ONCE UPON A TIME “Page 23” Review

Forgive Others, Forgive Yourself

In that vein, the other big theme of Sunday’s episode is forgiveness. Part of loving others is owning up to your transgressions and apologizing. After their final battle, the Evil Queen is remorseful and apologizes to Regina; Regina forgives the Evil Queen for the mayhem she has caused this season. It doesn’t stop there. Before the Evil Queen is written away to her fresh start in the dream realm she created, she owes a certain princess an apology. Snow White has been battling the Evil Queen for a very long time. Remember, the Evil Queen interrupted her wedding and cast the first Dark Curse back in season one. The Evil Queen has been the cause of so much turmoil in her life, and she has given her chances of redemption time and time again. Regina has come a long way and redeemed herself, but the fresh wound of a new curse does not make Snow so quick to forgive her. Regina points out how Snow has forgiven her so therefore the Evil Queen can also be given a second chance. The Evil Queen apologizes to Snow White, and now after six seasons, 126 episodes to be exact, Snow White and the Evil Queen have made peace.

Regina gives the Evil Queen a chance for a new start by sending her to a realm where she could find real happiness — the dream realm she created for Emma which happens to be where Robin of Locksley resides. Regina doesn’t have any regrets about not finding Robin when she could have, but she allows the Evil Queen to find her Robin faster and not waste those moments. It does not matter the realm or the version of the characters, Regina and Robin will always find each other and fall for each other. This is true love, and this is their happy ending.

Killian, on the other hand, struggles with forgiving himself. He is ashamed and fearful of telling the truth to Emma and her family, but he is more ashamed of himself. Part of Nemo’s advice to him on the docks is to either ask for forgiveness or live with the guilt and forgive himself. It goes back to the fact that he, like many of us, have a hard time forgiving ourselves. Even when he is validated by others as a reformed good man of honor, he has a hard time believing it for himself. Would the people he cares most for love him after seeing all the darkness within? Emma does.

When Emma catches him putting his dark secret on a dreamcatcher, she isn’t angry at him for what he did. Emma is hurt because after everything they have been through, he does not seem to trust her with his baggage. They have been each other’s equals, lifting the other up when they were down and believing in the good that has always been there. They have sacrificed for each other, dived into the darkest versions of themselves, and overcame death to be together. Going into a marriage, there can’t be secrets or worse, a lack of faith in the other. They needed to be honest with each other, all walls down. That’s marriage. Emma knows the weight of that, so she gives back the ring hoping that her Killian will be ready to step up and mean it when does really propose, for every aspect of themselves.

It takes him a hot minute, but after a talk with Snow, it finally clicks. When things get tough or you feel unworthy, that is not the time to run away. It’s then you run towards the people you love most. That takes courage and vulnerability, but it is worth it to be known and loved completely for all your flaws by another. He has that with Emma, and it was crazy for him to even entertain the idea of not being by her side. Emma, too, doesn’t give up immediately; she waits for Killian to come home because she loves him and wants to fight for their future together. Now that gives Gideon the perfect opportunity to try and separate the pirate from his princess. He does, and Emma currently thinks that Killian, like others before, has abandoned her. However, if their story has taught us anything, it is that there is no amount of force great enough to ever separate these two. Come what may Killian will fight with every cell in his body to get back home to his Swan, and their reunion will be worth the wait.

Worth Mentioning

• A flashback to Regina’s dark past this week brought back the hopeful Tinkerbell, and we definitely missed her! It may have been one scene, but it got us reminiscing about the Neverland arc of season three.
• Not to point out the obvious, but Killian’s current predicament could have been avoided if he had just asked Nemo to meet him on land. Better yet, forget telling Nemo and just run home, Killian!
• Seeing the Mills sisters working together was another highlight of the episode. Now that Snow has forgiven the Evil Queen, maybe it is finally time for Regina to forgive Zelena.
• Let me get this straight: the one rule that comes with being the Author is not changing the lives of people in his book. However, all the characters in the new book are a carryover from the previous book. The Evil Queen is a part of Regina’s past, and she has carried that with her from both book timelines… yeah Henry, you still broke the rules.
• You would think priority number one before sending the Evil Queen off to her fresh start would be breaking the curse on Snow and Charming. Well, you thought wrong! Maybe we should give some attention to that. I’m sure Baby Neal is missing both of his parents wherever he is.
• Next week’s episode has Ariel and Jasmine teaming up. This is the princess power team up my 90s heart has been dreaming of, and I’m all forms of excited for it!