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Analyzing Once Upon a Time

This can't be how the story ends

Since this blog is now as old as Henry in the Pilot, we thought this would be a good time to re-introduce this Once Upon a Time theory to the new kids on the block - and to the old kids on the block, because we have learned a thing or two during the decade we've been researching this concept.

The heart of the theory can really be summed up in one sentence:

"Everything that happened on Once Upon a Time also really happened in our world, and it is all a metaphorical retelling of Emma's life experiences in the past and in the present."

That's the part of the theory that we are certain about. Every episode has a deeper meaning, there is no fluff and together they all form one big story.

Does that mean that the story that we watched, didn't really happen? No, it's more like getting two stories for the price of one. The best metaphor we can come up with is that of lenticular cards.

Remember those little cards that you would twist and then the image would change? It doesn't really matter which one of those two images is real, because they both are. Someone had to draw and print both of them and use the right technique so we could see them both. Usually the images tell a bit of a story when you combine them, but they work perfectly fine as two standalone images.

So what we are doing is simply twisting the card, we're revealing our second story. We've really emotionally invested in these characters and now we're entering an Alternate Universe that was written by the same writers. And that's the real appeal of this theory, to get another story after the show's been off the air for so long, with the characters we know and love, because they are both.

Let's say the genre of the story we watched on television for 7 years is fantasy and the genre of our new AU is magical realism. So take a seat, suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride, because we're about to watch the official trailer of this new ABC show called Once Upon a Time.

If you watch the trailer, you see the idea of the two sides of the story being reinforced. You also hear the voice-over tell us that "someone from our world" needs to save the fairy tale characters while showing an unconscious Emma. This is the moment when the story splits in two.

Once Upon a Time takes place in what Jung called "The Collective Unconscious", or in this case The Enchanted Forest - a place where humankind's stories are real, where the fairy tale characters we know and love live - the world of archetypes.

A metaphorical curse is cast when Emma crashes her car. She loses consciousness and travels to her own subconscious mind. The fairy tale world and Emma's personal world collide and she gradually steals the fairy tale characters to work through her own issues and traumas. This is how the fairy tale characters actually get trapped in our world.

This is why this version of the story is "Magical Realism" - In magical realism, the underlying idea is that the world we currently live in actually has an undercurrent of magic, of intelligence, a magic that expresses itself through uncanny coincidences. We see this in the Pilot. Emma makes a heartfelt wish, and a second later, her long lost son rings the door bell. Unlikely, but possible in our world. When she slams her car door in anger, electric sparks fly and when she looks up at the clock, it's stuck on 8:15. August 15th. The date her long lost son was born. Odd coincidences, but entirely possible.

This magical world, however, is also a world of karma, because she violently knocks a man against his steering wheel earlier in the episode. Later that night, she hits her own head. This was the only way for the hidden magic of our world to grant Emma's wish and to restore her karma. The intelligent universe forced her to confront her demons with the help of age-old archetypes, so she could heal from her traumas, learn the life lessons she needs to allow people like Henry and Regina into her life.

Everything we saw on this show was Emma's real experience during the show's timeline, but the undercurrent of the world she experienced was created by her memories and by everything what's going on in the world around her while she is in different states of consciousness. Like Jefferson points out during "Hat Trick", even fictional stories come from a real place. They come from the writer's emotions and experiences, codified into story.

What we didn't know when we first started writing this theory, was how weird our consciousness really is. Real comas are nothing like movie comas where people just sit up one day. Maybe they need a little bit of physical rehab and then off they go. No, in the real world, people spend days, weeks, months or even years living in between their dream world and reality, trying to make sense of it all. Some people report having no memory of the months after they woke up and after they were up and somewhat functional. Many report strange dreams and remembering conversations that happened around them - except they thought they were participating.

Based on this newfound knowledge, we concluded that Emma was only in a deep coma for parts of the show's timeline. We think Emma's state in this theory closely aligns with what medical professionals call a minimally conscious state (MCS). Sleeping curse victims in an MCS are awake but show limited awareness of their surroundings. They may respond to stimuli, have brief moments of purposeful behavior, or even show emotional reactions to familiar voices or events. While their consciousness seems fragmented, they can form connections between external events and their inner experiences. The show uses David's coma story to tell us what's happening with Emma. He is able to grab Mary Margaret's hand, which he couldn't do if he was in a full coma. That means Emma is sometimes saying words and interacting with the people around her. They can connect with her in meaningful ways. And they do.

