Once Upon a Time Review: Who Is Eloise Gardener??
Paul Dailly
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The race was on to find out more about Eloise Gardener on Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 7 and Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 8, and we got a whole lot of answers.
The biggest of which was that Hook was Alice's father after Eloise tricked him into having sex with her. I can't be the only one who was shocked when Rapunzel was revealed to be Eloise/Gothel.
It was a well-executed twist, one that's going to come back to haunt Gothel in the present when Rogers finally clues on to what is really going on in town.
Rogers was tenacious in his quest to find out the truth. It's difficult when something is eating away at you, and you don't know why, but at least he got the slightest bit of closure.
Many already thought Hook was going to have a connection to Alice, so the truth about her being the kid Gothel gave birth to after her night of passion with Hook was not that surprising.
What was surprising was that Alice's storyline in both realms was exciting. Deep down, she's a character who wants to be loved and you could tell it was breaking her heart to turn against Rogers in Hyperion Heights.
It was a little bit silly how Rogers concluded Tilly was lying to him. It was a lazy development and made it clear that some reveals are half-baked, and that's not a good thing.
With Eloise Gardener unmasked and the true extent of her power revealed, it's going to be interesting to see her and Drizella continue to try and locate Anastasia.
It would not surprise me if Eloise knew a lot more than she was letting on about Anastasia's whereabouts. Everyone seems to have ulterior motives on this show, and it's difficult to keep up with all of the backstabbings
With Victoria being revealed as a liar, I thought her time with the show was over, but now we know that she has been awake the whole time. I did think her character was a persona after the revelation that Drizella was pulling the strings.
Lady Tremaine raised Drizella, so she knows that her daughter will stop at nothing to get what she wants. With power being the thing Drizella wants the most, Lady Tremaine will be trying to keep her daughter well away from it.
The continued focus on Henry and Jacinda continues to be a weak point for the show. I don't want to be horrible, but there is a severe lack of chemistry between the couple we are supposed to root for.
There's absolutely nothing about them together that makes me want to get on board with them. I was very happy at Regina doing her best to keep them apart.
It was clear Regina would have loved them together, but she was still trying to follow Drizella's orders before it was too late and people closest to her started getting themselves into trouble.
The addition of Nick as Lucy's father was pointless. There's no way the show is going to stray away from the fact that Jacinda and Henry are the parents of Lucy.
The only exciting bit about this plot was that Henry knows Nick from before Hyperion Heights. They have a past together back when Henry knows him as Jack.
Is it wrong that I was happy Lucy was shipped off into the system? There's only so many times I can watch the kid whine about how Henry and Jacinda are supposed to be together.
Maybe I'm just missing Storybrooke, but we need to get some traction for the new storylines because they feel like they are dragging on for dear life. Drizella is one of the best villains the series has ever had, and I don't think we were supposed to root for her and Henry.
Considering Regina has taken Henry out of town with her on a mission to San Francisco to visit someone who apparently hates her, I think it's fair to assume that person will be Zelena.
Regina's comment about not going back to Storybrooke for help hurt me. The chances of us seeing some of the other beloved characters ever again are diminishing every week.
Regina knows she needs some help to get closer to the truth about what's going on and having Henry by her side means she knows he's safe and is not getting closer to Jacinda.
It's a win-win situation for her. I do think Rumple was awake, and this confused Regina. If you watch Once Upon a Time online, Weaver said "dearie" a few weeks back.
That's a term ripped straight from Rumple's vocabulary, so there's part of Rumple in there. That said, I don't know what angle he has in all of this.
It was good to have two episodes back-to-back because they were heavy on story, but this could be an indication that ABC wants to burn through the 22 episode order because the ratings have been very soft.
Over to you, Once Upon a Time Fanatics. What do you think about this? Sound off below!
Once Upon a Time returns December 8!
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
