Once Upon a Time — Season 3 Review (WARNING:Spoilers)

Season 3A

"The Heart of the Truest Believer"

The main characters in Neverland sans Rumplestiltskin.

Last season seems to have built up to something that will happen here, right?

Because the last season implied that people in the real world know about magic and that they are trying to get rid of it?

Yeah, well, it turns out that that was just a conspiracy type thing. 

Those people that hate magic? 

Well, they're actually working for Peter Pan.

Oh, boy.

Peter Pan in disguise.

And Peter Pan, does he hate magic then?

Nope, he just wanted Henry to be kidnapped and taken to Neverland cause he apparently is important.

It takes FOREVER for them to say how he's vital.

In fact, it's not till near the end that they state his purpose.

And what IS his purpose?

Well, he has the Heart of the Truest Believer.

And why does that matter?

Well, as it turns out, it's vital for Peter Pan to extend his life to immortality/eternal youth.

Also, since the magic on Neverland cannot sustain his life, Henry's heart will do that.

Henry allegedly in Neverland.

Well, that is KINDA fucked up, right?

Yeah.

But how was the season, aside from that other shit?

Well, let's see...

Those villains from the end of season 2 die almost instantly.

Greg and Tamara on Neverland moments before they both die.

Is that not surprising?

Yes, it is.

And why is it?

Well, personally and subjectively, I was hoping that the series would be taken elsewhere. 

Like, maybe Neverland is beginning to absorb the magic of all other places and that's what was going to kill all magic elsewhere, but this?

It was kind of a let down, I will admit.

But then again, this season (half-season) is more about character development.

Gold and his father, Pan, in Storybrooke.

For example, we find out that Peter Pan is actually Gold's father.

Yikes.

That fucking sucks.

And then, to make it worst, Gold keeps hallucinating Belle and then he even thinks he is hallucinating Neal/Bae.

That was kinda...depressing.

Like, he actually misses them so much that he begins thinking that they are real and stuff.

And then later on he teams up with Regina and stuff goes down with Ariel.

And of course that kinda ties in to the thing with Henry becoming a Lost Boy.

And Snow and Emma find that they do not have the relationship they should.

And all sorts of stuff happens.

(Like that ship, Captain Swan?)

Hook and Emma after she kisses him.

And it all leads up to them returning to Storybrooke, but with Peter Pan switching bodies with Henry...

After that occurs, a lot of things happen which eventually lead to Pan dying by being killed by Gold, which was a definite surprise in its own accord.

Everybody kinda mourns but finds that Pan's Dark Curse cannot be stopped.

So, of course, Emma and Henry must leave, and they do, and it's kinda tragic and depressing.

So, this is the SECOND Dark Curse...

Felix and Pan in Henry's body in front of the Well with magical properties enacting another Dark Curse.

And then it ends.

Off to be continued next half-season.

Well, this season was kinda messy, but it was alright.

They brought back Neal even though he nearly died last season.

Ariel appeared and allegedly got her happy ending??

Belle lost Rumplestiltskin yet AGAIN.

Felix and Pan both died, so if you shipped them, ah, such agony.

And finally, Emma and Hook might eventually go canon.

Interesting to say the least.

Alright, now off to next season:

Season 3B

"The Wicked and the Evil"

Ad for OUAT S3B.

Alright, second half of the season, what have we got here?

Well, mostly, it's kinda silly at this point.

First, there was a Dark Curse enacted by Regina The Evil Queen, right?

Image courtest of Tumblr user Binxxy.

Well, Peter Pan enacted a Dark Curse of his own as well that was manipulated into not being as bad it was meant to be.

Pan as Henry enacting the Dark Curse.

It just took everyone back to the Enchanted Forest (I just showed restraint by not saying Homelands like in Fables, hahaha.)

Finally, though, Snow White, SURPRISINGLY, did a Dark Curse of her own and THAT curse was manipulated into working for the manipulator: The Wicked Witch of the West.

Zelena changing the terms of the curse to benefit her.

