Back in episode 6 they finally free Merlin from the tree back in Camelot.In this episode we don't really learn more about what happened in Camelot. We learn more about Merida's story, which is actually pretty awesome.

After the group frees Merlin, they all storm the castle to rescue Lancelot and Merida from the dungeon. They surprisingly succeed without King Arthur intervening for once. After everyone is safe and sound they head to the woods. Merida distracts Belle from the rest of the group. Out of desperation to save her brothers she hits Belle, knocking her unconscious. Belle wakes up on a small boat with Merida, confused and angry. Even though Merida Kidnapped her Merida still is able to convince her to help her find her brothers.

They arrive at a magic cauldron and Merida and Belle see her brothers deathly fate. Belle promises to help Merida save her brothers from a twisted man who wants her crown. They show up, and Merida has a plan. She has a special potion that will turn her into a bear. But Belle switches the potion with water to prove to Merida she can save her brothers without the potion. And Merida, being a badass archer, uses her bow to save her brothers. She shoots her bow to the three of them and the arrow tears through all three ropes that were about to hang them. Everyone is stunned and impressed. They all bow to her, and she gains her Kingdom as well as her brothers' lives.

Back in the present, the group is determined to find out what happened back in Camelot. They ask King Arthur to try and talk to Merlin who is trapped in the toadstool. He agrees but lights it on fire when everyone leaves the room. Luckily it isn't destroyed and now everyone knows he's not on their side after they find the toadstool in the ashes. They instead ask Henry, who's the only other person with a  connection with Merlin (now being the author). 

While everyone is trying to contact Merlin, Rumpel is becoming a hero. Yes, the once before evil Dark One is now becoming a hero! Merida takes Emma to their camp in the woods where she left Rumpel tied up. But when they arrive he is no longer there. Rumpel has escaped and is looking for Belle. He finds her and they have a wonderful moment. He thanks her for always being there while he was in the coma. That she is the reason he is still alive.

Now that Rumpel has escaped, Emma, who still has Merida's heart, orders her to find Belle and kill her. Apparently this was Emma's plan all along, because she knows Rumpel will do anything to save Belle. She believes having Belle in danger will turn Rumpel into the hero she desperately needs. 

So Merida runs after them, and Rumpel realizes Emma's plan. They run from Merida and drive off toward the town line. Rumpel tells Belle that leaving Storybrooke is the only way to keep her safe. But Belle can't leave her friends behind, and orders to let her out of the car. A cowardly Rumpel eventually stops the car to let her escape. He tells her he can't stand up for her, because he will always be a coward. 

Belle leaves Rumpel and Merida is waiting down the street. She takes a the potion that turns her into a bear, and the chase begins. Belle runs into the woods, trying to get away from Merida. Rumpel finally shows up at the last second, and protects Belle. He throws an anecdote into the bears mouth and Merida returns to her normal form. He finally becomes a hero.

Now that he's a hero, he goes back with Emma to pull the sword from the stone. But before he does, he makes a deal with Emma to give back Merida's heart. She does, eager to have the sword. He easily pulls the sword from the stone, making Emma very happy.

I really enjoyed learning more about Merida, I think she's a great character! And a badass I'm kind of obsessed with archery. I can't wait to see what Emma will do now with the sword and her dagger. 

Once Upon A Time Season 5 Episode 5 - Dreamcatchers

We almost find out what happened to Emma to turn against everyone in this episode. Almost. We do however finally meet the much talked about sorcerer, Merlin.

This episode starts off before Merlin was trapped in a tree in Camelot many years ago. Merlin has the Dark One's dagger, and he calls upon the Dark One (nobody we are familiar with). Here he attempts to murder him with the Dark One's dagger, but Merlin is too much of a good man, and can't kill the Dark One. The Dark One takes this opportunity to grab his dagger back, and uses his powers to trap Merlin in a tree. Back in the Enchanted forest, Emma sees this entire event through a spelled dream catcher. Dream catchers are used a lot in this episode. Using someone's tears combined with a  dream catcher will show that person's memories.  

