Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 21 Review: Homecoming
Paul Dailly
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Just like that, we're back in Storybrooke for some assistance from the old characters.
This show likes to beat around the bush for weeks on end and drag every little development out, but with Once Upon a Time Season 7 Episode 21 serving as the first half of the series finale, the action moved along at a brisker pace and was much more interesting.
I never really went into how great it is to have Wish Realm Rumple go to war with the Storybrooke iteration of the character, but it's a perfect way for the series to go out.
Rumple has struggled with his violent tendencies since this hit series debuted, and "Homecoming" proved that there was a good side of the former villain.
Related: Once Upon a Time Canceled at ABC!
If you watch Once Upon a Time online, you will already be well aware at Rumple's track record for deception. I lost count over the years how many times he lied to Belle that he was back on the side of good.
It got ridiculous, but it's great the curse is finally broken, and Rumple still has a lot of purpose. He needs to stick around until he is reunited with Belle.
Wouldn't it be one of the worst series finales, like, ever if Rumple did not find a way to score some redemption? That's not to say Rumple is going to survive. A part of me thinks if Rumple dies, the Wish Realm version will cease to exist.
It would be a twist, but it would be too easy in the grand scheme of things. Getting to see all of the Wish Realm versions of old characters was a neat development.
Wish Peter Pan is rather boring. Maybe I'm harsh because he's all tied up by his father, but still, we're at the end of the series, so it wouldn't hurt to have a bit of excitement.
That said, Cruella was a real hoot. Victoria Smurfit brought her A-game with her, but there was one scene that really grated on my nerves.
Regina has her magic back, so why did Henry do battle Cruella if his mother could have just sent her off somewhere else in a colorful, magical cloud? It was lazy and took away a lot from the situation.
And can we please talk about the men Regina gets close to dying? Give the woman a break, dammit. It was hard to imagine her having a happy ending with Facilier because the relationship became a thing a little too quickly.
Having Wish Hook Henry as a villain was a great twist. There was something that brought it all full circle by bringing the author's pen back into the mix. Series finales are supposed to celebrate the series, and some parts of "Homecoming" accomplished that goal.
I didn't care for Lucy or Jacinda getting kidnapped. It was typical that as soon as the family got a happy ending, Wish Hook would show up and throw them in a snowglobe, or whatever the heck it was.
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I'm sure I could have gotten on board with it if Henry decided to find Adelaide Kane's Drizella, confess his love for her, and then put the family on a shelf.
Would that be too off-brand for this young-skewing series? Probably, but it sure is fun to think about the way things can go, right?
Tiana/Sabine's crisis about whether to return to being the Queen was one of the more intriguing plots for her character. She's used to being the leader in a place that's very different from Hyperion Heights.
It must have been a culture shock for her. Characters who have a lot of power are villains a lot of the time, but everything about this plot felt natural.
It doesn't look like we're going to see her on the series finale, but at least we can rest assured in knowing she's back together with the man of her dreams. If that's not a happy ending, then I don't know what is.
Did anyone else feel for Alice and Rogers? After all of the shit they've been through with the curse, and everything that came before it, they still can't be in the same room together.
Who would have thought back when Once Upon a Time Season 7 kicked off that Alice and Robin would be the ones embark on a trip to none other than Storybrooke.
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The possibilities are endless for how all of this could play out, but one thing's for sure, it's going to be a wild ride. It sucks that ABC did not give us a two-hour finale as opposed to one airing over two weeks, but at we're getting an ending.
With Upfronts approaching a bunch of shows have been canceled without much in the way of a conclusion.
Other tidbits from the episode:
- Wish Rumple was on fire with his zingers. Robert Carlyle was in top form.
- Why did Henry continue to call Jacinda and Lucy by their curse names? A plot hole, or a whole different excuse?
- Watching Henry try to do something to save his family was satisfying. He's been way too passive of late.
Okay, Once Upon a Time Fanatics!
What did you think of part one? Did you enjoy the trip to the Wish Realm?
Hit the comments.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
