Once Upon a Time: Souls of the Departed

March 7, 2016 10:41 AM - Season 5, Episode 12

Emma and company go to the Underworld to save Hook. Regina confronts Cora and tries to make peace with her father. In the flashbacks, Regina seeks Snow White's heart.

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posted by Bulgaroktonos (4 comments total)

This felt fairly meh as a half season opener goes. I'm still not sold on Hook and Emma and inserting Neil at the start just made that odder. I was hoping for something that felt like it was really going to set up the back half of this season, but this was missing the hook, no pun intended. I guess Hades as a villain will be fine, although I'm nervous that one of those rivers beneath him is going is a Chekhov's River Lethe of Another Damned Amnesia Storyline. I have zero faith in this show's ability to create interesting male characters, so Hercules is probably going to be a snooze, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that.

On the plus side, for the first time in a while, I felt like the flashbacks weren't totally inconsistent with the prior storyline? Not that they were super super consistent, but they weren't confusingly retrocony.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:02 PM on March 7, 2016

Happy 100th episode, gang. I can't believe ABC renewed for a 6th season already. And here I was thinking that the end was in sight. Thank goodness for the TV.com recapper.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:02 PM on March 7, 2016

I think it's interesting that, while Hook is explicitly the motivation for this trip, that means that because they're searching for him he's not really a part of the show right now, he's basically just a MacGuffin. I'm hoping this gives us a chance to get back to some of the show's core dynamics like Emma and Regina instead of just more of them trying to make Hook/Emma happen. That said, I didn't find this episode particularly compelling (I did like the Henrys meeting) and I hope it gets better fast.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 9:47 AM on March 8, 2016

This was a terrible episode. I couldn't follow it and then stopped paying attention. I guess I need to read a recap?

If you are correct about another amnesia plotline I will be annoyed. Two in ONE YEAR?
posted by jeather at 7:50 PM on March 16, 2016