Oh look, they’re back…! But of course it would be too easy if all was fine now.
So the Neverland crew returns and for them moment everyone’s happy and joyous and all seems fine. There is the dwarves with the Charmings, Rumple with Belle, even Wendy with the Charmings, and in generell everyone who stayed back in SB is celebrating the return (by clapping, now wasn’t that a little irritating). Even Regina gets her moment when Snow declares that Reggi was vital in saving them all. Nice moment here for Regina; she is so much more than just the villain.
I particularly loved the Rumbelle reunion, of course, also with Bae being a part of that. There seems to be a happy family of sorts, and it’s deserved, by all three of them. Even more so when we see Rumbelle a little later on and Belle tells Rumple that now there are so many paths from there on to walk — and he assures here that “there’s only one path” for him: the one where he and Belle are together. And this is so promising, so beautiful, even though I don’t really dare to hope (and mind you, I read spoilers), because just as has been noted so often on that show — villains don’t get happy endings. Now to my mind, Rumple isn’t the villain, but one of the few characters full of facets that make the whole thing truly interesting, but, in the end, he has done enough not so nice things to be counted as the villain. Thus – no happy ending. What that means for him? Well, there are indeed many paths. Loss and death are the most logic choices here, whether it’ll be a loved one, a family member, or even Rumple himself. On the other hand, is anyone ever truly dead on OUAT? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, in regards to Pan & the box, the story evolves almost solely around the returners and what they brought with them — danger and death, though they don’t know it yet. Actually, what most surprised me was that Regina didn’t realize that something was off about Henry. I understand that she probably didn’t want to see it; that his behavior might be strange now that he is choosing her instead of Emma is something Regina could never see as wrong, since she wants it so much. Still, she should know better, this is, after all, not her first rodeo.
Anyways, in their defense they do believe Pan to be trapped, so it’s natural to assume that Henry’s just a little shaken up after everything that has happened. Though the fact alone that is asking for protection and declaring to be scared several times should have made everyone suspicious, because as far as I remember, he has never done that before.
It takes a death – that of Mother Superior (and I was about to say, good riddance, but…) to finally wake them up – and Henry, by the way, in Pan’s body no less, which is a huge improvement (they should just have kept Robbie Kay as Henry) – and then everything’s a bit of a rush as they realize the true evil is with Regina, in her vault, with access to all kinds of magic… including the Curse. Yep, that’s the one with a capital C.
His plan, as we learn, is to enact the Curse again. Basically repeat what Regina did, but this time to his liking, thus defining the terms of the new reality created then, where everyone will be his slave, to some extent. Now Regina is/was evil – but Pan? Pan is a total nut job. Whatever his plans are – as he says, he wants to create a new Neverland – it’ll make Regina’s Storybrooke look like a paradise.
Then we also have Captain Swan vs. Swanfire. Hook is the other one looking quite lost among all the happy people, realizing that he must back off for the sake of a family – meaning Neal and Emma with Henry, their son. I love that he even tells Neal so – but even more I love that he, at the same time, explains that Neal walked out on Emma once, so he’ll just wait till he does it again. I do believe that Hook knows too well that he has the much better chances when it comes to Emma. After all, Neal is past and maybe not anymore what Emma is looking for. Sure, they do have a past, and a son, something that connects them, but Hook… she and Hook have a connection. Something true, something that has been developing for some time now, something that is special, and growing. Whereas Emma might just have grown out of that thing with Neal, which was wild and adolescent back then, just like they were, but not are anymore.
Consequently, we see that Emma has other things on her mind than having a “date” with Neal he invites her to. She didn’t even inform him. Now of course is she worried about Henry, which takes a forefront in her thoughts, but still – wouldn’t a small note have been possible had she cared enough? This is the point, I think – she may care about Neal, but not in that way again. He is the father of her child and a friend… full stop.
Meanwhile Hook tries something that is not only adolescent, but also pretty unnecessary: he flirts with Tinkerbell to make Emma jealous. Which seems to be working, since Emma shows to be irritated when she sees Hook and Tink together… coming out of Granny’s when they all hear someone screaming. And yeah, checking on what they were doing and whether they were together, which Emma asks about, is absolutely of utmost concern in that moment. Whilst someone is screaming for their life. Ahu.
Side notes:
- Ariel finding Eric again is a nice touch; especially since he recognizes her immediately and apparently they’ll get their happily ever after (as much as this is possible on OUAT… ah well)
- The Charming side story in FTL is a little… like, what was that for? So they went on their honeymoon even though Snow didn’t want to initially after the EQ’s threat at their wedding, but then went anyways because she hopes to find a weapon against the EQ that way. And then they went to find Medusa? Huh? Which fairytale did we find her in again? Right. Then Charming’s turned to stone (blessful moment there, though the other way around would have been nicer), Snow kills Medusa, Charming is revived, and they have yet again no weapon. But anyways, isn’t it a good moment to decide to have a kid. I mean, I get what the purpose of that whole thing was – the threat will be there no matter what, so we can’t let our life be ruled by that, but have to continue on with our lives – but still. Especially the Medusa thing I thought was out of place.
Leave a Reply