Once Upon a Time S03E16: It's Not Easy Being Green (Full Reaction)

It's Not Easy Being Green- Thank you so much for another fabulous reaction for Once Upon a Time, Reds!!! I really love this episode a lot! The snark between Regina and Zelena is absolutely amazing! I really love their banter. And I had a blast watching your reaction to this episode too! :) Zelena's reasons for becoming the Wicked Witch and hating everyone, especially Regina and Rumplestiltskin... Her jealousy of Regina... Yes, it is ridiculous. I understand them, absolutely. And her past is heartbreaking. So, of course I understand why she's in so much pain. It's just that... Wow!!! Her obsession grew so fast and hard, which is why her skin turns green. Her intense feelings become manifested for all the world to see. As ridiculous as Zelena's hatred for Regina may be, given that she is simply jealous and envious of Regina, I think this all makes perfect sense for a character like the Wicked Witch here in Once Upon a Time, where magic can do practically everything you can imagine. And I absolutely love it!!! Zelena is absolutely phenomenal at being wicked, and Rebecca Mader plays her brilliantly!! Now, as for my favorite scenes in this episode... First... I absolutely love the big battle between Regina and Zelena. I absolutely love that Regina wins it by being smart enough not to keep her heart in her chest so long as Zelena is a threat, thanks to her learning this hard lesson from Cora. Gold may have been right about Zelena being stronger in her magic. However, Regina certainly wins the fight in the end because she is able to outsmart her. A very exciting battle, and I love it!! And Zelena looks sensational in all her glory, when she appears before everyone dressed in her full Wicked Witch glory! Her costume is incredible! :) And second... My absolute favorite moments throughout this episode, are actually the moments between Hook and Henry. I absolutely love these moments, when Hook tells Henry about Neal from when he was a boy, and shares with Henry that he has more in common with his father than Henry knows. So, so beautiful, and very touching. And seeing the sadness in Hook's eyes as he talks about Bae having been abandoned by his father like Henry believes right now about his own, and just as Hook too had been abandoned by his father as well, as he reveals to Bae back in season two's finale... And Straight on 'Til Morning. Beautiful! I love seeing all of Hook's emotions that he wears on his face so strongly. Colin O'Donoghue is phenomenal!! Hook really is a good man underneath the villain we've known him to be up until the Neverland arc. Hook truly wants to be there for Henry and for Emma, and not for himself in an effort to ease his own pain and guilt, or to try to win Emma's heart. It's like Hook had told Emma in Neverland, back in the seventh episode... Dark Hollow, "I also believe in good form. So, when I win your heart, Emma... And I will win it... It will not be because of any trickery. It will be because you want me." I definitely believe Hook meant this then and now, and that he has absolutely no intention of tricking Emma in order to win her over. His intentions here with Henry, are honorable and good. As are his intentions with Emma. And I absolutely love it! Hook truly cares about Emma and Henry, just as he had cared about Bae/Neal too. Oh... And it's also funny how Hook talks to Henry about knowing Neal, and how he had taught him how to sail and navigate the stars when Neal was just a boy, then seeing how Henry becomes even more confused by him and his father when he asks Killian about him and Neal appearing to be the same age. So funny! Because this would absolutely be confusing to a teenage boy with no knowledge of magic and of the real truth behind everything happening in their lives right now. It would be incredibly confusing for anyone. And I absolutely love that this episode really shows just how much Hook truly cares for Bae/Neal too, because of their time together when Bae was a boy. I love that Hook's time with Henry throughout this episode shows that he's truly grieving like the others, and that his time with Henry is helping to give him some comfort as well, just like Hook told Emma he hoped it would. Beautiful! :) Another of my favorite moments... I absolutely love the brief moment at Granny's between Hook and Emma, as he encourages Emma to not allow her lust for revenge against Zelena get the better of her. This moment shows us just how much Hook really has grown and changed into a good man, given his past and his own lust for revenge against Rumplestiltskin for over two hundred years. It's just incredible! For me... Hook's redemption arc throughout this show is my favorite out of any of the villains' redemption arcs that we may be given. Because you can truly see all of Hook's efforts to become a better man, and the sincerity of his new desire to change in all of the emotions we see him wear on his face. It's really beautiful. Regina's redemption arc comes close, but I love Hook's slightly more. :) And then my final favorite moments... I really love the moments between Regina and Robin too. I love that Regina has given Robin her heart to hold onto while she's fighting Zelena, and how she asks him to continue protecting her heart for her. Very symbolic indeed. I love that Regina's slowly coming around to accepting him at least as a possible love interest for herself. She may not be there quite yet to accept that they are meant to be soulmates, but she's coming around. So beautiful. They really are so cute and perfect together. And both Lana Parrilla and Sean Maguire have great chemistry with one another :) In regards to your confusion about how Regina is still able to feel without her heart inside of her chest... There is actually more talk about this observation coming up soon, which will help