S06.E17: Awake

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Still trapped in Neverland, Hook aligns himself with Tiger Lily, hoping to find a way back to Emma. Back in Storybook, Regina works to break the sleeping curse that David and Snow are under, and Gold denies The Black Fairy, which brings the two of them to a fearsome impasse. In flashbacks, we learn what Snow and Charming sacrificed in order for Emma to fulfill her destiny as the Savior.

 

[scenicbyway]

We need to take up donations to get Snow a new hairstylist.  It's so bad

[ParadoxLost]

Do you know what happens when Regina gathers the townsfolk around a sleeping Snowing, in a town where curses are broken by true love’s kiss, in an episode where the words “final battle” are said way, way too many times?

I find myself singing “It’s a true love’s orgy” to the tune of Europe’s “The final countdown.

Edited April 17, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[Worsel]

Overall I enjoyed this episode, especially the flashback to old Storybooke.

Random thoughts and questions:

Pongo has celiac disease?  

Damn, Josh Dallas looks fabulous even in a hospital gown.   And his and Ginny’s acting when they saw young Emma was so good!  

I was so happy to see the other characters, and for them to have a key part of the storyline. 

So even though Rumple is the most powerful darkest of the dark ones, the Black Fairy is even more powerful and of course took the Dagger.  The writers wrote themselves into a corner, in order to make Rumple vulnerable now they have to make him lose the Dagger with alarming regularity.  We need Rumple’s shadow to hide it again.  But why did BF give the Dagger back?

Did Tiger Lily and Tinkerbelle know each other, since they are both ex-fairies and both lived in Neverland?

And just how many “most powerful” wands are there now? Wasn't Merlin's supposed to be the most powerful?  Or the Black Fairy's?  I'm confused about this.  Are they parts of a larger most powerful wand?

Rejoice Captain/Swan fans, we got a proper proposal from Hook now.  And a nice reconciliation between him and David - got to keep the bromance alive.

Edited to add: why did they place Sleeping Snowing on a hard uncomfortable table?  Weird.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Worsel

[KingOfHearts]

I hated this episode so much. Snow and Charming had the opportunity to reunite with Emma and didn't? Screw Rumple's prophecy. They could have raised her outside of Storybrooke and brought her in after she turned 28. They could have killed Regina in her sleep or started an underground against her. There was no freaking reason for Snowing to go back under the curse. What was with their unconditional trust in Rumple?!

They resolved the Sleeping Curse storyline in the dumbest way possible. If Emma was confirmed TL with her parents, why couldn't she break it with a kiss? Why can't we have one of the townspeople asleep perpetually so there's actually some sort of consequence?

Edited April 17, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[mjgchick]

Did they just have a Communion for Snowing on Easter Sunday? Why are these writers trash?

[Sabs]

couldn't they at least have put something in that goblet?  being empty was SO stupid looking!

[Jul 68]

90% fever dream, 8% good, 2% ugh!

Too many questions to write at this time. I think they forgot that Tink was a former fairy who lived in Neverland and thought it was a fresh, cool idea.

[ParadoxLost]

I liked this episode.  Admittedly I'm deliberately not thinking about it too hard because the plot contrivance of it all will quickly unwind everything.  And its pretty bad for the characterization of just about everybody.

But it was an episode with Snowing and Emma and Hook and the missing residents of Storybrooke and mostly fun if you ignore the problematic parts like convenient for Tiger Lily to care about helping the Savior and the convenient pixie petunias and never realizing that Emma could be raised to be the Savior.

[scenicbyway]

Why did David revert back into a coma?

Now there's true love's handshake and true love's pixie dust?

I don't like the retcon of the past.

I liked Tiger Lily and Hook's teamwork but, I was sure that the shadow ripping thing meant he was toast if this was season 3 when the "shadow" was ripping out his shadow and that meant death.

Atleast the Charmings are awake and Captain Swan is reunited.

[Writing Wrongs]

More retcons? Sigh.

Does anyone else find it hard to believe that the Black Fairy ever hooked up with Rumple's dad?

I'm so sick of this being the Emma and Hook show.

[legaleagle53]

2 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I'm so sick of this being the Emma and Hook show.

As opposed to what, the Regina show?

[OnceUponAJen]

12 minutes ago, Worsel said:

And just how many “most powerful” wands are there now? Wasn't Merlin's supposed to be the most powerful?  Or the Black Fairy's?  I'm confused about this.  Are they parts of a larger most powerful wand?

