As a fan of fairy tales, (particularly the Snow White saga) when Once Upon a Time premiered on ABC in October 23, 2011, I knew I’d be watching.  I was eager to see a retelling of Snow White’s battle with her stepmother, The Evil Queen as well as her love for Prince Charming.  And this new mythology also introduced Snow and Charming’s daughter, Emma, the baby girl they sent away to save from the queen’s curse as well as a town called Story Brooke, a place different from The Enchanted Forest but in some ways similar due to it’s residents: The characters of the fairy tales like Red Riding Hood, her grandma and the wicked Rumpelstiltskin, who’d challenge the The Evil Queen’s power. Additionally, Emma would grow up to be The Savior, the person who would break the course. This was not my childhood fairy tale, it was something much, much bigger.

This opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer’s and may differ from other fans of Once Upon a Time as well as The Nerdy Girl Express.

In Once Upon a Time, Snow White, Prince Charming , The Evil Queen and Rumpelstiltskin share a family connection through Henry, the son of Emma and Rumpelstilskin’s son Neal aka Baelfire. Other changes include characters from Peter Pan, Disney stories and The Knights of the Round Table making appearances. Don’t get me wrong I applaud the writers creativeness, however, I felt that some of these characters overcrowded the mythology and at times, dragged it down (I wasn’t a fan of the Mulan/Sleepy Beauty story line and thought that connection stretched things a bit). Nonetheless, I firmly believe in giving any writer the respect to tell their story the way they deem fit.

That being said, I’m pleased as punch with the direction Once Upon a Time is going in Season 6. Warning: Spoilers coming so continue reading at your own risk if you haven’t seen Episode 22 “Only You” and Episode 23 “An Untold Story” of Season 5.  In the last two episodes of the previous season, the literary characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were introduced along with the theory of separating one’s goodness from their evil with a potion. Jekyll and Hyde became two entities.  This gave Emma the idea of ridding Regina of the guilt she has felt over the wrongdoings as The Evil Queen.  If Regina could confront her evil alter ego once and for all and tell her that she doesn’t need her, Regina would finally be free. Regina takes the potion and The Evil Queen emerges.  However after the confrontation, The Evil Queen isn’t destroyed but remains a breathing person ready to pick up where she left off in the evil department. The Queen Is Not Dead, Long Live The Evil Queen!

So in Once Upon a Time Season 6, Team Story Brooke (Snow, Charming, Emma and Regina) will have to figure out a way to put that deadly genie which is The Evil Queen back into the bottle before she destroys the town.  And herein lies why I am excited for Season 6. Lana Parrilla is brilliant in her portrayal of The Evil Queen.  The shippers can have Emma and Hook and any other romantic entanglement that suits their fancy, but Parrilla has always been my favorite thing about Once Upon a Time (Rebecca Mader’s Zelena comes in a close second). Regina’s redemption over the last few seasons has allowed the character to join the side of the series heroes, but I always felt something was missing in ‘Good Regina.’  She found love with Robin Hood ( I was happy for Regina but the coupling did nothing for me as I personally couldn’t see chemistry between the two) but when Regina’s good, she’s okay but when Regina’s bad, Parrilla is better. I can’t wait to see the scenes between Regina and The Evil Queen. Now Regina will finally get the chance to see how truly evil The Evil Queen was as she faces her herself. She’ll fully understand what Snow, David and Emma were up against.

I hope that good will prevail over evil (but not too soon). Once Upon a Time is giving viewers a reason to get excited again by going back to basics. I can’t wait for Season 6 to begin!

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