YMMV / Once Upon a Time S4 E17 "Heart of Gold"

• Ass Pull:
  • Zelena surviving being stabbed by the Dark One's Dagger, one of the most dangerous dark objects in existence. Zelena even said herself that she was powerless without that amulet Glinda gave her, so there should be no logical way that she survived. No confirmed explanation was ever provided for it, so one can only assume that her magic being still in the amulet helped things along.
  • Her having an item that allowed her to use a Glamour, however, subverts this, since it neatly explains how she posed as Ariel earlier. Additionally she had previously shown herself to be excellent at pretending to be something she's not - making it believable that she could fool everyone.
• Broken Base: Zelena's return. Is it a riveting plot twist? Or does it just cement the Seasonal Rot of Season 4, especially since the conflict between Maleficent and the Charmings, and Emma being caught in the middle provides ample story material.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Everything Marian told Regina about supporting Robin's love for her turned out to be a cruel trick to build up Regina's hope before squashing it.
  • Robin and Will's first meeting here - and the nice thing Robin does for Will - is a little sad for those who watched Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and know that Will eventually stole from Robin, souring their friendship (which does not get rebuilt until Robin comes to Storybrooke).
• Ho Yay: There's quite a bit in Robin and Will's first meeting - with both sharing heart-to-hearts about their loved ones - and even hugging goodbye (though that was mainly so Robin could slip Will the elixir).
• Jerkass Woobie: Between his speech about Baelfire and how he has "pushed away every chance of happiness he'd been given", his heart literally being poisoned by his dark deeds, the cruelty of Zelena's taunting, and him ending up in the position he's in because she's making him (and to stay alive), Gold is moving back into this trope again.
• She Really Can Act: Christie Laing finally gets to show off her talents - playing Zelena pretending to be Marian, Zelena not pretending (but still using Marian's form) and Marian in the past.
• Spoiled by the Format: The flashback with Robin in Oz seems to be an attempt to avoid doing this for the revelation that Zelena is still alive. Still it did make a few viewers raise eyebrows that Rebecca Mader would be brought back for just one scene.
• Unexpected Character: Nobody really thought Zelena would come back to life.