Yes, the Elder Wand!  LOL!

Great episode!  I think they accomplished everything I have been wanting to see lately.  I honestly thought the Captain Swan kiss was going to generate a curse - breaking TLK wave of magic that would wake up Snowing, though. Maybe they're saving the TLK for the wedding or a crucial Final Battle scene? All I know is, I really need to see a Captain Swan TLK.

I liked Tiger Lily! Is that the only ep she's going to be in?

I may do a rewatch on this one!  Haven't done that in a while.

[Chicken Wing]

Plot for season 7A: Everyone in Storybrooke has mono.

[Curio]

This was probably the most fun I've had watching this show in a really long time. It felt like a classic Season 1-3 kind of episode.

My only main issue (besides the Snowing retcon...but I have a feeling a lot of people here will touch on that) was how ridiculously rushed the Emma/Hook/Tiger Lily Neverland scene was, how rushed the proposal was, and how rushed/nonexistent that David/Hook resolution was. We all knew they'd totally gloss over the David/Hook conversation, but still...

1 hour ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I'm so sick of this being the Emma and Hook show.

 

This was the first episode in a really long time they even focused on Emma/Hook, and they didn't even have the A-Plot this week. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Curio

[Worsel]

1 minute ago, OnceUponAJen said:

Yes, the Elder Wand!  LOL!

Knowing this show, the Elder Wand would be part of a most powerful Sword that is derived from a self aware Divine Urn that made its way across space and time from an all powerful Realm of Light and Dark (the Gray Realm) .

[Noneofyourbusiness]

So if Tiger Lily exiled herself to Neverland after the Black Fairy turned dark, she should have been there before Pan, yet when Pan merged with the Shadow, the Shadow called itself "Neverland's sole inhabitant".

Why, oh why, were Snow and Charming so convinced Emma couldn't become the Savior if they raised her? Why not raise her in the knowledge she would have to go to Storybrooke? Sure, she probably wouldn't have met Neal and had Henry (or would she? it was fate, after all) and the way things worked out, she saved everyone by kissing Henry, but they couldn't know that. The original plan was even for Snow to go through the wardrobe pregnant and raise her, before giving birth derailed that.

[scenicbyway]

10 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

More retcons? Sigh.

Does anyone else find it hard to believe that the Black Fairy ever hooked up with Rumple's dad?

Word.  I can only guess it was a drunken night in a tavern?  Or maybe EF IVF?  Obviously not a true love match.

[KingOfHearts]

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This is probably the most fun I've had watching this show in a really long time. It felt like a classic Season 1-3 kind of episode.

Maybe I'm just unable to enjoy anything any more. This show has made me very cynical. I did love the concept of Snow and Charming getting their memories back during the Curse, and something like that would have been awesome in S1. I just hate that we got this craptastic fanfiction tonight instead. 

* If David had walked out of his coma in the past, why was that not mentioned in 1x03 when he did it again? 
* Why did Mary Margaret not remember David Nolan waking up and thinking he was Prince Charming?
* If there was no magic in Storybrooke during the curse, how could the pixie dust flower grow?

Quote

I think they should have done the Snowing flashbacks in a dreamworld rather than a retcon.  It felt a bit like they just needed Snowing to make sacrifices to justify the town coming together to save them because nothing that happens before the current episode counts.

The love of random townspeople is greater than that which is between parent and daughter. #ThingsOnceTaughtMe

Edited April 17, 2017 by KingOfHearts

[mjgchick]

Yeah in S1 this would've been amazing but this is totally a retcon these idiots think was brilliant when it only made Snowing (Snow) look bad for choosing their town over their own daughter who went to bed clod, hungry and alone every night and was probably abused by her foster parents. 

[ParadoxLost]

1 minute ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Why, oh why, were Snow and Charming so convinced Emma couldn't become the Savior if they raised her? Why not raise her in the knowledge she would have to go to Storybrooke? Sure, she probably wouldn't have met Neal and had Henry (or would she? it was fate, after all) and the way things worked out, she saved everyone by kissing Henry, but they couldn't know that. The original plan was even for Snow to go through the wardrobe pregnant and raise her, before giving birth derailed that.