The show is peppered with hints that point to Emma's state in the land without magic. Jefferson is one of the characters who is used as a part of her subconscious that is trying to make Emma aware of her situation in the reality realm, but during the second episode, Emma herself gives us a description of the curse that she is now trapped in.

Emma: "So, for decades, people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious."

What's very important about this description, is the "screwed up memories". The flashbacks about Emma's life that we have seen, are just as metaphorical of the other parts. They did happen, but they didn't happen in the way we saw them happen. The best explanation for how these 'new memories' are created is by looking at one clear example.

The "memory" of Emma giving birth to Henry is actually a metaphorical memory of Henry coming back into Emma's life, through parallels and visual clues. In this new memory, she expresses how she really felt in that moment, in so much emotional pain she could scream, and terrified to be asked to be a mother. This is how all the stories are created.

Much of the show works this way, except unlike during this scene, we haven't seen the original experience that the metaphor is based upon. So to decipher the rest of Emma's memories, all we can do is look at the recurring themes and storylines, as they show what Emma is wrestling with. Season 1 is full of car crashes, because crashing her car in the Pilot is a very recent trauma. Parents giving up children is a recurring trauma, because it matches both her story and Henry's story. This is the translation key to figure out Emma's story. Look at the patterns.

If we listen back to the show's trailer one more time, the theme song that was chosen to represent the show couldn't be more of an invitation to see the reality layer of the story.

Rescue me

Show me who I am

'Cause I can't believe

This is how the story ends

Fight for me

If it's not too late

Help me breathe again

No, this can't be how the story ends

This is Emma fighting for her life in reality. Asking Regina and Henry and the people around her to help her come back to life, because this can't be how the story ends. This can't be how she dies.

Ooookay... so where's the fun exactly?

You may be wondering, what is the appeal? Admittedly, this story is somewhat sad and dark at first glance, but remember when you watched the first season and you were trying to guess the characters' fairy tale identities? You get to do that again, except this time you are trying to guess the real world identities. You get to experience the curse from the inside and it really does feel like you can recapture some of the fun from the first time around.

Once you realize that the memories we saw were warped, many questions bubble up to the surface. How did Henry really find Emma? Who gave him the story book and why? How did he come to his conclusions? Is he the author because he is creating the fairy tales he is reading to Emma? Who are Emma's real parents? Why was she given up for adoption? What really happened to her in foster care? Is Neal really Henry's father or is there more to the story? What is wrong with Emma? Was there something fishy about the adoption? Why is she in and out of consciousness? How do Henry and Regina react? Did Regina really try to kill her? If Regina wasn't actually the evil queen, why did Henry think she didn't love him? Why is everyone suddenly related? Who is Emma Swan? Who is Regina Mills? Who is Henry? And Gold? And Hook?

It becomes a gigantic mystery, a fantastical true crime show. And the more people lend their ears and their eyes to it, the better our chances are to actually solve this very, very weird puzzle. Because as we said, the only part of this theory that we are sure of, is that everything we saw, is all a metaphorical retelling of Emma's life in the past and in the present. We report on the connections we find, the possible interpretations. The recurring themes. The meaningful parallels. We don't claim those are the correct interpretations, because they change as we dig deeper.

So consider this an invitation to take a bite out of the forbidden fruit of knowledge, join in and share your observations, because we would like to see the full picture once we tilt our little card to take another look.

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1x20 - The Stranger

A Wish Upon a Blue Star, a Story Book as a life raft, and an imagined boy that becomes real...

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Yes! We're doing a complete rewatch of OUAT and OUAT in Wonderland in order so we can find more patterns to solve the puzzle that is Emma Swan. Stay tuned!

One of the challenges of analyzing Once Upon a Time as a metaphorical representation of both Emma Swan's past and her present, is to figure out the specific details. It is easy to find the recurring themes like abandoned children, hospital settings and unexpected family connections, but when it comes to actually figuring out the details, things become a bit more complicated.

All we can do is create a working theory based on the recurring themes and rewatch the show to see if we can find a clue. Today was one of the days where we stumbled upon some potential clues.

One of the working theories is that Emma has become a commodity, because if she is declared brain dead, someone could receive her organs.

This recurring theme, combined with the theme of Emma's rapidly growing family in season 1, made us think that the people in need of an organ are Emma's biological relatives; possibly a parent or a sibling.

In Season 2, episode 13, we come across a hint that could give us more specifics when Emma calls Mr Gold her father.

