'Once Upon A Time' season 6 finale recap and review: The end of an era

In many ways, “Once Upon A Time” season 6 finale brought to an end a story that began so many years ago with Henry and his little book. After the final battle, a new story has started to continue telling magical tales with new characters and storylines. The following article contains spoilers.

The episode began in distant future, with a girl entrusted with the magical book that once belonged to Henry (Jared Gilmore). This storyline picks up at the end of the episode and will play a more significant role as the story moves forward in the next season.

In the last episode, Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) had unleashed her curse. Now, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) finds herself in a mental asylum in Storybrooke for believing in the magical tales. Henry visits and tries to convince her that the stories in her head are real, even though she has no memory of most of them.

Black Fairy now calls herself Fiona and is the Mayor of Storybrooke. She manages to manipulate Emma into believing that all the stories about her family are just delusions, and the only way to get away from them, and “save” Henry from them, is to burn that book.

Back in the enchanted forest and other magical realms, Emma’s lack of faith is leading to worlds getting destroyed. Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and David (Josh Dallas) manage to steal a magical bean after climbing a beanstalk to reach Storybrooke and help Emma remember.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma has packed her bags and gone to her apartment in Boston. A new book by Henry helps her gain some faith.

Henry refuses to give up and goes to fight the Black Fairy on his own. Just before he enters her office, Emma steps in and promises to be the Savior she has read about in the book.

Meanwhile, Black Fairy learns that the only way to beat the light, is to use light. So, she sends Gideon (Giles Matthey) to kill the Savior. But, her betrayal of her son Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) will be her undoing.

The Black Fairy has separated her son from Belle (Emilie de Ravin). But, her son had anticipated some backstabbing, so he had taken some precautions. Mr. Gold is not affected by the memory loss the others face. He finds his wife in a scared pathetic state and swears vengeance on his mother.

Mr. Gold confronts his mother, who offers him everything he ever dreamed of, including his dead son, if he joined hands with her. The Dark One does not buy into the promises and kills her, and by so doing ends the curse.

In the final battle Emma fights Gideon alone. Meanwhile Mr. Gold tries to save his son by recovering his heart. But he is unable to stop him from killing Emma. In the end, since both good and evil chose to do the right thing, faith is restored to the magical ream and the magical book that was destroyed is back.

The final scene showed that little girl with the magical book, who appeared at the start. She knocks on a door in Seattle years after the final battle. A grownup Henry opens the door, and he is told that the girl is his daughter. Now, a new adventure is about to start.