#once upon a time 3x04

[exhaustedpirate]

the fruit of my labors

for anyone who doesn't know, I made a post about Baelfire's drawings on his cave and how Killian didn't react enough to it, so I decided to fix that a bit! beta'd by the wonderfully helpful @jonesfandomfanatic !

rated G | 1360 words also on ao3

The path through the dense, hot forest was one Killian was acquainted with. A right turn at the twisted tree, a sharp left turn at the rock lion, straight ahead through the berry patch. If you run into the rock that looks like the crescent moon you’ve gone too far.

Killian had followed him through the woods many times after their separation, no, Baelfire’s abandonment. Had wanted to make sure Bae was safe, that he was alive. He didn’t approach, memorized the way to Bae's little cave and kept it in his heart but never broached the gaping abyss he’d created between them. First out of bitterness, then out of shame. 

Baelfire wouldn’t welcome his presence anyway.

He found out about Bae’s departure from Neverland from Pan himself; the demon’s anger leaving a bitter taste. And, after Baelfire was gone, Killian would make his way to his hovel many times, standing in front of the large rock and the dangling vine for hours at times. He had only entered once, had found the torch on the wall and lit it with an easy flick of the flint in his hook. 

But it had been too much. Killian had seen the spartan home the boy had created for himself, had seen his small bed and, at the sight of the marks near it, counting his days on the island, left. He'd not made the trek again, as he couldn't bare setting foot in that cave again.

---

Now Baelfire was gone. Dead. And Killian’s back on the blasted island he had wanted to escape from more than anything.

There were differences now, of course. Baelfire had been Neal. He'd grown into a man, a man that had a darker path than Killian had hoped for - than Milah had hoped for. And Killian had joined the heroes, hopefully on his way to becoming one, or at least a version of himself that Liam would be proud of. That Baelfire would be proud of.

So, despite his wishes, Killian was going into Baelfire’s home for the first time in a century.

He still remembered the path - right turn at the twisted tree, sharp left turn at the rock lion and straight ahead through the berry patch. He didn’t see the crescent moon rock.

There was another difference. He wasn’t alone this time. He couldn’t turn around and go back to camp because there were people who needed to go into the cave, find out how Bae escaped Neverland so they could too. He had to go in.

Despite his smirk and his uncontrollable need to share personal space with the Savior, Killian was pleased to not walk into the cave first. Was glad to hide behind the need for light, behind explanations, and to focus on Emma instead of the scratched on drawings on the wall.

“He got it from his mother,” he found himself saying. 

Explanations. 

He couldn’t focus on the way Milah’s hair would fall unacknowledged on her face whenever she was focused on a drawing, or the way Baelfire’s did the same. Couldn’t focus on the many times he’d had to clean charcoal from Milah’s face when she fell asleep over a piece of parchment, or the way he had teared up when the same had happened to Bae. Couldn’t focus on the shame and regret he felt after when their drawings had turned to ash in a fit of tearful rage. Couldn’t focus on the fact that he had fooled himself into thinking he’d purged them from his heart by burning their art. Couldn’t focus on the several more drawings he had locked away in his safe to keep himself from burning them too. 

“Home.” 

As he looks up at the moving stars from Emma’s less than static grip, Killian forces himself to remain in the present. Urges himself not to remember the enthusiastic way Baelfire had stood next to him by the wheel while he told him about the constellations in Neverland’s permanent night sky. Tries not to remember Baelfire’s beaming smile, so much like Milah’s, when Killian praised him for naming all the constellations correctly. 

“Which means the only person who can read it is dead.” He’s almost grateful for Emma’s quick exit with the way he is barely able to control his tears. 

Baelfire, Neal, whatever he wanted to be called, is dead. Milah’s child is gone.

Still, Killian is painfully aware of the Queen’s presence in the room. Her annoyed energy unable to be ignored, giving him no space to mourn, giving him no space to remember the boy that had thrived on his ship, that had become more than just a means for his revenge.

There are memories on the wall, the port and starboard under a perfect replica of the Jolly Roger’s bow. A lesson in navigation comes unbidden to his brain, the feel of Baelfire’s hair in his hand and the proud smile on the boy’s face. He wanted to stay in that memory forever.

“Seems like you left an impression, Hook.” Regina’s lips curved in a cruel smirk as she tapped the wall he had been looking at, her pointer finger on the depiction of his hook in what he assumed was his area of the wall. He didn’t bite the bait.

