Mother

After the events of the last episode & the shock pregnancy bombshell, we now get to see the aftermath in Storybrooke as Lily & Maleficent have finally reunited in Storybrooke! However, given that Lily still has her darkness inside of her, she can't get over her vengeance for Snow & Charming & has inherited the ability to turn into a dragon, she ends up abandoning her mother while she wishes to move on & be happy! However, they make up as Lily promises to stay in Storybrooke for a week along with Emma and her parents reconciling (finally) after Mary Margaret is injured from Lily! And Rumple's health takes a turn for the worse as Isaac needs help finding the special ink to help alter the stories, and Isaac ends up enlisting Regina, who gets Lily's blood for the ink as it technically contains the darkness intended for the Saviour! However, Regina plans to do it in order to get rid of Zelena (who's in the asylum & isn't lying about the pregnancy) for good before she realizes that she's turning into her mother and decides not to as Robin is only a part of her happy ending. In the flashbacks, during Regina's Evil Queen days, it turns out Cora returned from Wonderland (thanks to the White Rabbit) during the anniversary of Daniel's death in order to make up for what she did & to help her daughter find love again, as she had encountered Tinker Bell who told her about the man with the lion tattoo as her soul-mate. But of course, Regina is suspicious of her real motives, and Cora ends up enlisting the Sheriff of Nottingham to pretend to be her soul-mate and Regina sees through it immediately, but it turns out the reason why was that she wanted Regina to have a child and she genuinely wanted her to be happy. However, Regina ends up taking a potion which causes her to be infertile, and sends her mother packing back to Wonderland, but not before some motherly advice: that the only person out of the way of her happiness is herself. However, in Storybrooke Isaac manages to get away with the ink & Rumple ends up making him write a new story in the book with a new title: Heroes and Villains!
Honestly, I was worried about this episode because it seemed pointless with the flashbacks. Although story-wise, yes, admittedly they were, but the message behind them along with paralleling what was going on with Regina in Storybrooke was what made them interesting. Seeing Cora again (despite her creepy interactions with the Sheriff of Nottingham and using him to pretend to be Regina's soulmate), trying to make up for what she did and being genuine this time round with the reason why she wanted Regina to have a child was also genuinely surprising, although it begs the question how did she revert back into the power obsessed villainess from season 2? Or maybe she was still lying then given how easily she can manipulate people including her daughter...And it's also sad to find out that Regina is infertile as she had believed her mother would use a pregnancy to gain power and the throne despite the revelation she wanted her to be happy, although it is funny for once that this episode had me rooting for Cora & Zelena as Regina in Storybrooke had pretty much turned into her mother despite trying so hard to do the complete opposite. Anyway, I loved the Storybrooke scenes as we got some pretty solid development from Regina, going back down into the slippery slope to evil again this time round with planning on getting rid of Zelena before realizing all she'd be doing is causing more pain for herself, despite Zelena's pregnancy with Robin's child getting in the way, although the way they resolved that was really interesting. Also, seeing Maleficent and Lily interact throughout was so so heartwarming as the former had finally decided to let go of her revenge and wanted to move on and have a happy life with her daughter despite being grown up now, while the latter was so intent on getting her revenge despite it being futile at the end of the day (and it was admittedly cool seeing Lily turn into a dragon & I loved seeing Maleficent being friendly with Mary Margaret and David!). And it was nice to finally see Emma reconcile with both her parents after constantly and harshly ignoring and not trusting them despite what they did to Lily as she's now reunited with her mother, although in a way it feels like Rumple trying to corrupt her ended up being a bit pointless if Regina figured out that Lily's blood would also be accepted to make the ink. And the situation Rumple's heart has definitely gotten more interesting now as it turns out Rumplestiltskin will technically die, but not the Dark One entity/curse as it'll takes over his body completely along with losing any ability to love! And the new title of the book...funny that the midseason finale 5 months ago was pretty much foreshadowing it!
If I had another problem other than the situation with Cora's characterisation/the flashbacks plot-wise (don't worry, they're only minor problems), it'd probably be that the ending was predictable given that we have a 2 hour finale to go and it'd obviously end in some sort of cliffhanger involving changing up everything! And we don't see Belle, so it's pretty annoying that we'll have to wait until the finale to see the fate of her relationship with Will after last week's heartbreaking scene with Rumple!
So overall...I just wanna go and give my mum a hug now! With nice parallels, very heart-warming moments and interesting development, this one is a more emotional chapter in the build-up for next week's finale (the problems I mentioned are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things in this compared to the other 'OK' episodes this season) along with some nice resolutions to the plots for this arc!
I am so so pumped for next week judging the promo as we'll get to see every character reverse roles in an alternate universe thanks to Isaac and Rumple as the villains play the heroes while the heroes play the villains, including Snow being The Evil Queen, Regina being a bandit and the one I'm most excited for, Rumple as a knight living a happy life with Belle (although I do question the show's official Twitter account changing it's name to Heroes and Villains)!

