Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 2 Review: The Price 

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There’s been one important premise since the beginning of this series and it rears its head yet again in 

Some fans groaned when they realized our heroes had lost their memories once again, but it is turning out to be an intriguing mystery as we get snippets of what occurred in Camelot. 

Merlin is a tree? Seriously. And only the savior may be able to break the curse that caused him to sprout roots. Can Regina just decide to be the savior? I doubt it, although I think she had the best of intentions. It’s obvious that one magic spell to Emma is the equivalent of one drink to an alcoholic. It’s both one too much, and at the same time, never enough. 

The ball was very sweet and a nice break from the rest of the angst. Who ever thought we’d be watching Prince Charming teach the Evil Queen how to dance? Also, it was fun to watch Henry try and impress a girl. He and Violet make a cute couple. 

I couldn’t blame Regina for asking Emma to save Robin. She’s lost so much over the years, it’s no wonder she’d do almost anything to keep love now that she’s found it. She could have forced Emma to help, but she didn’t. I think that speaks to how far she’s come. I don’t think the Evil Queen would have thought twice about forcing anyone to do almost anything, no matter the consequences. 

Back in Storybrooke, everyone was trying to figure out the ins and outs of this new curse, as Grumpy wanted to find out if they could bail on Storybrooke all together.

Snow Queen, Pan, Trio of Terror. We can handle villains like that but Emma. She knows how we beat bad guys. Heck, she beat most of them for us.

Permalink: Snow Queen, Pan, Trio of Terror. We can handle villains like that but Emma. She knows how we...

Snarky Emma wasn’t as much fun as snarky Regina who was quick to tell Grumpy exactly what she thought of his plan in this Once Upon a Time quote…

If you\'re dumb enough to cross the line, be my guest.

Permalink: If you\'re dumb enough to cross the line, be my guest.

Hook tried to use True Love’s kiss on Emma with one of the steamier kisses we’ve gotten to see in Storybrooke. Unfortunately it didn’t work because Emma has embraced her dark power. That said, she was still more than willing to take her pirate for a roll in hay, but Hook wasn’t interested. 

He wants the Emma he fell in love with. Spunky, sometimes difficult, beautiful but most of all, good.  

I enjoyed Hook and Belle being able to bond over loving a Dark One. She’s right. It’s far easier to hate one, but despite the huge obstacles they face, Hook isn’t giving up…

I spent over a century trying to find a way to kill the bloody crocodile. I can spend at least that long trying to save the woman I love.

Permalink: I spent over a century trying to find a way to kill the bloody crocodile. I can spend at...

It’s hard not to love a man with that kind of determination and persistence. 

The Fury was suitably creepy, but I was a little unsure if Snow, Charming, Grumpy and Belle intended to stop the Fury from taking Regina to the Underworld or were willing to make the trip with her. Thankfully it couldn’t seem to handle them all but will it be back? Isn’t there still a price to pay for Robin’s life?

How exactly did Excalibur end up in Emma’s basement of all places? Does she really hope to banish the light completely from her life and the world? Is King Arthur the only one who can remove the sword from the stone? Is that why he was brought Storybrooke?

There’s still so much mystery to uncover. Check back next week for Once Upon a Time season 5 Episode 3, and if you want more now, you can watch Once Upon a Time online here at TV Fanatic.

And here is your first look ahead to Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 3:

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 3 Teaser

C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.

Best episode! Still blows my mind how they put everything important in just 1 episode!

Another good episode, but I just hope they don\'t get any ideas with Belle and Hook. Shows always like a little controversy within their love stories. They can be kindred spirits, that\'s fine, just as long as they don\'t take things further than that. He belongs with Emma. And Belle is the most boring character on the show. The Camelot scenes were great. It really was nice that we got to have some light-hearted moments in a dark-centric episode. I love the scenes with Regina. I love that everyone is starting to believe in her, she\'s come so far. And her and Robin are great together, so it was obvious he needed to be saved. I\'m thinking she\'s the one who can help Emma get the Excalibur out since they only mentioned a hero. And she\'s proving to be quite that, so far. Henry having a crush on violet was fun. Is Merida going to appear again? I thought he was going to have a friendship with her as well. It\'s clear Arthur has something to do with the reason Emma turned on everyone, since we saw him spying on Regina and finding out she\'s not the savior. Watching Emma all these seasons as the only person who was truly good and hadn\'t blackened her heart at all, then turning into the dark one has been a tough adjustment. Since she\'ll never be that again. I know it started before she officially turned into the dark one, but it was obviously all leading up to this, as I\'m sure was part of Merlin\'s prophecy. I just hope she can get back to her normal self in the end!

last monday I got a great McLaren F1 since geting a check for $18350 this last 5 weeks and-a little over, 17-grand lass-month . it\'s certainly the coolest job I have ever had . I actually started 10-months ago and practically straight away was bringing in minimum $97, p/h .

