BEWARE THE SPOILERS!!
Emma and Hook are drawn into the portal set by Zelena and transported to the Enchanted Forest—in the past. They work on trying to figure out how to return to the past when the Evil Queen arrives in a village in search of Snow White. Hook finds Emma suitable clothing and they begin their search for Rumplestiltskin. They come across the carriage carrying David and Princess Abigail. However, just as Snow White is about to rob the carriage, Emma snaps a twig which distracts Snow White and prevents her from ever meeting David. Emma and Hook find Rumplestiltskin’s castle. Rumplestiltskin finds them. He attempts to kill Hook but Emma manages to convince him about the time portal and who she is. She tells him about her interference with her parents and asks for his help. Rumplestiltskin agrees to assist them. Hook and Emma learn from the Dark One that Snow White is at the docks looking for a way out of the Enchanted Forest. They arrive there to find Snow White talking with the past Captain Hook. Emma keeps the past Hook occupied while present Hook speaks to Snow White aboard the Jolly Roger and asks her to steal the ring from David. Snow agrees and leaves. Past Hook returns to the Jolly Roger with Emma only to be knocked out by present Hook.
Emma and Hook head to King Midas’ castle where Rumplestiltskin disguises them and hands them an invitation. Snow White sneaks her way into the castle. She steals the ring when she caught by David but she manages to escape. News of Snow White’s presence in the castle spreads quickly. An archer prepares to fire upon Snow White and Emma intervenes. She is then captured by the Evil Queen. In the prison, Emma meets the woman who was in the village. She tells her that everyone is going to be executed in the morning. Elsewhere, David captures Snow White and Hook tells them about Emma and the ring. At nightfall, Red Riding Hood arrives to help Hook and David sneak into the castle. They make their way to the dungeon and discover that Emma has already freed herself along with the other prisoner much to Hook’s dismay. Elsewhere in the castle, Snow White confronts the Evil Queen.
Well, this is it Oncers, the end of another amazing season. From Neverland to Oz to Storybrooke, “Once Upon a Time” has taken the cast to many strange and interesting lands. In the finale, it goes back to the beginning. Emma and Hook are transported to the past through the completed portal Zelena tried to open before. That’s right, get ready for some “Back to the Future” references. Taking a page from Marty McFly, Emma meets her parents and blunders their chances of meeting and falling in love by ruining her mother Snow White’s robbery attempt on David’s carriage. Hook plays the voice of reason and suggests that they find a way to get Snow White and Charming together. The one person who can help them is Rumplestiltskin. It was fun watching Emma struggle with dealing with the familiar faces of the people she has come to know in their natural environment. She has a hard time refraining from calling Rumplestiltskin by his Storybrooke name Mr. Gold. This makes her situation interesting since she is a total fish out of water. Luckily she has Hook who guides her along the way. He shows her the ropes of living in the magical world and tries to keep Emma from interfering with the past. That’s right, Hook is the Emmett Brown to Emma’s Marty McFly. And just like “Back to the Future 2”, Hook runs into his past self. Thankfully, Hook knows how to (for lack of a better choice of words) handle himself and knocks out past Hook when he encounters him. Sadly, Emma’s bumbling has led to her mother being captured by the Evil Queen and then executed.
This sets a big change in Emma. When she thought Snow White had been killed (Snow used the dark fairy dust to turn into bug and escape), Emma was deeply heart broken. She hasn’t spent much time being with her parents even after their memories were restored in the Season 1 finale. While in Neverland, Emma made clear her resentment of being abandoned by them. After Snow is restored by the Blue Fairy, Emma realizes just how much she truly would’ve missed her parents if anything happened to them. This is furthered when they return to Rumplestiltskin’s castle after they succeed in reuniting Snow White and Charming only to be imprisoned by the Dark One. She confesses to Hook her desire to stop running and realize that her true home is with her family—Snow White and Prince Charming and her new little brother—in Storybrooke. With that, her magic is restored and the portal back to Storybrooke is opened. Okay, one more “Back to the Future” reference, Rumplestiltskin, a` la Doctor Brown, does want to know too much about his future for fear that he doesn’t want anything to ruin his chances of finding his son Baelfire. But curiosity gets the better of him and he confronts Emma about his future just before she steps through the portal. Emma spills the beans about Baelfire/Neil’s sacrifice and steps through the portal. With this knowledge, Rumplestiltskin drinks the memory potion to erase his mind of the current events that have occurred, which this could be homage to Emmett Brown tearing up the letter Marty left him about the night he is killed.
Being stuck in the past certainly has given Hook and Emma a chance to get closer to each other. They shared a kiss in Neverland. Now, they share a dance in King Midas’ castle. It took three seasons but we finally get to see Emma look like a princess. It was a perfect fit for her and it looked like Emma enjoyed the moment. Hook certainly did. Ever the opportunist, he uses the predicament to seek approval from David even though they have yet to meet. Future David is hesitant on Hook’s relationship with Emma but past David thinks he is an upstanding guy and states the Emma’s parents “are crazy” for not approving Hook being with Emma. If David only knew. Well, everything plays out as it should even with the forks set along the path. Hook and Emma return to Storybrooke where it seemed like everyone would finally get to have a happy ending. Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke and finally calls her parents “mom and dad”, and shares another kiss with Hook after he tells her he gave up his beloved ship, the Jolly Roger, in order to get a magic bean so he can return to Emma. Regina has finally gotten a chance to be happy with Robin Hood. That is until a huge wedge is thrust in between them. While in the past, Emma saves a woman imprisoned by Regina and bring her to the future. The woman turns out to be Maid Marion, who was supposed to die thus leaving Robin to be with Regina. Regina damn near had a family life and then this happens. Hook warned her the entire time not to screw with the past but Emma shows her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness—her desire to help people. With this, Regina is now thrown four steps (one for each season) back after coming so far to redeem herself.
Emma has reignited the feud between her and Regina just when Emma has come to terms with staying in Storybrooke. No doubt she will be blaming herself for this. Then again, it is her fault. But their renewed conflict will be nothing compared to the cold reception that is about to befall Storybrooke. For those of y’all thinking that the character at the end is Elsa from “Frozen”, you can relax. That movie is not being touched—at least, not entirely. The name of that character may be used but her storyline will likely follow that of the “Snow Queen” from the Hans Christian Anderson tale. Regardless, her icy majesty is coming to town and she has huge frozen chip on her shoulder for the person who imprisoned her—Rumplestiltskin.