Back in the enchanted forest, Regina is leading Snow and Charming to where she hid the Dark One's dagger. In Episode 4, Snow and Charming were put under a spell by the conniving King Arthur. The spell makes them do everything to help Arthur, even if it puts their daughter at risk. Luckily Emma saw everything with all of her dream catchers and stops Regina from giving them the dagger. She freezes Snow and Charming with her magic and explains to Regina why they suddenly have had a change of heart.

With Snow and Charming frozen and out of the picture, Regina and Emma attempt to rescue Merlin from the tree. That way he can take away all of Emma's darkness. To do this they have to use a tear from someone who is heartbroken. They at first use Regina's memory of Daniel being murdered by her mother. Which was so sad seeing her experience that pain all over again. But they get her heartbroken tear and use it in a spell to release Merlin from the tree. But it doesn't work, because although watching her first love's death was painful, Regina's heart has healed over time with Robin. 

So when Regina's tears don't work, Emma takes it into her own hands, and does something terrible. Henry is getting close to Violet, a girl that lives in Camelot. A nervous Henry run into his mothers while they are attempting to free Merlin. They tell him to be himself, and that she'll love him more for it. But their advice, although was true and heartfelt, doesn't help him. He plans this special date for Violet but she ruins it by friend zoning him! Poor Henry. We find out later that Emma was behind it all. She ripped out Violet's heart earlier so she could control what Violet said to Henry. Yep, Emma planned Henry's entire heartbreak for her own benefit. She uses the tears of his heartbreak for the spell to free Merlin.

The spell works, and we finally meet Merlin. Everyone is surprised how young this famous sorcerer is, but are convinced how powerful he is with his beautiful dialogue (Oh wait, maybe that was just me!). He agrees to take away Emma's darkness, but has one stipulation. She must want to get rid of the darkness completely in her heart.

Back in our normal time period, everyone still has no idea what happened back in Camelot. But Regina is on the right track to discovering all of Emma's secrets. She, along with Hook, Belle, and Robin break into her house to get some answers, They find dream catchers and find out everything that happened with Merlin. We still are lost on what made Emma turn against everyone, but we are getting closer to the reveal!

While everyone is sneaking around to find out what Emma's up to, Emma is trying to turn Rumpelstiltskin into a hero. She needs him to become a hero so he can pull the powerful sword from the stone. To make him into a hero she forces Merida (by ripping her heart out as well) to train him. Merida is the perfect girl for the job, and after several unsuccessful attempts she finally gets him to fight back. She gives Rumpel something to fight over, his Belle. She tells him to be brave you have to have something to fight for. It's a really sweet moment for Rumpel, and we see the beloved chipped teacup once more!

Henry finds out what Emma did to him back in Camelot when he walks in on Regina watching the memory from a dream catcher. It's incredibly sad when he finds out because he's heartbroken all over again. Even though Emma made it up to him by bringing Violet and Henry together in the modern world. But this doesn't make up all her lies in Camelot. The show ends with a sad Dark One walking away from her betrayed son who won't even talk to her. So incredibly sad!

I can not believe what is happening to Emma. Out beloved hero is becoming manipulative, dishonest, and evil. I hope Emma finds her way like Regina did. If the Evil Queen can become good, surely the savior can.

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 4: Royal Pain

Finally in this episode we find out what really happened in Camelot. It's been such a huge mystery to everyone but Emma ever since they all mysteriously traveled back to Storybrooke. Memories seem to be wiped away a lot in Once Upon a Time. But this episode is all about the answered questions back in the Enchanted forest.

We first learn a little bit more about King Arthur. I'm not too familiar with the Camelot fairy tale, so learning this background really helped me out. King Arthur didn't start out as a future King. He was actually a stable boy when he learned of his prophecy. He learned this prophecy from a tree, where Merlin (the great and powerful sorcerer) is trapped. Merlin tells him that to fulfill his prophecy he must pull the magical sword from the stone.

