Once Upon A Time’s season seven finally kicked off last night with its first episode entitled “Hyperion Heights”. Even though this was a requel (reboot + sequel), it was, in my opinion, still very faithful to the first six years.

It was really great the episode started in a very similar way the pilot did: with the words “Once Upon A Time”. One of the goals of this new season is to bring in a new audience, letting them know they don’t have to watch the previous seasons and they will  still understand what is going on, and this really showed that is possible. This, to me, also proved that the story really is about to begin (again), and that new adventures are coming.

In flashbacks, we saw Henry leaving Storybrooke to go find his own story. This makes all the sense in the world to me. Throughout the last six years, we heard Henry say a few times that he was tired of simply reading about heroes, that he wanted to find his story and be one, and that is what he finally decided to do. Years later, not long before he planned on going back home, Henry literally stumbled into Cinderella. I think we can all agree that, just like most couples on this show, these two hardly shared love at first sight, but that doesn’t mean their love story won’t be epic. As usual, this really isn’t the classic story we know, because Henry didn’t really save Cinderella, because she didn’t need to be saved. That’s right, Cinderella is a badass, who doesn’t need other people, especially not men, to protect her. And a great proof of this is the reason why she wanted to go to the ball in the first place: not to meet some prince, but to get revenge on him because of the fact he killed her father.

Because Cinderella is a part of this, Lady Tremaine couldn’t possibly be left behind. It appears the wicked stepmother isn’t only wicked to Cinderella, unlike in the original tale, because she isn’t that much nice to Drizella either. When we first met her, she killed Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother with her own wand, calling it a “teaching moment” to Drizella. Apart from this,  unlike (I will say) all villains in this show, Tremaine doesn’t believe magic is the solution. She is mean and a bully, but she doesn’t usually use magic to get what she needs, because “magic can be taken”. She continued her evil deeds when she murdered the prince, after Cinderella failed to do it, simply because he rejected Drizella, while his younger brother didn’t. After fighting the guards with Henry’s help, she ran away to where they first met. After Henry got there too, he found nothing but her show, so he missed the portal home to go help her. The most amazing thing in this is that this is still a lot like Cinderella’s story, and the shoe was the biggest proof of this. It simply has a few twists Once Upon A Time is so well known for.

In one last reference to the past, I would now like to comment on Alice. It was a great twist she was working for Rumple, and it was really funny when she told Henry “Your grandfather knows everyone”, because that is usually what I also say about him. She left Henry with a warning: he must leave that land because that is not his story, and bad things happen when people mess in someone else’s story.

In present day, Henry is a swift driver, but he is an author when he is off duty. He published one book with the story of the first six season (not a very successful one, by the way), and now he has no inspiration to start another. That is, of course, until Lucy gets in his life and drags him to Hyperion Heights, where he meets Roni. It was great seeing these two interact, and even greater when he said: “Imagine if I walked through that door and told you I was tour son”.

We also got to see Jacinda’s hard life as a single mother and a step daughter of a powerful and mean woman, who wants to change everything in Hyperion Heights. She has a crappy job and a jerky boss, and right in the beginning of the episode she fired herself, showing that there is still a little bit of badass Cinderella inside. But as I said on my preview, this time she has a daughter to protect, so in the end of the episode she goes back to it.

It was great seeing Henry and Jacinda meet again. We were able to see they shared a little moment of connection, but it faded quickly. They really didn’t end up in good terms by the end of the episode, because Henry told the police where Cinderella might have been taking Lucy to.

Speaking of police, we met Officer Rogers, who eventually became Detective Rogers, because of how he helped Victoria. He has Lucy’s book now, and for the sake of all Captain Swan shippers out there, he took a special interest in a certain character. His new partner is now going to be Detective Weaver, previously known as Rumpelstiltskin, a cop who seems to be into some very interesting hobbies. In fact, just like in the old days, it seems, Tilly is still working for him.

The end of the episode was also pretty incredible. Usually season premieres (and pilots, since that is what this episode felt like in a way), have a twist in the end, but just like the original pilot, this episode simply ends with hope spreading around Hyperion Heights. This time, instead of the clock tower moving, hyacinths (Cinderella’s lucky flower) started growing in a garden where nothing grew anymore, Henry found some inspiration to start writing, and Roni decided to raise her middle finger to Victoria and keep HER bar.

Overall, this was a pretty good start for the season. There is really something about this new story that feels real. Sure the other seasons were about fairy tales in the real world, but they were isolated from everything and everyone. This time, they really are all in the real world, in a bigger city, and that is really great to watch. I am giving this premiere an 8.3/10.

Next week’s episode is entitled “A Pirate’s Life”, and it will be a Hook/Rogers centric episode. It is also during this hour that Emma’s story will come to an end, so don’t miss it, because I sure as hell won’t.