Another hint is given earlier in the episode when Gold is standing next to a sign that says "Terminal C", suggesting the medical issue this family member is possibly dealing with, is terminal cancer.

And so the solving of the biggest televised jigsaw puzzle continues...

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One of the challenges of analyzing Once Upon a Time as a metaphorical representation of both Emma Swan's past and her present, is to figure out the specific details. It is easy to find the recurring themes like abandoned children, hospital settings and unexpected family connections, but when it comes to actually figuring out the details, things become a bit more complicated.

All we can do is create a working theory based on the recurring themes and rewatch the show to see if we can find a clue. Today was one of the days where we stumbled upon some potential clues.

One of the working theories is that Emma has become a commodity, because if she is declared brain dead, someone could receive her organs.

This recurring theme, combined with the theme of Emma's rapidly growing family in season 1, made us think that the people in need of an organ are Emma's biological relatives; possibly a parent or a sibling.

In Season 2, episode 13, we come across a hint that could give us more specifics when Emma calls Mr Gold her father.

Another hint is given earlier in the episode when Gold is standing next to a sign that says "Terminal C", suggesting the medical issue this family member is possibly dealing with, is terminal cancer.

And so the solving of the biggest televised jigsaw puzzle continues...

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It's probably time to make a summary post explaining the OUAT meta theory on this blog, seeing as some new people have joined the fandom since this blog was very active. All you really have to understand is that according to this theory, OUAT takes place in the collective unconscious - a shared mind between all people where all elements from stories and fairy tales are actually alive. The entire show is Emma interacting with this collective unconscious to learn from the tales and archetypes, and process her own traumas and issues in a physical environment - because let's face it, she just isn't one to sit still long enough and work with a therapist.

Once you see Once Upon a Time as a metaphor for Emma's psychological journey, both the lack and subtle omnipresence of queer elements make much more sense. Emma carries a lot of guilt and shame, shame about abuse, committing crimes, going to prison, and guilt for giving up her son. She is also ashamed of her sexuality.

In the Pilot, baby Emma is put into the closet - to save her from a dark curse.

During season 1, there is a lot of queer subtext, but it's dark and antagonistic, and it generally plays out between Emma and Regina. It is hidden - here it is clearly an aspect of Emma's shadow self. She does not accept it.

Early on in season 3, there is an almost-confession of love from Mulan to Aurora. While this was still subtext, there was no other way to interpret this storyline, and the intent was never denied outside of the show. This shows us that Emma's reluctance is not only shame about her sexuality, but fear of getting hurt if she opens up her heart.

Season 4 has young Emma and Lily stare into each other's eyes for a little too long and it has them share a promise of eternity through a shared birthmark/tattoo. Meanwhile older Lily's apartment has Tibetan prayer flags in the colors of the rainbow and she lies about having a husband and children.

In season 5, Dorothy and Ruby share a True Love's kiss. Dorothy shares her family tried to have her committed and Ruby empathizes by sharing her entire village tried to run her out of town with torches and pitchforks. Fairy tale speak for conversion therapy and not being accepted by family and friends.

Then finally, in season 7, the entire season showcases a lesbian storyline with Alice and Robin. The couple is accepted and nobody questions their sexuality.

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Of course, there are far more references to Emma's sexuality, but these couples clearly show the evolution in Emma's acceptance of her homosexuality. It also explains why all of the queer representation on OUAT were female couples and not male couples.

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Related posts:

Conversion therapy

Wish you were here

Wise stories

Giving a key

Sharing custody

I'll be your mirror

In my dreams

The Sleeping Curse Template

Classic vs Modern Fairy Tale

Hidden stories

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Ceci n’est pas une coma theory

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Hidden stories - Informant

From the beginning of the series we learn a lot about Emma’s real past through encoded memories. Take for example the scene between Snow White, Prince Charming and the trolls in “Snow Falls” (Season 1, Episode 3) . Watch the scene again, keeping in mind that it’s an encoded memory. Bandit Snow White is Emma - a young thief and police informant -, Charming is a cop and the trolls are criminals.

When the troll leader gets suspicious you can easily substitute the words “He’s a Royal!” for “He’s a cop!”. The visual metaphor becomes even more obvious when they are alarmed because they find  “a wire” on Charming.

In Season 7, it’s made even more clear this was a vital part of Emma’s past because Alice/Tilly - a more obvious avatar for Emma - is introduced to us as a police informant.

The picture is complete when Weaver and Alice meet... by the troll bridge.