I think this is a case of the writers missing the obvious.  It shouldn't have been 'if we reunite with Emma she won't become the savior'. It should have been 'if we aren't here for the EQ to torment, then will there be anyone left for Emma to save when she is grown up or will EQ kill them all in a fit of pique long before then?'

I think they should have done the Snowing flashbacks in a dreamworld rather than a retcon.  It felt a bit like they just needed Snowing to make sacrifices to justify the town coming together to save them because nothing that happens before the current episode counts.

[Writing Wrongs]

17 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

As opposed to what, the Regina show?

No. Maybe I'm just tired of the CS talk in the other threads and it's creeping into my enjoyment and I'd just like more balance. At least Snowing is fucking awake now.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Writing Wrongs

[Blue Plastic]

32 minutes ago, Worsel said:

Edited to add: why did they place Sleeping Snowing on a hard uncomfortable table?  Weird.

Because all the townspeople couldn't fit into the loft to drink a bit of the sleeping potion, I guess!  It did look stupid.  I was almost kind of hoping that the townspeople wouldn't wake up and Snow and Charming would have to fight the Black Fairy all alone!  Not that I want Emma to be asleep or otherwise out of the story, but at the same time I wouldn't mind seeing Snow and Charming having to fight it out with super duper evil Black Fairy.

I thought the backstory was kind of dumb too.  Surely Snow and Charming could have gone through the portal, gotten young Emma, and then found some other way to disenchant the townspeople.  They find work-arounds for other magical problems all the time.  Dumb!

Amusing line:  "I want to do this before I get pushed through another portal" or something along those lines - har!

This episode wasn't actually as painful to watch as many others have been this season, though.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

11 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

* If David had walked out of his coma in the past, why was that not mentioned in 1x03 when he did it again? 
* Why did Mary Margaret not remember David Nolan waking up and thinking he was Prince Charming?

Those, at least, can be explained by the fog that kept everyone from realizing they had 28 years' worth of memories.

The writers are too in love with the "upending what you thought was true-slash-this major thing actually happened/was revealed long before you saw it happen in realtime but the characters forgot it" kind of retcon. Like Regina learning that Henry was the Savior's child and choosing to forget it. Or "Bae actually did want to use the Dagger for bad". "Zelena and Regina actually did meet as children".

Edited April 17, 2017 by Noneofyourbusiness

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

Those, at least, can be explained by the fog that kept everyone from realizing they had 28 years worth of memories.

But Archie remembered Owen coming to town, 18 years later.

[ParadoxLost]

12 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

* Why did Mary Margaret not remember David Nolan waking up and thinking he was Prince Charming?
* If there was no magic in Storybrooke during the curse, how could the pixie dust flower grow?

Frankly, I'm irritated that they do remember which is why Snow gave Emma the flower. 

They must have remembered when the first curse broke and have been hiding it since then.

Better that they would have drank a permanent memory potion.

Edited April 17, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[Tiger]

Everyone drinking a peice of Snowing's curse made no fucking sense.  It reminded me the 90's XMen cartoon show episode where all of the XMen give a peice of their soul to bring Jean Grey back to life, except that made sense and this didnt.

I hate egregious retcons, especially those late in a shows' run, and those that make no fucking sense.  Those above have articulated the specific issues so I wont list fhem here again, but these writers have absolutely no respect for the own continuity or rules.  

All of that said, I think Ginny and Josh were fantastic and I really enjoyed the way Ginny played the differences between Snow and Mary Margaret.

The entire Stiltakins clan can fall into a well, off a cliff, whatever I just dont give a damn about any of them.  Why isnt Jafar the big bad with Cruella and Tremaine as his side-kicks?!?

Edited April 17, 2017 by Tiger

[Sarcastica]

I just can't get over the Snow/Charming retcon. No. Bad show. BAD. It made me side-eye Snow. Like even after everything, I have bad feelings towards Snow...ugh.

The Tiger/Lily Hook mini adventure was fun.

Glad Emma got her boo back and they had apologies/ a proper proposal...all that jazz.

Snow and Charming are finally awake at the same time. Hooray. I'm glad Hook and Charming got to talk for 3 seconds at the end. 

Gideon, Rumple, Belle, Grandma Black Fairy...zzzzzzzz.

Whatever. 

[thuganomics85]

Hey, I finally get to watch the episode live again, and it's the one where they finally end Snow and Charming's sleeping curse.  Yay!!