Killian remembered instead how the boy had been mystified by it, the way it worked, how he used it - he had been too scared to tell him the truth of how he got it, unwilling to shatter the perfect life they were living. But shatter it still did.

He sees the Darlings over a drawing of what Bae told him was the Great Ben - he still wasn’t sure what was Great about this Ben but he still remembered the loud giggles the boy let out when he got the name wrong. Killian knew of the parents who had accepted a boy into their family as if he was their own. Bae talked fondly of them and the boys, Michael and John, and affectionately of Wendy, talked about how he had felt part of a family before the Shadow tore them apart. His heart had ached for the boy who had wanted a family and his shame worsened when he realized he had done the same as Pan’s evil entity.

Killian’s almost thankful for Emma’s reentrance, her shoulders set and determined frown on her face. She looks magnificent like that and he welcomes the distraction. But then she gets that look again, the same one he saw when they were climbing the beanstalk and he remembers seeing it on Baelfire, knows that he sees it in the mirror too. 

“I too know what it feels like to lose hope,” Killian starts to say to Emma. 

And he reads it plainly in her face that she doesn’t want to believe him, that she is looking for a reason to distrust him. That she’s not ready to open up about this. He wants to turn away, leave it at that, leave it up to her but he never knew how to give up.

“I too know what it feels like to lose,” he continues and she lets out a sigh, a deep sigh expelling her anger and frustration, her shoulders slumping down. And then she nods and he gives her a smile, not a smirk, not a grin, just a smile and, while hers might be even smaller than his, it’s still a smile and he considers himself lucky. He tries not to wonder if he’s worthy of that luck. 

“We need to go.”

It’s easy to put on his bravado, his cocky smirk for David’s comments, no matter how likely they are, deflect the way Emma already means more than he thought she ever would.

What isn’t easy is saying goodbye to the memory infested walls of the cave, Baelfire’s last mark on the world. It isn’t easy to say goodbye to the memory of the boy who could have been his family, who could have loved him back, who he could have not betrayed.

But he does.

There is another boy who needs to be saved. And this time, he will.

[dinneratgrannys]

No one gets off this island without my permission.

[vasfasan]

Ok maybe I agree that portraying that "Rumple injured himself to avoid dying on the battlefield of war (you know what girl? i wouldve done the exact same thing, im not dying for my horrible ass fucking country.... but thats off topic) and that makes him a coward" was bad and I also get that baiting him into a duel with an able-bodied experienced swordsman was kinda shitty on Killian's part. But people can't deny that Rumple is still a coward lmao??? There's ample of other instances of that in the show. Ex: 3x04 Nasty Habits.

[mylutteoheart]

Doing lots of research for my NaNoWriMo project which is a story with my own version of lesser known fairy tales makes me see fairy tales everywhere.

Which apparently also includes knowing some movies are based on these fairy tales. (I'm looking at you barbie and the 12 dancing princesses).

[aceofwhump]

Day 14: Water Inhalation

Around the World in 80 Days 1x06 | The Mentalist 4x10 | Aladdin (2019) | Legends of Tomorrow 3x03 | The Little Mermaid (2023) | Broadchurch 2x04 | Fate: The Winx Saga 2x01 | Once Upon a Time 3x20 | The Outpost 1x09 | The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015) | Hudson & Rex 3x04 | Murdoch Mysteries 7x01

@whumptober @whumptober-archive

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles--3x04 Nasty Habits

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my    rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.  Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 548

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Note:  I know it’s been….forever…since I updated.  Christmas projects and other real life things got in the way.  I’m hoping to get caught up to 3x7, where the rewatch group is currently, as soon as possible, so with any luck, I’ll be able to post daily (or at least every other day) until that happens!

Emma stormed away praying that this time her parents didn’t follow.  They tried but sometimes their love was almost…suffocating.

Particularly in this instance.

They were the perfect, ideal true love couple.  Yes, they’d faced their obstacles, but they had been obstacles from the outside, forces trying to drive them apart.  Their love and trust in each other had never faltered.

And that was great.  Really.  Emma was happy for them, but some people weren’t that lucky.

Waves of pain, guilt and insecurity washed over her as she thought about Neal.  He’d folded at the first sign of conflict, preferring to run, to send her to jail, rather than fight for their love.  Suddenly she was back there, sitting on her prison cot as the truth of it all crashed down around her.  She wasn’t enough.  She wasn’t worth fighting for.

And when she was later forced to give up her son….it was a wonder she even survived the agony of it.