A few years later Arthur finally goes on the quest to retrieve the sword. But as we saw earlier in the season, the sword he pulls out isn't the full sword. It's missing the tip end of the sword, which is apparently the Dark One's dagger. Together they will make one great and powerful sword. The need to find the Dark One's dagger turns Arthur a little bit crazy. After he pulls the sword from the stone and discovers the full sword isn't there, he grows obsessed. He lies to the kingdom Camelot about the structure of the sword, and spends all his time and energy looking for the dagger. And his wife, Guinevere starts to feel neglected when he won't even spend time with her at her own birthday party.

Upset and beyond frustrated the Queen decides to go on a quest to find the dagger herself. Lancelot catches her leaving and decides to go with her. They find the dagger easily because Guinevere has a magical item that leads her to her greatest weakness. Which is incredibly sad! The one thing her husband wants is her greatest weakness. Guinevere and Lancelot reach the cave leading to the dagger and Guinevere saves Lancelot from something dark and mysterious. This leads to a kiss between the two which Guinevere immediately regrets. Lancelot loves her, and admitted this and planning her birthday party earlier. I am loving Lancelot right now, he is one of the sweetest men on this show.

They finally reach where the dagger is and of course Rumpelstiltskin shows up. You can't really expect Rumpel not to show up when his dagger is about to be stolen. Rumpel even shows up everywhere else you least expect him to. Rumpelstiltskin does offer Guinevere something in replace of the dagger. He offers a powder that has the magical powers to 'fix' anything you desire. Guinevere takes it and returns to Camelot.

At Camelot Guinevere finally tells her husband everything and gives King Arthur and ultimatum. Her, or the dagger search. Arthur tells her he can't stop looking for the dagger so she attempts to use the powder. She has too good of a heart and chickens out, telling him that she doesn't want to live a fake life. And this is where King Arthur turns into the real jerk. He uses the powder on his wife to make her on his side. The powder also fixes his Kingdom making it more powerful and successful.

So speed up a few years later and our favorite fairy tale characters have made it to Camelot. Regina is till faking as the savior, and David (our handsome prince charming) was just made part of the round table. David trusts King Arthur and tells Mary Margaret (Snow White) that he wants to give King Arthur the dagger they have hidden. This would reveal all their secrets, with the biggest secret being about Emma as the Dark One. Mary Margaret disagrees with his idea to tell King Arthur immediately about everything. She tells David about Lancelot being alive and what he said about not trusting King Arthur.

But David decides to tell King Arthur everything and brings him the box where the dagger lies. When he opens it to show Arthur the box is empty. Mary Margaret was already way ahead of her husband and took the dagger with Lancelot and ran to hide it where it originally was hidden when Rumpelstilskin was the Dark One. When Mary Margaret and Lancelot are there hiding it Mary Margaret remembers a weird vision she had a long time ago. The vision had young Emma crushing her heart in the exact same place. Nothing more is said about this weird vision but it's intriguing nonetheless.

Before they can hide the dagger Arthur shows up to steal it back. But thankfully David and Mary Margaret planned the whole thing. David walks out behind King Arthur and they tell him how they knew he would follow them and that they won't let him have the dagger or their daughter. But this King is so deceitful he uses the same powder that he used on his wife and 'fixes' his situation. Lancelot is thrown in jail and David and Mary Margaret are now on his side. They go to Regina after asking her to hide it extremely well only to tell her they can trust King Arthur. We all know that they are cursed so I'm hoping Regina will figure out that this isn't really them.

While King Arthur is being a royal pain in the ass, Emma and Hook are having a sweet moment. He helps Emma get rid of the fake Rumpelstiltskin in her head. The moment between them is bittersweet because unfortunately we already know they break up when they get back to Storybrooke,

At the end of this episode I am hating this King Arthur character. He is such a bad guy! He definitely makes the show a lot more interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome of David and Mary Margaret under King Arthur's spell.

Once Upon A Time Season 5 Episode 3 Review/Recap

I can't believe we're already on Season 5 of this magical show. Once Upon A Time has always kept me interested, which is hard to do with my attention span. I have always been obsessed with Disney. Snow White was, is, my favorite Disney princess. So you can imagine why this show is one of my TV obsessions.