So, we get another major retcon in the flashbacks, where it turns out Snow and Charming had actually broke out of the Dark Curse several years before Emma came to Storybrooke, but decided not to find her because they worried she wouldn't become the Savior, if she didn't wait till she was 28 and find out for herself.  Not entirely understanding their (and Rumple's) logic.  What was to stop them from raising her and maybe training her to become the Savior, instead?  Or did they really believe she need the rough up bringing (not to mention, meeting Neal and having Henry), for the premonition to work?  Or am I just thinking way too hard about all of this?

Fun seeing Leroy, Archie, Marco, and Grandma in the flashbacks.  Oh, and them having to put Robert Carlyle in a hilariously bad wig, since he now cut it off in real life.

Hook's adventures in Neverland were alright.  Liked the actress playing Tiger Lily.  Although, her being a former fairy was a strange twist to the tale.  I wonder if she and Tink new each other.

Jaime Murray continues to be a delightful scenery chewer as the Black Fairy.

I wonder if Regina even bothered asking Rumple (and Belle) if they would participate in the diluting the sleeping curse plan, with the towns folks at the end? 

Not a bad episode, which is praise at this point.  Next week could be fun, just to see if any scenery will survive both Jaime Murray and Rebecca Mader camping it up at the same time!

[asabovesobelow]

Sorry, but no, Snow. You can say you martyred  your family and your happiness to make yourself feel better, but the truth is that you made the wrong fucking choice. I don't give one good shit what Emma's 'destiny' was...you left your 10 year old daughter  when you had the chance to save her and that's despicable.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

9 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

But Archie remembered Owen coming to town, 18 years later.

Regina was the one who mentioned him.

[Selina K]

So, Charming is about 10000x better a dad than Snow is a mom.  He just has that fatal flaw of listening to Snows dumb plans.

no one was too worried about Snowflake, huh?

[Noneofyourbusiness]

11 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Everyone drinking a peice of Snowing's curse made no fucking sense.  It reminded me the 90's XMen cartoon show episode where all of the XMen give a peice of their soul to bring Jean Grey back to life, except that made sense and this didnt.

Ooh, I loved that scene in X-Men.

Edited April 17, 2017 by Noneofyourbusiness

[PixiePaws1]

Really???? Not one word about Emma's childhood actually being what Snowing sacrificed. Yes they lost watching her grow up but what Emma lost as a child was infinitely worse....and they reinforced that in my mind by previously showing little homeless Emma burning her storybook to keep warm! 

What is it with these writers that can't see thar Emma is who truly lost out here. Arrrggghhh!!

The entire freaking town better turn out to support Emma in this epic final..test...because SHE'S the one they owe.

[Curio]

Thunderstorms screwed with my TV feed, so some parts of the episode froze for a few seconds and I missed bits and pieces of dialogue here and there. Was one of Snow's reasonings for not parenting 10-year-old Emma because Snow White is a hero who would never risk the lives of other people? If so, then how in the world did she justify letting Regina free time and time again in the Enchanted Forest only for Regina to kill more people? 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

So where in the script was the, obviously cut, script tease where Leroy seemed to be flirting with David originally placed?

[ParadoxLost]

1 minute ago, Curio said:

Thunderstorms screwed with my TV feed, so some parts of the episode froze for a few seconds and I missed bits and pieces of dialogue here and there. Was one of Snow's reasonings for not parenting 10-year-old Emma because Snow White is a hero who would never risk the lives of other people? If so, then how in the world did she justify letting Regina free time and time again in the Enchanted Forest only for Regina to kill more people? 

Given the laws of probability you probably missed the words final battle a half dozen times and that is it.

[Shanna Marie]

1 minute ago, Curio said:

Was one of Snow's reasonings for not parenting 10-year-old Emma because Snow White is a hero who would never risk the lives of other people? If so, then how in the world did she justify letting Regina free time and time again in the Enchanted Forest only for Regina to kill more people?

Yep. And that's what I was screaming at the TV screen -- "Maybe you should have thought of that when you had Regina captive and instead let her go with a spell to keep her from killing you but free to kill anyone else."

Just like I was yelling, "Funny, that's not what everyone was saying about him a couple of days ago" when they were reassuring Emma that Hook would fight to get back to her.

