k so hear me out: an ouat finale that erases series 7 and gives us the scenes we rly wanted (i originally posted this on a side blog a few weeks before the finale aired) the previous episode is left on a cliffhanger after the hyperion heights curse is broken, something disastrous is happening as a result (idk what as i have barely watched series 7), nobody knows what to do. finale starts with emma storming in and saving the day, fixing everything. henry runs over and hugs her and says he missed her so much, it’s been years. emma says she misses him too, but it hasn’t been years; last time she saw him was only one year ago. confused, he asks how that could possibly be? he has a 10 year old daughter. emma says she knows he has a daughter, she’s known about her since she was born. before she can explain further, killian, snow, and david run over to greet henry. there is also a girl who’s about seventeen, who jumps on henry and gives him possibly the biggest hug of all. he recoils as he has no idea who she is. at this, emma kisses henry’s forehead, breaking a curse we didn’t know existed...  commence a series of flashbacks in the form of henry’s returned memories. these flashbacks last the rest of the finale (apart from a 5/10 minute present day conclusion) - they start a year ish after series 6. henry is living with emma and hook. emma tells him that they’re going to have a baby. flash forward, baby is born, it’s a little girl. we have a cute scene of the four of them together. flash forward, henry and hope (now around two) are having a super cute sibling moment, idk what. regina happens to be around and it is clear that she is jealous of how henry dotes on his little sister. flash forward, it’s a year later, henry goes over to regina’s to say goodbye as it’s the day he leaves for college. she doesn’t want him to go. then it’s later that day and he is driving out of storybrooke as emma, hook, hope, and the charmings wave him off. hope is visibly very upset that he’s leaving. flash forward, it’s christmas or thanksgiving at snow and david’s farm a couple of years later, they, neal, emma, killian, hope, and henry are all around the table. henry looks a little worried and emma asks what’s wrong. he says he has something to tell them all; when he graduates from college in the summer, he’s decided to go to the enchanted forest. they’re all shocked but supportive. then henry says he’ll have to tell regina later. snow comments that they had invited her to dinner but she wasn’t interested in coming, actually she hadn’t seemed interested in seeing them at all since henry left for college. flash forward to summer, henry is about to leave through a portal. everyone is there to say goodbye. he hugs everyone, leaving hope (now around 6) for last and telling her he’s going to miss her most of all. when he pulls away, she runs over to emma and killian and regina looks at the three of them enviously. idk how but some kind of argument ensues. regina accuses emma and the charmings of trying to turn henry against her. emma denies it, but the argument continues. henry steps in and says something to regina along the lines of how he isn’t against her; he has still seen her and spent time with her over the past few years. less than with emma, but the only person whose fault that is is regina’s. he goes on to say that once all the drama (i.e. series 1-6 of ouat lol) was over, he had time to reflect and it made him realise that regina wasn’t a good mother to him and she had done unforgivable things (possibly he had found out about graham?). despite this, he had still made time for her, so she should be grateful if anything. and now in true regina fashion she is ruining his leaving day for her own selfish purposes. regina is quiet. she says she won’t ruin it any further. she tells henry she loves him and disappears into a cloud of smoke. flash forward to henry in the enchanted forest. he meets jacinda, etc. they have lucy. henry contacts emma by sea shell to tell her. none of the bad stuff that leads them to hyperion heights happens. flash forward 4 years. emma, killian, and their daughter are at home, probs doing something cute, then there’s a knock at the door. emma answers it and it’s henry (switched to the adult henry actor lol) with jacinda and 3 year old lucy. everyone hugs and is happy etc. emma demands that killian call snow and david and make them come over. they all sit around the table and henry tells them about his time in the enchanted forest. he then tells them that he’s back in storybrooke for good; jacinda doesn’t really have a family and he wants her to be part of his. everyone is super happy about this. he then says he should go and see regina and let her know he’s back. suddenly she’s behind them, and says ‘no need’. she’s mad that he went to emma first, but he eventually talks her down and she hugs him and cries and tells him it’s jus because she’s missed him so much etc. flash forward, there’s lots of cute scenes of them all (minus regina lol) being a happy family, emma and killian being grandparents, snow and charming being great grandparents, henry and hope building back up their close bond that they had lost slightly during the four years he was away. eventually it’s about 6 years after henry returned, he’s with his family, his sister now played by the actress who hugged him at the beginning when we didn’t know who she was. suddenly they see purple smoke in the distance. there’s immediate panic, as they all (apart from the children) recognise what it means: a curse. regina appears and tells henry that she’s sorry, but she can’t stand that he has grown so distant from her, and the only way she can have him to herself is if he needs her like he used to. so she has cast a curse. it’s not the dark curse as for that she would need henry’s heart; no, this is a much less powerful version that she created herself. she has spent almost 10 years working on it. since she couldn’t use henry’s heart, it’s weaker, and that means that literally anything, no matter how absurd, could happen as a result. the only thing of which she is certain is that it will eliminate emma from henry’s life and make him need regina. henry is furious; ‘how could you do this? you’re going to separate me from my wife and child?’ regina says that she’s made it so that somehow, jacinda and lucy will still be in his life as she didn’t want to take them away from him. also she isn’t going to hurt anyone in storybrooke - they will be left as they are. the only ones this curse will effect will be her, henry, jacinda and lucy. she says the curse will take them to a fictional land full of fictional people (like the wish realm), the only ones that will be real will be the four of them. regina has made it so that she will also be effected by the curse, as she wants to believe that henry loves her for real. it’s going to change all of regina’s, henry’s, and jacinda’s memories since when henry first started to pull away from her (shortly after s6 finale), and all of lucy’s since she born after this. she doesn’t know how, but it will make henry need her again, because that is all she wants, no matter the cost. ‘even if the cost is my happiness?’ henry asks. regina says nothing. the smoke is almost upon them. emma swears to henry that they’ll find him. hope hugs henry and promises the same. the smoke descends. next there is a short montage of parts of series 7 - lucy finding henry, regina finding out about the fake curse and knowing that henry needs her help etc. so now, it is clear, regina cast a curse that resulted in henry needing her to break a fake curse and reunite him with his wife and daughter for which he would be forever grateful. she could be a hero for him and he would love her for it. then, we’re back to present day. henry is astounded. he grabs his sister and hugs her, finally remembering who she is and feeling bad for pushing her away earlier. then he asks ‘what about regina?’. emma says they came prepared. she explains that they are going to remove her magic. it’s something they’ve been working on for the past year and they’ve found a way to do it. that way, she’ll never be able to harm them on this scale again. henry agrees, considering how she made it so that he didn’t know his wife and daughter for a whole year. so they go and find regina and remove her magic (i guess she can go back to storybrooke with them now she’s magicless and remorseful), and we end back in storybrooke, the charmings, emma, killian, hope, henry, jacinda, and lucy, probs some of the other characters too, all happy (i guess like the end of series 6). yep the curse idea is ridiculous, yep i’m reaching etc. but would it really be an episode of ouat if it wasn’t full of gaping plot holes and the timeline made no sense and there wasn’t some random memory loss? plus, the fact it was all the result of some makeshift curse would explain some of the ridiculous things (e.g. wish realm people being real??) that happened is series 7. this post started as a joke but then it got long