By: Kelly Kearney

The second action packed hour of the series finale finds Emma battling her own faith, Henry taking matters into his own hands and all the realms of Storybrooke in peril thanks to the Savior’s waning faith.

faith dwindles

In the first hour a nameless man sent his young daughter on a mission with a very familiar book. The second hour opens in the aftermath of that man’s battle with a great evil he was running from. When the smoke clears his daughter, along with Tiger Lily (Sara Tomko), search for any clue to the man’s survival but he isn’t anywhere to be found. Tiger Lily assures the young girl that wherever he is, he fought valiantly to protect the young girl and her storybook. The fairy explains that she will see her father again but now is the time to take this book to her mother and let fate play out. The future might be cloudy but one thing is certain, hope is as clear as day.

Back in Storybrooke, Henry (Jared Gilmore) can’t believe his eyes when Fiona (Jaime Murray) brings him the ashes of his book. Emma (Jennifer Morrison) destroyed it, much like her own beliefs of who she is and what she is fated to become. Henry fires back that Emma’s belief can’t be completely squashed since his family is still out there fighting to get back to them. Fiona trounces that hope when she tells the boy his mother’s lack of belief is destroying the realms and his family wont exist long enough to save any of them.

Speaking of faith, Emma’s lack thereof is having drastic effects on her loved ones, particularly her father and husband. The two men desperately try and hang on as they climb down the beanstalk but destroying the book also destroys the men’s attempt to escape. The beanstalk feels the brunt of the oncoming darkness and falls to the ground with David (Josh Dallas) and Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) trapped beneath it. Immediately Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) gets the feeling something is wrong and Regina (Lana Parrilla) poofs her to the beanstalk where Hook comes to, but David is nowhere to be found. Killian has the bean so he bounces and takes the bean to find Emma, leaving Snow to search for David.

In Storybrooke, Emma decides to leave town and tells Henry that coming to this town was a terrible mistake and she must get back to her life in Boston. I wouldn’t call Emma the more maternal of Henry’s two mothers but ditching her son after burning his book and calling their time a mistake? Who is this woman and what did they do with Emma Swan? Henry is shocked the Emma is giving up, but nothing is changing her mind. She gives him a kiss on the head and practically runs to her car and crosses the town line as if she couldn’t get away fast enough.

Back in Boston, in her sad and lonely kid-free apartment, Henry is still trying to get through to her. He rewrote the book, drawings and all, in hopes she won’t forget. Something in those drawings must’ve clicked because it starts to dawn on her that maybe Henry is on to something.

With the darkness on its way, Killian heads to Regina’s castle where he learns his climb up the beanstalk might’ve been for nothing.  The bean will only work if Emma’s faith is in check and that’s why it isn’t working. The Savior’s lack of faith has literally zapped the magic right from the bean, making it useless and sending her trapped family back to square one.

As Regina ponders combining her strength with her evil half to stop the onslaught of darkness, Snow dips into her own bag of magical tricks and saves a lifeless David who’s trapped under the beanstalk. The fall looks like it was too much for Prince Charming and Snow uses True Love’s Kiss, to wake him. True Love- 1…. Darkness- 0

Rumple’s Awake!

Henry isn’t the only person who’s on to Fiona’s games. Rumple (Robert Carlyle) has been playing along with his mother’s curse from the start. He predicted her betrayal at keeping Belle (Emilie de Ravin) away from him and Gideon he and prepared for her curse and how to stop her. Henry realizes his grandfather is as “woke” as he is and asks his grandfather for help in getting their family home. Unfortunately, Rumple is only concerned with Belle and tells the boy he’s on his own. He does give Henry the tools in which to fight, his mother’s enchanted hand mirror along with a sword. Later, as his family watches on in horror, the truest believer vows to stop The Black Fairy once and for all. This, of course, kicks Regina’s mother lion instincts in to gear and orders her evil half to work her mojo on the magic bean. Only their combined magic doesn’t seem to be jumpstarting any portals. In an unselfish and surprising move, The Evil Queen offers to hold off the darkness while the others huddle together and hope for the best. Luckily, Henry’s relentless pursuit to make Emma believe pays off when the handmade book he made starts to sink in. With the evil queen holding off the darkness and Regina trying her best to magic them home, its Emma’s spark of faith that’s sends them hurdling back to where they belong.

With the sword in his hand, Henry is about to take on his evil great grandmother until Emma arrives to stop him. She might not remember her past but she still has hope and believes in her son and maybe even that strong woman Henry claims she is.

The Final Battle Is On

Not only did this new curse separate Emma from her loved ones, Fiona uses its power to keep Belle from Rumple and Gideon (Giles Matthey). Rumple isn’t buying Fiona’s story about Belle abandoning them to travel the world. Instead, he enchants her book The Handsome Hero and it leads him right to Belle who doesn’t seem to be the woman he knows and loves. Belle is living in a rundown house and utterly afraid of the world outside her front door. It gets worse when Rumple walks in and announces his arrival to his wife cowering behind the stove. Seeing that this Belle is a lost cause without breaking his mother’s curse, Rumple heads back to his shop just in time for a show down with Mommy Dearest!

After deciphering some of Henry’s writings, the evil fairy tries convincing Rumple to join her. She promises him a world where their powers are limitless and could even raise the dead…perhaps someone like Baelfire. Rumple plays her game long enough to steal the woman’s dark wand, killing her and reducing her Fiona to ashes and breaking the curse! Unfortunately, The Black Fairy planned for her untimely demise and stole Gideon’s heart when she cast her dark curse. Her beloved boy is still under her spell and Gideon’s heart can only be controlled by her.  Luckily, her death sent ripples across the realms sending everyone home to their world and giving the Savior back her memories.

After a few teary hugs and hellos, Emma contemplates what to do about the problem child, Gideon. Should the Savior fulfill her fate and sacrifice herself or should she kill Gideon and, in turn, lose her light altogether? The choice is made when Gideon hits Main Street looking for a sword fight. The Savior refuses to kill the man which would seal her fate and snuff out the light.  Standing in front of the sword wielding man, Emma refuses to fight and winds up falling victim to Gideon’s sword when he slices her down in front of her family.

Happy endings all around

In a redo from the original curse, Emma lies bleeding and dead on Main Street and Henry saves the day by waking her with a kiss. Just like she woke him from his apple turnover coma, the truest believer saved his mother with the Charming family’s true love. Thus, he proves darkness can only be defeated with light and, most importantly, love. With the Savior beating her fate and darkness driven out of the realms forever, Emma wonders what happens now. Snow wisely says they will go on living their lives without fearing the latest big bad lurking around every corner.

In normal Storybrooke, The Charmings retire to an easy life on the farm, herding dog and all. Emma and Regina play “my two mommies” to Henry as they see him off to school. Belle and Rumple finally get their baby boy back when the curse was vanquished, reversing him back to a new born. In a beautiful moment, the Beauty and her Beast dance to their theme song as the Charming family sits “Last Supper” style for a meal at Granny’s. A picture-perfect moment of happiness is added to the storybook and leads us to a new story that kind of starts off like the old one.

In Seattle, the young mystery girl from the first scene enters an apartment building. With her storybook in hand, she knocks on a door and repeats the words Henry told Emma in season one. “Are you Henry Mills,” she asks the 30-something man? “My name is Lucy and I think you’re my Dad.” The Charming’s story might’ve come to a close, but Henry Mills (the truest believer’s story) is just beginning.