OUAT - "New York Serenade"

“New York City Serenade” was everything “Once Upon A Time” is about and more and with the added bonus of the “Wicked is Coming” compilation/tease featuring the actors’ commentary about the show it was a magical night indeed.

Dreams can come true, love is out there and hope remains a magical source of the human spirit. “Once Upon A Time” continues to touch and expand on those old fairytale themes that many of us grew up with and still enjoy. It weaves a complicated spell of excellent storytelling both light and dark and the spring season opened with a bang.

When all our favorites minus Emma, Henry and Rumple bounce back into the Enchanted forest things seem a bit off for everyone. It is definitely not right here and no one is talking for fear of repercussions from the Wicked Witch who has barricaded herself in Regina’s castle.

Regina is devastated to the point of burying her own heart in the woods so she can avoid the pain of losing Henry. It was really nice to see that Snow was the one who caused her to reconsider revealing a definite growth in the two characters until one of the flying monkeys, with extremely long fingernails, tries to snatch Regina.

Courtesy of ABC studios

Meanwhile in New York City, Emma is living an enchanted life. She has her son, her job, an awesome apartment and a guy who is head over heels for her. All seems well until Hook forces her to face the fact that this is not real and her parents are in trouble. While Emma resists, her awfully sweet boyfriend pushes for commitment and Emma’s own curiosity causes her to take another look at her life.

With the help of a magic potion, Emma recovers her past and learns her boyfriend was one of the monkeys making it a lot easier to take Henry and return to Storybrooke. We were all led to believe that this quaint little town was devastated by the curse so it was a surprise to discover all seemed well except for a definite lapse in everyone’s memory.

No one recalls how they returned or what happened while they were there but there is obviously a lot that happened like Snow’s pregnancy.

Are there new portals to travel back and forth between realms? There must be because the Wicked Witch seemed to have a definite interest in keeping Emma trapped in her fantasy life. How far is Wicked’s reach and what will the citizens of Storybrooke have to do to get rid of her?