I enjoyed this episode myself! I think that Cora kind of have had to die to pare down the storylines a bit. Though there were some extra interesting things such as Hey, Emma can do magic now and, wait, is Rumple Cora’s mom (Rumple did have sex with Cora before she had her change of heart, right - they at least strongly alluded to that)?
You mean ‘is Rumple Regina’s Dad’ - because even wth the best magic in the world, he couldn’t be her mom… but no - while they did make that allusion at first with the contract, Cora outwitted him and he changed the contract to be ‘his children’ and they never did the deed.
Yes, Regina’s dad.
But how do we know that Cora just simply never told Rumple (or had no idea who exactly was the father)?
It’s pretty clear to me that they didn’t do the deed - but had they , and Regina was his - then the contract would have been enforcable.
I’m still trying to get back to how after all that - He (rumple) still works with Cora later to train Regina - but I either missed the why or its unimportant.
^ or its something we’ll find out later.
Doesn’t he train Regina separately? Not really with Cora.
He does. I think we saw it last season when he comes help Regina after Cora kills the stableboy she loved. He teaches her how she can banish her mother to another realm.
An excellent episode, one which thankfully tied off a few storylines (Cora obviously, but also Rumple’s quest to win back his son, which now seems to have at least landed to a point where something new will be required to change it). Introducing the new reason for Regina to hate Snow is another good wrinkle; it really eliminates a number of characters from the central conflict–which IMO was getting a bit unwieldly–and reduces it down to a character battle between Regina and Snow.
I suspect after the two confront each other next week, things will simmer back to a brooding draw–Regina will no longer be a boring universal antagonist/big bad, and I can believe that even David would be sympathetic to her in future episodes. This in turn will allow the side characters to interact in more interesting ways, meaning we should get better stories and have to rely less on flashbacks to explain motivation (that device gets more implausible/annoying as the series ages). The threat of having their town/magic exposed to the outside world should also help in creating new interactions.
Of course, Hook is still in New York. Though I usually don’t like it when a thread is left hanging, I’d be OK if the show just forgot about him for the rest of the season; currently he’s a go-nowhere character with a singular motivation, so maybe it would be better if he stayed in NY and was revisited next season as a character significantly changed by the experience.
So is the source of conflict for the remainder? With the season now three-quarters over, I had figured they were setting up the “outside world” stuff for next season’s arc. But now Cora’s dead, Gold only has motivation to stay on his best behavior (for a while), and Hook’s too ineffective to be menacing. If grief has put Regina out of commission for now, I suppose there aren’t a lot of places to take the last few episodes. Really, though, I can find convincing YouTube videos of Death Stars hovering over American cities — won’t the hospital guy just look like a fraud or a raving lunatic?
Yeah. With no assets beyond a crew-less boat (albeit one that’s invisible and which flies), I don’t see how he could be anything more than an annoyance to the protagonists and a distraction to the viewers. But his connection to Bael was made too explicit for him not to be involved later on.
I can see the epically bad comic book spin off now: Captain Hook in New York 
The invisible flying boat reminds me: Did they actually show how they found it, or did they just wander around the Port of New York until they bumped into solid air?
Not shown - but I would assume since Baelfire can drive it - he can find it.
Have him team up with Hercules(special guest star Arnold Schwarzenegger).
Writes itself, really.
Had they previously established that Regina’s dad Henry was a prince? I had the impression he was just some lowly minor courtly type, above the peasants but not royalty himself. I realize there was a line in the episode about how far down in the line of succession he was, but I didn’t have the impression he was even that blueblooded.
Also, about Regina’s Dad…in the first episodes, when he was alive, he seemed quite a bit shorter than the prince that Cora ended up marrying. I just can’t see the young prince and the old Henry being the same person at all.
Might have to watch again and see if they ever refer to the ‘prince on sale’ by name.
Ok, checked with IMDB, and that is Prince Henry, so…<shrug>
Also, I somehow failed to realize that Rose McGowan played young Cora; I had to see who they found that looked so much like Barbara Hershey, and didn’t recognize her at all!
Who say’s Regina knew who her real father was? Something clearly happened that pushed Cora (and family) out of the Castle - which is why Cora was so invested in getting Regina married to the king.
Well, the prince Cora marries was named Henry, Regina’s father in other episodes (who she had to kill to make the curse) was named Henry and she named her son Henry after him, so I’d say either she knows, or her mom just really liked guys named Henry. Do you suppose the guy Regina killed was Henry the 8th (I am I am)
But I agree young Prince Henry’s actor looked almost nothing like old poppa Henry from season 1. Considering how well they cast young Snow White and how oddly well Rose McGowen worked as young Cora, I’ll guess I’ll let them slide on that.
I missed the blue Prince being “Henry” - maybe she curses him at some point to his new look?
weekly bump
Loved it until that last scene. I thought Henry might actually go with the Queen and leave Emma & co. And what an interesting twist with the visitor…
The last scene’s premise is that Snow’s heart will grow so dark that she’ll end up ripping the family apart, thus leading Henry to want to live with Regina…Regina, whose heart is already black as coal? I wonder how they’re going to develop that plot point, what sort of struggles Snow is going to have to go through…should be interesting.