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Season 7

In season 6 Emma started to regain consciousness for the first time. Her situation was made most clear through the metaphor of Snow & Charming’s shared sleeping curse. She went from being completely unconscious, to having one foot in the waking world and one foot in the subconscious world.

Imagine the people around Emma. This entire time they have been getting to know her through files, through coma work, through talking to people who knew her before the accident. This entire time direct communication has not been possible. What would be the first thing you would do once you felt they were starting to sometimes sit up and have conscious interactions with you? You would tell them about what happened to them while they were out, wouldn’t you?

Emma’s reality seeped into her world through dream logic, but she has the same information we do. She doesn’t really know what happened to her. Now that Emma is being told what happened, the part of her that is still stuck in the unconscious, translates everything she hears into fairy tale again. As explained here, the end of season 6 invited us to see the story from the perspective of conscious reality.

The season has two main story arcs. One is the retelling of everything that’s happened since season one, but from the perspective of conscious reality. The other is Emma’s final struggle to let go of this world and completely return to the conscious reality.

Hyperion Heights

The “Heights” is obviously a reference to the higher state of consciousness. We’re seeing the story from the reality perspective.

Emma’s absence

Emma’s absence is her recognizing she was in a coma the whole time. She was at the mercy of everyone else, she wasn’t really a player. That’s why she isn’t present. The car crash 

Henry

Adult Henry carries Emma’s keychain, he seems to be one of Emma’s main avatars in this world. He is a Swyft driver, he carries other people around, but his own life has stopped. He can’t write anymore. this represents Emma living among fairy tale characters, but she has stopped living her own life. By creating her own world she has given herself all she thought she ever wanted, everything the world had made her believe she needed to be happy. Parents, a husband, a baby. What she wanted was not what she really needed. She was also limited to the stories that came before her and they only had so much to offer. To live her life, she needs to break her sleeping curse and start writing her own original story again. 

Henry mourns the family that he got through the curse. Emma’s pain of losing her sleeping curse family is real too. Meanwhile Jacinda and Lucy represent Regina and Henry, the real world family who are waiting for Emma to wake up fully and realize she is really not alone anymore.

Roni

In simplified terms, Roni is Regina wearing Emma’s clothing. Emma recognizes that she has been projecting herself - and more specifically the Evil Queen side of her self - onto Regina. The clothes and the attitude represent the projection. Roni still represents Regina most of the time as we can tell from her meeting with Henry in which she asks what Henry is going to drink - much like Regina’s first question to Emma - just a bit less refined.

Real estate

Just like Storybrooke, Hyperion Heights sometimes represents Emma’s entire body, her entire being. Usually it means that all the archetypes that make up her psyche live there together, but sometimes it is about her physical body. The battle for real estate in Hyperion Heights seems to be a battle for Emma’s organs. Buildings are body parts and some people see them as nothing but commodities.

Candy killer

We have written about how there were many signs Emma’s liver was failing, and that she received a liver transplant from the person who was supposed to get her heart. One of our working theories is that in order to get to Emma’s heart faster, medication that was bad for her liver was used to legally poison her. The candy killer used chocolates, he was trying to kill by targeting the liver.

A life for a life

Lucy’s life for Anastacia’s live. Weaver’s life for Nook’s life. Heart curses and children who can’t be with their parents. If there was ever any doubt this show was about organ transplants, heart disease and family, there really shouldn’t be any left.

Custody battle Lucy

One of our working theories for Robin Hood’s identity was that of a family lawyer who took on Henry’s custody case and got romantically involved with Regina. We saw Regina give her heart - Henry - to Robin Hood to take care of it. Later they celebrated Regina getting her heart back. The heart sharing represented shared custody. The Nick storyline seems to fit that narrative even if details are unclear.

Roni couldn’t adopt

Henry’s adoption was legal, but it seemed like what we saw - Regina asking Gold to pull some strings, wasn’t so far from the truth. It seems plausible that Gold’s “Please” was a metaphor for him blackmailing Regina using small print he incorporated in the adoption. Again, a working theory that seems to hold up.

Search for a guardian

The search for the guardian was such a big part of season 7, as it would have been a big part of the reality. Emma has no next of kin, so who is her legal guardian? If people are after Emma’s heart, then the power of the guardian is the power of life and death. Emma’s life, but also the life of a person in urgent need of a heart. The finale and the coronation seem to tie in with ending the powers of the guardian. Emma regains legal custody of herself. 

