TV Review: Once Upon a Time (4×17) “Best Laid Plans”

This weeks episode of Once Upon a Time answers a lot of questions—both from fans and from characters too. We find out who the author is (finally, am I right?) exactly what the Charming’s did to Maleficent’s baby and Emma finally hears the secret her parents have been keeping from her.

So, our episode starts in the lovely Enchanted Forest where the Charming’s (an already pregnant Snow, seeking to rid her unborn daughter of the curse that is supposed to make her evil) touch a unicorn’s horn in order to get a glimpse into Emma’s future. David sees Emma as a little baby–innocent and adorable, and Snow sees her as a teenager who rips her heart out and then crushes it (Jeeze Emma. Chill girl).

On their journey, they meet with a man and help with carrying a heavy load as well as give him Brandy so that he can warm up. I didn’t really think much of this dude until he revealed that Maleficent was doing something dangerous with an egg and that they should change their trail to be safe. Still, I couldn’t think of why this random dude and scene was placed in this episode. There had to be a reason–and there was, but we’ll talk about that later.

So then, they set out to find the famous wizard (the one Rumple and Hook trapped in the first half of season 4) and ask him what they can do to prevent their unborn daughter from living a life of darkness. Of course, he has magic for that, but like everything else that seems to good to be true, all magic has a cost. If they want to save their daughter, they must transmit the darkness in Emma to another unborn being.

This is when Maleficent’s baby comes into play… Remember that episode where Snow admits that because of them (the Charming’s), her unborn baby is gone? Turns out they stole the egg that the baby was supposed to be hatched from (Yes, a human baby being attached from an egg. Don’t ask me, just go with it) and took it to the wizard who transmitted the darkness to the baby. However, one thing the Charming’s didn’t know was that Maleficent wasn’t going to get her baby egg back. The baby was so evil that it was vanished to another realm. Now, the Charming’s feel terrible–and so they should.

In present time Storybrooke, everyone is trying to find the author and Rumple is still being an asshole. (I’m going to say this every week, how can people still like that dude?!) Anyway, our “bad people” (that’s what Henry calls them, he’s so cute isn’t he?) try to get to the page with the door (where the author is) before the Charming’s who get the page and are dead set on destroying it in the fire—forever trapping the poor author. However, Snow has a guilty conscious and that’s when they decide to not burn the page and tell Emma everything.

Emma is absolutely destroyed at hearing everything. So much so, that Hook tries to comfort her with his only hand and she slaps it away. She no longer trusts her parents, but do you blame her?

Anyway, moving forward, when Henry gave the Charming’s the page with the door, he also gave them a key that opened the door–the one that would let out the author. August reveals that there is more than one author (of course there is. Damn it, when will OUAT not have a twist to it??) And that the one trapped in the page, was just the last author.

I totally felt myself get nervous as Emma turned the key on the page’s door, expecting someone familiar and unexpected to come out of that page. Okay, obviously my prediction about August was wrong (considering the author was trapped in the page) but it made me wonder who else it could be? Remember the dude with the Brandy and warning about Maleficent? That’s one of our authors ya’ll and it gets worse because our author who we are kind of supposed to admire, wrote these terrible scenes and made our characters do terrible things. Like, the wizard didn’t want to give Maleficent child darkness, the author made him do it.

Our episode ends with him running away.

Now, I thought it was a pretty good episode. To be completely honest, there wasn’t anything revealed that made me gasp dramatically (like I always do when I watch things) but it was still interesting enough to keep me wanting to see more.

Although there are more episodes this season, I’m still interested to see how much further this show is going to go or what else they can add to the storyline while still keeping it interesting. I’m afraid this show might not make into my viewing list if there is a season 5 though, just because I’m just not sure anything surprises me anymore to much. We will see though.

As for now, we are getting a two week break and when it comes back, Zelena (Wicked Witch of the West) will be back and I have no idea why they’d do that but I think I’m being to judgy guys. I will try to stay optimistic about this show but I am curious, what did you guys think of the episode? Also, do you think the series has potential to keep going for a few more seasons?