They have a weird talent for making big events as anticlimactic as possible. I think part of the problem is that they make the challenges too hard, so hard that there's no good way to overcome them, and that means the solution has to be some random thing that comes from out of the blue and then makes the solution way too easy. So, there was absolutely no way out of this sleeping curse, until they were able to solve it with the town's few remaining inhabitants drinking a potion. There was absolutely no way for Hook to get back to Emma, until they just happened to find a pixie dust flower that magically opened a door. I guess with the sleeping curse, at least Regina was doing some researching and this was the conclusion she came to. But I was kind of looking forward to Hook being able to figure something out, not having a solution just dropped in their lap.

I liked Tiger Lily. I wish they'd found a way to bring her back with them. She was grinning at the end. Was there some reason for her to be happy? Hook had already found a way to get the wand to Emma, which was all she wanted. I'm not sure why she'd have been that happy to see Hook get away, unless there's something else going on.

[PixiePaws1]

Did LOVE David telling Regina 'the curse YOU put us under"....yeah Dave...because people need to be reminded that EQ and Regina are the same person...*claps*

[Inquirer]

And of course, all the angst over the past few episodes ends up being pointless.  Emma and Hook are engaged, and Hook and David are friends.  

Why, it's almost as if there was absolutely no reason to make Hook the murderer of David's father at all!

Edited April 17, 2017 by Inquirer

[Sarcastica]

Just now, PixiePaws1 said:

Did LOVE David telling Regina 'the curse YOU put us under"....yeah Dave...because people need to be reminded that EQ and Regina are the same person...*claps*

 

Omg yes! Honestly, THAT was great.

Love you, David. Charmz4Eva

[MaiLuna]

This episode actually gave me a feeling of hope, like the writers say this show is about but lately it has been failing. Such a shame they had to end it with the Rumpel/EF scene, where we could see the difference between Rumpel and Snowing.

This episode shows you can have a good episode based on the "boring" heroes. Even if Hook was a former villain, we could see him a good-natured adventure (even if he was selfish at the start). That's where I think the writers fail with Regina's redemption, don't give us a flashback of her whining, give us some present-day redemptive adventure with her and it'd be much more fun.

I hate that once again Snow & Charming put Emma the savior over Emma the person. Aren't they always saying they'll find another way? Rumpel said Emma would go back to the town on her 28th birthday, he never said she had to go back alone. Plus, if it was a prophecy, doesn't it mean it would have happened even if Snowing had gone to her? At least Snow made it up to her, this time thinking she WOULD find another way (how convenient, like it was also convenient that they didn't wake up while Emma was living on the streets). They didn't have a problem cursing the Enchanted Forest to save Neal though, because they knew Emma would save them (it seems she just can't save them if she's happy and loved I guess). 

I liked Tiger Lily and I wish she'd have gone through the portal, it doesn't seem she has much fun in Neverland. I also liked the Regina/David scene, I wish they'd interact more. 

The resolution was cheesy but OK (prop people, just fill the cup next time, please) but I'm bitter there was STILL no CS TLK. And I wish Hook had actually apologized to Charming! 

But overall, I liked the episode. It was entertaining because it was over quickly. And the CS proposal was sweet!!

[hockeycat400]

I really enjoyed this episode.   We had Snowing, townspeople, Captain Swan reuniting and re-engaging, and not too much Regina.  Worked for me!

 

20 minutes ago, Selina K said:

So, Charming is about 10000x better a dad than Snow is a mom.  He just has that fatal flaw of listening to Snows dumb plans.

no one was too worried about Snowflake, huh?

Yeah, where does Snowflake actually go when he's conveniently missing?  Maybe Aunt Ruby and Aunt Dorothy are babysitting...?

[Curio]

5 minutes ago, MaiLuna said:

I'm bitter there was STILL no CS TLK.

 

I don't get why they keep pushing off the Emma/Hook True Love's Kiss. This would have been an ideal time for a TLK to break Snowing's sleeping curse, but no, we have to go with the most complicated and deus ex machina way of breaking it instead.

Would Snow's decision to leave 10-year-old Emma be totally different if the door showed Emma huddled around a fire on the streets instead of comfortably sitting on a bed listening to music?

[InsertWordHere]

52 minutes ago, Writing Wrongs said:

No. Maybe I'm just tired of the CS talk in the other threads and it's creeping into my enjoyment and I'd just like more balance. At least Snowing is fucking awake now.