Henry’s podcast

Young Henry’s speech in New York resulted in people throwing money in the fountain to bring people back from the land of untold stories. This seemed like a metaphor for Henry using social media to raise money for Emma’s medical care. Henry’s podcast about Hyperion Heights could be a reference to this.

Belle & The Dark One

Belle and the Dark One have been a representation of Life and Death. In season 6, Emma became partly conscious for the first time, so Belle went back to life. The Dark One was still stuck in the unconscious part, the death drive that keeps Emma afraid of waking up fully. Life and Death reuniting is another sign that Emma has woken up.

Gothel

Gothel’s story had very strong queer undertones, with one girl being bullied for coming out for her true nature and another girl confessing she is of fairy nature too, but she would never be strong enough to come out. Gothel’s price for being out is that her true nature was destroyed. This could be a reference to conversion therapy and Emma’s fears of waking up that playes such a big part throughout the series.

Alice & Robin

Alice and Robin both represent Emma - and the relationship between Emma and Regina. Alice is stuck between worlds much like Emma is now. Many of her conversations with Robin about having good days and bad days reflect the medical reality where Emma can be conscious one moment and back in a minimally conscious state the next. Robin and Alice’s youth represents a budding relationship.

Emma & Regina

Regina is coronated as the Queen who brought the realms - of consciousness - back together. In the end Regina saved Emma’s and Emma finally realizes and recognizes it. The coronation - apart from being a symbol of individuation and empowerment - seems to represent Emma showing up to prove she can legally handle her own affairs again.

The lyrics of “In my dreams” during Season 6 suggested that Emma and Regina’s meeting was love at first sight. If we take a step back and imagine what would have happened if Emma wouldn’t have had her accident, it probably wouldn’t have ended well for them. Emma would have left, they wouldn’t have been able to settle their differences.  Ironically Emma’s accident gave them a chance to grow. They get to be Miss Swan and Madame Mayor again. They’re getting a second chance to pick up where they left off.

These are just a handful of the metaphors - or more or less likely interpretations - that tell the consciousness story in season 7. Let us know which ones you’ve spotted!

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It seems counter-intuitive that the first part of the series finale is called “Homecoming” while the second part is called “Leaving Storybrooke”. Things start to make more sense if you look at the two episodes as two separate metaphors. “Homecoming” tells the story of Emma starting to wake up. As we’ve mentioned before, people don’t just wake up from a near-comatose state one day to the next. It is a long process of shifting between states of consciousness. Homecoming tells the story of the part of Emma that is already in the conscious world. 

When Alice - the most obvious Emma avatar - and Robin cross the Storybrooke townline, they came from a parallel world in the year 2017 and yet they used a bean - symbolizing they crossed a realm of consciousness. Hyperion Heights represented Emma’s alternate reality, the Storybrooke they go to at the end of the episode is real Storybrooke - Emma is going home to consciousness where she can be with real Henry and real Regina. It’s no coincidence they use a young couple that parallels Emma and Regina, their youth is a symbol of the budding relationship.

Meanwhile the second half of the finale is called “Leaving Storybrooke” and it deals with the part of Emma that is still stuck in mental Storybrooke, the Storybrooke that represents Emma’s personal unconscious. Emma still has her tattoo and she wears the second version of her red jacket - the design suddenly changed when she became sheriff - so we know she is not back to reality, but she is really close. The coronation scene shows us that the Snow and Charming - the Superego - now bow for the healed Queen - the Id, the core personality. Her personality is more balanced and hardship has given her hope.

She gets a second chance to be Henry’s mother and to have a relationship with Regina, because if she hadn’t crashed her car, their battle would have played out in the real world. It seems unlikely that they would have overcome their differences as the people they were back then.

The final scene shows us that Emma is finally able to cross the town line. It’s a rainy night, much like the night when her car crashed and she left on her inner journey. When she passes the sign, it symbolizes that she is finally ready to go back to consciousness.

Emma has healed.

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Where did the idea come from?

Adam Horowitz: The idea came from almost ten years ago now. We had been writing on Felicity on the WB. That show ended its run. We were sitting around talking about what’s the kind of show that we would want to do.  

Edward Kitsis: Because our agent was like, “Why don’t you guys think about a pilot?”

AH: Yeah, which led us to talk about things that we loved, stories that were formative to us, that got us going which led to a discussion of fairy tales. I had just read this book called, The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim, which was about fairy tales and their influence on kids.            