Damn, this was intense! I wonder what they did in Camelot to trigger Emma to embrace the darkness and blame them for it. Yes she saved Robin\'s life and liked the taste of the power but something more should have happened. I bet she will be feeling left out cause Regina will be having all the attention as the "savior" and her parents are already teaching Regina how to dance, in effect parenting her. I think she will feel like Regina is taking her place plus i think that Arthur will do something devious, I don\'t trust him. I don\'t think King Arthur is the only who can remove the sword from the stone, the dark voice (Rumple) only said that she needed a HERO not Arthur and we have heroes a plenty in Storybrook. What I am worried about is what is Emma planning to do with it once it\'s out, will she attempt to kill those that are the light or will she sever her emotional connection with them and rid the dark one from the necessity to obey the dagger? I also thought that maybe the kiss didn\'t work because Emma isn\'t the dark one at all, maybe she is faking it and playing a complicated game of her own to fool the dark force into complacency and then use the sword to sever her connection with it instead of the darkness. After all, we clearly see that she cares about those she loves and she didn\'t have to warn Regina about the Fury but she did, she didn\'t have to tell her who needs to pay the price either but she did that too. Anyway, I have no clue, I just refuse to accept Emma as the truly dark one, she is the savior after all. And what the devil is going on with Rumple/Mr Gold. Why isn\'t anybody worried and trying to figure out how to wake him up, why isn\'t he at the hospital or something, I mean doesn\'t he need nutrients while in a comma? As well as that, I wonder if Emma brought the Merlin tree with them to Storybrook as well.... and where is the apprentice in all of this? P.S. I was psyched to see the Fury from Greek mythos and Charon (at least I think it was him in the boat, cause he takes the souls to the Underworld on river Styx). We already had Poseidon with Ursula, I wonder if we will have Zeus and others at some point!

I don\'t think Emma was betrayed or triggered in Camelot. I have a feeling that the darkness and Arthur will warp events to make her see things differently. Emma and Hook\'s kiss didn\'t work because Emma has to want to let go of the darkness. Rumple fought off True Love\'s Kiss to stay powerful for Baelfire. Like Belle said, they have to want to lose the darkness. Whatever happened in Camelot, Emma wants to be the Dark One. Even if Emma isn\'t the Dark One anymore, she won\'t be the same. Rumple isn\'t the cowardly man he was and Regina isn\'t the sweet girl who loved a stable boy. Being dark, from a curse or just being in a dark place, changes you. Regina taught that to Emma and Emma threw it back at Regina, there\'s no good or bad. Emma is setting Regina up to be the savior, or at least a guardian of the town. She knew that Regina had no idea that Emma refused to have her pay the price, so she gave her a heads up. And we all know that the best way to get Regina to do something is to tell her she can\'t do it. Emma still loves Hook, her parents, Henry and Regina. Even if she won\'t be the savior, she will make sure that they stay safe. They\'re her Belle/Baelfire. Saying that, I wonder if Henry will be the True Love\'s Kiss she needs. Henry being kissed on the forehead by his mothers broke both curses. Emma broke the original curse by kissing Henry and Regina broke the second one(Snow\'s curse). Does the true love of a son trump the true love of a romantic partner? I think so.

oh wow, i haven\'t thought about Henry\'s kiss, maybe.... I wonder why he didn\'t think of it yet... But then again, it worked if Emma wants to stay dark

Forgot a few points! oops.I think that Regina

acted selfishly at the ball, she wasn\'t even horrified at the tragedy

Percival described, there wasn\'t regret of the pain she cause but then

again, we all know that Regina protects herself by becoming instantly

I also think that Emma SHOULD HAVE TOLD THEM ABOUT THE CONVERSATION with the Dark Voice in her head and warned them about the price! I think that\'s where the trouble really begins. I think Arthur wants the dagger to connect to Excalibur because that would give him power to rule over the dark one, notice how he never said that he wanted to kill the dark one, just that the dark one is a very strong force of evil and he never told the gang that he knew about the dark one\'s dagger being the tip of his sword. It\'s obviously not common knowledge and yet somehow he knew exactly what happened to the tip of his sword. I also have a theory that Merlin is the original dark one, he gives prophecies, never tells what the fulfillment of them would cost and wields power over the lives of other by creating the book and the author. why where they created at all in the first place? As well as that, did anyone ever wonder how on Earth did those stories even get to be known in our world all those centuries ago? I mean for example Snow White tale only happened 28 years ago or so. who foretold all that all this time ago and in our world no less!

I agree ! I too think Merlin may have been the Original Dark One !!!! AND the dagger is the tip of Excalibur !I thought so in the season premiere but it became clear in this episode. How did Excalibur get broken and how did the tip became enchanted/cursed as the Dark One\'s dagger ?!

Yeah, that\'s why I think Merlin is the original Dark one cause he led Arthur to Excalibur and I bet he was the one to enchant the tip. I don\'t think he did it with the intent of people being able to control the dark one, i think he was using it to be able to tether the darkness to himself but it backfired and maybe someone used it to force him to turn himself into a tree and steal his power

Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 2 Quotes

It\'s far easier to hate a Dark One than it is to love one.

Permalink: It's far easier to hate a Dark One than it is to love one.

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