Once Upon a Time season 5 tested the fans’ resolve. Did the finale strengthen or weaken your dedication to the show?

In a season of blunders, Once Upon a Time delivered a few rays of light in a dark season 5. The two-hour finale had plenty of trouble setting up quick fixes to deal with the Camelot and Merida issue, so, so much exposition, and terrible pizza folding. But it did give Henry a purpose, offer Emma and Regina a place to heir their differences, and introduce the season 6 arc involving Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Grief is a weird thing. David, perhaps gave the best advice at the top of the season 5 finale. It’s time for everyone to deal with their grief. Since Henry brought magic into the lives of Storybrooke’s residents and Emma Swan, nothing has been the same. Peace has not last more than a week or so, the death toll keeps rising, and each of those deaths have been someone close to at least one member of the hero team. With Robin’s death and Hook’s internment fresh on his mind, who could blame Henry for taking the first step off the sidelines.

But Henry’s plan to destroy magic is not so much taking a step off the sidelines as it is grabbing a broom, knocking a seeker off his broom, and ending the match. Game over. No one wins and no moves are left to reverse the final result. Though rash, Henry’s storyline was admirable. In a season of sitting back and using his quill for good, it was refreshing to see him taking action and finally telling everyone that he is tired of seeing his family ripped apart and not being able to help. First his father, then Hook, then Robin, not to mention quite a few kidnappings and curses. Henry has had it rough. With no one willing to listen and everyone willing to talk at him, it’s no wonder he resorted to such drastic measures.

While Emma and Regina are off in search of their son to prevent him from doing something irreversible, Lana Parrilla delivered one of the best scenes for her as an actress and for Regina as a character. In these recaps I’ve praised Regina for having one of the most compelling story arcs on the show. Hook takes a close second, with Emma’s journey into Darkness (and hopefully a season 6 of more complicated fallout from that trip) coming in third. But what makes Regina’s storyline so interesting is the struggle that goes unsaid. There are ways of guessing that Regina has some sort of internal struggle going on, but nothing can quite drive that point home quite like her saying, “There is no redemption for me.”

Regina feels trapped in-between this space of good and evil. On the one hand she can forgive people now and perform acts for the good guys, but she’ll always feel the pull to the darkness. Her better judgement is keeping her from happiness, just out of reach of anything that feels good in the world. Much like an addiction, Regina will constantly see fleeting glimpses of happiness, but know what could have been if she only gave into the other side for just a moment. Keeping the Evil Queen at bay will leave her empty and unhappy, but it is better than the alternative which could bring about even more unspeakable things. But unlike Rumpel, she knows what will make the majority safer, but she will never feel whole with the baggage of the Evil Queen on her back.

Rumpel, however, is still, and will always be, the worst. Not only did he go on yet another quest for endless power, threaten to beat a man with his cane and awaken some post traumatic stress in the process, but he took his sleeping wife to a hotel room in order to wake her up and remind her how much she should love him. Please let this storyline end. It’s becoming borderline Law and Order case without the proper sentencing to end it. All of this plus, his quest for power over Belle at every turn is not amusing or compelling for even an evil B story plan. The only thing his plan to tether all of Storybrooke’s power to one shard of the Olympian crystal did was leave Henry with the ability to destroy all the magic in their realm at once. Classic Gold.

Henry finds some clues after schmoozing with his girl at Neal’s apartment, and collects a twin grail from the special collections room. Here he also discovers many other identical storybooks all filled with untold stories. One of those untold stories just happens to be where Hook, David, Mary Margaret, and Zelena wind up after sending the residents of Camelot home. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde run a hospital with an orderly who keeps not only the residents in line, but also Mr. Hyde’s alternate personality. I’ll admit it, I fell victim to the awful news that a mental hospital would be our primary setting for season 6. I am much happier with this twist of events.

Even after Henry harnesses all the power in the crystal into the spare chalice, all seems lost. But this is Once Upon a Time, and loopholes exists. The Land Without Magic is actually not void of magic. The Dragon, yet another character living among the “Muggles” of this world says that magic is everywhere and Henry’s ability to pull magic from his childhood. The magic exists in the wishing fountain in a non-descript New York park. Luckily New York is full of crazy people who will help a shouting teenager on a lion asking for help with a bit of magic. Think the ending of Peter Pan mixed with Elf.

Before the portal Henry manages to open with wishes returns the heroes and an extra guest, from their new land, the doctor and the monster separate themselves with a serum. If the doctor and the monster can be free why can’t Regina and the Evil Queen find a life all their own. Emma’s light magic can only do so much once Queen and Mayor meet atop a roof in New York. Regina facing down her past self and summoning the courage to rip out her blackened heart and destroy the Evil Queen once and for all.

What does this mean for Regina going forward? Only time and maybe some therapy will tell. Or maybe the Evil Queen will live to spin a new tale. Regina may have destroyed the Olympian crystal, but the Evil Queen murdered the Dragon and took his heart. I guess magic still exits in New York? That is not the only person we need to worry about, however. Gold and Hyde returned to Storybrooke with the terms of their deal taking effect. In exchange for waking up Belle, Hyde took control of the town with a few new additions in his custody.

Stray Observations

• “Most people just come here for the YA.” – Save your libraries, folks!

• “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” – Emma finally displaying the audiences frustration with a loophole that could save the day in the eleventh hour.

• Henry suffers a lot of loss on this show and when he finally shows some frustration, it is yet again shut down so that he can play to the side of innocence and magic. It’s either time to recast Henry, so we believe he is too young to understand the world, or give him more of an adult role in the show. This was a good step forward, but not far enough.

• Violet is from our world! She is one of us!

Here’s what to look forward to in season 6

• The casting of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were spot on for Once Upon a Time‘s new arc. Now with the addition of the Land of Lost Stories we will hopefully get to see some great new characters. Let’s stray away from the story of the week mode, though. Okay?

• Gold and Hyde are in a battle for power and bringing back Belle from maternity leave. I’m getting a bit bored of the show bring Gold against the world. There will never be a reversal of feelings towards Gold from my end, so I’ll be happy when he loses big.

• With Hyde running the town who did he choose to bring to the next chapter of Once Upon a Time‘s story?

Once Upon a Time returns with season 6 Fall 2016.