Leaving Storybrooke

The “Leaving Storybrooke” city limits sign is displayed. The Seattle scenery is not featured.

The Wish Realm events and the outcome involving the realms from previous encounters occur after the events of “Homecoming.”

As Alice and Robin arrived in Storybrooke, they find the dwarfs, Granny, Archie and Pongo. They explain a fifth Dark Curse took them, along with the future versions of Henry, Regina and Mr. Gold to Seattle in the past (which is the present day). However, due to the numerous outsiders in the past that has caused Storybrooke trouble, they are met with disbelief and hostility. Alice and Robin hide.

As they hide from the residents, the ladies encounter Zelena, and it doesn’t take long for Robin to tell her mother about not having magic and that she’s about to drive her younger self to daycare. Convinced, Zelena and the other two seek out David and Mary Margaret.

Inside the snowglobe prison, Henry is reunited with Ella and Lucy. Weaver explains to Hook that Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin has stripped him of his powers and immortality, and that his Wish Realm counterpart had used them to amplify his own powers. As they attempt to break the glass, Weaver admits to Hook that he trusted him as a loyal partner because of his bravery and his good heart. Suddenly, Maui's fishhook appears in the snowglobe, with the handle sticking up out of the snow. Hook grabs it and uses it to start breaking the glass from the inside; from the outside, a pair of arrows pierce the glass, and they’re freed by Robin and Alice.

At the palace, Regina is dragged to the location where Snow and Charming had been married, by Sir Henry. Regina pleads with Sir Henry to change his mind despite admitting to having killed his grandparents. Sir Henry responded to her plea by cutting a slit on her hand (that Henry will use to create blood ink) and tells her that they’ll fight each other, which Sir Henry says that will be his happy ending. While locked in a cell, Regina has a dream, in which she meets with Robin Sr's spirit. Robin encourages her, telling her that she can still find happiness without him or Facilier, and that just needs to show Sir Henry that he can still find love. Awakening, Regina discovers that Robin's spirit had left her with a red feather from one of his arrows.

The Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin meets up with Sir Henry to discuss Regina’s fate. Unfortunately, the Wish Realm Dark One offers Sir Henry a new way to deal with every character and their stories from every realm utilizing Regina’s blood ink. He shows Sir Henry that if he raises his emotions, he can banish the heroes into the “Once Upon a Time” books that will serve as their prison. They test it on the Wish Realm Blue Fairy, and a portal opens and transports her to a dark realm where she will be tormented, with her book closing afterward.

Weaver finds a dream-catcher and views his memories of Belle, fearing that he will never be with her. Meanwhile, Hook and Robin scout the castle, where Robin asks Hook for his blessing to marry Alice, and he says yes (as he wants his daughter to be happy), as they prepare to face off against the guards. Meanwhile, Henry heads to rescue Regina, but he ends up getting pinned to the prison bars by a guard. Before the guards can kill Henry, they are taken out by Mary Margaret and David. The group discovers Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin's plan to trap each and everyone of them in separate realms of unhappy endings, and they come up with a strategy to save all the realms and to stop the Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin from enacting his scheme. Weaver applies magic dust on his right hand, to give himself limited magic. As they come up with a plan, the Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin shows up, ready to trap the characters in realms of eternal torment, while Sir Henry shows up in the forest to confront Regina and forces her into a sword fight, which causes the portals to open, powered by Sir Henry’s emotions. When Sir Henry corners Regina, she tells him that if she needs to die to show him that he's loved, it's a worthy end for her story. The emotional pleas finally bring Sir Henry to his senses, causing the portals to close, and saving everyone. However, as Hook had to hold onto Alice to keep her out of the portal, his heart is now poisoned beyond repair. Sir Henry and Regina reconcile afterward.

However, Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin isn't done just yet, as he challenges Weaver and vows to destroy his alter ego. Weaver, who earlier had found a way to kill his counterpart, decides the only way to end this was to sacrifice himself. Weaver chooses to sacrifice his heart to save Hook, which erases the Darkness within his own heart when he makes this decision. Despite the Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin's protests, Weaver slams his purified heart into Hook's body, saving Hook. Weaver's sacrifice destroys the Darkness, which causes the Wish Realm Rumpelstiltskin to disintegrate into dust. In the afterlife, the original Rumpelstiltskin is finally reunited with Belle.

Later that evening, Regina is joined by the two Henrys. Having realized that it is time to heal everything, she decides to bring all the realms of story to Storybrooke by enacting a new curse, using small part of the hearts of everyone who loves her and those whom she loves.

Several years later, all the realms are united as one (and now part of Storybrooke, Maine, hidden away from the rest of the world). As Zelena and Henry drive Regina to the palace for a surprise, the sisters talk to each other. They reveal that Zorro is the father of Lily, Maleficent's daughter, and that he can turn into a dragon. When they arrived, Snow and David surprised her with the announcement that the people have voted to elect Regina the leader of the newly united realms, and is joined by Emma, (the original) Hook and their newborn daughter Hope at the last minute. Snow then crowns Regina with the new title of "the Good Queen". Regina then gives a speech about second chances and despite what everyone has been through to find their happiness, lives, and stories will continue on.

After Regina gives her speech with unanimous cheers, the camera zooms out of the castle and moves toward Storybrooke, where it shows the different parts of the town including Granny's Diner, Gold's shop, stores along main street, and the clock tower. The camera soon shows a shot of the town line, where it zooms in on the "Leaving Storybrooke" sign, concluding the episode and the series.

• The scene with Henry riding down Storybrooke Main Street was originally accompanied by footage of Alice, Robin and Wish Hook in front of Granny's Diner, and Archie and Pongo walking down the street. However, most of the footage was deleted in post-production, although Archie and Pongo can still be glimpsed in the lower left hand corner of the screen as Henry rides through Storybrooke. In addition, another scene with Henry riding through a forest was also deleted.[3]
• In the opening scene where Leroy, Doc, and Walter arrive in front of Granny's Diner to receive their packed lunches from Granny, Archie is nowhere to be seen. After Leroy accepts the lunch bags and turns around as the Rollin' Bayou comes down the street, the next shot shows Archie suddenly there with his dog Pongo.
• It is unclear when the ending of the episode takes place. The fact that Roni seems to cast the Dark Curse right after the events of the death of Weaver makes it a time paradox, since the events of this episode occur before Henry leaving from Storybrooke, making it impossible for some of the characters existing in the Royal Castle. However, there is also no explanation if the group first finds a way to get back to their original timeline, or the Dark Curse that Roni casts automatically sends them to that time. Besides, there's no little Robin at the coronation, but Robin from the future is now much older than Neal. Regardless, it remains unknown.
• Jakob Davies, who portrayed Pinocchio for most of the show, being replaced by his younger brother Jack Davies by the time of the Season Six episode "The Song in Your Heart", accompanied Jack to the set on the last day of filming for the series finale. It is also confusing for Pinocchio to be there, since both August and Wish Pinocchio were adults by the time of when there were last seen.

The episode received positive reviews.

TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.2 out of 5 stars.[4]

Entertainment Weekly's Justin Kirkland gave the episode a B-.[5]