After several one-plot episodes in season 6, Once Upon a Time has touched upon a bunch of storylines to help move the show along. In “Page 23,” Hook struggles to reveal his past to Emma, and Regina and the Evil Queen have a showdown. Meanwhile, in Fairytale Land, Regina seeks revenge on Snow White, instead of listening to her father and Tinker Bell and finding her true love, Robin.
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Cupid’s Arrow
Regina searches the forest and villages to find Snow White, seeking revenge. One day, after failing to find her, she threatens the villagers, but explains that she loves them, while Snow White doesn’t. Tinker Bell shows up and wants to know what happened to Regina. She fears Regina gave up on love because she doesn’t think she deserves it. She urges Regina to stop her search for Snow White and go find the man with the tattoo, Robin. Regina spares Tinker Bell’s life to show mercy.
At her castle, Regina’s father urges her to stop seeking revenge on Snow. He gives Regina her mother’s spell book. He says there’s a map inside that leads to a powerful object, which will lead Regina to Snow White. He says he’ll help her find it. However, once they get there, a portal emerges. Regina says it’s filled with light, and realizes her father lied to her. He encourages her to see him out, and together they go through the portal and find Cupid’s Arrow. He says it will lead her to gaze upon the person she loves the most. He adds that Tinker Bell told him about Robin and wants Regina to find him.
Regina is upset, so instead of using the arrow to find love. She uses the spell book to curse the arrow, and it will now allow her to gaze upon the person she hates the most. Except when she shoots it, it flies into her castle and her closet. That’s when she realizes that the person she hates the most is herself.
A Separation and Showdown
In Storybrooke, the Evil Queen wastes no time plotting her revenge against Regina now that she’s no longer in snake form. She works a deal with alternate Robin. She’ll send him back to his realm, if he helps her dig something up. Once in the graveyard, he digs up the shears from Aladdin that separate someone from their destiny. She’s going to use them to separate herself from Regina once and for all, and then she’s going to destroy Regina.
The Queen shows up to see Henry, where she is carrying around his author’s pen to make sure he doesn’t use it against her. Then she gives him a note to give to Regina. The note is actually page 23 from the storybook, the one that has Regina and Robin in their happy ending that Regina actually never got. Emma and Snow offer to go help Regina face the Queen, but Regina wants to go alone.
At the mayor’s office, the Queen has Robin tied up to instill fear in Regina. When Regina arrives, the Queen sends Robin away. She then uses the shears to separate herself from Regina. They both whip up some swords and battle it out. Eventually, Regina wins and ties up the Queen. She takes out her heart, but as she begins to crush it, she looks in the mirror and sees her old self. She realizes that she’s not that person anymore, and she does, in fact, love herself. She then takes her own heart out and merges hers and the Queen’s. She puts them back inside each other, and tells the Queen that she now has some of her love, while Regina has some of the Queen’s darkness.
A Fresh Start
After the heart exchange, as they clean up the house, Regina asks where Robin went. The Queen says she made good on her promise and sent him home. She asks Regina if she regrets not walking through those tavern doors years ago. Regina thinks about it and realizes that perhaps Robin wasn’t her happy ending because she’s happy with her life now with Henry and her family.
Together the Queen and Regina ask Henry to write the Queen a story. Even after Snow and Zelena try to convince Regina that the Queen can’t be good, Regina knows the Queen can change and get her happy ending. The Queen apologizes to everyone, including Snow for everything that she’s done. Then Henry writes in the book that the Queen goes somewhere to get a fresh start.
The Queen is transported to the tavern where Robin is in the alternate realm where she can start fresh with Robin and get her happy ending.
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Forgiving or Forgetting?
Hook heads to the dock to try and figure out whether he should tell Emma about his past. He runs into Nemo, who is preparing the Nautilus for a trip. Nemo urges Hook to either tell Emma and seek her forgiveness, or forgive himself and move on. Hook, of course, does neither. At home, he uses the dream catcher to try and erase his memories, but Emma catches him and sees what he did. She doesn’t get upset about his past, but rather she gets upset that he kept this secret from her. When Hook says her parents won’t forgive him, she says they would learn to. She then gives back the engagement ring and tells him that when he’s ready to lean on her and tell her the truth, then they can get their lives back on track.
Hook heads to find Nemo again and tells him that he needs to be the man Emma fell in love with again. He tells Nemo he’d like to go on a soul searching trip on the Nautilus with him. However, later on, Snow finds Hook on the dock getting ready to leave. She tells him that the Evil Queen got her happy ending. This inspires Hook, so he goes onto the submarine to tell Nemo he won’t be going on the trip anymore. However, as he goes to leave, the submarine starts to submerge. Gideon shows up and says he needs Hook to finish out his plan outside of Storybrooke.
Meanwhile, Emma is at home waiting for Hook, who obviously won’t be home for a while.
Will It Work?
So will Gideon’s plan work? By keeping Hook out of Storybrooke, will he be able to defeat Emma? Will her vision of her death finally come true? Or will Hook make it back in time to gain Emma’s trust and save her?
I’m glad that the Queen got her happy ending, though I find it hard to believe. I was kind of on Snow and Zelena’s side when they kept trying to tell Regina that the Evil Queen probably had something terrible planned. But perhaps finding love in Robin will soften her. Love does heal everything. It’s just too bad that the Queen couldn’t undo her sleeping curse for Snow before she left.
I do wish they’ve move along Emma’s storyline a bit. Her story has been sort of a sub-plot since Gideon was introduced. But maybe the reason of season 6 will focus on her preparing to battle him.
What did you think of “Page 23?” Do you believe the Evil Queen finally got her happy ending on Once Upon a Time? Is that really possible? Do you think Hook will make it back to Storybrooke in time to save Emma? Do you think she can forgive him for keeping secrets? Let us know in the comments below.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC. Want more news? Like BuddyTV’s Once Upon a Time Facebook page.
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Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
