TV Review: Once Upon A Time (5×20): ‘Firebird’

(ABC/Jack Rowand)
(ABC/Jack Rowand)

Our time in Underworld is coming to an end, which is a big sigh of relief to both the viewers and the characters, and “Firebird” helped to tie up some of the loose ends.

And everything from that nasty baby contract to one of the dwarves’s unfinished business was tied up in this episode. When Hades makes a deal with Emma that he will allow them all to leave if she helps him get Zelena back from Rumple and Peter Pan,  Hades rips up the baby contract that he has with Rumple and takes the Storybrooke gang’s names off of the tombstones. But Emma cannot share her heart with Hook (as originally planned) because he had been dead for too long.

Hades then tells Emma that the only people who managed to cheat death were Orpheus and Eurydice because they ate ambrosia (the food of the gods). In order to find ambrosia, Emma and Hook need to take the elevator down to the lowest pits of the Underworld. In order to gain access to the ambrosia room, Emma’s love for Hook is tested, and they discover that what they have is true love. Sadly, the ambrosia has been destroyed (probably by Hades), and Emma and Hook come to terms with the fact that he won’t be able to be saved. They say a teary goodbye, where he tells her that she should not protect her heart anymore after his death, and she tells him not to linger in Underworld for her, but to move on. It was beautiful, touching and a great moment for both characters.

(ABC/Jack Rowand)

Hades, sneaky fellow that he is, double crosses the gang though, because after he and Zelena share a kiss when she is rescued, it causes his heart to beat again and the portal opens allowing them to leave Underworld. However he does not make it easy on the rest of the gang as he gets Cruella and the Blind Witch to lock the gang up in the library. But the combined forces of Emma and Regina manage to zap them out of the library and through the portal, and with one last sad look back, Emma leaves Underworld – and Hook – behind.

As Emma was in actually the same position when she came to Underworld, it seems like their entire time in Underworld was a waste – Hook is still dead, but now they saddled with another villain – Hades, who isn’t even nearly as entertaining and interesting as the other villains that they have had on the show. It’s tedious, and I am aware we got some positive facets from this storyline – Henry is the author again, Cora and Peter Pan are gone for good, Regina and Zelena are friends – but there could have been a more interesting way of telling this story. At the very least, I feel like Hercules and Meg should have been used to overthrow Hades, because what was the point of casting them for only one episode which was not even that related to the main storyline? This half of the season has been filled with plotholes and lazy writing, and I really hope that the showrunners manage the transition and following season more fluidly, because Underworld has been a true disappointment.

Do I think Hook is dead for good? Not even in the slightest, I feel that by the finale he will be back in the land of the living with Emma, there are always loopholes after all.

Rating: 6/10

Next week on Once Upon A Time:

Advertisement

Advertisement

Exit mobile version