Once Upon A Time: The Broken Kingdom Review

This is my review on Season Five Episode Four of Once Upon A Time. So if you aren't up to date then please click away now as SPOILERS ARE COMING! You've been warned.

So this episode begins with a young Arthur and Guinevere in very different looking Camelot. He takes her to the tree in which Merlin is trapped, gives her a pale pink flower and then tells her of Merlin's prophecy that one day he will rule all of Camelot and take the sword from the stone. Camelot will be whole once more, she sees a sword in some stones and asks Arthur if this is the sword. He replies no, and just at that moment some bigger kids appear to mock Arthur who tell him he's gone crazy after his mother died. Camelot is called the broken kingdom for a reason, there will be no king.

It jumps forward in time to when Arthur (Liam Garrigan) actually pulled the sword from the stone, and again it is revealed that the sword is not finished as part of it is the dark ones dagger. When he reveals the sword to the people of Camelot he does not show the tip, concealing it with a case. We then jump forward again to Camelot six weeks ago and Arthur calls David (Josh Dallas) to the round table. He reveals to David what has happened with the sword and that he needs the dark ones dagger. He tells David he wants to destroy the darkness by making excalibre whole again.

In the castle Emma (Jennifer Morrison) cannot stop hearing what sounds like several people whispering, fake Rumple (Robert Carlyle) tells her to follow the noise and she does. Turns out it is the dagger calling to her, Rumple tells her to use dark magic to take it but she refuses blasting him and nearly taking Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) out with her magic. This leads her to reveal that she can always see Rumple.

Emma then has some sort of breakdown and is lying on a table unable to speak. Regina (Lana Parrilla), and Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) appear in the room looking slightly confused as to why this is happening. David comes in and thinks he has the answer, he tells them what Arthur told him, he wants to banish the darkness by reforging excalibre. Hook and Henry (Jared Gilmore) then take Emma out of the Castle as they think it is too dangerous there. David and Mary Margaret continue to discuss her distrust of Arthur, she reveals what Lancelot said to her in the last episode. Regina, who is basically talking to herself at this point, figures out why Emma was in her room, but David and Mary Margaret can't stop arguing, just like any loving relationship and then they ask Regina to leave. David doesn't trust Lancelot, Mary Margaret doesn't trust Arthur, they are at an end pass.

We then travel back to five years earlier. Arthur is frantically studying books left by Merlin, Guinevere (Joana Metrass) appears asking him to come dance, there is a party and he is missing out of it. He promises he will but he is just about to crack this code left by Merlin. She leaves and everyone is having a great time and dancing. Guinevere however is miserable, it is her birthday and Arthur has his head stuck in too many books. Lancelot (Sinqua Walls) goes and wishes her a happy birthday and asks his Queen for a dance. While they dance they speak of Arthur, Guinevere tells Lancelot that he is getting worse, as they dance a gift from the king is announced. Baskets of petals of the flower he had given her as a child appear and litter the dancefloor. Arthur appears stating he's cracked the code and must leave at once on a quest, then he orders Lancelot to stay in Camelot and protect the Queen.

We then jump forward to Camelot five years later, David goes to speak to Arthur, he tells him the truth about Emma being the dark one, and he wants to restore excalibre. He then tells Arthur that Lancelot is alive. We then travel back to Camelot five years earlier, Guinevere is fed up and whats her husband back so she uses a magical gauntlet in the hopes of finding the dark ones dagger. Lancelot finds her as she tries to sneak out and decides to go on the quest alongside her.

The gauntlet leads them to the vault of the dark one and Guinevere recognises the symbols from Merlin's extensive notes. She chooses the right combination and then the vault opens with stairs leading them down into a cave. Darkness then appears and circles Lancelot (much like it circled Emma at the end of season four), Guinevere saves him by using fire to fend off the darkness, they share a moment and then they kiss. It's weird but I suppose she is really unhappy and her husband doesn't pay any attention to her. They then say it can never happen again as she is married.

Five years later we are back at the table with David and Arthur, he tells David to keep the news that Lancelot is alive between them but Guinevere enters the room and overhears everything. They both state that Lancelot was a bad person, they both look up to something, David states he has the dagger but when he opens the box it is gone. Looks like Mary Margaret got it first as she goes on a quest with Lancelot.

Emma, Hook and Henry then go into some stables, turns out Henry knows about this place due to a girl, its Violet (Olivia Steele Falconer) the girl from the ball. Who then appears outside, and Henry tells Hook and Emma to hide. Violet comes into the stables to greet Henry as Emma and Hook watch the exchange, Henry tells Violet he'd like to take her up on her offer to teach him how to ride a horse. They leave and Hook mentions first loves while Emma is a bit upset that the kid lied to her. Henry gave Hook and idea and he takes Emma out to ride a horse.

