Once Upon a Time, on ABC
ABC; Amazon; A.V. Club; Disney+; IMDb; TV.com; TV Tango; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia
Caution: spoilers!
Season Six
Emma learns that she's only the most recent in a long line of Saviors (which I think is a pretty neat concept, as a counterpoint to the Dark Ones). However, she also has a vision of herself being killed in a fight against someone in a hooded cloak, though she doesn't know who it is. And she gets occasional tremors in her hand. This leads to her reluctantly getting therapy from Archie Hopper (who has been rarely seen, since season one). We also learn that one previous Savior was Aladdin. Of course this means we'll see Jafar as a villain, though he's played by Oded Fehr, replacing Naveen Andrews, who previously played Jafar in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It also means we'll be seeing Jasmine (Karen David, whom I know from Galavant). Meanwhile, Mr. Hyde is caught and imprisoned in the season premiere, though he will manage to make a bit of trouble later on. Also, Rumple enters Belle's dream, where he's guided by a man calling himself Morpheus. He helps Rumple find and wake Belle, but not before claiming to be their as yet unborn child, and warning Belle not to trust Rumple. So, when she wakes up, she leaves Rumple. Hook offers her a place to stay on the Jolly Roger, to make up for past wrongs he'd committed. And the Evil Queen tries to convince Zelena that she has more in common with her than with Regina, so she's the sister Zelena really wants. And it's not long before the Evil Queen makes her presence known to Regina and the other heroes, and reveals that she wants to cause Regina to turn against her friends, while she sits back and watches.
Meanwhile, there are various stories-of-the-week about individual characters from the Land of Untold Stories. First up, in episode 2, is the Count of Monte Cristo. Episode 3 is about Cinderella (whom we had previously seen in a season one episode), whose Storybrooke identity is Ashley Boyd. Episode 4 is about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in a story that has a twist ending. (It's also presumably the last time we'll see either character.) Incidentally, this episode has a guest appearance by Dr. Lydgate, who was previously seen on "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland." We also learn that when one person has been separated into two (as with Jekyll and Hyde or Regina and the Evil Queen), any harm that befalls one will also happen to the other. Episode 5 is about Aladdin, Jasmine, and Jafar, in a story that introduces the Shears of Destiny, which could be used to... sort of cut a Savior apart from his or her destiny, making them no longer a Savior. But I don't want to reveal any details about that. Episode 6 involves Captain Nemo, from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Also, Jasmine reveals to Aladdin that the city of Agrabah had vanished after he left, and she wants him to help find it. Episode 7 is about Snow and Charming, and it ends with the Evil Queen casting a spell on them in the present so that whenever one of them is awake, the other will be asleep. So they won't be able to truly be together, aside from writing notes for each other, or whatever. And whichever one is awake trades places in the curse by kissing the one who's sleeping. (It really is a pretty neat- and wicked- variation on the old sleeping curse.) Episode 8 is mainly just about familiar characters trying to stop the Evil Queen, but the story also involves the Dragon, whom she had imprisoned in a mirror world, or whatever. Also, Henry goes on a date with Violet. So I guess she is still in Storybrooke, which is good to know. Episode 9 reveals more backstory for Rumple and Belle, as well as introducing the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray). Also, in the present, the Evil Queen accelerates Belle's pregnancy, and Belle gives birth to a son named Gideon. She asks Mother Superior (aka the Blue Fairy) to take him into hiding, so that Rumple won't be able to find him. Also, Emma obtains the sword she had seen kill her in her vision. Also, Aladdin becomes a genie. (I know, right?)
In episode 10 (the mid-season finale), we learn that the sword Emma found can hurt (or kill) one half of a person (such as the Evil Queen) without harming the other (Regina). But of course it's still not going to be that easy to solve their problem. The Evil Queen uses genie-Aladdin to wish that Emma had never become the Savior, which leads to a whole alternate reality "wish realm" that I don't want to reveal any details about. (I will say I thought the way it played out should have meant Storybrooke never even existed, but that didn't happen.) By the end of the episode, Regina has managed to remind Emma of her real past, and they're about to leave the wish realm together, but stop when Robin Hood shows up. Meanwhile, back in Storybrooke, David obtains Aladdin's lamp and becomes his new master, but subsequently gives the lamp to Jasmine, so she and Aladdin can finally find Agrabah, and try to save it. Also, a mysterious hooded figure arrives in Storybrooke, and turns the Evil Queen into a cobra. And Mother Superior informs Belle and Rumple that Gideon had been abducted by the Black Fairy. So Belle agrees to work with Rumple to get their son back, though he tells her that in the realm where the Black Fairy lives, time runs differently. Before they can go there, however, the hooded figure shows up and reveals himself to be Morpheus, or rather, the adult Gideon. (This reminds me very much of the whole Connor storyline on Angel.)
