- Title: Once Upon a Time – Lily
- wiki: link
Road trip! The aptly-named episode introduces us to the adult version of Lily (Agnes Bruckner) for the first time as Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten) hires Emma (Jennifer Morrison) to find her long lost daughter. Needing Emma’s help dealing with Zelena (Rebecca Mader) and reclaiming Robin (Sean Maguire), Regina (Lana Parrilla) tags along as Emma’s old friend proves less than excited at the reunion (and knows far more about her past than Emma suspects). In an episode that also explains more of the girls’ troubled history together, Emma is tempted by Lily’s rage to take drastic action to protect her family but narrowly sidesteps a rash action hasting her journey into darkness thanks in large part to Regina’s intervention.
Despite knowing Lily is a ticking time bomb looking to go off near her parents, Emma decides to keep to her word and return Maleficent’s daughter to Storybrooke. It’s not hard to guess that the short-term consequences for everyone involved will likely not be pleasant. As for Regina, the show journeys into extreme-crazy soap opera town in the closing scene as the villain discovers, even with the truth revealed, that her sister has beaten her. It’s hard not to laugh at the unintentionally-funny sequence of events that ends a strong episode on a relatively weak note.
Despite still working desperately to get the Author (Patrick Fischler) to rewrite happy endings for all the villains, a plan that depends on Emma’s heel turn, Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) takes a step back to play the part of the hero momentarily to help Belle (Emilie de Ravin) retrieve her heart (even if it no longer belongs to him). As the episode comes to a close “Lily” has set-up the catalyst for the final three hours of the season that may mean dark days ahead for the town as Rumpelstiltskin’s plan appears to be coming to fruition.
