Once Upon A Time - 5x04 "The Broken Kingdom" FULL REACTION

I totally agree with Heidi on the Emma & Killian front. He's so caring, & makes the Eville in Emma abate, so that they can breathe again. & we get to see a heartfelt moment of Killian's devotion to Emma. 🌹🌹🌹🌹 Together they stand in the Middle of middle mist roses, & Emma is truly smitten kitten with Romantic Killian. ✨🌹✨ It's truly a Magiqe moment between them, after another like at the dance before Regina is attacked & Robinhood is injured by the jerk off in King Awfuls court. & As a Villain he isn't Peter (Rumple) Pan. He's just more Awful. Thank you Liam. ✨👁️✨❤️🌹👌🏻🦄🦄☯️☪️🙃✨🧚✨

The Broken Kingdom- Thank you so much for this reaction, Liam! I really love this episode for the most part. I love that this episode brings a twist to the King Arthur Legends as it delves further into Merlin's prophecy meant for Arthur. As I'm sure you expect from me, my favorite moments throughout this episode are those between Killian and Emma. While I appreciate the twist on the Arthurian Legends, I was still trying to get used to the idea that Arthur was a villain back when I saw this episode for the first time back when it first aired, and even though I've long since gotten used to Arthur as a villain and even like it in some ways, a number of other scenes outshine those that focus on Arthur and Guinevere. First... I love the sad moment between Killian and Emma in the beginning just after Emma struggles to shut out Rumplestiltskin in her head when he taunts her, as Emma suddenly fires a burst of magic out of her room, only for Killian to arrive just in time and having to dodge the blast. I love how Killian is there for Emma to try to offer her comfort like always as he pulls her close and holds her in his arms. He's so gentle and understanding. And like he states later on in the episode, Killian understands struggling with the demons in his head better than anyone. I absolutely love this moment. :) I also love how Killian and Emma go with Henry to the barn so they can get away from the castle for awhile. I love the scene inside the barn as Killian is happy and excited for Henry when he mentions he's met a girl he likes, and I love seeing Killian's and Emma's faces while they're hiding from Violet for Henry like he asks them to do once Violet walks inside, to find Henry supposedly alone. I love how once Henry and Violet leave, Killian and Emma share another tender moment when Killian shares with Emma his struggles to quell the voices in his head after they briefly talk about Henry keeping his crush on Violet a secret. I love how Killian states that his nights on the seas and waves once calmed him, and how Emma wishes for him that he could have the Jolly Roger shrunk within his pocket, until Killian suddenly gets the idea for them to ride a horse as Violet suggested to get Henry's heart racing, in order to help Emma in another way. And then... another of my favorite moments between them is as Killian explains Emma must help the horse to know she's no threat, only for the horse to suddenly become scared as Emma approaches it because the horse senses the evil inside of her. Most of all, I love how Killian asks Emma to put her faith in him and then assures her he won't ever stop fighting for them when she asks if he truly believes they can still have their future together like they both long for. So beautiful. I love seeing them racing through the forest on horseback until they come upon the field of middlemist flowers, where Killian helps Emma to discover that by putting her trust in him as she had, that the darkness within her mind vanished, leaving her and Killian alone. I love how Killian picks a single rose and gives it to her, and then seeing them kiss. And the shot of them standing together in the field of middlemist flowers while they're kissing as the camera pans out, is absolutely beautiful and it makes for one of this entire show's most beautiful screenshots. I truly love it too! :) Then... it's fantastic how the scene fades to return back to the present day storyline, as Dark Swan is holding tightly to the middlemist flower Killian picked for her, which she must have enchanted with her magic in order to keep it alive. It's a fantastic transition from one scene to another in order to bring us back to the present. Back to the Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot storyline... First, there is more to come in regards to Merlin and why Arthur, Guinevere, and the people believe in him and in the prophecy to come. But in regards to why Arthur becomes so obsessed with finding Excalibur and making it whole with the Dark One dagger... it's been explained that Arthur needs Excalibur whole in order to unite and build their kingdom, because