She’d worked hard to put him, put the whole situation, from her mind, to learn from her mistakes and come back stronger and wiser.  She’d built a fortress around her heart.

But then Henry had found her and brought her home, and for a short time things had been, if not good, as close to good as she’d gotten in a long time.

It all crashed down on her again when she found Neal in New York and came to realize just how entwined her story and Neal’s had been, just how deep his betrayal had been.

The moment she’d seen him, all the pain, all the misplaced hope, all the love of an unloved teenager for the one person who’d briefly treated her like she was worth a damn came rushing back and it was too much. Way too much.

Emma wished she had Hook’s flask.  She needed the burning, numbing power of his rum to dull this ache.

For the briefest glimmer of time, Emma had thought maybe there could be a way to make peace with the past, to forgive Neal and move forward, and then he’d left her again.  He’d died, and yes, she’d felt grief, but, God help her, she’d also felt relief.  Relief that it was over.  That he couldn’t disrupt her life again.

And then Henry had been taken from her, and she was once again alone.  She’d returned to Neverland, found Neal’s cave, found his map…and then discovered it was useless with him dead.

Damn him!  Damn Neal, and Pan and Neverland and this whole situation!  She couldn’t take much more.  If they didn’t find Henry, if he was too far gone once they found him….

Emma took a deep breath, holding back the tears through sheer strength of will.  If she started to cry, she’d never stop.In the distance, she heard the murmur of her parents’ voices, Hook and Regina bickering in Bae’s cave, and a spark of renewed hope struck in her.  No matter how much she might feel it, she wasn’t alone.  Not anymore.  She had parents and friends and even the tentative cooperation of the Dark One.  There would be time to process all the emotions later.  For now, it was time to fight.  She would get her son back or die trying!

NEXT CHAPTER->

[samwpmarleau]

with the keeley/jamie thing, coming from a neutral perspective here (personally I'm rooting for an ot3, so i support them getting back together along with roy) but i think the problem for some people lies in the old trope of the guy who starts off as a dickhead, undergoes a redemption arc and then gets the girl as a reward for being a good guy now. i think people enjoy that jamie's redemption doesn't hinge on him trying to win Keeley back, because that would cheapen it - and it would be easy for the show (or a lesser show) to get that wrong and hit the wrong note with a storyline where they got back together.

Thanks for the response!

I guess I don't really understand that fear, though, because Jamie has never been trying to win Keeley back. Not even his love confession was him trying to win her back. His growth and maturity has never been for her, and indeed they barely interacted in season 2, showcasing that his improvement arc was for himself. So I don’t quite see how them eventually getting back together would negate that.

Jamie’s reward, if there is such a thing, for becoming a better person is that he now has real friends, he’s happy, he’s getting therapy, he stood up to his father, etc. The climax of his growth arc has already happened; the narrative time for Keeley to have been his “reward” passed a long time ago. Which is what that 3x04 scene was lampshading, that Jamie hasn’t been any of the negative things Keeley mentioned for quite a while, she just hadn’t taken notice.

In some ways, you could even argue that Jamie would be Keeley’s reward, in that the faith and support she gave him once upon a time wasn’t wasted and now she can reap the benefits of it. He’s certainly leaps and bounds above Roy in terms of emotional intelligence and expression, and his professional trajectory and ambition dovetail with hers very well.

With how good this show’s writing is, how well it portrays nuance, and the foundation/context that has been laid, I think it easily could sell the sweetness of a second chance storyline.

[wicked-storybrooke]

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 4x03 “Rocky Road” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01 3x02 3x03 3x04 3x05 3x06 3x07 3x08 3x09 3x10 3x11 3x12 3x13 3x14 3x15 3x16 3x17 3x18 3x19 3x20 3x21 3x22 4x01 4x02

So the ice cream lady is apparently the Snow Queen and she’s cursed Marian to become frozen! And she’s also, apparently, Elsa’s aunt and was trapped in the urn before Elsa was. Interesting that Elsa’s mother never thought to tell her scared daughter that ice powers run in the family! And Emma finally pushes past some of her trust issues with Hook!

Summary: Marian becomes frozen and True Love’s Kiss doesn’t work when Robin tries to save her. Hook resorts to blackmail to find out who else has powers like Elsa. In the past, Elsa and Kristoff fight Hans and his brothers and end up discovering a long-lost relative.

