ABC’s series Once Upon A Time has it’s audience at the edge of their seats as they brace themselves for a season centered around heroism and fate.

Well known for its unique rendition of fairy tale characters in a modern world, Once Upon A Time season 6 premiered last Sunday, September 25 at 8/7c. With a loss of slightly less than a third of its viewers after last season, Once Upon A Time somehow retained 3.99 million viewers for this first episode.

Dedicated fans look forward to another dark season filled with battles of life and death, new characters, and a mystery villain. The writers always tease and what the audience might be able to take as a pun one episode might hit with painful irony in another.

In the beginning of the episode, an Aladdin arc is brought in, as a black horse furiously races through an arid landscape. A flying carpet’s sider is chasing not too far behind, and a raised hand summons bolts of bright red lightning down upon the stallion’s rider.

A shaky-handed Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz),who is revealed to be the one previously on horseback, is confronted by his pursuer, Jafar ( Oded Fehr). A tense exchange between them is concluded with a foreshadowing regarding the destiny “saviors” are doomed to.

Once Upon A Time writers have a nasty trend of attempting to kill off its main characters, but this time it’s occurring in a unique form. Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) has just come out of battling yet another curse by evil forces. Having just traveled to and from the Underworld itself, she has brought Killian Jones (Colin O’Donoghue) back from the dead and now she has to find a way to save herself from the fate he once had.

One too many battles in a span of three years has caused Emma, as a hero, to exhaust herself. Despite this, she willingly jumps into a mission to stop Hyde (Sam Witwer) from carrying out his intent which is taking over Storybrooke.

Emma is seen to be terrified, haunted, and her hands are shown shaking uncontrollably. Multiple characters notice and it becomes apparent that it has a connection to Aladdin. This is a sign of her fear and delays a vital shot at Hyde that risked Regina (Lana Parrilla)’s life.

Visions increase of a battle between herself and a hooded figure and an oracle appears telling Emma she cannot escape the death that the battle she is seeing and that one day it will take place no matter how she tries to stop it.

This show is taking into account what not a lot of other TV shows today consider (if any at all) and that is the consequences of back-to-back battles. Characters consistently found fighting are in more danger than not and now the most prominent protagonist, Emma, is dealing with her hero status as the deliverer of her death..

Blood, trust, and reconciliation tangle themselves in the hope that Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) has maintained and shared with other characters throughout the episode, and series really. It creates a slow-paced settling feeling that a season littered with heavy topics really needs while maintaining optimism and good cheer as usual. Not everything from the previous season is settled, after all.

With subplots including Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) trying yet again to redeem himself to Belle (Emilie de Ravin); the Evil Queen’s return; sister’s troubles; the Lost Stories of Captain Nemo, Aladdin, as well as the Count of Monte Cristo yet to be elaborated on, the latest season is just getting started and it will be a long rest of the week waiting in anticipation for the next episode.