Once Upon A Time 7x17 "Chosen" Episode Review
It happened. Season seven delivered a pretty powerful Zelena-centric episode! I can't believe they almost didn't let her return to the show. Zelena was always one of my favorite characters since her debut as main antagonist in season three. Her redemption arc was always a rocky one prior to the reboot, but now in the newest episode? It played off wonderfully. She earned her second chance. Find out what I mean in my review.
Spoilers going forward:
Henry Mills is kidnapped. Jack is trying to convince Cursed Henry of their old adventures together and how their friendship gave him his second chance to start over; to leave Hansel behind him. But when he brought along Regina and Zelena into the fold, matters got complicated for him because he had history with the latter. He thought he could control his desire to gut her back in Fairy Tale Land and he did... still not sure how that worked honestly.
But once he woke up in the real world, he embodied all his Hansel evilness and went on a killing spree. The rush of memories corrupted him and he wanted Henry's approval, his understanding because he still valued their friendship. Henry thought he was insane and tried to play along, but Hansel/Jack/Nick knew better. This guy has a lot of names. I'm going with Hansel moving forward to keep consistency.
I hate Once Upon A Time for the fact they use multiple names for their cursed personas and then her real selves; then they use both names interchangeably like it's no big deal. Seven seasons of this nonsense and I'm irked by the names... Yes that's my biggest pet peeve.
Jacinda thinks he's in New York and she really misses him. She believes he's texting her though and gets super excited. Yay? I don't know... her character isn't doing it for me anymore. I don't think she ever worked for me. Lucy is still adorable though.
Regina returns this episode... we missed you, don't leave again!! Zelena informs her sister about being the next target and how much she misses Chad, her fiancé. Taking action, Zelena and her daughter Margot go to the police station to get Weaver's help. Detective Rogers tries to help, but Zelena knows he's useless as his cursed self.
Zelena confronts Weaver in his office for help. He refuses to help her because he still despises her for everything she did like killing his son. She understands but claims her daughter is innocent and needs protection from the killer. He relents and gives her the old necklace that gives her magic. I don't understand how this helps her because magic is useless in Hyperion Heights, and it doesn't even help her when she eventually faces off against Hansel.
Hansel, armed with knowledge about Chad, lures the poor guy to Hyperion Heights and kidnaps him to get Zelena to come to him. She tricks Regina into leaving her side, and she goes to rescue her man. Zelena and Hansel fight over the past, but she chooses not to kill him because she's a changed person.
Back in Fairy Tale Land, Zelena tries to get a witch to leave Oz for some reason but fails to defeat her and leaves young Hansel and Gretel in their cages to rot. This witch is also holding Hansel and Gretel hostage. After getting her butt handed to her, Zelena is rescued by a mysterious blind man.
He turns out to be the father of Hansel and Gretel, and he shows the Wicked Witch kindness she never experienced before. It was a nice friendship/romance that ended badly when she left to rescue his children. It was so nice I thought for a second Chad would show up and reveal himself as Hansel's father... but that didn't happen.
Zelena defeats the witch, taking her sight to give to someone else, but fears she was too late to rescue Hansel and Gretel. Obviously, they didn't die. They escaped without her help and tells their father about the Wicked Witch refusing to help them earlier. This angers their father and he screams for her to leave his home. In a fit of rage, Zelena burns Hansel's arms for his foul mouth. This backstory saddened me more than anything... every time she got close to a lick of happiness, something always ruins it for her.
Chad, confused about literally everything, gets filled in about Zelena's past without the Fairy Tale specifics. He accepts Zelena/Kelly for who she is, no matter what name she uses. This love makes her return to San Francisco to be with him, leaving Regina behind to deal with everything going on.
That bothers me so much! Zelena did well in this episode, got closure, and she chooses to leave her sister to deal with Mother Gothel and the curse alone?! This is like Ivy all over again. Stop making these compelling characters leave this barely watchable show! This is why this is the final season!
Worst part? It was Regina's idea for Zelena to leave and get her happy ending. She's always putting others before herself, including herself with other adult Robin. Zelena asks her daughter to come along, but she says no because Tilly/Alice. As a parting gift, she gifts Margot with her necklace to wear as her maid of honor. Mother-daughter bonding at its finest! At least Margot/Robin is sticking around.
Detective Rogers figures out Henry didn't make it to New York and learns Nick is the killer based on some questions he asked Jacinda. He rushes to Nick's apartment, busts down the door, and gets Henry out of there. Henry is reunited with his family and declares he's staying because Nick showed the DNA results: Henry is Lucy's father. That's a lot for Cursed Henry to process considering he hadn't even kissed the woman yet.
In the closing moments, moments I heard Donald Trump ruined, Hansel/Nick is arrested and waits for the police officers to take him to prison. Facilier is revealed to be one who woke Hansel up to take care of the witches, but he got caught, and now he's a liability. Using some voodoo magic, he kills Hansel. Episode over.
I thought the resolution of the witch killer ended too soon. We should have gotten more out of it. I enjoyed the reveal that Nick was the killer because he was a good person in Fairy Tale Land, but it was too disappointing how it ended. They built up this killer for a couple episodes and that's all we get out of it? I expected more. I don't know why I expected more from OUAT, but I did.
Plus it turned out he was a pawn in a much bigger game. I thought the connection between Hansel and Zelena was not explored enough either, making their confrontation fall flat in terms of how they built up to this moment, but the emotional payoff came through for Zelena's development.
Comment below to share your thoughts on Once Upon A Time and how we're all going to miss this show in our own special way.