EK: At the time Smallville was out, but no one had really done fairy tales. We realized what we loved about them was the open canvas. What was great about Lost was that one week you were writing a show about a guy who won the lottery and the next week it was about a con man. You never just wrote only cops or only lawyers. So when Adam read this book, he started talking about fairy tales and about how much it would suck to be the Evil Queen [Lana Parrilla] because you were literally in a place where everything had a happy ending, but everything you do, fails. You get a working oven inside a gingerbread house and that stupid blind witch can’t kill two kids? So that was our genesis of: “Where would she go to win?” And that was our world. That was our premise.

AH: And what we had cooked up almost ten years ago is pretty similar to what it is now. In terms of there was this woman [Emma played by Jennifer Morrison] who came to this town who is the daughter of Snow White [Ginnifer Goodwin] and Prince Charming [Josh Dallas]. And there was a curse and a kid. But there were various incarnations.            

EK: In one she had two kids and in one she had no kids. In one, she didn’t know she had a kid which was a weird one.            

AH: We played with a version where she didn’t know she had a kid. She didn’t know she was pregnant. She was in a coma and the kid was delivered, but she never knew. We thought it was a cool idea, but we could never figure out how to make that work as a series. I think the problem was that in 2002 or 2003 that we just weren’t ready to concoct such a big canvas. But I think what we did know that if we wanted to do our own show, we wanted to do something that would allow us the freedom to do many types of stories but finding an umbrella under which they all could exist.          

EK: It wasn’t until we got to Lost that we thought, “Oh, this is how you could do it.” That was our learning experience. I remember going into the last season we were having dinner with Damon Lindelof [Executive Producer/Creator, Lost] and he asked us what we were thinking of doing after this, so we pitched him our show. He said, “That’s a good idea.” And then once the show ended, we said this is what we wanted to do.

Interview excerpt from: The TV Showrunner's Roadmap by Neil Landau

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The Court of Camelot is a metaphor for the court case in which Emma has to prove that she is still responsive, that she still has agency. That she is not a commodity, that she is still alive and that her heart can’t just be taken. Her life can’t just be ended.

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“If the woman moves her hand, Russell lifts one of the earpieces and asks her to squeeze his fingers; if she squeezes, he asks her to do it again if she is in pain. Of the thirty-two patients Russell tested, twenty-three squeezed to suggest they could hear, and twenty squeezed again to say they were in pain. Although Russell was supposed to test sixty patients, he was so unnerved by these results that he ended the trial early. It’s possible, he suggests, that the women were conscious and suffering on the operating table. If that’s the case, then general anesthesia might be better described as “general amnesia.”

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A Happy Beginning

Trigger Warning - Mentions of rape and sexual abuse.

Throughout the seasons, Emma and Hook’s relationship has always been shown with some ambiguity. There’s the absence of a true love’s kiss, the wedding dress turning black and the choice to show Hook killing Emma’s grandfather not long before the marriage - to name but a few. This made the purely happy musical event of their wedding a curious choice - one that begs a closer look.

In a previous post about season 6, we mentioned Emma’s marriage to Hook is about Emma’s animus. 

Emma’s marriage was a symbolic marriage where she married her Self, with Hook as the centerpiece because he was one of the most challenging pieces to accept - to make peace with. He is the past and the scars. He represents the negative Animus, the abusive men in her life and her own shadow masculine side.

Emma: “Killian, I spent so much of my life on my own. And then, Henry found me and brought me to Storybrooke, and helped me find the rest of my family. But just because you learn that you come from true love doesn't mean that you believe that you'll ever find it. But thanks to you, now I have.”

The vows are pretty clear. She never calls Hook her true love, but the reason she has found true love. Viewed this way, it makes a lot of sense that this marriage is the ending of the storybook we started in the pilot, but not the end of Emma’s story. Let’s take a look at the inciting incident of this story. Or better yet, let’s take a look at Emma’s emotional response to Henry’s arrival.

The music, Henry’s casual attitude, the fast pace and the fantastical story all serve to distract from how heavy this moment is. This is Emma’s response when Henry comes back into her life. This is the beginning of this book, this is what sets everything in motion.

If we follow the recurring trauma theory then the truth about Emma’s past isn’t hidden in the flashbacks, but in the stories that seem to be happening over and over again. Car crashes, being orphaned, patricide, giving up a child, conversion therapy, vegetative states and more.

The many consent issues on the show should probably be seen in this light as well. The world building - with fairy tale cover-ups of ugly truths - allows the writers to address these difficult themes on network television in ways that they normally couldn’t get away with. Many of the children on the show are born as the result of rape by deception and there are references to child sexual abuse as well. The troll archetype in fairy tales can signify a bad father, which puts the picture above in an entirely different light.