Opening: Any Given Sundae

New Characters:

Will Scarlet: He’s apparently an outcast from the Merry Men. How he’s come to be in Storybrooke is a mystery. He’s a thief and will always be a thief. The most helpful thing he does is show Emma and David that the ice cream shop doesn’t use anything to keep the ice cream cold. (For those that don’t know, Will was a favorite on the spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland)

Character Observations:

The Snow Queen: She doesn’t have a name in Arendelle or Storybrooke yet, but Emma refers to her as the Snow Queen, so that’s what we’re going with. In Arendelle, she is revealed to have been trapped in the urn Hans was going to use to trap Elsa. Instead, the Snow Queen freezes Hans and scares his brothers away. She is revealed to be Elsa’s mother’s sister.

In Storybrooke, she is determined to make people think that Elsa is behind all the freezing mayhem that is going on. She does some kind of magic to Marian’s ice cream cone which eventually makes her frozen. She attempts to kill Hook in order to make it look like Elsa did it. Luckily, Emma comes and saves him. But the Snow Queen clearly knows Emma somehow, even if she doesn’t remember. Elsa also doesn’t remember her, but the Snow Queen tells her the Rock Trolls took her memories like they did with Anna when she was younger. She eventually disappears. We later see her talking to Gold. He offers to help her, which she rejects. He also warns her about Emma remembering her.

Regina: How the hell did she run a kingdom when she is terrible at subterfuge? She attempts to hook Henry in by buying him comic books and then makes obvious comments about how the storybook doesn’t have an author. Henry sees through her immediately. She goes on about finding the author and getting her happy ending. Henry, instead of telling her that’s not how this works, tells her it’s her best idea yet. Oy vey! Meanwhile, Marian has been frozen and Robin asks for her help to reverse whatever curse has been put upon her. It’s interesting that she automatically blames Elsa, when she, herself, has been unjustly accused of magical things happening in Storybrooke that ended up being other people (Cora in The Cricket Game).  She claims she’s trying to change, but she still jumps to conclusions at the first chance she gets. Elsa says only an act of true love can save Marian, so Robin kisses her, which doesn’t work. David claims the ice is acting as a barrier like when Frederick was turned to gold in What Happened to Frederick, but Robin later tells Regina it didn’t work because he’s in love with someone else. Regina takes it with grace, since he and Marian are technically still married. They decide to take Marian’s heart so she’s not frozen completely, and Regina can work on reversing the curse.

Emma: Her magic is acting wonky, but she won’t admit it. Regina calls her out on it when she goes to try and figure out what caused the freezing spell on Marian. Emma thinks she’s still mad about her bringing Marian back in the first place. Which, she’s not wrong, but also, neither is Regina. Hook wants to go with her, but she tells him to take Elsa to the sheriff’s station to protect her from the townspeople who think she’s responsible for Marian. Hook doesn’t want to leave Emma, but she gets angry and asks him to just listen to her for once. At Robin’s tent, Emma comes across former Merry Man, Will Scarlet. He runs when he finds out she’s the sheriff, but is taken down by David. Will gives them information about the ice cream shop’s ice cream still being frozen hours after the blackout happened. Will attempts to pick the lock of the ice cream shop to show them, but Emma gets impatient and does it for him, much to David’s surprise. They discover that Will was telling the truth when they see the back room is frozen. And also Will takes off and steals money from the till. Emma wants to go after him, but David says they have more important things to do concerning Marian and she can go after Will another time. Emma expresses self-doubt about her abilities, but David tries to lift her spirits. Emma and David arrive to the Snow Queen trying to kill Hook. The Snow Queen taunts Emma that her magic isn’t stronger than hers, but Emma knocks her back with a blast of magic and manages to magic David and Hook out of the way of the falling icicles. After the Snow Queen disappears, Emma tells David and Hook that the way the Snow Queen said her name sounded familiar, like she’d heard it before. Hook offers to help look for her lair, but Emma gets pissed at him for not following her directions and almost getting himself killed. Emma talks to Elsa who is upset that the Snow Queen told her that Anna put her in the urn. Emma thinks they’re all pawns for something bigger, since Emma brought Elsa there accidentally, but the Snow Queen was already there. Emma doesn’t think the curse brought her to Storybrooke. Emma runs into Hook outside of Granny’s and she’s not happy with his shenanigans. He accuses her of not trusting him, but Emma tells him the truth. She does trust him, but she’s afraid he’s going to get himself killed since every other guy she’s been with is dead. Hook promises her he’s a survivor and they start kissing in the middle of the street!

