Once Upon A Time 6x14 "Page 23" Review

SPOILERS

You probably could have cut everything else out and just had the Regina parts and this episode would have been perfection. Props to Lana Parilla. That's all I have to say.

Well, there's more.

I am glad they finished off the Evil Queen storyline in a believable way. The flashbacks into the past were enjoyable. Pure Evil Queen with a bonus Henry. It's a typical "Kill Snow White" scheme that turns into a feels fest. Seriously, the saddest moment of the entire episode was when she realized the person she hated most was herself. I guess I never realized that until now, but it does make sense. And we knew we were gonna get a Regina versus Regina face off, but I was a little thrown by the sword fight. The dialogue leading up to the sword fight was a little bit cringy ("this town's not big enough for the both of us") but the rest of it was pretty good.

Regina in the Enchanted Forest, once again looking for Snow.

I guess this goes to show how much Regina grew; I was expecting her to crush the Evil Queen's heart, but she doesn't do that anymore. I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, but it definitely wasn't combining the two hearts (I guess I was expecting more of a literal merging than a figurative one). She now loves and accepts herself and everything is all right in her world for now.

No surprise that "Evil" Regina and "Evil" Robin seemed so well suited to each other. I enjoyed their behind-the-scenes bantering, the almost-flirting. I figured when she sent "Evil" Regina away she would end up at the tavern. But it was still a nice ending. A bit open-ended, but at least there's the possibility of a happy ending for them.

The reason this episode isn't a perfect 10 is because of Captain Swan. Sometimes I suspend belief, but at this point I can almost see the planning behind the scenes of how exactly we are going to orchestrate this drama. I was following along on Twitter, and someone pointed out how exactly did Emma know what her grandfather looked like? Why was Killian watching the memories instead of just tossing them in the fire? Why don't they ever talk to each other? (Why doesn't Emma give Killian a chance to talk?) Why did Killian go back on the submarine? (He could have just not showed up!) (Also...effing Gideon. What is his motivation here? To shake up Emma?)

I don't think I'll enjoy next week's episode very much. Drawing out the drama with Captain Swan is just annoying at this point. Then again, no one really gets a happy ending in this show, do they? Crossing fingers that the preview was edited to make it look worse than it will be.

8/10