Once Upon a Time season 5 needs a Savior. Who better to take the lead than someone who has battled the forces of evil her entire life?
Regina is not the Savior Camelot was looking for. Nor is she the Savior Storybrooke expects. She is, however, the Savior that Once Upon a Time needs. The road Regina paved to season 5 was not always paved with good intentions. There were many cracks, sink holes, and detours along the way. Those frequent missteps are not to be forgotten. Instead they serve as guideposts marking how far Regina has come since that evil crown sat atop her head.
Why Regina deserves to be the Savior
Regina’s moral compass just started pointing toward Good instead of Evil. Since Regina began taking steps away from her past, there is a stronger force navigating Regina toward the harder paths rather than the easy way out. For example, take Regina’s personal history with the dagger. When Cora and Regina joined forces against Mr. Gold, their battle against the Dark One quickly turned into a quest for power, not the removal of the Dark One.
Claiming her intentions has the family’s best interest in mind, Cora was merely covering up her lust for power. Regina was strong enough to see through Cora’s ploy to become the Dark One. In this particular situation, Regina took one step forward only to take four steps back after Mary Margaret killed Cora.
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This was not the moment for Regina’s narrative to take a turn. Loss dominated Regina’s life early on, and from her many painful experiences she realized that in order to prevent pain she had to control everyone who could potentially inflict it. Rather than have Regina learn and progress forward from the loss of Cora, Regina regressed. It is, however, important to note that after each subsequent incident, Regina moved further and further away from returning to her lonely days stewing in the castle.
As Archie points out to Regina in season 2, she will never be able to move forward if she cannot let go of her past. Recall that when Regina tried to keep Daniel alive, he literally turned into a monster.
Over the next few seasons, as Regina slowly chipped away at the walls she built, she began to recognize what she desired from life. It only takes one look back to season 2, episode 8, “Welcome to Storybrooke,” when two outsiders, immune to the curse, find themselves trapped in the new town after the first curse to see what that is — for someone to accept her based on who she is in the present, not who she was in the past. It is the catalyst that led Regina to adopt Henry and it is the one that keeps pushing her forward today.
The Savior is no longer an obstacle between Regina and her happy ending, but rather the cloak and dagger (pun intended) Regina needs to arm herself with in order to secure a victory for everyone, including Emma.
So, why Regina? The former Evil Queen understands that the only way to defeat pure evil is to channel what she would do with the power she once craved and pinpoint that weakness in Emma.
What obstacles are left for Regina to overcome?
Unfortunately, no one can figure out Emma’s endgame. At the moment, Regina is working hard to rally support behind her so when the time comes for the town to band together against Emma they can act as a unified force.
The town of Storybrooke needs to wake up and smell the unpoisoned apples. Regina has come a long way since the days she considered putting a spell on Henry to force him to love her. She earned Henry’s love and respect by proving herself capable of change. When will the rest of the town jump on board? Regina has experienced more than her fair share of challenges since she took a walk on the hero side. Each one is a testament to her dedication to keep fighting for good.
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In season 4, when the spell of Shattered Sight hit Storybrooke, Regina instinctively changed into her Evil Queen regalia with the intention to take down anyone in her path. While Mary Margaret and David faced their more humorous inner evils, such as buying a car seat on clearance, Regina revisited her more destructive days. The scene served as a humorous affair, but Regina’s darker desires took over in quite literally the blink of an eye. Who’s to say it won’t happen again?
The temptation for Regina to return to her evil ways is like an addiction in that the urge is never going to go away. She can recall how miserable her life became in the midst of all that power and control, but she also feels the pull every now and again. Last season when the Queens of Darkness rolled into town, Regina made nice with the forces of pure evil. her restraint in those moments showed just how far she came from her days with Cora, but how hard it continues to be each passing day.
Regina’s story is far from over and it continues to be an exciting journey as fans watch her approach challenges in a new way. Regina’s new vision — using the forces of light instead of darkness and relying on a team rather than operating on autopilot — are the exact tools Storybrooke’s new Savior needs. The war against the Dark One has only just begun. Expect to see Regina rise up as a leader when the final battle begins.
Watch Once Upon a Time season 5, episode 5, “Dreamcatcher,” Sunday, October 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.