{"id":7282,"date":"2015-11-09T14:56:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T19:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=7282"},"modified":"2015-11-09T14:56:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T19:56:06","slug":"review-once-upon-a-time-s5-e7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2015\/11\/09\/review-once-upon-a-time-s5-e7\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: ‘Once Upon a Time’ S5 E7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nimue<\/a>

Nimue tells Emma to kill Merlin.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week\u2019s episode of Once Upon a Time<\/em> may have been my favorite episode of the season so far. Sure, there are still a few unanswered questions like: where is Merlin now and how did Emma turn dark? But there was still plenty of information, so much so that I ran out of room for notes.<\/p>\n

One of the first things I noted was that the chalice \u2013 which we later learn to be the Holy Grail \u2013 was similar to Excalibur in that it turned those not worthy to wield it to dust. Which, duh, because we also learned this Once Upon a Time <\/em>episode that Merlin forged the Holy Grail into Excalibur in an effort to cut down his immortality to be with the woman he loves.<\/p>\n

Too bad that the theories about Nimue \u2013 the woman in question \u2013 were right; she was indeed the first Dark One. The writers of Once Upon a Time<\/em> spent the episode toying with the possibility, making you believe it one second with quotes such as: \u201cI know what it\u2019s like to lose someone to the Dark One,\u201d and then making you doubt your deduction skills the next second with others like, \u201cthis is where the first Dark One killed Nimue.\u201d Of course, what Merlin really meant is that when Nimue became the Dark One she killed the woman she used to be. Mhmm, sure.\u00a0He was still probably being intentionally misleading.<\/p>\n

It was interesting, however, to finally get some insight into Merlin\u2019s backstory, as well as to see the progression of Nimue\u2019s darkness. There were some hints thrown in by the Once Upon a Time<\/em> writers that the darkness was already within her, for example her desire for vengeance upon Vortigan, and her eagerness to drink from the Holy Grail and become immortal. There was also the fact that Merlin couldn\u2019t use his magic on Nimue (which I\u2019m hoping made other people besides me think of Twilight<\/em>, otherwise I\u2019ll have to be embarrassed) that should have made Merlin suspicious.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0episode was a quality one because it was reminiscent of some of my other favorite episodes of Once Upon a Time<\/em>. There were\u00a0multiple twists and red herrings within the Merlin and Nimue storyline that I was completely transfixed and on the edge of my seat the entire 41 minutes and 34 seconds.<\/p>\n

Not to mention the other source of drama, the possibility that Emma would kill Merlin once she was face to face with an (I think?) imaginary Nimue. Both Merlin and I were worried. I was sure that would be the reason behind Merlin\u2019s absence in Storybrook, as well as Emma\u2019s darkness \u2013 Merlin does say this episode that \u201cif you kill your magic will turn dark.\u201d But I guess those are answers for another day.<\/p>\n

What we did get an answer to, however, was the ever looming \u201cwill Emma reunite Excalibur and the dagger or won\u2019t she?\u201d It was the last thing she did this episode, though it was obvious throughout that that would be how they ended this week\u2019s episode of Once Upon a Time<\/em>. However, I would like to let it be known that I\u2019m still holding on to my theory that she\u2019s not planning on eradicating all lightness like everyone in Storybrook keeps saying.<\/p>\n

There was a moment in\u00a0this\u00a0Once\u00a0Upon a Time <\/em>showing\u00a0during the Camelot flashback where she asks Merlin, \u201cis it possible for someone to have a darkness but use it for good, use it to protect people?\u201d I hope that was a hint to her real intention, because I\u2019d really like to be right for once.<\/p>\n

There were some other great moments this episode that I\u2019d like to point out. The first being the inclusion of a young Apprentice in Merlin\u2019s backstory. At one point Merlin tells his Apprentice (still didn\u2019t catch a real name) to \u201cgo check on the brooms\u201d which I\u2019m sure was a little hint towards the walking brooms that previous episodes of Once Upon a Time<\/em> borrowed from Fantasia<\/em>. I love little moments like that, sequences that you almost miss but then catch later.<\/p>\n

The next thing I wanted to point out was more of a realization about Zelena that I had this Once Upon a Time <\/em>installment. While the Storybrook gang falling for Zelena\u2019s nice act yet again didn\u2019t quite shock me, what did shock me was how similar Zelena is to Regina. Of course, they both have some serious issues with their mother, but even more than that \u2013 they\u2019re both so sarcastic and quick with the one-liners; Zelena\u2019s best ones this episode being: \u201cI do love hearing a sensible person talk\u201d and \u201cif Sir Castic would let me speak\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s great that Zelena is always there for the Once Upon a Time <\/em>writers to rely\u00a0on to stir up trouble and double cross everyone over and over again (do they ever learn), I almost like it better when we get to see this real side of her, a side that\u2019s so similar to Regina it makes me wonder if I could learn to love her too. It\u2019s just unfortunate that 90% of those times we think we\u2019re about to see a real side of her she\u2019s just pretending.<\/p>\n

Next week\u2019s episode of Once Upon a Time<\/em> will be a two hour special. So long as it isn\u2019t a depressing backstory about a guy and his staff (shout out to Dalton Baggett\u2019s Walking Dead<\/em> staff joke last week) I couldn\u2019t be more excited. Who am I kidding, even if next week\u2019s episode of Once Upon a Time<\/em> was a rip-off of that, I would watch it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s episode of Once Upon a Time may have been my favorite episode of the season so far. Sure, there are still a few unanswered questions like: where is Merlin now and how did Emma turn dark? But there was still plenty of information, so much so that I ran out of room for<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":7283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,176],"tags":[2460,790,2660,2735,1923,2659,2453,1058,1023,2736,810,1820,2734],"class_list":{"0":"post-7282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-television","8":"category-television-reviews","9":"tag-camelot","10":"tag-disney","11":"tag-excalibur","12":"tag-fantasia","13":"tag-king-arthur","14":"tag-merlin","15":"tag-once-upon-a-time","16":"tag-review","17":"tag-television-2","18":"tag-the-holy-grail","19":"tag-the-walking-dead-2","20":"tag-tv-review","21":"tag-twilight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}