Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 16 Review: Our Decay | Tell-Tale TV

Once Upon a Time Review: Our Decay (Season 5 Episode 16)

Once Upon a Time, Reviews

For a Zelena-centric episode, “Our Decay” ends up being quite a bit better than I’d anticipated. In fact, it’s easily one of the best episodes of Once Upon a Time‘s Underworld arc! (So far, at least.)

As you may have guessed, I’m not much of a Zelena fan. Typically, I find the character beyond hammy and overacted. It’s difficult for me to sympathize with her for that reason, even though, since this is Once, she’s like nearly every other villain with a perfectly legitimate sob story (parental abandonment, the show’s pièce de résistance). It’s also difficult to sympathize with her when she repeatedly betrays the group, essentially refusing to be redeemed.

“Our Decay” solves that issue, or at least makes great headway in solving it. The main plot, tied into the episode’s flashback sequence, explains the Hades-Zelena romantic history that was revealed in last week’s “The Brothers Jones.”

In a great parallel of Regina’s flashbacks in “Souls of the Departed,” Zelena’s flashbacks also take place on her sort-of birthday (the day that Cora abandoned her). And much like Regina’s heart-stealing plans in her flashbacks, Zelena is consumed with the idea of revenge on her “birthday,” too.

She needs a couple of ingredients for her time travel spell, in order to go back and ensure that she isn’t abandoned by Cora. Two of the ingredients are a brain and a symbol of innocence. Lucky for Zelena, Dorothy has conveniently returned to the land of Oz, at the side of the still-brainy Scarecrow. Doubly lucky for her, Hades shows up just in the nick of time to be charming and flirty and helpful.

The two take a romantic bike ride and fall in love.

Seriously, that’s it.

They bond over their shared familial woes–Hades reveals that he’s lord of the Underworld and cursed with a stopped-heart thanks to his brother Zeus, because of course Hades’ evilness is rooted in family betrayal. They bond over how everyone hates them a lot. Hades offers to help Zelena pick up the Scarecrow’s brain so that he can travel back and swap places with Zeus, helping Zelena out from up on high. And then they take a bike ride together to pick up the Scarecrow’s brain, and that’s it. In love!

Once is historically guilty of serving up these super bland, “love at first sight” Disney romances, but this is a particularly egregious example. The two fall in love over the course of what appears to be one single day, so the fact that Hades’ humanity and possible redemption is rooted in his love for Zelena is weak, to say the least.

It’s the complete antithesis of what made the gradually-built romances like Rumbelle and CaptainSwan so popular. Apparently, if everyone ever hates you, you’ll fall in love with the first person to blink at you twice, despite not knowing them at all. I mean, points to flashback-Zelena for at least mentioning to doe-eyed Hades that they’d just met.

But regardless, that’s where we are right now. In the flashbacks, Hades makes Zelena a super fancy dinner to celebrate obtaining the scarecrow’s brain from an essentially totally hapless Dorothy and then puts the moves on her. Zelena, naturally untrusting and unwilling to believe that anyone could love her, immediately assumes that Hades’ love declaration is just a ploy to break the curse on him, restarting his heart and freeing him from the Underworld, so that he can steal the heart for himself and use the Scarecrow’s brain for his own time travel spell.

Hades denies it but leaves when Zelena is unconvinced, setting up the animosity that colors their later reunion in the present. Except it’s not exactly animosity. Or is it? Kinda?

I have no inkling whether Hades’ claim that he was trying to rescue Zelena’s daughter, not use her in the time travel spell to punish Zelena, is genuine. On the one hand, I like this explanation for why the Underworld looks like Storybrooke–because Hades created it that way to give Zelena what she wanted. On the other hand, why would Hades have vowed that Zelena would pay for rejecting him? What’s that all about, if what actually happens is that love endures? Not sure I buy it.

Zelena’s character development is on fire in this episode, and at its peak when she turns away from Hades yet again, refusing his help and vowing to get her daughter back all on her own. It’s not exactly a definitive “No, I don’t love you, you big, blue flame-haired jerkface” which puts an interesting spin on things. I’m looking forward to Zelena’s adventures in the Underworld, and I’ve never said that about Zelena being shoehorned into a Once arc before.