Her name here is Zelena, as apparently, she does not have an actual name, from what I can tell.

(Her name is Elphaba elsewhere, I think??)

Anyhow, Zelena wants what Regina wanted...erm...kind of.

Regina wanted for Snow White's happiness to be taken away but Zelena wants Regina's happiness taken away.

Yikes.

Of course, they have slightly differing reasons.

For example, Regina wanted Snow White's happiness gone because Snow White took away her happiness because she is at fault for Daniels' death.

On the other hand, Regina is at fault for Zelena's unhappiness simply because Regina was able to give their mother, Cora, wealth and happiness, and Zelena was the product of what Cora thought was true love and was actually a one-night stand for the other guy.

Like, if I was Cora, I'd have found the guy and taken revenge.

Seriously, that guy is a major dick.

ANYHOW, Zelena has taken away everything from Regina but her real way of trying to take Regina's happiness is not by returning them to the real world.

No, instead she wants to go back in time and become Cora's favorite as well as Rumplestiltskin's by avoiding the birth of Regina from ever taking place.

The Time Travelling Spell.

Holy shit.

Zelena is seriously intense.

However, because the spells of time travel have been too complicated to figure out, she will need very specific ingredients.

And these are interesting.

Like, she needs Snow White's newborn??

And Prince Charming's courage as well as Regina's heart and finally Gold's brain.

Of course, these ingredients are not exact.

Like, she just needs symbols of the four directions and she needs Love, Innocence, Courage, and Wisdom, or symbols of them, anyways.

After she finally gets them she is stopped by Regina using light magic because Emma was robbed of hers and Gold kills Zelena while she is in a jail cell as a deal to his son and she posthumously (after death) activates the time travelling spell which sucks in Emma and Hook.

There, they accidentally stop Emma from existing and she does a ton of things to make her exist again, and then come back to present day Storybrooke. 

Of course, they messed things up by bringing with them two things.

One, Robin Hood's dead wife.

Robin Hood's family intact once more.

Two, an urn that contained Elsa from Frozen.

Elsa using her ice powers to destroy the urn which captured her and kept her prisoner.

Basically, these two things only came back so that season four could kick off with more story arcs.

It's kinda super convenient, but it's interesting because now Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff will be shown live-action on-screen and Regina will have a personal vendetta again Emma instead of Snow.

Additionally, Elsa will be kind of an anti-villain, probably fighting Rumplestiltskin.

But enough speculation, this is about season three.

Ariel and Belle inside of Gold's shop.

So ...

How was this season?

It was pretty good.

Like, the second half was really good.

The first half was just okay, although it would've been great if both Peter Pan and Zelena had lived.

Especially Zelena.

She is my favorite villain so far that is not a main character.

Might be my favorite villain overall, though.

She's seriously that great.

She's smart and cunning and can do so much more that Regina or Rumplestiltskin can.

And her reasons for revenge are all out of envy, which can make sense.

Although her backstory with Dorothy ...

That was strange.

Glinda, Zelena, and Dorothy in Oz.

Anyhow:

Pros of the entire season:

We finally have even more of an origin story with Rumplestiltskin.

We find out that Regina has more of an extended family than before, which makes things even more ridiculous and interesting.

We have a lot of potential with the time travelling spell if anyone else can figure it out.

We found out that Regina has so much in the way of redemption she may even be able to use light magic instead of dark magic permanently.

Regina using light magic on Zelena.

Cons of the entire season:

Felt too perfect, honestly.

Like, EXACTLY at episode eleven the first arc ends and the season is twenty-two episodes long and the season finale already gave us hints as to what the fourth season will have happen.

Greg and Tamara were more than useless and that feels like lost potential.

The other fairy tales keep getting shown and solved too quickly, like, why didn't Cinderella get shown more or Tinker Bell or Grumpy's story.

Grumpy and Nova in the first season.

Grade:

Watch this season if you're okay with a slow build-up that eventually becomes extremely interesting despite it faults here and there.