Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25703308-20180518222504/@comment-31231929-20180519055030

I feel empty inside, as if a piece of me is missing. I honestly started feeling empty about half an hour into the episode. I think it was because I had stopped pushing my feelings about the show ended down and once the barrier was gone, nothing was there except this strange feeling of sadness that isn’t quite sadness. It’s like having a hole in your heart, but the hole is slightly fixed. I have no idea if that makes any sense. I’m not actually sure how I feel about this episode. I usually know how I feel about an episode soon after it ends, but for this very last one, I have no idea. I definitely enjoyed it, but it didn’t bring me as much feelings as I thought (and wished) it would. So I’m slightly disappointed on that part. It’s probably because I knew of every spoiler possible, but that’s my own fault.

There was a lot of the episode that gave me feelings and enjoyment, the biggest of all was Captain Swan and their baby daughter, Hope. I absolutely loved that they had a dramatic entrance during Regina’s coronation and Emma (wearing her red leather jacket over her ballgown) said, “Sorry, I’m late.” I loved that Regina asked after them and that when they showed up, Emma told Regina she wasn’t going to miss her coronation. I liked their greeting and their conversation where Regina declared that this was her second chance. I’ve always liked their friendship and the hug they greeted each other with felt like one between two old friends which made me happy. I also like how they’ll always be Madam Mayor and Miss Swan to each other. Anyways, back to Baby Hope. We didn’t get to see her face, but she is adorable and I love her. I love that Henry got to hold her and so did Emma and Killian. Emma and Killian only said a couple of words to each other, but the heart-eye game at each other and Baby Hope was strong and I loved it. I also loved that Baby Hope’s outfit matched her mom’s ballgown, which is absolutely gorgeous by the way. Captain Swan is the best and so is Hope.

So for the actual episode itself, the main problem was solved about half-way through. Rumple ended up saving the day when he told everyone that you do good things because they’re the right things to do and not for any reward. It was a great moment of development for a character I feel nothing for (I also felt nothing when he died and was reunited with Belle). He then ripped out his own heart, which the darkness disappeared from. I’m not entirely sure how that happened, but I don’t really care because Rumple then gave his “new” heart to Wish Killian, who, after holding onto Alice while they were being sucked into Wish Rumple’s prison portals. This caused his heart to give out, but his new heart revived him and he and Alice were reunited and there was a Knightrook hug and it was wonderful. Speaking of those two (and Curious Archer), Robin asked Wish Killian if she had his blessing to marry Alice. I then proceed to fall over and flail for a good thirty seconds. Curious Archer is gonna get married!!!

Another thing I liked about the finale was that Regina got Wish Henry to stop trying to kill her by getting him to realize that she loves all versions of him and that they’re are other people who love all versions of him as well. I also loved that Regina killing Wish Snowing was addressed. It’s something that needed to happen. Once the day had been saved, Regina told the Henrys that she was going to cast one final Dark Curse. The purpose of this curse was to bring everyone together as opposed to separate them. I think this is a very beautiful anti-parallel to Regina casting the first Dark Curse. The heart-of-the-thing-you-love-most loophole ended up being  small gifted pieces from the hearts of everyone who loves her and whom she loves. I really love that all the realms of story were brought together. The visuals of all the realms was so cool. One of the biggest reasons I love the Newly United Realms (NUR) is that it means Emma and Elsa can visit each other. And everyone can visit everyone else without having to worry about portals and stuff.

Regina being elected the Good Queen of the NUR makes a lot of sense to me. She did cast the first curse, but she went through a lengthy and difficult redemption and ended up essentially undoing the act of casting the first curse by bring everyone together with one final one. I also like that she’s considering her new position as a second chance. I think it’s fitting for the former Evil Queen. Regina has gone through a long journey to get where she is and I’m happy with how things ended for her. I’m happy with how things ended for everyone, actually. I loved that Snow got to give one final hope speech, I love the two sightings of Emma’s Bug, I love that they finally answered the long-awaited question: Who is Lily’s father? The answer? Zorro. Zorro is a dragon. I love that the first thing we saw after the previously on was the clock at 8:15 and that the same time was shown at the end. Speaking of which, today’s date, 5-18 is the reverse of 8:15. That probably wasn’t intentional, but it’s still pretty cool. I loved Alice and Robin’s run in with the dwarves and Granny when they first arrived in Storybrooke. Wish Rumple and Wish Henry made excellent final villains. Though Wish Henry was more of a pawn who had nothing to live for because he didn’t have anyone. Due to Regina, but she more than made up for that by giving him even more people who love him, including herself.

I think I’ve gotten everything I can out of my system regarding the finale. While writing this, I’ve realized that my overall feeling for this episode is satisfaction. I also don’t feel empty anymore. I’m happy with the way things ended and the only thing I would change is that Belle would be alive. I had a much stronger reaction towards the other finale. After The Final Battle I felt a myriad of emotions, the strongest of which was immense happiness at Emma’s journey and the happy beginnings and nervous excitement for the new story. This new story ended up being enjoyable for the most part. There were aspects I didn’t care for, but the good more than made up for the bad. This season was very different from the first six, but I still loved it just like all the others.