It’s not a coincidence that the first person Henry and Emma meet at the start of their journey as mother and son is a psychiatrist. It’s the start of an inner journey. The fact that out of everyone he is the one to officiate the wedding is another hint that this is a psychological process, a symbolic marriage rather than a real one.

“Recognizing the shadow is what I call the apprentice piece, but making out with the anima is the masterpiece which not many can bring off.” ~ CG Jung

After this, Emma is finally capable of fully embracing her love for Henry and all of the inherent responsibilities - like having an honest conversation with him if difficult questions come up once she is completely conscious. She has worked through every major emotional block that could keep her from having a healthy relationship with her son. She is ready to deal with life again.

A happy, happy song

Which brings us back to the very happy wedding song. There is a little bit of ambiguity during the dialogue right before the song begins.

Killian: “You did it, Swan. You got your happy ending.” Emma: “That's not what this is. It's something else.” Killian: “What, then?” Emma: “Happy beginning.”

This exchange accomplishes three things. On the surface, it just seems like a romantic comment about spending your life with someone, but it also reinforces the idea we have just talked about. It is the end of an inner journey that needed to be accomplished before launching into a new phase of life. It’s a beginning. Thirdly it’s a message to the audience that says ‘hey, we know this looks like the romantic fairytale wedding at the end of the story, the happily ever after you’re used to, but it isn’t that at all.’

Is there anything else ambiguous beyond this and the constrictive Grace Kelly dress?

I’m glad you asked because there might be - if we apply more “dream logic”. In the waking world, we derive meaning in a linear way. Meaning in dreams is entirely different. There are sensations, colors, and symbols and we have to use the puzzle pieces to figure out the meaning. Sometimes you see a fluffy bunny in your dream, but for some reason, you just know it represents your great-uncle Ricardiosius. While television can’t communicate through direct sensations, it can use everything else at its disposal to mimic those sensations and to point big arrows at the fact that the fluffy bunny is actually your great-uncle. It uses colors, music, layered acting, subtext-heavy dialogue and camera tricks to mimic the dream experience.

The musical episode gave us another evocative art form that the show doesn’t always have at its disposal - choreographies and lyrics. Let’s take a look at those.

Emma: Tomorrow is uncertain Who knows what it will bring?

This seems to be one of the lessons Emma needed to learn. Even if things might go terribly wrong, if you want a shot at being happy, you have to take the risk and be vulnerable. It seems to be about the wedding, but it’s about finalizing the inner journey and going back the realm of consciousness.

Hook: But one thing is for sure, love With you, I have everything

This reinforces that on the surface it is about what he wants, but on a deeper level, it’s quite literal. Everything and everyone is a representation of Emma, so if she represents her Self, then this is the reintegration of everything she is.

Emma & Hook: A happily ever after Is the way these stories go Emma: Used to think that's what I wanted

I think these lines make a lot of sense if we go back to Emma’s conversation with Aesop. He tells her he tried writing his own story but he couldn’t because he kept coming up with talking animals and canned morals. Emma used to think what she wanted was to be normal in a ‘canned morals’ kind of way. To not be queer, to not be different, to not stand out like she’s been standing out her entire life. The old, conservative morals she had internalized kept her from being in touch with what she really wanted.

Emma: But now I finally know...

Now she finally knows that’s no guarantee of happiness, that being picture-perfect like the world expects isn’t going to protect you against pain... When we met her, she still believed that everything in her life would be fixed if only she had parents. If only she was like everyone else. Now she finally knows that isn’t true.

Emma: There's no storm we can't outrun 

...but it’s this attitude. Believing you can outrun the storm. It’s going after what you really want - regardless of societal approval - with the hope and the drive to make it through.

Hook: We will always find the sun

Now the choreography becomes interesting. Emma and Hook are positioned back to back during “We will always find the sun.” The memories of Hook as a true force of darkness are still fresh. Emma has to turn away from the idea of Hook - and her parents in the background - to find the sun.

Emma & Hook: Leave the past...

On “leave the past” Emma moves away from Hook...

...and all its scars

...and next she embraces him on “scars”, marking him as a representation of the past and the scars that need to be left which fits the interpretation of coming to terms with the Animus.

Emma & Hook: A happy beginning now is ours 

Accepting the darkness as part of herself is essential to Emma’s happy beginning.

