Once Upon A Time 5x07 Nimue Review

Sorry for the late review again! I've had rehearsals this week!
This week we saw a Merlin centric which was interesting. Good to see some more of his back story. Other than the mistake in the time stamp (confirmed by Adam on Twitter that it was supposed to be 500 not 200), I think this episode was pretty good. I've always been intrigued by the Dark One and the origins so I'm glad to see them building more and more on that each season.
 Now, I don't know about you guys but back in the episode where Merlin said the woman he loved was taken by the Dark One, I guessed that she was going to be the Dark One (I actually think it's pretty cool that the first Dark One was a woman). So since we're on the topic of Nimue (and the episode title is her name too), I did think her and Merlin were pretty cute together (that's the shipper in me talking!). I thought she was gonna be weird when she was talking about revenge but then she just wanted some flowers to grow. So it seemed like she was nice. I knew she was going to drink out of the Grail and that would turn her into the Dark One. I don't know if we were supposed to be surprised by any of that at all and if we were, then I think they did a pretty bad job of that. But I loved her transformation into the Dark One. I'm not sure how killing one person makes you dark though. Like this guy literally killed her whole village and set it on fire. How is killing him so awful? It's a life for a thousand lives. I don't really get where they're going with the whole killing people makes you bad thing. Especially because Snow and Charming have killed people (Charming killed a guy like a few episodes ago for crying out loud!) and they're still the main Heroes of this show. It feels like they're trying to make it very black and white with this is good and this is bad, but they're failing because there's always going to be grey areas. But anyway, Nimue as the Dark One was so cool (I'm kinda intrigued on how she died but I don't think we'll find that out). I loved that Emma has the ability to call on any previous Dark One, that's so interesting to me. And Nimue trying to convince her to kill Merlin and Emma, the wonderful back lash! Jennifer Morrison did an awesome job at that scene. Emma shouting down Nimue and choosing not to kill Merlin was so great. Also, I'm confused as to why Emma isn't green or sparkly. I thought at first it was because she hasn't killed anybody (because Nimue only turned green after she killed the Vortican guy) but then Rumple was green and sparkly straight away so that doesn't make sense either. I wonder if there is an actual explanation (other than it taking way too long to do the make up maybe haha).
There were a couple of things I'm a bit meh about this episode. Firstly Zelena. Although I have to say her lines this episode were hilarious and she is kinda growing on me. Her betraying everyone. Not even remotely surprised by it. But I was hoping she was at least trying to be good for the baby. And Snow. I am so angry at Snow. I love Snow, I really do and I think she's great and a badass but why are they making her seem so stupid? This woman stole your baby not that long ago (timeline wise) why would you trust her at all?! I mean there was literally a scene where Snow was talking about keeping an eye on Zelena like 5 minutes ago within the episode and she still falls for it. I'm so annoyed that the writers are making her look dumb. But then again. It is the same woman who trusted Zelena in the first place. But anyway, I think Zelena and Arthur might make a good team. Maybe that's a new ship waiting to happen?! It was also cool to see Zelena using Merlin's magic. Merlin's magic seems very strong. He created Excalibur and then the Dark One dagger in the first place. It is interesting that he's potentially the most powerful person we've had on the show and yet, he got his powers from the Holy Grail. He didn't seem too bothered about his friend dying beside him at the beginning of the episode though and just carried onto drink. Top notch friend there! It was interesting that I seemed to get a God vibe off him (even though him and his friend did mention Gods too) but there seemed to be some sort of implication there.
But now Zelena used one of his spells on Excalibur so that Arthur could control Merlin. I'm not entirely sure why Merlin has that spell in his book in the first place. Unless it's just the same spell as the one he used to make the Dagger. But it is worrying that Merlin is under the control of our creepy guy of the season. I do have to wonder where he is in the present time. I hope he isn't dead (I don't think he will be).
Other than that, not much more to say about this episode. Pretty decent although I can't believe it's episode seven already! This season is pretty slow but there's still been a lot of cool things that have happened. I really liked the Dark One Convention in Emma's basement haha. I'm also intrigued to see what happens now that she's made Excalibur whole again and I'm still waiting on some answers from what else happened in Camelot, where Merlin is etc. So still a lot to look forward to this season!
And don't forget that this Sunday (if you're in the US) two episodes are airing back to back! (I'm assuming UK Netflix will upload them both on Wednesday but we'll see how that works)

Once Upon A Time 5x06 The Bear and the Bow Review

I know I missed a week of reviewing, but I was super busy last week with uni stuff which is why I didn't post anything. So quick thing about last week: I loved all the Neal mentions, Emma caring so much about Henry even as the Dark One and Emma using magic to get Merlin out of his tree. I disliked Emma taking Violet's heart (obviously) and I felt so bad for Henry.
 Onto this week's episode though. I personally felt it was a weaker episode than last week, but still pretty decent. Merida is not exactly top of my Disney Princess list anyway, so her presence in the show is a bit meh for me personally (although I do think the actress is great). Also, are the writers just assuming that their whole audience has seen Brave? Because it certainly feels like they're throwing on things that people who haven't seen the movie would not understand. (The bear thing for a start and also the witches house). But maybe that's just me being pedantic.
Anyway, I really liked Belle this episode. She's usually a little in the background for a regular so it was nice to see her doing stuff again! I love her line 'I'm glad you noticed' when Merlin said she was clever. It is true that the people of Storybrooke take Belle for granted a little. I'm a bit annoyed that Merida attacked her in Camelot. Why does Belle need to be hit every season? But no, she was great. I'm glad she stood up for herself and walked away from Rumple. I'm also glad she's not immediately saying that she loves him and going straight back to him. Yes, she hugged him and had some cute lines towards him, but I feel like she is justified in not being Rumple's biggest fan and I'm glad she's acting that way.
 Another person I enjoyed this episode, strangely enough was Zelena. Now, I'm sure I've made my opinion on Zelena clear, but I'm not her biggest fan (and I'm so angry that she brought up killing Neal and Emma didn't even react) but I thought she was pretty funny in this episode. Rebecca Mader is great and although I don't like the character, she had some witty lines and I'm actually glad she didn't immediately team up with Emma since that would be the obvious thing for her to do. Feeding her green food though was genuinely hilarious; I'll give Regina that one.
   I'm really happy that everyone in Storybrooke has found out about Arthur being shady. They dragged it out five episodes, so it's good that they know now. I laughed at the 'Merlin's voicemail' line. Another point to Regina. Merlin is a strange one too. I like him at the moment but I'm wary. His magic is the strongest we've ever seen by the looks of things. His explanation of how he appeared to Emma as a child was weak though.
 It was nice to see Henry, albeit very briefly, this episode and how him being the Author still grants him 'power' (I use that term loosely) despite him breaking the pen. I'm glad he hasn't given up on Emma. She needs him now more than ever.
  Which brings me to my last point of Emma. I do love her as the Dark One (I know there's been a bit of a debate about that in the fandom, but I do actually enjoy the whole Dark Swan thing). I am genuinely curious what she did to Merlin considering he seems to be very powerful. Although a Dark One did trap him in the tree so I do have to wonder if his magic and the Dark One magic are equally matched. As much as I'm not really a fan of Merida, glad that Emma didn't kill her (although I'm not sure the writers would be allowed to kill her off to be honest).
   Overall this episode was pretty decent. The CGI on the bear wasn't completely terrible (I'm used to not great CGI on this show though) which was nice. Interesting things, questions raised, but a bit too much Merida for me. I would really like the focus to be on our main cast of characters and not all the new ones but still, excited to see more Dark Swan next week!