Out in the forest with Mary Margaret and Lancelot we find out that he is still in love with Guinevere. We then jump back in time, five years, to the cave of the dark one with Lancelot and Guinevere. They find a door in the cave, open it and come out into a jungle of sorts (my first thought was Neverland), they find the dagger which is protected, then Rumple appears. He will not give them the dagger but instead asks them for a trade, if they give him Merlin's Gauntlet he will give them magically sand which will make excalibre appear as if it has been completed. Lancelot doesn't trust Rumple but Guinevere makes the trade.

We again jump forward five years in time, Lancelot and Mary Margaret are at the dark ones cave. They make there way to the jungle, the dagger isn't in its place (as it is in Mary Margaret's hand). We find out that we have seen this place before, Mary Margaret had a vision of this place, the place where Emma crushes her heart. Lancelot tells her that he should be the one to put the dagger back as it is magically protected. He asks if she trusts him, Arthur then appears and threatens Mary Margaret.

We then jump back again five years, Guinevere and Lancelot get back, they kiss, which Arthur sees and she makes her way to Merlin's tower. She tells him she found the dagger, he goes crazy and starts rummaging through her belongings to find it. She realises that she doesn't want to be with him, she went to save her husband but he is beyond saving. She asks him to make a choice, Arthur tells her he saw her and Lancelot, we then find out that Lancelot is leaving and the kiss was a goodbye. Guinevere then tells Arthur that instead of bringing the dagger back she brought this sand which can make anything appear whole. He takes his from her and uses it to make her appear whole, and he does this with the entire kingdom, turning it from small to majestic. It's all a magic trick.

We then jump forward again to Camelot six weeks ago, Arthur is threatening Lancelot's life, he asks for the dagger which Mary Margaret eventually gives to her. Arthur reveals his grand plan (like most villains before him) and is going to use the sword for evil. Then David (who Arthur apparently sent far away) appears, turns out the whole thing was a rouse, the dagger is a fake and the plan was concocted by them both to see who was telling the truth. Nice twist guys. The argument was real but it turns out they weren't getting anywhere so they in fact decided to do something productive.

Back with Hook and Emma, he wants her to trust him, the horse is an exercise and even though it really doesn't seem to like her she gets on it and they both go for a ride in the sunset. Mary Margaret, David and Lancelot take Arthur back to grannys deserted forest cafe, Lancelot wants Guinevere to be the true leader of Camelot. Arthur is too quiet and smug looking, turns out his entire army is outside Granny's. Guinevere appears and Lancelot quickly figures out that Arthur used the magic sand on her, he is to be thrown in the dungeons and oh no they use the sand (which is pretty much empty) on David and Mary Margaret.

Lancelot is pretty down and out, until we hear a familiar twang. It's Merida (Amy Manson) in the cell opposite, and it looks as those these two shall team up to take down Arthur as any enemy of Arthur is a friend of hers. How did she get there? Did Arthur steal her brothers? Mary Margaret and David then come back to the castle singing the praises of Arthur, Regina and Robin must notice something is up. They ask her to get the dagger even though she just spent all day hiding it. Emma and Hook are out on the horse, they stop and Hook asks her what she sees, good news no Rumple, she sees flowers, then they kiss. It all looks pretty nice and romantic.

Finally we see Storybrooke present day, Emma is holding one of those pretty pink flowers as real Rumple is telling her to not give into the darkness and he asks her to set him free. He says he can't be the hero but Emma is adamant that he will remove that sword from the stone. She has a secret weapon she has yet to reveal, turns out its Merida who is tied to Emma's bug. Emma then takes her heart and orders her to teach Rumple to be a hero, she needs her to teach Rumple to be Brave.

Now that end part was pretty cheesy but on the whole even though we hardly saw any Storybrooke and kept jumping back and forth in time, I really enjoyed this episode. The show is exceptionally well written with a great ton of twist and turns. I am looking forward to next week to see how all of this ties in. Yes there are some questions I'd like answered like, if Emma is fighting so hard what eventually tips her over the edge? I can't wait to put more pieces into this puzzle next week. If you can't wait that long for your next OUAT fix then take a sneak peek below at next week's episode Dreamcatcher.

I NEED YOU TO MAKE HIM BRAVE....

P.S. If you liked this check out my similar reviews below.

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Once Upon A Time: Siege Perilous - http://mcqsviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/once-upon-time-season-5-episode-3-review.html