Take_my_Revolution

I didn't think about Rumple needing Lily to reverse the spell, and now it just seems so obvious. It is Rumple and he always has a reason to do something.

CityGal

It took Emma a whole season to finally believe. Sure hope Emma has a more persuasive speech ready. This is gonna be good.

Bookworm25

I can't wait to see what Emma says

Look at what August told Emma , more or less "you've come a long way" and indeed she did.....

I still squee when Emma had to get Henry to believe to get his memories back

DR76

Shouldn't that be up to Maleficent?

scififan2009

It depends who finds her first.

DR76

Even if Emma does find Lily first, it should still be up to Maleficent about her daughter accepting magic. Lily is her daughter.

ruth_m

Hi
I have a weird question - if the author did this whole thing because it makes for a better story, and we see he's in the process of writing when the apprentice confronts him - how come this stayed a secret the whole time? I mean Henry knows the book inside out, and he didn't know anything.
I'm just a bit confused...

DR76

Exactly what did the Author change or manipulate? According to the Apprentice, he made the latter banish Maleficent's baby to the land without magic, after casting that spell on behalf of Snow and David. Aside from that, the Apprentice was pretty vague about other changes that the Author made.

How can we assume that the Author had manipulated everything, when we don't know the particulars?

ruth_m

Who knows. I didn't understand if he can actually make the characters do something, or just give them a push (like he did Snow and Charming when he suggested they go one way instead of the other). I hope this gets a bit clearer next episode (which is in a week )

Kelaine

I had one of those little epiphanies/AU story line attacks, where I thought of what would have worked better (or I think it would, your mileage may vary).

First, let's suppose that, in the episode where they go to the magic tree, it's after Rumple told them the curse is real, etc. The queens don't have to waste time convincing them, because they already believe although they may still question the morality of teaming up with the trio. However, Maleficent doesn't realize the tree will reject Snow and Charming, because Emma's there and, as a baby, neither light nor dark, till after it's happened.

Assume that Maleficent has learned what Rumple prophesied about Emma and sees a way to use this to protect her own baby. She is the one who comes up with a plan to link the girls and kidnaps Snow to cast the spell. By linking them, she hopes to protect Lily from the curse.

Snow and Charming are still allowed to have seen potential futures/had bad dreams about what happens if Emma goes dark.

Snow may or may not realize the big, gold thing Maleficent's dragged out for the spell is an egg. If she does, Maleficent is not telling her it's her egg/child (because she's in full-on protective mama-mode and isn't going to talk in terms of vulnerability or helpless children). If Snow gets anything from Maleficent, it's going to be that this thing can bring a terrible monster into the world.

Meanwhile, the author shows up and offers to help David find Snow. They reach Snow after the spell has been cast. The author realizes the girls are linked and convinces Snow and Charming to help him get rid of the "monster" (not sure if the Apprentice should still be dragged into this part or not).

Snow and Charming only realize this is Maleficent's child as the spell's being cast. Ursula and Cruella show up, etc. Snow and Charming still feel tremendous guilt because they're convinced they should have realized it was a child sooner.

The Apprentice shows up and imprisons the author because he didn't want Maleficent messing with the story he'd envisioned--he's manipulating people rather than controlling
them.

It still needs a reason why Lily feels the link and seems to need it much more than Emma does.

But, that aside, Lily doesn't have an extra dose of darkness while Emma has none. She's simply got a magical hunger that draws her to both Storybrooke and Emma. When the Apprentice tracked her down and told her the truth, he hoped Lily would be able to recognize where these self-destructive compulsions were coming from and get a grip on them. Instead, she eventually became convinced that she'd never be able to have the things she really wanted out of life, settling into a rut.

And leave out the gun-toting boyfriend. He's got no place in this.

fox24

Interesting I do agree it would have been less of a retcon if the writers had made it more of a accident.

Well Lilys boyfriend didn't really play a role it was more the action of gun robbery that was the problem. Plus it was sort of the irony that two years or a year later Emma pretty much does the same thing robbing the store with Neal.
I think it would have been better to explain that despite having no darkness there was still some in Emma and despite the darkness there was still light in Lily

CityGal

99 Episodes in 99 Days
Episode 4x16 | “Best Laid Plans” | #82

Written by: Kalinda Vazquez & Jane Espenson
Directed by: Ron Underwood

Hook tells Emma that her fate is at stake in Gold’s plan while Regina leads the villains on a wild goose chase. Henry makes a breakthrough in his search to find the Author, but Mary Margaret and David need a moment to reconsider the best course of action. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Snow and Charming search for a way to ensure their child will grow-up to be a hero. When a travelling peddler directs them to visit a kindly old hermit, Snow and Charming are presented with a choice that could secure their child’s goodness, but at a price that will haunt them for years to come.

fox24

Love the dock scene

CityGal