Plus, that speech Hades gives Zelena is killer. Sometimes, the show’s dialogue gets a little cheesy, but this is not that.

Hades: I gave you what you wanted, what [Regina] had. It’s not… perfect. The Underworld is a place of… well, destruction. Despite my best intentions, things don’t grow here. They… decay. But it’s our decay. Zelena… wouldn’t it be nice to not be alone anymore? After all these years, I still choose you. What better revenge is there than having it all?

Of course, Zelena isn’t ready for all that. And she doesn’t quite trust Hades. For that reason, I’m all in with Zelena’s storyline right now.

Meanwhile, Belle is plopped into the Underworld when Rumple conjures up a portal to help Hades acquire Zelena’s baby (Rumple’s side of the deal for Hades to give up his claim on the Rumbelle baby). This leads to what is probably one of the best Rumbelle scenes we’ve seen so far.

Rumple: Falling in love with the man behind the beast… isn’t really what happened to you. You fell in love with me because there was a man and a beast. Neither exists without the other.

I certainly didn’t expect the latest Rumple-betrays-Belle’s-trust go around to take this turn, but I love it. Rumple challenging Belle to realize that she fell in love with the version of him that was both man and beast, and to accept him as he is, is an interesting twist on the usual way this goes.

Rumple has betrayed Belle’s trust and lied to her enough times now that it is logical for him to have realized that he can’t possibly trot out the old “But I won’t do it again!” excuse with her. Instead, he’s come to terms with who he is, and who he is is a flawed, power-hungry, but not exactly evil person. Now it’s up to Belle to decide if she can deal with that. I like it. All the cards are on the table. Even better, Belle is totally considering it–she refuses to make any kind of decision under the present circumstances. Which is fair, because she just found out not one, but two, bombshells: she’s pregnant, and her husband is still the Dark One.

Elsewhere, the Charmings are at the forefront of yet another super boring subplot in which they go to a phone booth to haunt baby Neal with a lullaby. Yep.

They successfully get through to baby Neal, as evidenced by Henry writing a page of the Story Book, and it’s heart-warming or whatever. Honestly, maybe I’m cold as ice or something, but this subplot did nothing for me but detract from the two much more interesting Zelena/Hades and Rumple/Belle plots. Hell, I’d even have preferred more of Regina and Robin tracking the baby. I get that it serves to give Snow and Charming more of a pressing impetus to take down Hades and get back to their baby, but there had to have been a better way to do that.

Other thoughts:

  • For the love of all that is holy, please STOP with the blue flame hair CGI. It is so, so cringeworthy.
  • Why am I not surprised that the Charmings’ breakfast orders are as bland as they’ve been lately? One dry wheat toast and one oatmeal? Are you serious? That can’t be a coincidental detail.
  • I wish that the show could somehow take Emma Caulfield back to regular Storybrooke with them at the end of this arc, just to occasionally pop up at Granny’s and be sassy.
  • Zelena manages to conjure up the most unappetizing giant cupcake ever.
  • Despite how silly the circumstances of the Hades/Zelena (Zades? Helena?) loves story is, Rebecca Mader turns in a fantastic performance in this episode.
  • Zelena’s birthday is tax day. OF COURSE.
  • I’m glad that they’ve acknowledged/given a reason for the Zelena/Robin Hood baby still being nameless. It was getting a little silly.
  • I love that Regina is so accepting of Zelena’s potential redemption, Zelena’s selfless love for her daughter. It fits perfectly with Regina’s character, for her to want to believe now that Zelena can be redeemed through love for a child, just as she was.

What did you think of this episode of Once Upon a Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Once Upon a Time airs Sunday at 8/7c on ABC.

Caralynn is a freelance writer and editor, but most importantly, she is a diehard TV addict. A few of her current favorites are Mr. Robot, You're the Worst, iZombie, and The Vampire Diaries. She also writes about TV for Romper, The TV Junkies, and TV Fanatic.