Steveston, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parrilla, Colin O'Donoghue, and Josh Dallas in Once Upon a Time (2011)

So, you're the one who's been squatting in my castle?

I'm not "squatting" anywhere. This is the Evil Queen's castle, after all. Nice outfit, by the way. We really do make it look good, don't we?

Ginnifer Goodwin, Lana Parrilla, Rebecca Mader, Colin O'Donoghue, and Josh Dallas in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Robert Carlyle and Jaime Murray in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Robert Carlyle in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Karen David and Deniz Akdeniz in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Colin O'Donoghue in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Ginnifer Goodwin

Jennifer Morrison

Lana Parrilla

Edward Kitsis

Adam Horowitz

Brigitte Hales

Henry awakens to a cursed Storybrooke and discovers Emma has been in the mental hospital, and the Black Fairy is the new mayor. Henry also attempts to help Emma regain her memory while Gold tries to find out what has really happen...

Steve Pearlman

The Final Battle: Part 1

Battle of the souls

&apos;Once Upon a Time&apos; was very addictive when it first began. What really intrigued me into seeing it in the first place was its fascinating and creative premise of turning fairy tales and characters on their head and putting own interpretations on them. Good premises always do intrigue me and that or talented casts, or both, are usually my main reasons in my interest in watching something. Liked to loved a vast majority of Seasons 1-4 and found a lot to like about Season 5, despite reservations with the second half of it.

Season 6 was for me more hit and miss, leaning generally towards the disappointing. Personally thought that the first three episodes of the season were very good to great, especially &quot;The Other Shoe&quot;. It was from &quot;Strange Case&quot; onward when the problems began and things got somewhat pear-shaped, when there was an increasing lack of new ideas and magic, increasing too were the campiness and soap opera, the over-stuffing and less interesting characterisation. It did get significantly better though towards the end of the season, but between &quot;The Other Shoe&quot; and &quot;Page 23&quot; the season was very uneven, though never unwatchable.

&quot;The Final Battle&quot;, both parts, is a great episode and one of the season&apos;s best. Also one of the best episodes of the latter (meaning Seasons 5, or at least the second half of it, -7) seasons, and we are not talking marginally. It worked incredibly well as a season finale, one of the show&apos;s season finales, and actually would have worked equally brilliantly as an ending to the show.

Do feel that the cursed Storybrooke parts had more tension and emotion than the Enchanted Forest ones. The latter parts were charming and enjoyable, as well as interesting, if not quite going the extra mile like the Storybrooke parts did.

So much to love though however. What was striking about &quot;The Final Battle&quot; was how it returned to its roots and came back to what we already knew, but instead going round in circles it played around with it without contradicting. It was very affectionately nostalgic, though one is reminded somewhat of how &apos;Once Upon a Time&apos; progressed so much since it first started on the whole, and packed a big emotional punch (i.e. Hook and Emma). A lot happens here, yet unlike most of the other episodes of Season 6 it didn&apos;t feel over-stuffed or rushed with it being spaced out over two parts. It to me didn&apos;t feel muddled and comprehension was not a problem.

What is also great is the character interaction and how the characters were written. Even with deliberately different takes on some of them, the characters are still very interesting and engaging, some being the most interesting they&apos;ve been all season (i.e. Mary Margaret, showing some steel), and they don&apos;t come over as distorted. Actually really cared about all of them. Loved the character interactions, like with Emma and Henry, Regina and Evil Queen, Snow White and Regina, Hook and Emma etc. and the more subtle things, like how Rebecca Mader says Zelena&apos;s line regarding the destruction of Oz and with Snow White and Regina. The Black Fairy is a more than convincing antagonist and Gold&apos;s story here is very moving and really cared for Gold more so than any of the previous Season 6 episodes.

Even with the playing around and returning to the roots, the story grips and intrigues, while the dialogue is amusing, thought-provoking, heartfelt and intense, balanced very well. Less soap, corn and camp here. The production values have a lot of beauty and atmosphere, nothing drab or gaudy here, while being attractively photographed. The music doesn&apos;t ever sound cheap or out-of-kilter, fitting well with the mood and never found myself questioning its placement. The main theme is still memorable. Lana Parrilla, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle and Rebecca Mader are on particular top form of the uniformly strong cast.

Overall, a great episode and season finale. 9/10

'Once Upon a Time' was very addictive when it first began. What really intrigued me into seeing it in the first place was its fascinating and creative premise of turning fairy tales and characters on their head and putting own interpretations on them. Good premises always do intrigue me and that or talented casts, or both, are usually my main reasons in my interest in watching something. Liked to loved a vast majority of Seasons 1-4 and found a lot to like about Season 5, despite reservations with the second half of it.

Season 6 was for me more hit and miss, leaning generally towards the disappointing. Personally thought that the first three episodes of the season were very good to great, especially "The Other Shoe". It was from "Strange Case" onward when the problems began and things got somewhat pear-shaped, when there was an increasing lack of new ideas and magic, increasing too were the campiness and soap opera, the over-stuffing and less interesting characterisation. It did get significantly better though towards the end of the season, but between "The Other Shoe" and "Page 23" the season was very uneven, though never unwatchable.

"The Final Battle", both parts, is a great episode and one of the season's best. Also one of the best episodes of the latter (meaning Seasons 5, or at least the second half of it, -7) seasons, and we are not talking marginally. It worked incredibly well as a season finale, one of the show's season finales, and actually would have worked equally brilliantly as an ending to the show.

Do feel that the cursed Storybrooke parts had more tension and emotion than the Enchanted Forest ones. The latter parts were charming and enjoyable, as well as interesting, if not quite going the extra mile like the Storybrooke parts did.

So much to love though however. What was striking about "The Final Battle" was how it returned to its roots and came back to what we already knew, but instead going round in circles it played around with it without contradicting. It was very affectionately nostalgic, though one is reminded somewhat of how 'Once Upon a Time' progressed so much since it first started on the whole, and packed a big emotional punch (i.e. Hook and Emma). A lot happens here, yet unlike most of the other episodes of Season 6 it didn't feel over-stuffed or rushed with it being spaced out over two parts. It to me didn't feel muddled and comprehension was not a problem.

What is also great is the character interaction and how the characters were written. Even with deliberately different takes on some of them, the characters are still very interesting and engaging, some being the most interesting they've been all season (i.e. Mary Margaret, showing some steel), and they don't come over as distorted. Actually really cared about all of them. Loved the character interactions, like with Emma and Henry, Regina and Evil Queen, Snow White and Regina, Hook and Emma etc. and the more subtle things, like how Rebecca Mader says Zelena's line regarding the destruction of Oz and with Snow White and Regina. The Black Fairy is a more than convincing antagonist and Gold's story here is very moving and really cared for Gold more so than any of the previous Season 6 episodes.

Even with the playing around and returning to the roots, the story grips and intrigues, while the dialogue is amusing, thought-provoking, heartfelt and intense, balanced very well. Less soap, corn and camp here. The production values have a lot of beauty and atmosphere, nothing drab or gaudy here, while being attractively photographed. The music doesn't ever sound cheap or out-of-kilter, fitting well with the mood and never found myself questioning its placement. The main theme is still memorable. Lana Parrilla, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle and Rebecca Mader are on particular top form of the uniformly strong cast.

Overall, a great episode and season finale. 9/10

Henry awakens to a cursed Storybrooke and discovers Emma has been in the mental hospital, and the Black Fairy is the new mayor. Henry also attempts to help Emma regain her memory while Gold tries to find out what has really happened to Belle.

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The Final Battle: Part 1

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