When the season resumes, Emma and Regina have missed their chance to leave the wish realm, but they eventually find another way to get back to Storybrooke, with some help from that realm's version of Pinocchio. They're joined by that realm's version of Robin Hood, who has to try to adjust to life in Storybrooke. However, he's not really the same as the "real" Robin, and just doesn't fit in there, nor is he romantically compatible with Regina. Meanwhile, the adult Gideon tells Rumple and Belle that he intends to kill Emma, to obtain her power, which would allow him to kill the Black Fairy. In episode 12, David tries to learn the truth about how his father, Robert, had died, years ago. His murder turns out to have been ordered by King George, but later, Hook sees a picture of Robert in some pages from Henry's book, and has a flashback to having rescued Robert before the king's men could kill him... but subsequently killing Robert, himself. This knowledge that back in his old life as a pirate, he had murdered the father of his now-imminent father-in-law quite naturally makes him feel guilty and unworthy of Emma, and isn't sure what to do about it. In episode 13 (which is mostly about Rumple and Baelfire, as well as Beowulf), the Evil Queen finally returns to human form, and befriends Robin. In episode 14, the Queen has a final confrontation with Regina, who ends up splitting the good and evil equally between her own heart and the Queen's, thus allowing the Queen to reform. Then, the Queen and Robin both return to the wish realm. Also, Hook considers leaving Storybrooke aboard the Nautilus, to run away from his problem. He decides instead to face his problem, but before he can, Gideon transports the Nautilus, with Hook still aboard, to the Enchanted Forest. In episode 15, the Nautilus crew meet up with Aladdin and Jasmine, who still haven't found Agrabah, despite having used a wish that should have brought them right to the city. They later also meet Ariel, who is trying to find Prince Eric. They all work together against Jafar, and finally find Agrabah. In episode 16, more trouble transpires between Emma and Gideon, including one of the scariest giant spiders I've ever seen. Meanwhile, Hook bets the Jolly Roger in a card game against Blackbeard, hoping to win a magic bean to return to Storybrooke. However, Gideon has made sure Hook couldn't return, so the bean ends up diverting them to Neverland, where Hook is captured by the now-leaderless Lost Boys. There are also flashbacks to Gideon growing up as a prisoner of the Black Fairy, and we learn that she eventually took his heart, to control his actions when he went to Storybrooke. In episode 17, Hook is rescued by Tiger Lily, who gives him a piece of the magic wand that had originally been used to banish the Black Fairy to the realm where she is now. (Tiger Lily, it seems, used to be a fairy.) Meanwhile, Emma finds a way to bring Hook back to Storybrooke. (And he is forgiven by both Emma and David for what he'd done long ago to Robert.) And the whole town helps finally put an end to the sleeping curse that the Evil Queen had placed on David and Snow, earlier in the season. In episode 18, there are flashbacks about Zelena in Oz, which ultimately tie in to her thwarting one of the Black Fairy's plans, in the present. However, that requires Zelena to sacrifice her own magic. In episode 19, we learn the truth about Rumple's origins, as well as how and why his mother, Fiona, ended up turning into a fairy, and subsequently turning evil. I won't spoil anything about that, but I will say we learned something very surprising and ironic about Rumple's original destiny. Anyway, he finally gets Gideon's heart back, so that the Black Fairy can't control him anymore. He also tells everyone he defeated his mother, but we then find out that was a lie. Episode 20 is a very fun musical episode entitled The Song in Your Heart. It begins with a wish Snow made on a star, while still pregnant with Emma, before the first curse. And it ends with Emma finally marrying Hook.
And then, in the two-hour season finale, the Black Fairy's curse descends upon Storybrooke. I don't want to spoil what that entails, or how it all ends. But I will say that I thought it wrapped up not just the season, but the series, pretty neatly. Except... there's going to be at least one more season. The finale was framed by scenes, one in the Enchanted Forest and one in Seattle, which set up a completely new storyline, years in the future, when Henry is an adult. So I look forward to seeing what that's all about.