Interesting outfit Regina!

OK, kinda mean & random to kill him just for trespassing! Although bit of a random place for a wedding when they could've done one in the forest!

Nice to see you again Henry Sr!

Aww!

Nice to see you again Cora...

Very awkward...

I hate you Zelena...

HAHAHAHA!

I hate you Hook...

So they need Emma's blood in order to make the ink work...

Aww!

Aww, so sweet finally seeing mother & daughter reunite!

Nice mentioning the White Rabbit! And interesting Tink told her about her soulmate!

I'm so glad they're putting her right where she belongs!

Nice to see you again Severe Nurse! Seriously, never thought we'd see her again!

Oh God...

Regina, what are you doing?!

Eww, really creepy they're flirting...

Haha! 'It's a shame. I mean, writing a happy ending for The Evil Queen! Well, you've always been a favourite of mine! Very clear goals, plus totally damaged personality with a self destructive streak! A recipe for compelling And all the characters I've written for, you really do get screwed over the most!'

So he was planning on writing another book with that page!

Aww, bless her looking so happy at her daughter! And interesting she's the one who says they shouldn't get revenge, move on & be happy!

'Please! If you go, if you leave town you can't come back in! I can't leave at all! I'll crumble back into the dust I was before Gold revived me!' 'Wow, that's a bummer!' Wow, that's cold Lily! She's your mother who loves you!

Interesting she's seeing them of all people for help!

Strange Regina's acting all evil again!

Liking her style!

Aww, she looks pretty!

That's not Robin...

Nice seeing her apple tree again!

What the-?!

Ah, so that's why Rumple said bringing Lily back would accelerate his plan!

Lily, why are you channelling Vivian from Blood and Chocolate...?

Well, clearly turning into a dragon is genetic!

Haha!

Haha! 'Oh, visitors! I'll put the kettle on!'

Regina, what are you doing...?

Meh, don't care! Moving on!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MALEFICENT?!

Eek, that's gotta hurt!

Aww! About time they reconciled!

AWW!

Aww!

'I thought that you'd be this scary dragon bitch and we'd go and get our revenge, you know, blasting those two who did us wrong. But you're just...this real person. You're so freaking open. It kills me! 'But why does it kill you? I don't understand, what is it?' 'Because you want a relationship. A future! And anyone who's ever wanted that with me just-it's never worked out. I've always let them down. I destroy everything that I touch. That darkness they put in me! Serious business!' Pretty sad when getting down to it with Lily!

AWW!

OK, she may be insane, crazy, psychotic, and a murdering sociopath, but she's still your sister and is pregnant (curse my morality that pregnant women should never be harmed)!

'I never knew our mother! But I imagine I'm getting to know her right now.' 'Is that so?' 'She tossed me in a basket, sent me to Oz! She gave up a baby without even blinking an eye! And look at you now! You are EXACTLY like her!' For once she's got a point...

Pretty sad that she's infertile!

'I wanted you to have a child for your own sake! If I wanted to take your power, I'd find a much more direct way. Now please take one last piece of motherly advice. I hope you learn what's taken me a lifetime to

realize about myself: The only one standing in the way of your happiness is you.' Rather wise words, Cora!

'Don't get me wrong, Greenie, Robin isn't my happy ending. My happy ending is finally feeling at home with the world. And Robin is just a part of that world. A world that you're going to be forced to watch  from a distance! With the most restrictive visitation rights in history! See you at the next ultrasound! Interesting way of resolving this sisterly feud!

Oh God...

Interesting title!