Once Upon A Time 6x15 "A Wondrous Place" Review

SPOILERS

Okay, maybe I was feeling a bit pessimistic last week. This episode wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It definitely isn't without its criticisms, however.

There was a bit of a parallel drawn between the two main couples of the episode, Captain Swan and Aladdin and Jasmine. They have problems of communication. Jasmine doesn't tell Aladdin the whole truth about what happened with Jafar and there is a whole bunch of not talking between them about how they really feel. It's the resolution of that which leads to Killian talking to Emma. I think the point of Ariel in this episode was to get Killian able to talk to Emma by using the magic seashell (otherwise, I don't know why she was there). Good. I'm glad they cleared that up just a little bit. It makes sense that Emma would not be sure what to feel during the bar scene. The writers do not want to make her completely give up on him, just ready for the end of the episode for the talking and to make the distance between them even more sad.

The whole Aesop's Tables sidebar was okay. It ended up being necessary but it took until the very end for us to understand the point. I wasn't quite getting into it. Yes, I was all for a Emma and Regina Girls' Night Out, but I wasn't into the Drunk Snow challenging some Vikings. (I think I found the definition of “shoehorn”.) Emma got some small catharsis by opening up to the bartender (not a mixologist, my goodness) and they made a big show of her wiping her tears on a napkin. I was really prepared to like Aesop but of course OF COURSE he was Gideon in disguise.

Continuing the Season 1 callbacks, the spell that had Agrabah trapped in the ring was broken by True Love's Kiss. Should have seen that coming, but I'm glad they finished up that storyline. Agrabah is found, Aladdin is free, and Jafar is a stick (I think he could have gotten a better ending but Jasmine being a badass was pretty good after a whole season of being generally whiny).

Jasmine faces Jafar again.

I never thought I would hear Captain Hook say the words “off-season tiki bar” but I did.

Next episode looks amazing. Not in a carefully-edited way either. The Black Fairy, Blackbeard, Never Land (!?), Isaac, Emma helping Gideon. It's looking really good. They'll drag out the Hook's gone story for a little bit since they haven't had a major character trapped in a different realm much this season (unlike the past with whole stories set in another realm). There are only 7 episodes left, so obviously they can't make Gideon not want to kill Emma anymore.

8/10