still miss him!

Looks like the book is the key to her believing!

Oh so NOW she believes in the curse & that she's Snow White & Prince Charming's daughter!

Pretty sad why Regina wanted Emma gone other than to stop the curse from being broken!

OK, that was pretty badass!

Is it weird I find this bit rather sexy with the two of them sword fighting?

I don't blame MM for not wanting to move to Boston with him! And why's it always Boston?

So True Love is the most powerful magic of all!

'You? You loved someone?' 'It was a brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness.' AWW!!!

Nice design for the egg! And pretty fair that he wants it hidden inside the belly of a beast!

'I saved some for a rainy day.' 'Well, it's storming like a bitch. Where is it?' Still don't get that line...

'You hid it with her?!' 'Oh no, not with her. In her.' Am I the only one who found that suggestive?

I actually like that Charming's sword is in a guitar case! Just a nice little touch!

Jefferson did his end of the bargain so Regina should show remorse & have him reunite with Grace!

Poor August! :(

'Henry dies. You die too.' OK...pretty big announcement there Emma!

Hi Maleficent! Nice to see you again after 20 episodes!

'I'm gonna need a smaller egg.'...a reference to Jaws?

OK, that looks pretty cool considering it's on a TV budget!

OOH!

Aww! Poor Mary Margaret! Actually, poor Henry for his health quickly deteriorating! :(

Hmm, looks like Regina put him in there after he was her scapegoat for the Kathryn case!

OH MY GOD BELLE'S BACK! But how does Jefferson know about her romance with Rumple?  

So Rumple put Charming in the galiant outfit from the Pilot?

She seriously thinks a gun can kill A FREAKING DRAGON?

Nice reference to Sleeping Beauty & the Pilot!

Aww!

Could she be any stupider giving him the egg considering he's manipulated everyone?!

What?! He's dead?! Yes, Henry may really annoy me, but no child should die so young & innocent!

 

AWWW! I just love how in disbelief he is that she's alive after 28 years of thinking she was dead!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor poor Regina! :'( 

Rather smart escape clause in that True Love can expand from romantic love to familial love!

AWW! Nice to see them reunite!

Can't help but feel sorry for Regina!

'I remember. I love you!' AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! 'Yes. Yes! And I love you too!'

Uh...what has he done?!

 

'Magic is coming.' 'But, why?' 'Why? Because magic...is power.' Rather interesting cliffhanger!

OOH! Looks like Regina will go full on Evil Queen in season 2!

Couldn't think of a more perfect final shot to end season 1!