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Celebrate the epic adventure and enduring magic as television’s most bewitchingly tangled tale concludes in “ABC’s “Once Upon a Time: The Complete Seventh and Final Season.” Take the last leg of this astonishing journey with all 22 episodes — plus bonus extras — in the final, captivating season of the ultimate struggle between good and evil.
Once Upon a Time several years ago, a new soap opera entered the television scene. One that cataloged the lives of fairy tale characters trapped in our realm far, far away from the world of dragons, ball gowns, and magic. Season Seven follows up where season six left off but without a few major characters, namely Snow White, Prince Charming, and Emma. Hook is back along with a grown-up Henry, Gold, and Regina with a whole slew of new characters. The season wraps up with many princesses not introduced before.
When the show left off in the spring, grown-up Henry was greeted by a little girl Lucy claiming to be his daughter from another realm. Henry has no recollection of his past life due to a new curse, neither does his adoptive mother Regina, now named Roni. Also returning is Gold, now named Detective Weaver, the local law enforcement for Hyperion Heights, far away from Storybrooke where the world first lived in the land without magic. Hook returns, not the same Hook married to Emma but a Captain from another realm. Either way, he is still steamy and a happy addition to the story. Hook comes with a separate backstory, this time, back in the other realm and his past links him to Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, and Alice from Wonderland.
First, we find out Lucy is the daughter of Cinderella, but not the previous Cindy we knew and tolerated, but a new one from… you guessed it… another realm. The show plays this other realm card a wee bit too much. Along with Cinderella comes her evil stepmother and stepsisters. In the real world, Cinderella is Lucinda and her step-mom is Victoria, the owner of the town by all accounts except election. Ivy follows her mother Victoria around in the shadow of her deceased sister Anastasia. The storyline follows Victoria’s reign for several episodes as she is “awake” and knows about the curse and tries to stop her granddaughter Lucy from waking up everyone else in Hyperion. Henry falls for Lucinda but cannot be with her because if they fall in love they will make the curse worse or die. While Cinderella stays for the entire season, the rest of her family only fills up half the season, which the audience will be thankful for as Victoria does not even come close to Regina’s evil standards.
Speaking of Regina, her alter ego Roni runs the local bar and serves as the go-to for the town to get advice with a drink. Gold and Hook play the local law enforcement, both with a secret agenda searching for missing people and following Victoria’s every demand. Meanwhile, Tiana works with Cinderella to open their own food truck. Lucy is the new precocious child who brings all the characters together, including Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, Hansel and Gretel, and Alice. There isn’t enough paper to fill in all the subplots weaving through the town but a key element is Gothel, mistaken for a missing person and becoming the new evil to replace Victoria.
The tale of the two realms is told in tandem with so many details and different aspects to remember it will make your head swim. Of course, you will enjoy the swim, but your mind will boggle. The best new additions to the show were Tilly (also Alice) and Facilier – the evil voodoo guy from Tiana’s story. Robin -Zelena’s daughter – returns to the show with her green mom to allow the infiltration of Hansel and Gretel into the story and to add a gay couple into the mix. Not sure why this was necessary but whatever. At this point, I cannot go into too much more detail without giving away distinguishing aspects of the stories. As always, Gold’s relationship with Belle is the highlight of the show. Episode four will be your favorite if you love Belle and Rumple’s story as much as I do.
By the final episode, you will be ready for the whirlwind to end and realize the entire story has gone as far as it can without becoming the newest daytime drama. Without Snow and Emma, the new characters just do not hold up as well on their own. The plots become derived and never quite finish; one, in particular, you will notice is Gothel as Eloise. The show tried to infuse new blood into the plot but failed to reinvigorate it and made the right call shutting down the operation. But of course, they all lived happily ever after.
Available on Blu-ray & DVD Tuesday, August 28th