you to understand why Regina appears to be able to feel. But for now... Maybe it simply takes time for all feelings one might be feeling to completely fade into nothingness, like the way Cora was actually void of all emotion, even towards her own daughter. Given that she too had removed her heart from her chest, and she had it out for quite a long time, as we learned throughout season two. Oh... And I also really love Regina's and Robin's earlier scene together in the woods as well, when Robin pick pockets Regina's letter and states that he is a pick pocket by trade, and that he has become the best thief by learning from magicians. Fantastic!! And again... Their chemistry is quite beautiful. Especially when Robin looks at Regina in awe of her beauty upon reading the words he initially believed Rumplestiltskin had spoken about her, until Regina tells him they were actually about Zelena, thanks to Rumple stating that they were spoken about Cora's "first born". The words stating that she is beautiful in every way. Of course Robin believes that Regina is beautiful in every way. And I love it! And I love seeing Tinker Bell again too, as she tries to help Regina realize that she and Robin belong together once more. Sadly... Regina continues to act ungrateful for Tink's help, which Tink doesn't deserve, but I am still happy that Tink is always still there willing to help Regina when she needs it, nonetheless. Overall... I really enjoy Zelena's backstory, showing why she's become the Wicked Witch of the West. How she came to be taught by Rumple. How she came to Oz. How she came to become green because she grew envious of Regina being Rumple's favorite. Why he chose Regina to cast his curse over her. And how she met and turned Walsh, the "Great and Terrible Oz", into her first flying monkey. I love it all! I actually quite love that Zelena is green because her envy of Regina and her lust to be the one chosen by Rumple over Regina has caused her jealousy and envy to manifest into a physical attribute as a consequence of her giving in to her rage. It's quite brilliant. I normally don't like this reason for a villain to become a villain in any other show or movie either. Because like I said above... It's ridiculous! But for Zelena... It oddly works and makes complete sense for her character. At least for me. Next... I really love that we get to know Walsh and how he was once the Wizard of Oz and the man behind the curtain, just like he is in The Wizard of Oz. And I love how he also comes to be Zelena's first flying monkey who she later comes to send to New York in order to keep Emma oblivious to the truth. Until of course Hook arrives to restore Emma's memories for her and to remind her of her true self. And as for the slippers in this show being silver... In the original story of The Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy's slippers are actually silver, not ruby slippers. They only became ruby slippers when The Wizard of Oz was made into a movie musical, starring Judy Garland. I think it was partly because they wanted the color on them to pop onscreen and red shined far brighter like all the rest of the colors throughout Oz shown within the movie, than silver ever could. While I love the ruby slippers because they're so iconic and beautiful, I love all the more that Once Upon a Time chose to go with the original silver slippers as they were originally created. I really love the beginning scene showing the heroes mourn while they bury Neal, as they all take turns shoveling dirt over his casket. I love that Hook is also the first of them to do so, and that Belle is there for Gold when he can't be. Which is really, really sad. She was also Neal's friend too, of course. It's a beautiful scene. And all the more sad, because it shows that Gold feels pain upon the dirt hitting Neal's casket every time the heroes drop it too, as if he can feel his son's loss with every bit of dirt that falls. Also... I believe that from the way Zelena's adopted father spoke to her about her mother... her adopted mother, that the mother had died not too long before Zelena leaves her father to find the Wizard of Oz. Her father states something along the lines of... "Now that your mother's gone, I can finally tell you the truth." Meaning that he can finally reveal to Zelena that they had found her one night in a storm, having been abandoned. And he states this cruelly. But given Zelena's age in this scene... Seeing that she is a grown woman, it leads me to believe that her adopted mother died fairly recently before this moment between her and her adopted father. Otherwise, I think he would have told her the truth about them not really being her parents much earlier. And lastly... You are absolutely right upon putting together the idea behind the ingredients that Zelena is collecting for her dark spell she's planning to cast. Charming's courage that represents the Cowardly Lion's desire for courage, and now Regina's heart that represents the Tin Man's desire for a heart from the Wizard of the Oz. And in the previous episode... Quiet Minds, it is briefly spoken by Zelena to Rumple that she is holding Rumple for his brains, representing the Scarecrow's desire for a brain. I just absolutely love the symbolism and nods once again to The Wizard of Oz, and I really, really love the idea that these are the ingredients needed for Zelena's spell. A spell that will allow her to travel back in time, and it's absolutely brilliant! What a fabulous episode! Again... I absolutely enjoyed your reaction for it, Reds! And I absolutely can't wait for your reaction to the next episode!!! Because it is another of my all time favorite episodes throughout this season, and throughout the entire show too!!! I'm so excited to see your reaction for it!!!! Thank you, my dear friend... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum