Let Me Take a Moment to Geek Out about Emma Swan

So I love Emma, no secret.  She’s my most consistently-favorite thing about Once Upon a Time, and she’s just such a BAMF, such a hero, and such a compelling character.  When I’ve had issues with the show over her, it’s been with the show itself, which has mucked around with her story in ways unbefitting her awesomeness.  (Spoilers for the end of season 4 through season 5, particularly the most recent episode, “Nimue.”)

At the end of last season, when Emma became the Dark One to save someone else from it (seriously, how amazing is she?), I was cautiously excited.  Excited because the show hadn’t had a really great Emma-centered storyline in a while, the plot brimmed with possibilities, and I knew Jennifer Morrison could act the crap out of it.  Cautious because, while potentially incredible, it also seemed wildly complex, and I wasn’t sure the writers would do it justice.  My reactions so far this season have been mixed.  Morrison is predictably excellent, and certain elements are very well done – the fraught dynamic between Emma and Hook is especially great.  However, Dark One!Emma’s evil Storybrooke plan feels vague and drawn-out, and I think the story is poorly-served by yet another memory-loss spell – the device feels like a contrived way to keep the Camelot stuff in flashback instead of playing out linearly.  Also, why is it Hook the only one with any sense of urgency over Emma’s situation?  I mean, sure, the others are concerned, but most of their plans are pretty weak, and they get distracted at the drop of a hat.  Emma’s parents haven’t had any significant scenes with her this season; there’s no excuse for that.

…But I digress.  Easily, my favorite parts of the season to date have been the scenes in Camelot when Emma is still wrestling with the darkness.  While the writing is a little fumbling, it’s so interesting to watch her slowly succumb, fighting to get her head above water and then getting pulled back under, seduced inch by inch.  The arc isn’t over yet, so we’ll see if it ultimately shakes out in a satisfying way, but this week’s episode had a scene that makes the whole story worth it, no question.  In order to help Merlin get what he needs to pull the darkness out of her, Emma has to confront the spirit of the first Dark One.  The darkness whispers in her ear, filling her with its poison and using her body to wield its magic against Merlin.  Emma is so tired, fighting but fading.  She’s terrified of what’s inside her and what she’s capable of.  The darkness wants her to kill Merlin and accuses him of trying to make her ordinary, unextraordinary, to keep all of Emma’s magic for himself (it’s no coincidence that this scene is happening near the last spark of the fire Prometheus brought down from Mt. Olympus,) to let her be nothing.  Emma is trembling with exertion as she draws herself up, leans into the storm, and shouts, “I am not nothing!  I was never nothing!  The power you have I don’t need!”

Basically – holy crap.  What a beautiful, fierce culmination of Emma’s journey as a character, the lost girl without a family who never felt like she belonged, the woman who tried to resist the mantle of a hero, the woman with innate magic who feared her own power.  For the Dark One plot to come to a head with Emma confronting the darkness within her and battling it with self-love is so astoundingly uplifting.  Stunning.  I had to watch it three times before I could continue with the episode, and when it was over, I still had chills.  This is Buffy (“No weapons… no friends… no hope.  Take all that away, and what’s left?”) pressing the sword blade between her bare hands and answering, “Me.”  There are so many reasons that Emma is a hero of mine, but this is the only one I need.