This week was a pretty good episode and a very decent follow-up to last week’s “Ariel”. We finally got to check in on everyone in Storybrooke and we’re finally starting to see the pieces fall into place for the end of the Neverland arc.
We check in on Storybrooke immediately following the departure of the Jolly Roger. Belle, Blue, Archie, and the Dwarves race to put Rumple’s cloaking spell into place before the next set of Home Office specialists can reach town. Alas they’re a split second too late and the boys make it into town. This was ultimately my biggest complaint with the episode – the second I saw the bear, I knew exactly who these two were and I had most of the episode figured out. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the episode (especially since I am a spoiler junkie), but it did take away a lot of the suspense factor that could have been there.
We pick up the action five days later. Belle is so down in the dumps about being left behind and feeling like her help wasn’t wanted and/or needed that she’s turning down cheeseburgers. In a bit of perfect timing, Grumpy shows up with Ariel who was able to swim under the cloaking spell? (Another thing to add to the list of anti-logic). The two ladies run off to Rumple’s shop where, after a message in a sand dollar and playing with Chip, they find the magic box that Rumple was looking for. And the “mysterious” boys show up, tie up the girls, and take off to destroy the box. The girls manage to break free by having Ariel take off her bracelet and slip through the rope with her tail. They manage to stop the boys and all is revealed. The boys are the Darling brothers and are working for Pan in order to secure Wendy’s freedom. Belle promises a victory against Pan with the box and every effort to rescue Wendy as well so they allow Ariel to return to Neverland with the box.
Meanwhile, Neal reveals that the only way off of Neverland is to use Pan’s shadow which they can trap using his coconut star-map thing. Hook, Neal, and Emma set off to retrieve the Shadow from the Dark Hollow and Snow and Charming go to get Tink and let her know they have their exit plan. So I would think that in a place called the Echo Cave where you have to shout your secrets, that Neal would have heard about Hook and Emma’s kiss. Apparently not. Hook’s admission results in a hissy fight that escalates once they reach the Hollow. The guys are about to get their shadows/souls ripped from them, when Emma saves the day by magically lighting the candle and trapping the shadow in the coconut. She makes it clear to both guys that, right now, the only person she picks is Henry. Snow and Charming finally have an honest conversation about the whole Dreamshade fiasco. Ultimately, it seems like Snow is considering staying on the island with Charming because, you know, true love and all that. Once they show up with proof that they have Pan’s shadow, Tink is back on board and our heroes are off.
Meanwhile, Henry seemed to be wising up to Pan a bit. He knows that Pan is keeping things from him so he decides to follow Felix and see what’s up. Obviously, Pan expected this and Felix was just a means to get Henry to where he really wanted him. We finally found out that Wendy was the person in the other cage (I’m really glad I’m not a gambling person because I was convinced that they’d captured Tink at some point). Pan has Wendy pretend to be sick because the island is losing magic and she says that his father would have done anything for her family. This ruse is enough to convince Henry that he will do whatever Pan says to save magic and Wendy. You would think that, if nothing else, Henry would have learned over the course of the last couple seasons that he’s entirely too trusting. I mean, Pan wants you to go to an island with a skull on it. Last time I checked skulls weren’t exactly a good omen. But no, he wants to take Pan at his word. Can they not save Henry? Would that be such a bad thing?
I did have a couple issues with this episode. I really expected the Snow and Charming confrontation to be a bit more explosive than it ended up being. Snow’s main complaint was that Charming didn’t consider whether or not she would want to stay with him on Neverland and just assumed she wouldn’t. That’s what you’re mad about Snow? Not the fact that your hubby lied to you about being injured and dying and then being cured but having to stay on Neverland…….. Oh this show.
So with that I turn it over to you. Were you happy to check in on the Storybrooke action? Did you figure out it was the Darling boys from the start? Are you glad we seem to have a temporary end to the forced love triangle? Did you expect more from Snow and Charming’s fight? And is Henry not the WORST?
