Once Upon a Time “Lily” 

As always, this episode leaves us with more questions than answers. Much of the hour was spent setting the scene for next week, so we can hope that answers are on the horizon. There were some significant flaws this week, with luck they will be explained or corrected very soon. I have faith in the writers to find clever ways to tie all these disparate strings of fact, history, and story together before season’s end. Hopefully that faith isn’t misplaced.

Let’s explore some of the events of the day. It’s no surprise that Emma finds Lily, and mostly by accident as it turns out. But let’s set them aside for a moment since they’re such a broad topic, and discuss the other characters first.

I find it incredibly interesting that Rumplestiltskin is willing to return Belle’s heart to her and then leave her to Will Scarlet. This goes against every fiber of his selfish being. He could have kept her heart and forced her to leave Will, but instead he shows a rare moment of honesty. Or does he? Could this all be a ploy to trick Belle into believing he has turned over a new leaf? Time will tell.

With Regina in a front row seat, Zelena finally reveals her deception to Robin Hood. Even though he knows he has stayed with her under false pretenses, he won’t leave her now because she is pregnant. Isn’t this a pickle? Although it’s impossible to guess what’s coming for this relationship, there are a number of thoughts that cross my mind. First of all, is she really pregnant? It would appear so, since she told Regina over the phone that she “has a meatloaf in the oven,” which could be taken as innuendo. If she is pregnant, is the child actually Robin Hood’s? She told Rumple earlier that she hasn’t succeeded in winning Robin’s heart. What are the chances that she found pleasure elsewhere? And finally, we still haven’t seen what happened to the six-leaf clover charm that Robin stole from Zelena in Oz. It’s the same charm she’s been using to appear to be Marion, which makes me wonder if Robin is really Robin? There’s potential there for a “what if…” storyline.

It’s nice to see Snow and Charming take the first step towards reconciliation with Maleficent. Their actions were unforgivable, but at least they recognize the need for an apology. Finally. My hope is that their honest expression of remorse will ultimately prove to be the cure for Emma’s descent into darkness. Forgiveness is a powerful force for good, and if Emma can find it within her, it could be her path to avoid, or perhaps recover from, Rumple’s plans for her.

Okay, back to the relationship between Emma and Lily. As the story progresses, we’re starting to see proof that the spell that was cast to funnel Emma’s darkness into Lily was a one-time, and one-way event. Lily received Emma’s potential darkness, but Emma did not receive Lily’s potential light. If she had, then logic dictates that the decisions Emma made as a child would have worked for good, and she never would have ended up in prison. This bodes well for next week, when Lily arrives in Storybrooke. If there is a spark of light within her, there remains the potential for reconciliation, not just revenge. As we’ve seen before, in Emma’s world a tiny spark of hope is all it takes. We can see that it was one-time because Emma’s anger wasn’t leeched off to Lily during their fight. Speaking of which, does Lily have magic in the real world? The thunderclap seems to say yes. She will be very powerful indeed when she gets to Storybrooke.

Rumple believes that Lily is the key to Emma’s darkness, but it’s not clear how this will come about. Would Emma need to kill Lily? Would Lily’s death return the potential darkness to Emma? What is worse, Lily dead, or Lily in Storybrooke with her magic unleashed? One more week and we’ll know.

The necklace is an interesting element, I hope more is explained about it. There is no word on how Lily came to have it, or how she knows it’s from her mother. Was it inside her egg? The Apprentice says it’s not exactly a stone, I wonder if it will be revealed to be a dragon’s talon. That would make a powerful talisman, don’t you think? Speaking of which, the star and the moon have traditionally been symbols of the Sorcerer himself. Might he turn out to be Lily’s father? That would make for an interesting twist.

Moment of Goodness: Role reversal

“Emma, you’re better than this.” The best moment in the episode, Regina talks Emma out of killing Lily. The complete reversal of their characters is brilliant, particularly when Regina has been showing glimpses of her old evil ways for weeks now. Regina is uniquely entwined with both Emma and Maleficent. It will be fun to watch her caught between the two families as the season wraps up.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.