Once Upon A Time - 4x12 “Darkness on the Edge of Town” FULL REACTION
Added 2020-05-09 21:25:49 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
Comments
The second half of this season is definitely my favorite of the two story lines. I'm so excited for you to see what's to come. :D
Aimee
2020-05-20 21:05:27 +0000 UTCDarkness on the Edge of Town- Thank you very much for another fun and exciting reaction for my favorite show!!! What a fun episode Darkness on the Edge of Town is. :) And I cannot wait for many more episode reactions to come. First... I love the overall backstory, that reveals to us how Rumplestiltskin, Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula all first met as Rumplestiltskin summoned them together for a secret meeting. And not only does Rumple convince the Queens of Darkness to trust him despite him lying to them about his true intentions in helping them as well, but we also learn how Rumple originally gains possession of the dark curse, which we learned way back in the second episode of season one, The Thing You Love Most that he had given it to Regina so she could then cast the curse for him, yet that she later gave it to Maleficent until she stole it back from Maleficent. I always love great connections to past episodes, especially one so early on. Later, Rumplestiltskin leads the villainesses to the cavern where the orb containing the dark curse is protected by three challenges, and the dangerous Chernabog which each one of the women must work together in order to break through it and to survive. Thankfully for them, they all succeed and they survive. However, Rumple had tricked them and stole the dark curse away from them, then left them there to die, which started the women's even deeper distrust in the Dark One. Now, as for the present day storyline inside Storybrooke... in the beginning we see the peace that's come over their town within the last six weeks due to Gold having been banished from Storybrooke. We see a brief montage that shows Regina back to being the Mayor, Snow teaching again while Granny babysits baby Neal for Snow, and it shows Emma meeting up with Killian as he has a coffee waiting for her. I love their little kiss, then seeing Killian kiss Emma on her forehead before she walks away and he follows Belle inside the library. So cute. Emma and Killian are absolutely adorable together!! I can't say it enough. :) You stated that you're a bit disappointed with how quickly and easily Gold gets back into Storybrooke, but you have to remember that it wasn't right away that he gets back in. It is the very next episode for us, yes. And that's because of all that's to come... We definitely need all twelve episodes left within season four to show us the events of all that's happened in these villains' past, in order to bring us into this present. However, Gold was living out in the real world with Ursula for six weeks, living like a bum and struggling day by day while working on his plan to get back into Storybrooke. So it's not all as easy as it appears. And I really think you'll be quite happy with all that's to come too. :) Next... we have a beautiful scene between Killian and Belle inside the library where they're working together to find a way to free the fairies, as well as the Apprentice from the Sorcerer's hat. Killian's frustration in being unable to find anything for the last six weeks is completely understandable, as it comes more from his guilt that he shouldn't feel badly about, except for him having agreed to help Gold imprison the old man within the hat as well, before Gold ripped out Killian's heart. And then... this conversation leads Killian to bring up how he had been a fool for allowing himself to fall for Gold's lie, while Belle feels the same way upon realizing how naïve she had been to trust in him as well. I love this conversation between them, as Killian has come to be a really good friend and confidant for Belle. Beautiful moment between them. And it's one of my favorite scenes throughout the episode. Also... I love how Gold convinces Ursula and Cruella to help him in his dark plan, and seeing them come together, then arrive outside of Storybrooke, in Cruella's classic Rolls Royce with the license plate that spells out, "DEV IL". I love their overall partnership as they seek out to gain back their happy endings, in their own search for the Author. Meanwhile... the heroes are busy fighting and dealing with the Chernabog that we see was somehow also trapped within the Sorcerer's hat, no thanks to Gold once again because we find out that it was him who gave Belle the spell to free the fairies from the hat as he poses as a professor from Oxford who is talking within Belle through emails, having given Belle the spell to free the fairies, but also one that would free the Chernabog as well in order to unleash havoc on the town. In order to create trouble for the heroes so that he could use the beast as a way to convince the heroes to let Cruella and Ursula into Storybrooke. I didn't expect this and I love this whole brilliant idea. And thanks to Ursula and Cruella, the heroes learn that the Chernabog goes after the person with the most potential in their heart for darkness, but thankfully Regina and Emma figure out for themselves that the only way to defeat it is to force the magical creature over the town line, outside of Storybrooke where no magic exists. And after quite the exciting battle as they race in Emma's yellow bug to the town line... they succeed as Regina surrenders herself to the creature as she thinks she's the one the creature is after due to her heart still being black, in order to protect Emma, only to duck just in time as Emma slams on her breaks so that the Chernabog goes flying over the town line and dispels. So exciting! Unfortunately... we later learn through