I can't speak to your first point, because I would never want to limit what people talk about unless it's offensive or rude, but I can definitely talk about Snowing. I absolutely loved the brief moment when David recognized Mary Margaret but she thought he was just a coma patient and the Snowing TL music started going at full blast. It feels like forever since I've heard their theme like that and it was amazing. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by InsertWordHere

[tennisgurl]

So, I haven't gotten the chance to actually see the episode yet, but I decided to look here anyway (I'm a sad, weak human being), and...are we seriously doing another damn retcon? Yet another major moment in the characters lives that they either never talked about ever, or had some kind of "memory spell" put on them to make them forget it ever happened? You know, at this point, I'm starting to suspect that all these retcons and so called "memory spells" or "mind wipes" or whatever are just covering up the fact that everyone in this show are actually a bunch of raging alcoholics off screen, and they keep getting wasted, making terrible, stupid life choices based solely around their shots of tequila, and they forget everything they did afterwards because they totally blacked out. It would all make sense!

[BoPeeps]

A long time ago, I stopped thinking about the writing, the flaws, the super-speed, the writing, the giant plot holes, the idiocy, the frustrations,...did I mention the WRITING??...and just watched for the enjoyment of the momentary fantasy escape.

So, I liked it :)

Neverland was always my favorite.

[Shanna Marie]

1 minute ago, tennisgurl said:

are we seriously doing another damn retcon? Yet another major moment in the characters lives that they either never talked about ever, or had some kind of "memory spell" put on them to make them forget it ever happened?

Yep. Though this one falls into the "major moment in the characters' lives that they never talked about, ever" category. At least, that was how I interpreted it. Ten years into the curse, a contrived bit of magic that shouldn't have been possible before magic was introduced to Storybrooke brings David out of his coma, and he and Snow realize who they are. They use that same bit of magic to connect them to Emma, opening a magic door that allows them to see her, but then change their minds about going to her because they can't put their own wishes ahead of the good of the town, and Emma has to grow up to be the Savior in order to save the whole town. They end up drinking a potion Rumple gives them that puts them back under the curse. But from the sounds of it, once the curse was broken, they remembered all this. Snow confesses this to Emma and Regina now, but she's known all along.

I still don't get how Emma growing up happy with her parents would keep her from being the Savior. Couldn't she still have come to Storybrooke at age 28 and kissed her parents, or something, and broken the curse? Was there anything in the prophecy about her having to grow up miserable and alone in order to break the curse?

And how has this never come up before now? Weren't there plenty of other times when Snow might have mentioned seeing Emma when she was ten? Wouldn't this have come up when Snow and David were having the discussions about where "home" was when they were growing magic beans, or when they were deciding what to do when they thought he was stuck in Neverland, or when they were sent back to the Enchanted Forest while Emma was stuck in New York, or when they were stuck in the Land of Untold Stories?

[ParadoxLost]

2 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

 a contrived bit of magic that shouldn't have been possible before magic was introduced to Storybrooke brings David out of his coma,

I especially liked the not so subtle Regina makes one flower sprout but black fairy is so evil that there is a field of flowers.  And one survived Gideon's destruction because it "had to".

2 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

I still don't get how Emma growing up happy with her parents would keep her from being the Savior. Couldn't she still have come to Storybrooke at age 28 and kissed her parents, or something, and broken the curse? Was there anything in the prophecy about her having to grow up miserable and alone in order to break the curse?

There wasn't which was why they should have made an argument that, in an episode where Regina was threatening to blow up Archie, that Regina would murder everyone before Emma grew up if they weren't around for her to "punish" rather than Emma wouldn't become the savior.

[andromeda331]

7 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

I still don't get how Emma growing up happy with her parents would keep her from being the Savior. Couldn't she still have come to Storybrooke at age 28 and kissed her parents, or something, and broken the curse? Was there anything in the prophecy about her having to grow up miserable and alone in order to break the curse?

And how has this never come up before now? Weren't there plenty of other times when Snow might have mentioned seeing Emma when she was ten? Wouldn't this have come up when Snow and David were having the discussions about where "home" was when they were growing magic beans, or when they were deciding what to do when they thought he was stuck in Neverland, or when they were sent back to the Enchanted Forest while Emma was stuck in New York, or when they were stuck in the Land of Untold Stories?

Not to mention Snow was originally planning on going with Emma. So she would have grown up with her mother's love and being raised by her mother and still broken the curse. But being raised by both parents, even starting at age ten would have been a bad thing?