Was Emma able to talk Regina out of returning to her Evil Queen roots? (Photo property of ABC)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
Season Five has been a stony road for many of our characters, but for our former Evil Queen…it was a season full of high stakes drama.
First of all, her former adversary turned best friend and Henry’s mother, Emma Swan, took a walk on the dark side and became the latest Dark One. As the Dark One, Emma made several vicious attacks including breaking their son’s heart by forcing his first girlfriend to break up with him. While Emma did get better, she faced one bigger obstacle-the unwelcome return of her half-sister: Zelena, the Wicked Witch.
Cora’s eldest daughter disguised herself as her true love, Robin Hood’s first wife, Marian, and became pregnant with Robin’s baby. Even as Outlaw Queen dragged Regina’s sister through Camelot, Zelena became more determined to make her sister’s life a living hell until Emma’s manipulations forced the Wicked Witch to give birth prematurely to a beautiful baby girl. While motherhood may have softened her sister, Regina was forced to send Zelena back to Oz after the Wicked Witch threatened to turn her baby evil.
With Zelena out of Storybrooke, Regina and Robin Hood were able to turn their attention to helping Emma rescue a deceased Captain Hook from the Underworld. Inside the Underworld, Regina had a big family reunion as she helped both her parents complete their unfinished business and began to mend fences with her sister after Cora’s encouragement.
Her happiness was short lived as Zelena’s true love, Hades, escaped the Underworld and entered Storybrooke. The Lord of the Underworld threatened to wipe out the former Evil Queen from existence using an Olympian heirloom. Robin Hood sacrificed his life to save Regina and Zelena used the heirloom against Hades, ending his life and quest for revenge.
Did Robin’s death lead Regina back to the dark side? Read on to find out.
Last week, Captain Hook returned from the dead and reunited with his true love: Emma. While she was extremely thrilled with Hook returning to the Land of the Living, she knew that would get under Regina’s skin. At Robin Hood’s wake, Emma attempted to talk to Regina in a private setting about Hook’s resurrection, but a magic storm forced the Good Captain to enter Granny’s to a shell-shocked crowd.
The magical storm was caused by Gold, who harnessed Hades’ remaining lightning amulet. Zelena revealed that Gold had the Olympian crystal and used a tethering spell to harness Storybrooke’s magic. As the heroes looked for Gold, Emma wanted Regina to sit this one out. Regina was furious and was worried that the Evil Queen was going to return. Once, Regina left…Emma turned to Henry and asked him to head straight home.
Henry went straight to Gold’s shop and stole money. He called Violet to accompany him on a quest to rid the world of magic. Henry believed that dark magic was the root of his family’s pain and called their journey: “Operation Mixtape.” Before he left his grandfather’s shop, he took the Author’s pen and summoned the Olympian crystal.
As Henry exited the town, his actions caught the attention of his moms and Gold; the duo headed towards Boston. Emma and Regina arrived in Boston and hit a dead end. However, they discovered that their magic worked outside of Storybrooke meaning that Gold also has magic at his disposal. Meanwhile, Henry and Violet arrived in New York City.
Back in Boston, Regina used blood magic to track down Henry to New York City. As all three power players were making their way towards the Big Apple, Henry and Violet were trying to retrace Neal’s footsteps and were trying to find clues to how he was able to penetrate magic.
As Regina and Emma tried to find clues that would lead them to Henry in Neal’s apartment, the former Evil Queen honestly revealed that she was at odds with her instincts. She had to suppress her desire to rip out his throat and said that it was not fair that he survived, and Robin died. Regina added that as much as she wanted to give into evil, she did not and wants to do good.
Emma and Regina were able to track Henry and Violet to the Midtown Library’s rare reading room. Henry found many storybooks that look like the enchanted storybook. At first, Henry was furious with this discovery…but Violet was able to find the Holy Grail. He broke through the glass and saw the Olympian crystal’s reaction to the grail and Henry found the way to destroy magic.
But before they went anywhere, Gold arrived and knocked them both out. As Gold retrieved the Olympian crystal, Emma and Regina found Henry and Violet. An angry Henry revealed that magic caused his family’s unhappiness and wanted to destroy it. Violet and Henry were able to locate Gold’s hotel.
Regina was able to confront Gold and asked the Dark One if he wanted her best student to help him. Regina convinced him that the Evil Queen is ready to return and wanted to enter an alliance. As Regina distracted Gold, Emma arrived and broke into Gold’s room. The Dark One found out about their deception and before he could kill Emma and Regina, Henry burst into the room and destroyed the lighting bolt with the anti-Holy Grail.
After Gold and Henry ripped each other apart, Regina helped Gold track down the remaining person who has magic back in the real world. It turned out to be the Dragon (who made his first appearance back in the sophomore season). While the Dragon refused to help Gold, he decided to aide the former Evil Queen.
Back in Storybrooke, Snow, Charming, Hook and Zelena said farewell to Merida, Roland, and Robin Hook’s Merry Men. Unfortunately, Zelena’s magic opened a portal that sucked the quartet in. Zelena’s wand was broken, and they found themselves trapped in a cage. The evil warden thought that the quartet worked for Rumple. While he tried to suffocate Hook, the warden refused to reveal his identity.
As the evil warden left, a gardener who the quartet met when they arrived in the realm earlier asked for their assistance. The gardener used science to study Zelena’s wand and through his experiment, he was able to fix the wand. But, we also learned the gardener and the evil warden were one and the same….enter Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!
Mr. Hyde used Zelena’s wand to retrieve Pandora’s box, hoping that Gold would be able to be under his control. As Hyde escaped, Dr. Jekyll returned and revealed that the quartet were trapped in the Land of Untold Stories. In this realm, numerous characters escaped their troubles to begin new adventures (cameos from Aladdin and Jasmine; The Three Musketeers). Just as they arrived in Jekyll’s apartment, Hyde’s assistant forced Jekyll to drink the serum and transform back into Hyde.
As the heroes ran for cover, Hyde was able to separate himself from Jekyll. But before Hyde killed the doctor, the quartet was able to save the doctor. While they tried to escape the realm, Hyde cornered them. However, thanks to Henry…they were able to escape through a portal and were reunited with their loved ones.
Gold transported back to Hyde’s realm and confronted the brute. He wanted to make a deal with the Dark One. Back in New York City, Snow tried to break through to her one-time adversary. Regina revealed to Snow that she wished that the Evil Queen went away, so that she could be at peace. Using Jekyll’s formula, Snow was able to separate Regina from the Evil Queen.
The Evil Queen emerged and begin goading at Regina. The malevolent ruler stated that Regina needed her, Regina refused and crushed her blackened heart. The gang returned home to Storybrooke and Violet revealed that her father was from the real world was the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
As the gang entered Granny’s, Emma revealed that she loved Hook and Regina returned magic to Storybrooke. While the crystal disappeared, Hyde revealed himself and that Mr. Gold handed over Storybrooke to him. Regina challenged him, while the brute stated that the darkness was not easy to snuff out.
Back in New York, the Dragon encountered a resurrected Evil Queen. She declared war and crushed the Dragon’s heart.
Next season, the heroes must stop Hyde and the Evil Queen!