Gold as he explains this to the two Queens of Darkness, that the creatures wasn't after Regina, but Emma Swan. Yikes!! I love all the mystery within these storylines. Also... I love how Regina is able to finally free the fairies from the hat after she casts the spell so she can release them, then seeing Killian continuing to feel guilty at their celebration inside Granny's afterwards, until Emma comes out to assure him he doesn't deserve to keep feeling so guilty, since it was Gold's control over Killian's heart that forced him to do so. This is my other favorite moment in this episode. I love how Emma attempts to lighten his mood as she talks about going to "buckle some swash", then how she assures Killian that to her, he has a well deserved "mark in the hero column". Such a cute moment between them. I love it! And like you... I am so happy that Killian's storyline from the Frozen arc is carried through into this new arc with him now feeling the guilt coming from his actions, and that this storyline for him hasn't been ignored. Love it! Oh... and through Blue, Regina and Henry learn a little more about the Author, and that somehow, for some reason the Sorcerer was in the possession of all of the Author's storybooks. I love the mystery behind the Author and the heroes', as well as the villains' searches for him or her. I also like the scene in the beginning between Emma and Regina just before Killian and Belle come running into Regina's office to reveal that they discovered how to free the fairies. I love how Emma continues to assure Regina that they will find the Author to help Regina gain her happy ending, and that Emma soon finds the extra "page 23" from the storybook, which we see all taped back together after Regina clearly had turned back to collect the pieces after having torn the page into pieces and let go of them in the previous episode, Heroes and Villains, just after Robin crosses the town line with Marian and Roland. Very nice. Later on, despite Snow's and Charming's protests, both Emma and Regina agree to let Cruella and Ursula into Storybrooke using the Snow Queen's scroll to do so, because they had kept up their end of their deal and helped them to defeat the Chernabog. And they do so, which leads to the Queens of Darkness later letting Gold into Storybrooke as well. Not good. I like the idea of them using the Snow Queen's scroll to et Ursula and Cruella into Storybrooke actually. I think it's a very clever idea because we really didn't see a whole lot of use of the scroll when the Snow Queen herself used it to get into Storybrooke, or when the Apprentice gives it to her. And besides... it is a way to bring our characters into Storybrooke again, without having to take any time away from the rest of this season arc's stories in order to show an all new way of solving this dilemma. Then... we are finally reminded in the end of this episode that the reason why Maleficent isn't with the two other Queens of Darkness and Rumple within the present storyline, is that because she had been killed. Now, just like you remembered... back in season one's second part season finale, A Land Without Magic, we saw Emma fighting against Maleficent in her dragon form down in the caves beneath the library and clock tower. At the end of this battle, Emma succeeds in killing Maleficent by throwing her father's sword directly into the dragon's chest just as she is about to blow her fire, and Maleficent suddenly bursts into flames and ash, leaving a pile of her ash on the rocks. The later in season two's episode, The Evil Queen... Hook is shown fighting against Maleficent in her newly mummified form, revealing that she's dead, but not completely as dead as she would be were it not for the magic casted over her when the curse brought Maleficent over in the dark curse as well. Now... somehow Gold has a plan to resurrect her so that the Queens of Darkness will become fully reunited once more. Phenomenal!!! I absolutely love this storyline, and I'm so excited for you to see all that's to come!!! :) And lastly... we have one final conversation between Snow, David, Ursula, and Cruella somewhere within the forest as they come together in the dark and rain for a secret meeting. And in this moment, it's revealed the four of them have a past together, along with Maleficent that Snow and Charming do not want to anyone to learn about, especially their daughter. There's so much more to come and I can't wait!! Overall... a brilliant episode and I really love it. I absolutely love Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula, and seeing them come to work together in both the present and the past. The actresses chosen to play all three of these powerful women are prefect, and even Cruella has magic too, which she didn't in her movies... 101 Dalmatians, both the Disney animated one and the two live-action movies with Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil. This is amazing and I was so excited to see how it was Cruella had magic too. Oh... and if I remember correctly, you are a fan of the show, Lost, so you might be interested to know that the voice coming through the drive thru voice box... is Daniel Dae Kim's from Lost. There are a ton of Lost references all throughout Once Upon a Time. I don't watch Lost and never have, but I know Daniel Dae Kim plays one of the show's main characters, just like the Snow Queen played by Elizabeth Mitchell, and Tiny, who is played by actor, Jorge Garcia. Like you, I love seeing three villains like Cruella De Vil, Ursula, and Rumplestiltskin going through the drive thru at some chicken fast food restaurant. Very funny. :) Thank you so much again for your amazing reaction for Darkness on the Edge of Town! I'm so excited for more to come!!! So, until then... :)
Heidi Elizabeth Marcum
2020-05-10 00:06:29 +0000 UTC
