The one thing I’ve always liked about Once Upon a Time is sometimes the stories don’t always have a happy ending. Season 6 is sort of shaping up that way. In this episode, “Heartless,” the Evil Queen comes up with a plan to finally get Snow White’s heart, but what happens when she does? Will the town be saved? And what happens when Belle finds out about the Queen and Rumple’s arrangement?
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A Chance Meeting
Back in the days of the Enchanted Forest, when Snow White is wanted by the Evil Queen, she goes on the run. She trades her jewelry to try and buy her way out of the kingdom. However, the Woodcutter is on to her and tracks her down in the forest. Meanwhile, David is out in the forest, on the way to the same port as Snow. He’s out trying to find a buyer for his farm.
Along the way, David runs into the Woodcutter but doesn’t realize who he is. The Woodcutter gives David a sleeping potion and uses his dog to track down Snow. He throws her in his cart. When David wakes up, he tries to free Snow and eventually defeats the Woodcutter. Snow tells David that he can’t see her or else he’ll be in danger too. He obliges and gives her the key. They chat for a bit, and she eventually gives him her coins to help keep his farm. In that moment, when she hands over the coins, their love is born in the form of a sapling, which will eventually be needed in their future in Storybrooke.
An Evil Plan
The Evil Queen wakes Snow from her sleep and brings her to the forest. She tells Snow that she wants her and David’s hearts, since he has half of Snow’s heart. She hands Snow a vial and says she has 12 hours to figure out what’s in the vial and hand over their hearts, or else the town will suffer.
Snow tells everyone what’s going on. Regina figures out that the potion in the vial is actually water from the River of Souls that Rumple took from the Underworld. It will essentially destroy all of Storybrooke if the Queen uses it.
The group seeks help from Belle and her books, but she can’t find anything to counteract the water. Fairy Blue arrives to help. She also says there’s nothing to counteract the water, though there is a sapling that’s hidden in Storybrooke that can trap the Queen to prevent her from using the water. However, the locating spell on the sapling will make it visible to the whole town, including the Queen, Rumple and Zelena.
Regina figures that the Queen and Rumple must have some sort of other arrangement, besides just trading spells, and sends Zelena to the shop so she can catch them in the act. Regina also figures this is a good distraction so they can find the sapling. Of course, Zelena is pissed when she finds Rumple and the Queen making out, saying that the Queen made a promise that they would stick together as sisters, without men as a distraction.
David, Snow and Regina do find the sapling. And when they touch it, it brings back all of their memories, including the ones from the woods and the coins. However, the Queen gets there a few moments later and destroys it.
Will True Love Prevail?
With just a few hours left, Snow and David ponder what to do. They remember the memories from the sapling and realize that no matter what, they’ve always been there for each other. They’ve always found their way back to each other, no matter what life threw at them. So they figure, what could possibly happen if the Queen takes their hearts?
Meanwhile, not knowing what’s going on, Emma and Hook head to Regina’s vault to clear it out, as this is where they had planned to keep the Queen after they trapped her. Hook reassures Emma that her parents’ love will prevail. He also reassures her that since she’s a product of their true love, she will also prevail and that her visions probably mean nothing.
With time just about ending, the Queen gathers the town to the cemetery, where she plans to release the water from the River of Souls. Emma and Regina get ready to use their magic, but Snow and David arrive. They assure everyone that their true love will prevail, even after the Queen takes their hearts.
The Queen is ecstatic, as she can’t believe she finally gets Snow’s heart. She removes the hearts. And instead of just destroying them, as death would be too easy, she says she’s going to give them all of her pain, the pain of being alone. She then shoves the hearts back into their bodies, and Snow immediately goes under a sleeping spell. David is confident he’ll be able to break the spell, as he has before. However, the Queen says this spell is far worse.
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One for the Other
David races to find Snow, who is sleeping in a tree tomb in the forest. Regina warns him that a kiss may not work this time to wake her up. However, it does. Except as soon as Snow wakes up, David falls asleep. Regina sadly tells them that their hearts are under a sleeping spell and that only one of them can be awake at a time. Basically, they can never be together.
And back at Rumple’s shop, Belle pays him a visit, as Zelena has filled her in on his affair with the Queen, as well as his plan to use the shears on their son. She informs Rumple that instead of using the shears to make his son love him, perhaps he should try to do it the old-fashioned way. She says that she knows he has the ability to love and that he’s not pure evil. She tells him that instead of just taking their son’s love, he should be worthy of it and earn it. Of course, now Rumple is mad at Zelena.
A Not-So-Happy Ending
So this was not a happy ending on Once Upon a Time. As with season 5 and the Underworld, there is now a lot of conflict. We have Emma and her deadly visions. We have the Evil Queen wreaking all sorts of havoc on Storybrooke. We have Snow and David torn apart. What else can possibly happen? I, for one, am excited to find out.
I’m also glad that they stuck to the main storyline this time and just gave us a glimpse of Snow and David’s love blooming. The extra storylines with the Untold Stories were getting a little bit crazy and out there for me, especially how they would try and tie in these random stories to the main story. I hope they keep their focus on the Queen and Snow for a while. And I hope that Emma can figure out how to change her destiny. Her shaking nerves are getting on my nerves!
What did you think of “Heartless”? Do you think Snow and David’s love can prevail over the sleeping spell on their hearts? Or do you think the Evil Queen has finally won? Let us know in the comments section below.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC. Want more news? Like our Once Upon a Time Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
