Crying saves the day.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
The Dark Swan storyline had potential. Turning the Savior into the villain was a change capable of altering the landscape. And though we happily got to the end result — Dark Swan instead of Emma — they quickly lost ground by bringing in a curse with a memory wipe. I recently heard someone say Once Upon a Time has a few pieces they switch out and rearrange and two of those elements were a curse and memory loss. It gets old. They’re also steering in the wrong direction by not making Emma’s motivations clear. That was apparent from her talk with Mr. Gold tonight. He at least had Baelfire in mind, but what does Emma have? Simply craving power isn’t enough in this case.
Jennifer Morrison seemed to do something different with her voice and performance in this episode, too. Maybe it was only noticeable now because she was in most of the episode. In Camelot and in Storybrooke, her voice was deeper and she seemed to deliver lines slowly and move more deliberately. It makes sense for her to change after becoming Dark Swan — we know to expect that because of Rumplestiltskin — but she shouldn’t be so much like Dark Swan in Camelot. They could have been going for trying to communicate how she’s transforming, but it’s too similar.
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photo Gallery:
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
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Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
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Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
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Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
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Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
Once Upon a Time: “Dreamcatcher” Photos
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Emma did have an interesting development in the episode by crossing the line with Henry. She rationalized taking extreme action, and it was a smart way to show how using dark magic is changing her. If she’s willing to break Henry’s heart, it’s worse than all of us thought. Regina was fooled as well. This is a complete role reversal from the first couple of seasons when Emma was trying to get Regina to see the consequences of her actions and because of how her and Regina’s relationship has evolved, it’s an effective contrast.
The best aspects of the episode were the scenes between Regina and Emma and the brief moment between Emma and Henry in the yellow bug (her car doesn’t seem like much a of a Dark One-mobile so I think it’s a sign of Emma still hanging on to her humanity). The last scenes of the episode with Regina pleading with Emma hit hard and was emotional. The interactions between Henry and Violet though? Eh. There should be a sense of awkwardness because they’re both teens, but it didn’t work and slowed down the story.
Some parts of the plot did advance sooner than expected. Emma caught on to Arthur’s tricks so we thankfully didn’t have to put up with brainwashed Charmings for long — I wasn’t clear on whether Merlin’s work cleared up the control over Guinevere though and having her slap Arthur would have been nice to see — and Merlin was freed. I figured turning Merlin back to his human form would take most of the first half of the season, and I’m looking forward to seeing what complications there are with Merlin.
Finally, it’s a sweet nod to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to give Belle the enchanted rose but having her carry around a giant jar doesn’t work. It looks so out of place. Why not turn it into a necklace or anything that’s more portable?
The dialogue in tonight’s episode was flat and sometimes ridiculous but not necessarily because of the subject at hand. Some silliness is expected from a series about fairy tales, but that wasn’t the issue. The delivery and flow all felt a little off. We can see how Emma is slowly succumbing to becoming the Dark One and it’s great to see Merlin is already free, but the scenes between Henry and Violet were a distraction and a spell being cured with love is something we’ve seen before.
