'Once Upon a Time' Recap: 'Last Rites'

Written by Shae

​THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Okay. For real. This season has successfully made me cry during every episode this year. Legitimate tears. Maybe it's the subject matter. Maybe it's the fact that they hate me and want me to suffer. Either way, this last episode broke me. Remember how I was all "Snow probably dies!" Yeah. Couldn't have been more wrong. Snow is fine. Emma is going through the whole grieving process, which from personal experience, sucks.

This season has felt so incredibly real and with a sense of finality to it that I couldn't quite escape. Hades is in Storybrooke and it looks like he's out to rule the whole thing. When he runs across King Arthur, the God of Death literally just murders him, straight up. So....bye Arthur? From there it's a whole ball of crazy. One misunderstanding has Regina and Robin trying to sneak in and get his daughter back from Zelena and Hades. Meanwhile the town's core group are trying to figure out how to stop the God of Death. It's pure luck that Hook finds Arthur in the underworld. The irony is I expected us to be betrayed at any given moment in time by the king. Imagine my shock when we weren't....because, for real. With how this season went?

Arthur not being a jerk wasn't the only surprise. The man actually helped Hook, and he actually helped find the missing pages Hades had torn out from the story book. Together they get it back in the book, which found its way to Emma....because, magic. Turns out the Olympian Crystal is the only way to defeat Hades. Only problem is that said God has it. Now, here is where I stand confused for a bit. Was Hades doing this for his own self gain? Or was it misguided anger that lead him to this. I truly believe he loved Zelena. I absolutely stand by the fact that he did a lot of this just for her. But, Hades was pretty awful for a lot of it...and he did lie and try and trap them all in the underworld....whatever the motivation behind the actions, there's no denying how far he went.

When Hades murdered Robin, literally obliterated his existence, I lost it. Regina had love, a family, she'd finally gotten her sister...and then Robin sacrificed himself to save Regina from being hurt. I also half expected the Wicked Witch to take his side. But her killing him, to save her family, that spoke volumes of just how far our evil witch has come. The funeral scene was really hard to watch, and heartbreaking to say the least. Still, we powered through. Lo and behold our Hook was returned. A second chance at life is nothing to scoff at. But he did help defeat the God of Death. A second chance with Emma was a good reward. If only Robin had been so lucky. Perhaps Regina will find another love?

And of course. Rumple is back to being bad. He's always good at it and for it, but still, he could try and be good every once in a while....

With that, my darlings, the last few recaps of the season will be late. I do apologize, but I am off to a wonderful vacation. Stay tuned for other blogs by me, though, as I wouldn't just leave you hanging.

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