#OUaTrevisit: S5:E9/10

Note: As previously mentioned, this will now be the canonical home of my #OUaTrevisit posts. I’ll continue posting these to my Mastodon account, and linking to my fellow Revisitors Katie’s and Cindy’s posts on their respective platforms.

This week, we’re watching as a formerly wondrous kingdom crumbles under a despotic, chaotic new ruler who issues random decrees without considering the effect on his subjects. But enough about Twitter…

In this week’s pair of Once Upon a Time episodes, Amy Manson returns as Merida, and Meghan Ory returns as Red. And, I guess, other stuff happens.

S5:E9 The Bear King

“Zelena and Arthur journey to find an enchanted relic.”
Airdate: November 15, 2015

• This all happened in the six-week Camelot interregnum, remember?
• We’re going to visit Merida!
• DunBroch is quite pretty.
• The witch looks a lot like Carol Kane in The Princess Bride.

• “You’ll get exactly what you want,” says the witch, foreshadowingly.
• Seems like nothing can ever happen in a great hall without a witch bursting in saying she wasn’t invited!

• I wonder if Merida and Arthur+Zelena are questing for the same thing. (obviously)
• Merida’s battle outfit is fantastic. We definitely needed the walk-around character wearing that.
• I recognize that cloak. It’s Mulan!
• Aww, there’s been a falling out in the two years since the battle.
• What happened to her is that Aurora married Philip. 💔
• This training montage is brought to you by Highlander.

• Zelena plays that expecting mom thing way too much.
• Amy Manson is here just killing the Merida role. I was so sad to learn (just now) about The Nevers being canceled. Hopefully, we get to see the remaining six episodes sometime soon.
• How has he inspired the men? With a speech and a brawny chest, and would you look at that beard! (And a sneaky enchanted helm.)
• Nobody ever knocks at the witch’s cabin.
• Red!!!

• Oops, wrong thing to say.
• How did I end up back here? Well, I went off to do another show, and that didn’t work out, so…
• She’s not the only one of her kind, Granny is also a wolf.
• They grew a bean. Cute retcon of Meghan Ory leaving the show. Does she stay around now?
• Oh hey, I know a specialist in tracking! 🐾
• They can take our lives but they’ll never take our outrageous accents!

• The producers got the entire cohort of the local SCA chapter for this scene.
• Oof, that was more graphic than I expected. Stabbed him in the back.
• It was Arthur! What a jerk.
• Hello, my name is Merida of DunBroch. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

• Super classy, your Majesty.
• Go Red!
• So-called Arthur-king.
• I wouldn’t trust Zelena to drunk-transit, myself.
• Loved Merida’s slight eye-roll when she realized it was a test.

• I want to see the team-up movie with Merida, Mulan, and Red.
• The way Mulan’s voice broke a little when she told her story.
• Oh boy, Arthur is going to be In For It.

S5:E10 Broken Heart

“In a Camelot flashback, Hook becomes a Dark One.”
Airdate: November 29, 2015

• So the “One” part of the name is no longer strictly accurate.
• Killian is extra growly this week.
• Will the wristband work on a Dark One though?
• Hook is gonna love having Rumple as his Jarvis.

• Regina’s makeup this week seems extra broody.
• I love how Colin O’Donoghue is chewing the scenery!
• The “Dark One Chronicles” is a new spinoff series.
• I’m confused about what memories Killian took from Emma.
• Henry is almost as tall as Emma now.
• Lancelot’s mother is the Lady of the Lake? How does that even work? And MM dropped it as if we already knew.

• “Why do Dark Ones always dress like monks?” This also explains Dark Emma’s outfit.
• Will Belle give Rumple yet another chance, now that his darkness is gone?
• I almost thought Nurse Ratchet was going to have some power to keep Zelena out.
• Who’s watching the new baby while Zelena and Regina are sniping at each other? The Charmings? Cindy and Jasmine’s babysitting service?

• “Baby Hood”
• Yes, let’s remember she murdered Marian.
• What did Emma do to Merida?
• “I used to be the queen of DunBroch until I took an arrow to the knee.”
• Emma is remarkably calm here while Killian just rips into her.
• “You’re only a pawn if you don’t know you’re being used.”
• Flashback Killian’s outfit is very Matrix 2 Neo-esque.

• If you deleted every “I did it to protect you” from this show, you’d have nothing left.
• Ooh, Killian figured out his Dark One magic pretty quickly.
• How is Gold going to beat Hook? Though he’s the hero now so I guess it’s forgone.
• “Once you go green, you’ll never go Queen.” I honestly can’t believe they got away with this line.

• We’re doing shared custody. That was a hard decision but it was the right thing to do.
• Eh, maybe don’t put Emma in charge of naming sequels.
• Pretty sporting of Killian to fix Gold’s limp before they fight.
• We see Merlin recording his OGM.
• Clever loophole.
• Dark Emma saving the day?
• Huh. He actually did it. And now, yet another curse.
• Seizing the brief moment of distraction, Gold leaps to his feet, holds Dark Killian at bay with Excalibur, and… lets him go.
• Hah, Belle is finally done with him.
• We’re starting to catch up to real-time now.
• It was a bad call, Emma! A bad call!

• Where’s Grumpy to shout about another curse?
• You’d think they would all be used to it by now, anyway.
• I don’t like dreamcatchers being used this way.
• A portal to the underworld, and here comes the Dark Squad. You could probably field a football team with this many Darks One.