Snow White: We celebrate together A longtime wish come true

Snow White represented the hope that always remained in Emma. At the same time letting Snow sing this line reinforces the idea that Emma’s marriage was not her own wish, but the wish of her mother - the representation of the conventional, of the canned morals. Mary Margaret especially was represented as a religious conservative in the beginning and some of that always remained.

Charming: What makes it even better Today our story starts anew

Emma making peace with herself and her past is a rebirth of sorts. We’ve also talked about Snow & Charming representing Emma & Henry early on, so as Emma lets go of her safe dream world, she and Henry can finally start a new story.

Regina: Let villains cast their curses Regina & Zelena: We can overcome them all Zelena: If we all stand strong together Henry: There's no way we can fall

There is a lot going on with these three. I think the most obvious visual evocation here is a family with two mothers. They may represent what Emma really wants for her future.

It seems to be foreshadowing for the conflicts in season 7, but as we’ve pointed out in this post, season 7 is a retelling of the previous seasons, but now from Regina’s perspective - or more broadly from a consciousness perspective. They have been villains and heroes in Emma’s story.

All: There's no storm we can't outrun We will always find the sun Leave the past and all its scars A happy beginning now is ours

Interestingly, between “We will always find the sun” and “Leave the past and all its scars”, Emma switches positions, putting her on Regina and Snow White’s side.

All: If we're facing endless night

Once again Hook is put into the position of the darkness - the endless night - by having them face each other during these lines. The endless night evokes both the near-comatose state and the darkness of the psychological journey. It reinforces that it wasn’t a coincidence when they’re back to back singing about finding the sun.

All: Take my hand and join the fight Past the clouds we'll find the stars A happy beginning now is ours

Emma takes his hand and joins the fight, but by having her positioned with her back against him, it begs the question of whether she is fighting alongside him or against him. If the fight is getting away from the darkness, from the endless night, then it seems to be the latter.

All: Na na na Na na na Na na na na There's no storm we can't outrun We will always find the sun

Regina and Zelena come into focus during the words “We will always find the sun”, again they seem to represent what Emma really wants. They are also the people who eventually stood by her and helped her come back to consciousness.

All: Leave the past and all its scars

This time on “Leave the past and all its scars” Emma leaves David and Hook to join Regina and Zelena.

All: A happy beginning now is ours

Apart from being a little joke, showing Happy while we hear his name confirms they tried to link the lyrics and what is shown on screen.

All: If we're facing endless night (Facing endless night)

Again they make sure we see Hook and Emma face each other during these lines.

All: Take my hand and join the fight (Come and join the fight)

What’s interesting here, is that they all seem to be facing the same direction this time, fighting the same fight. Except this time Regina and Zelena are shown to take each other’s hands. They hold hands the entire time, while Emma and Hook are clearly not holding hands.

All: Past the clouds we'll find the stars (Oh, we'll find) A happy beginning now is ours! A happy beginning now is ours!

In the end we’re shown Hook and Emma, Archie, and Regina and Zelena during the words “A happy beginning now is ours!” This is a reminder of the layers of this happy beginning. Archie reminds us that Emma and Hook’s marriage is a psychological process. Regina and Zelena - like before - represent what Emma hopes could be if she keeps going the road of mental and physical recovery she’s on.

[operation-out]

Henry’s birth

We think we saw a flashback of Henry’s birth, but as pointed out here, what we saw was symbolic. It showed the emotions Emma went through when Henry came back into her life.

Emma’s real experience is most likely hidden in the Underworld where her most painful repressed memories reside. 

During the episode Our decay it doesn’t take much to imagine Zelena’s story as that of a 17-year old in prison - a villain to many - who has agreed to give up her child, but can’t do it once she lays eyes upon him. Not only is he her child, he’s her chance at family. Only when she realizes she can’t give him a good life, does she give him up. 

Like Cinderella/Ashley’s story, arrangements had been made for Emma to be paid for giving up her child, but it’s only after she sees Henry that she realizes what deal she has agreed to. This explains the recurring theme of selling children.

In another flashback, we see Emma find out she’s pregnant and at the same time she gets the keys to the bug. Since the flashbacks are symbolic, this suggests that Emma may have gotten the bug with the money she received after giving up Henry.

This idea is reinforced through young Killian’s story - he is sold in exchange for a boat. The boat gave his father the chance at a new life, much like the bug gave Emma some sort of roof over her head. 

[operation-out]

Recurring trauma || Coma III

[operation-out]

Recurring trauma || Coma II