for many years, Camelot is known to be a broken kingdom. Merlin has prophesied that it is Arthur's duty to unite a broken kingdom. So, Arthur becomes obsessed with finding the two pieces of this powerful sword because fulfilling his quest isn't as easy as he initially believed. Now... while I do appreciate the changes from the legends we know so well upon learning that Arthur is destined to repair a broken kingdom more than I initially did, I really don't like how this episode handles the backstory between Guinevere and Lancelot. I've never really liked any version of Guinevere's and Lancelot's love story, and Once Upon a Time's take on it is no different. I understand why this storyline within this episode is necessary to the main story arc throughout the Camelot arc, and why Guinevere falls in love with Lancelot in this show's storyline for their characters on account of Arthur becoming more obsessed with uniting the sword than with keeping his marriage together. However, I feel all of it could have been taken out of this episode and it would have been that much better for me. Unless I'm watching reactions of this episode like I have been with you, then I always skip these scenes between them any time I rewatch this episode on my own. I just don't feel the chemistry between Guinevere and Lancelot, or from the actors who play them, I don't like how Guinevere and Lancelot quests for the dagger and finds the Dark Ones Vault when Arthur couldn't, and I don't like how Guinevere saves Lancelot from the darkness, or how weird Lancelot seems to act after Guinevere saves him from being consumed by the darkness. And yet, I really do enjoy the moment between them and Rumplestiltskin when they make a deal with him, and take the Enchanted Sands of Avalon, in spite of this timeline being a bit wonky. Rumplestiltskin like always is great. However, the caption says that this storyline, and therefore this moment between them and Rumplestiltskin, is set five years earlier. However, it couldn't have been if you think about the timeline logically, because Rumplestiltskin was still cursed in Storybrooke five years earlier. And therefore... he couldn't have been in Camelot, or in the Enchanted Forest then. Which is why I suspect that this caption means this timeline takes place five years before Regina casts the original dark curse over everyone. This is the only way the timeline makes any sense. As for the Sands of Avalon... the sands work to make a person's greatest desire appear whole. Guinevere accepts Rumplestiltskin's deal with the hope of using the sands against Arthur so that he will believe Excalibur is whole and will therefore stop obsessing over finding the dagger. However, when Arthur uses the sands on Guinevere instead, the sands make her believe their marriage is fixed and is as perfect as it first was. And when he throws the sands over all of Camelot, the people therefore have all come to believe their King has succeeded in repairing their broken kingdom, and has made them believe he is a good and righteous King. I hope this helps to explain who the sands work, in case you might be confused. The sands therefore make both David and Mary Margaret believe the same about Arthur being a good King when they too become enchanted by the sands. I really like the idea of the Sands having the power to make something appear whole in the eyes of whoever becomes cursed. And I think it's clever of the creators and writers to have Arthur use the Sands against his entire kingdom as he does. I also really love the shot of seeing Arthur's castle become fully built upon seeing the sands fall over the kingdom too. Next... I really love the scene when it's revealed that David and Mary Margaret has tricked Arthur into believing they were on opposite sides, and therefore tricks him into believing he briefly had the real dagger in order to get him to reveal his true colors. I'm happy they were both able to put their differences aside so they could get to the bottom of who was really deceiving them and to protect their daughter. And lastly... I also really like the end scene between Dark Swan and Gold as Emma tells him he's needed to pull the sword from the stone. I just really love the lines and the tenseness between these two characters with Emma being the current Dark One and Gold having been a former Dark One. And it all leads into Emma enlisting Merida, who is also revealed to have been brought to Storybrooke in the curse, as Emma rips out her heart once again in order to force her to force Gold to find courage in spite of his cowardice. Very smart. Thank you so much for another great reaction, for a pretty good episode! Until your next reaction, my friend... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum