"Where Bluebirds Fly"

Title

• The title card features the Emerald City.^[3]
• The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on February 3, 2017.^[4]
• The title of this episode is an allusion to "Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly", a lyric from Judy Garland's song "Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz.

Production Notes

• The press release misspells Isabella Blake-Thomas's name as Isabella Black-Thomas.^[2]
• The pancake scene was a late addition to the episode. According to Brigitte Hales, they "actually hadn't planned anything like that".^[5]
• When Emma is making pancakes, Hook comes over and says, "Something smells delicious." In the episode script, he simply says, "Mmm... delicious."^[6]
• In the episode script, Regina says, "Emma? "What are you thinking?", and Emma answers, "Maybe we can."^[7] This exchange is not in the final episode.
  • A scene where Mary Margaret says, "So where do we look? And is anyone else surprised Tiger Lily was a fairy?", and Zelena replies, "You can all drop dead from shock for all I care"^[8] is also not in the final episode.
• When Belle and Mr. Gold are talking about their son, Belle says, "You know, this means he can be saved." In the episode script, Mr. Gold answers, "Yes. But that's not all it means."^[9] This line is not in the final episode.
• For unknown reasons, the beginning scene with Emma, Hook and Mary Margaret at the Swan house was shot or reshot on the final day of filming for Season Six.^[10]
  • Furthermore, Emma's wrist tattoo appears and disappears continuously throughout this scene.

Event Chronology

• The Oz flashbacks occur in various places of the overall timeline.
  • The first flashback take place after "Sisters", and before "It's Not Easy Being Green".
  • The rest of the events take place sometimes after "Our Decay" and before "Chosen". (For more details, see the Oz timeline)

• The Storybrooke events take place after "Awake" and before "The Black Fairy". (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)

Episode Connections

• Emma makes pancakes for Hook, which David suggested as something she could do in "Strange Case".
• Hook and Emma got engaged in "Awake".
• David mentions Mary Margaret's first date with Dr. Whale, an event that took place in "Snow Falls".
• David talks about how the Evil Queen crashed his and Snow White's wedding, which was shown in "Pilot", "The Thing You Love Most" and "The New Neverland".
• Mr. Gold took Mother Superior's magic to save Gideon's soul in "Ill-Boding Patterns".
• Zelena mentions how she killed Hades to save Regina in "Last Rites".
• Zelena talks about how she banished Walsh by turning him into a Flying Monkey, referring to events in "It's Not Easy Being Green".
• Zelena briefly mentions Dorothy return to Oz. which took place in "Our Decay".
• Zelena gets her magic back in "Secret Garden".
• When Zelena attacks the Black Fairy, she says, "Wicked always wins", just like she said in the final scene of "New York City Serenade".

Disney

• The fairy crystals are based on the diamonds mined by the seven dwarves in the animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (in the "Snow White" fairytale, they mine for gold, or gold and something else, depending on the exact edition^[11]).

Fairytales and Folklore

• This episode is rendition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story with the Wicked Witch of the West, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
• This episode also features the ugly duckling from the titular fairytale and Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story.
• The Wicked Witch of the North from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz's sequel, The Marvelous Land of Oz, is mentioned as being the one who cursed the Tin Man.

Set Dressing

• The table cloth and candle on Zelena's dinner table are green, as is her drink.^[12]

Costume Notes

• Emma is wearing^[13] a Zara Coat with Embroidered Yoke^[14] (no longer available).
  • The coat was also worn by the character Mandy Baxter on the Last Man Standing episode "The Force".^[15]
• Belle is wearing^[16] a Lace Trim Floral Print Silk Shirt by The Kooples^[17] (no longer available).
• Regina is wearing^[18] a Ted Baker Aurore Long wrap coat^[19] (no longer available).
• The uniforms worn by the guards of the Emerald Castle^[20] are inspired by the design created by Adrian Greenburg for the winged monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.^[21]

Filming Locations

• Parts of this episode were filmed in Everett Crowley Park in Vancouver.^[22]