Once Upon A Time Season 6 Episodes 1-5 Reviews: I'm Only Here For Lana

I've professed many times that I only watch "Once Upon A Time" for 1: Lana Parrilla and 2. Swan Queen (the Regina and Emma ship). The show has a great premise and some excellent moments but after six seasons (with 22 episodes per season) they're close to jumping the shark. How many times can everyone be whisked back to FTL (FariyTale Land)? How many curses can there be? How many times can someone be near death and brought back at the last moment?

Having said all that, season 6's theme is "The Land Of Untold Stories". Are all the good stories already taken and now they're on the third string? Maybe but Dr Jerkyll/Mr Hyde were surprisingly fun. Mr Hyde (Sam Witwer) is deliciously evil --especially when he teams up with Evil Queen (EQ).

Speaking of which, Regina and her Evil Queen psyche split into two entities at the end of last season. I'm all for it since this gives Lana twice as much time to chew up the scenery. Meanwhile Emma has visions of being killed by a hooked figure (that better not be Regina). And because Emma has learned nothing from her years in Storeybrooke, she decides not telling the family would be a great idea. Uh... no.

In local news, Henry has grown some two feet since last season. I cant wait for him to sport a beard. Zelena is busy taking care of Baby Robin. Archie/Cricket does some babysitting. EQ tries to turn Zelena into an ally while Regina ignores her as usual. The two idiots (Charming and Snow) are doing their thing-- taking care of Baby Neal and worrying about their adult daughter. Belle is under yet another sleeping curse. How many does this make? Remember when we saw Morpheus previously? Well it turns out he is Gold/Belle's unborn child. Hmm. Hook eventually manages to off both Jekyl and Hyde. Also Hook and Emma get more cozy. Yuck. Long live SwanQueen!

Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and Jafar get some airtime. We learn that Aladdin is a savior (like Emma). And also like Emma, he has a vision of his own fate (ie death). Cinderella and the Count of Monte Cristo also make an appearance.

Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). "OUAT" continues to introduce new characters and locations but after six seasons it's starting to feel a bit stale. I dont watch the show regularly anymore but will keep checking back in because... LANA PARRILLA!