Despite that it was one of the most predictable things ever on Once Upon a Time, the revelation that Wicked (also known as Zelena) and Regina are sisters is still something that I enjoyed quite a bit. If you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense to have them being related and it does set up a personal story for Regina.
It’s going to affect everyone in the end without her being the villain this time and instead, she will have to be a hero. Rebecca Mader got more screentime this week and so far we love everything about Wicked and her interpretation of the character. The twist that you get transformed into a flying monkey if you get scratched by them was unexpected and it puts more stakes now on the characters in Storybrooke.
Unlike last week, the flashbacks were a lot more intriguing in this episode and it makes sense because as we are getting closer to the end of the season, more information will be revealed. I didn’t comment on this last week, but it’s so nice that they are (as far as we know) done with the flashbacks of the pre-curse era as it feels like they have told enough of that side now. Something that we enjoyed right from the get-go was Regina’s interaction with Robin Hood and it looks like that in the flashbacks, he is going to be an imperative player to her as she is dealing with her emotions. The actors have nice chemistry together and we can’t wait to see more development in their relationship. It’s definitely an unexpected pair-up, but we sure like it!
With these flashbacks, we can now get something new and it’s going to basically tell us the story of what happened in that one year. Lana Parrilla continues to make us emotional in almost all of her scenes and it really shows how much Regina has evolved as a character. You may find this hard to believe, but seeing Regina suffering so much, whether it’s in these current flashbacks or having a Henry back in her life that doesn’t remember her, shows that out of all these characters, she has suffered the most.
We know that she was responsible for causing the first curse to begin with, but in my eyes, she has been redeemed a lot and that’s why fans care so much about her. It was definitely heartbreaking to see Regina seeing Henry at Granny’s and seeing her just holding the tears back. Villain or no villain, we hope that she will get some happiness by the end of the season. The reveal that Regina and Emma were just pretending to be against each other in front of the whole town was a surprise, but still another thing that we want to see more of which is these two (originally destined to be opponents) working together.
It’s safe to say that we all knew in a way that you don’t get rid of Rumplestitlskin that easily and ever since the mid-season finale, the question was never “is he still alive?” because he has been established as one of the series’ key elements. The only thing we kept asking ourselves was “when will we learn that he is still alive?” and they decided to reveal it a bit earlier than expected. But with this show, there is always a twist in anything and with this revelation, we learned that Rumple is still alive, but his Mr. Gold persona is nowhere to be seen.
Overall, “Witch Hunt” was a strong episode and a great follow-up from last week’s episode “New York City Serenade” and so far, they are continuing to make season 3 their strongest season ever.
Once Upon a Time airs on Sunday nights, 8/7c on ABC.
[Photo via Jack Rowand/ABC]
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One problem I have with this show (and its not a big problem) is that there is ZERO possibility of any major character dying. So ya, Rumpelstiltskin being brought back was a surprise for no one.
However he was killed by his dagger, so the question is.. Is he the dark one still? Or is he just crazy and thinks he is?