This season has been awesome. I don't know about anyone else but having Emma Swan as the dark one has been surprisingly awesome. She's always been a bad ass. But now she's evil and dresses all snazzy. Nobody will be as amazing as the Evil Queen, but Emma as the Dark One comes pretty close.
The episode starts off with the dwarfs in the mines, doing what dwarfs do. Emma shows up and steals one of their axes. Which is really strange because she has unlimited magical powers. Turns out she's out of ideas and attempts to use it on the boulder holding the sword. Apparently the dark one's dagger and sword in the stone will create something unbelievably powerful.

Although Emma is all evil and powerful, she still has a heart. And her heart yearns for Captain Hook still. But Hook can't get over her new found darkness. She asks him if he still loves her. If he doesn't, she says, then she'll let him go. Hook breaks her heart and says "I loved you." This is bad news for not only Emma, but for everyone. A scorn dark one is a dangerous dark one.

This episode also jumps back 6 weeks later when they were all in the Enchanted Forest. As we learned in the first episode, they have no recollection of what happened in the Forest. Back in the forest Regina is still pretending to be the savior. Which is comical to watch, giving the whole situation a much needed relief. While the Evil Queen is trying to be the savior, she also has to deal with her sister's annoying smug attitude. Luckily Regina has control over Zelena, with those handy magical handcuffs. She tries to convince Zelena to not run away to OZ with her unborn child. But Zelena, when Regina let's her speak for a second, tells her that she wants the baby to have a chance at love. Regina basically laughs in her face when Zelena asks for a second chance. She informs Zelena that she's already given her several chances, and that it's too late. I'm all for second chances, but Regina is right. Zelena has had way to many chances.

We also learn a great deal about King Arthur in this episode. He tells Prince Charming that there was a fight between Arthur and his best friend Lancelot over Arthur's wife. This makes us feel sympathy for this character, and I personally start to like his company. The King and Charming go on a quest to find a magical toadstool to contact Merlin, the sorcerer. During the quest Charming receives the toadstool, but loses it when he is attacked. He is attacked by magical armor, which was such a cool effect to watch. The armor comes together and rises from the mysterious pond under the bridge leading to the toadstool.  Although he loses the toadstool, Charming and King Arthur have connected over stories of their pasts. Arthur rewards his new friend with the highest honor at his round table that rules his Kingdom. Finally our handsome prince gets some recognition for his brave heart.

Everything seems all good and dandy until we learn King Arthur is lying scum. We learn that he actually has the toadstool, even though he made Charming believe that they had lost it. I'm not quite sure why he's lying about a mushroom, but he says that he has to put his kingdom first. Lancelot also shows up to the castle, telling Snow White that Arthur is not what he seems. Snow White is surprised when she learns he isn't actually dead and looks unsure of what to do.

King Arthur is also a liar when they go back to modern times. Even though he has no memory of what happened in the Enchanted Forest, he still lies to Prince Charming. He tells Charming that his reliquary has been broken into and a magic bean is stolen. Apparently this magic bean would get King Arthur and his people back home. Prince Charming, being the kindest trustworthy man he is, helps King Arthur. He uses a goblet from Gold's shop to scare King Arthur's people. He tells them that everyone will drink out of it and the thief will be forced to tell the truth with this goblet's magic. A man in the crowd runs, proving his guilt. Charming chases him down and catches him, throwing him in jail. But this 'thief' has been all a ruse. King Arthur comes into the jail alone where the thief is being held and tells the man the plan worked. And the fake thief drinks a deadly potion with the King's request, so that there are no witnesses.

The episode ends with a missing Rumpelstiltskin. Belle has been keeping a close eye on our beloved dying Rumpel. She has been carrying a magical rose in a case that shows his health condition no matter where he is. The petals are falling fast and we assume he is dying or dead. But then the rose magically puts itself back together, meaning he's fully healed. Belle runs to him but he is gone.  Who stole him? You guessed it, the Dark One. Emma needs him to help her with the sword. She tells him she's going to make him into a hero since he's now a blank state. Then, he will do a job for Emma Swan

I'm so bummed King Arthur isn't a good guy. What do you think? Were you as surprised as I was at his betrayal? Let me know!