Once Upon a Time S04E20: "Lily"

Once Upon a Time’s “Lily” was by far my favorite episode of the season, if not the series, and that has to do with two things:



1) No fairy-tale land b-story! The show becomes so much more sophisticated emotionally when it drops the magical MacGuffins and random Disney character cameos and just centers on driving the plot with emotions and character dynamics. “Real world” episodes also offer the constraint of no magic, so characters get to actually talk through their problems versus solving every conflict with a bolt of purple lightning.

2) Emma and Regina sharing scene after scene after scene. OUAT’s wildly successful first season rarely took a break from Emma and Regina’s chemistry, and despite a sea of laughable plot contrivances and lackluster love interests, their dynamic has developed into an unspoken partnership that feels more authentic than the Charmings’ marriage. Except this episode Regina was done playing around and was speaking about that partnership in no uncertain terms.

When Maleficent asked Emma to find her daughter, she revealed a couple key details that made Emma realize Maleficent’s daughter was also her best/only friend Lily. A little scrolling through Storybrooke’s microfiche and it was official: her ex-girlfriend Lily was the same baby her parents had filled with evil and dropped into a wormhole. Emma was deeply stricken by the revelation that her only friend was apparently pre-destined to meet her, and also stunned that Lily had in later years moved from Minnesota to an address right outside of Boston, where Emma had been living. Weird coincidence or...? Regina was like, “Fate is crazy y’all, one time I adopted a little boy without realizing his mom would be my future wife. Anyway, is this hussy stalking you? Did you two date? How about I come with you when you go look for her?”







Regina also said she needed Emma which, uh... I don’t think Regina has ever made herself vulnerable like this to anyone ever before? Emma perked up at the thought of a road trip and just like that, the two most powerful women in Storybrooke were loading up the VW Bug with the Snow Queen’s scroll, Capri Suns, and the Drive soundtrack.



Meanwhile in Teen Emma’s backstory, fan-favorite Teen Lily had turned up in Emma’s new foster-family’s garage. She seemed really eager to stay over for dinner and was wearing a comically oversized beanie.





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