‘Once Upon A Time’ Season 7 On Netflix: Pressing The Reset Button Helped Gives Fans The Final Season They Deserved

If you checked out of Once Upon A Time somewhere around Season 5, you’re not alone. As the ABC fantasy series shifted further away from its original ethos—the importance of family and the idea that “true love” of all kinds is magic—and became a melodramatic soap opera focusing less on the fun of fairytales and more on dysfunctional, forced relationships that made viewers bored, uncomfortable, or both. Nevertheless, diehard fans stuck with the series until the bitter end, and Once‘s seventh and final season, now on Netflix, went a long way in reclaiming some of its earlier glory.

Thankfully, Season 7 hit the reset button in a big way. If you’re familiar with the show, you know there’s nothing like a good ole Dark Curse to get a stagnant plot moving, and it was really the only way to go here. After wiping out most of the original cast save for Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle, and Colin O’Donoghue, everyone left Storybrooke, Maine and ended up all the way across the country to Hyperion Heights, a Seattle-esque city created by an unknown bad guy (or, in this case, woman). The storytelling skipped back and forth between the new locale and the Enchanted Forest, where many of our characters spent years living in peace and harmony following the Final Battle of Season 6. Keeping up still?

In the summer between seasons, Henry (previously Jared Gilmore, now played by Andrew J. West) had not only aged 15 years but also written a book, fallen in love with Cinderella herself, had a daughter, and apparently learned how to ride a motorcycle. However, he has no recollection of that at the start of Season 7, his memory having been wiped by the aforementioned curse. Instead, his daughter Lucy (Alison Fernandez) takes on the role of the Truest Believer, and the cycle begins again.

Having regular flashbacks gave context to many of the more convoluted aspects of the stories Once was trying to tell in the seventh season while also offering a reprieve from them. After all, the Enchanted Forest was one of the first realms we ever experienced on the series, so there’s a familiarity and a comfort in heading back to such familiar terrain. While Hyperion Heights lacked depth and life, it was hard to be too mad on that when it was clear our attention needed to be focused more on what was happening than where.

Admittedly, this season would have been less successful (and probably pretty unwatchable) were it not for the continued presence of Regina Mills (Parrilla), Rumplestiltskin (Carlyle), and Hook (O’Donoghue). To avoid spoilers, I’ll avoid telling you what other alter egos they take on and why, but needless to say these original cast members kept Once grounded and ensured that longtime fans wouldn’t feel alienated by the reset. Without them, I can’t imagine I’d be writing this piece.

Still, some of the best things about this last season involved the new characters and castmates. It was fantastic and long overdue, for instance, to see some diversity represented on what has been a predominantly white-washed show. It was nice to finally have some Latinx and Black actors (Fernandez, Dania Ramirez, Mekia Cox) front and center rather than being included as disposable guest stars who always met rather gruesome fates. There was also an LGBTQ+ relationship between Robin (Tiera Skovbye) and Alice (Rose Reynolds) which, while it left much to be desired, was a welcome addition to the series and something that should have been written in long ago, albeit between two different characters.

Righting these wrongs lended Once some credibility again, which made investing in the stories they wanted to tell that much easier. It also helped that those stories finally seemed back on track, focusing more on perseverance, fighting for good, and the bond between family whether real or chosen, which is really what we all tuned in for in the beginning anyway. It reminded us that while there will always be bad guys in the world, there are a few things no one can take away from us: our beliefs, our strength, and our insistence on doing what’s right even when it’d be easier not to. For that reason alone, I’d say it was a happy ending.

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor from New York who cares too way much about fictional characters and spends her time writing about them.

Where to watch Once Upon A Time