Hook: He certainly does not like being told what to do, which gets him in trouble with Emma, but not for the reasons he thinks. We start with him, Emma, and Elsa questioning Gold about how Elsa and the urn ended up in his vault. He claims not to know. Hook isn’t buying his BS about turning over a new leaf for a second. Even when Belle compels him to tell the truth with the dagger, you can tell he’s not buying it. Emma, Elsa, and Hook go to the mayor’s office when Marian has been frozen. Emma goes to look for whomever is responsible and Hook wants to go with her. He’s very upset when she asks him to take Elsa to the sheriff’s station instead. Immediately, Hook and Elsa decide not to follow Emma’s orders and take the investigation into their own hands. By going to Gold’s shop and blackmailing him. Can I just say how much this pains me to see Hook stooping so low when he’s trying to prove to Emma how trustworthy he is? To secretly go to Gold and blackmail him because he knows Belle doesn’t have the real dagger to get what he wants is the opposite of everything he’s trying to prove to Emma. I mean, I know it does help them find out where the ice cream lady/Snow Queen is, but using a way that harkens back to his villainous days is not the way to go about it. Sigh. Gold changes a piece of Marian’s frozen hair into snowflakes that leads Hook and Elsa to the Snow Queen. Hook attempts to call Emma, but she doesn’t answer and has to leave a message (the crux of which is, why did she get him a phone if she never answers it, lol). When Hook and Elsa attempt to leave to go find Emma (since she’s not answering the phone), Hook’s feet are frozen by the Snow Queen. Luckily, Emma saves him before the Snow Queen’s plan to kill him takes place. Later that night, Hook is drinking at Granny’s and Emma’s still pissed at him. He accuses her of not trusting him, but she says she does trust him. She’s just afraid of him getting killed. He tells her he’s a survivor before kissing her. And, this is the first time Hook has initiated a kiss with Emma, she’s initiated it every other time. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Elsa and Kristoff: In Arendelle, Elsa is freaking out over Anna. Kristoff is trying to calm her down by relaying all of Anna’s heroic feats, but Elsa is stressing big time. She then gets a report that Hans has an army and is heading towards Arendelle. Kristoff wants to go see what’s up, but Elsa won’t let him, using his status as Anna’s groom as her reasoning. He goes out anyway and overhears Hans telling his brothers about a magical urn. Kristoff reports back to Elsa that it can contain magical beings like her. He wants to bring some soldiers to go destroy the urn. Elsa wants to avoid war. She suggests just she and Kristoff go. Elsa almost walks herself off a cliff while she and Kristoff have a heart to heart. They get to the cave with the urn and Elsa goes to destroy it, but then some runes show up on it, and she’s trying to decipher them when Hans and his brothers enter. Elsa fights off two of them with her ice powers, and Kristoff dispatches another with a sword, but then Hans gets the drop on Kristoff and threatens to make Anna a widow if Elsa doesn’t hand over the urn (and Kristoff, with a sword to his neck, still makes a joke that he and Anna aren’t married so she wouldn’t technically be a widow). Elsa ends up giving Hans the urn, despite Kristoff’s protests. Hans continues to be the worst person ever by telling Elsa that she doesn’t belong anywhere so he’s going to put her in the urn like she doesn’t exist, which plays on all of Elsa’s magic insecurities. But surprise, surprise, when he opens the urn to put her inside, the Snow Queen comes out instead. And she freezes Hans and his brothers run off. Elsa is in heaven meeting someone who has ice powers like herself. They compare stories about making snowmen come to life and building ice castles. The Snow Queen sees the painting of Elsa’s parents and lets her know Elsa’s mother was her sister, making her Elsa’s aunt. Elsa is understandably confused as her mother never mentioned a sister. Elsa lets her know her mother was lost at sea and it’s just her and Anna now. She tells her how scared she is that Anna is missing, and the Snow Queen promises she’ll help her find her, because that is what family does.

In Storybrooke, Elsa is accused of using her powers to freeze Marian. Emma wants her and Hook to stay at the sheriff’s station, but they go looking for whomever actually froze Marian. They eventually find the Snow Queen in the woods. The Snow Queen wants the town to turn against Elsa and she doesn’t understand why. She tells Elsa the Rock Trolls stole her memories of when they met in Arendelle, but doesn’t say why. She also tells Elsa that Anna put her in the urn. Elsa is adamant that Anna would never do that.

Mary Margaret: She attempts to have a ‘fireside chat’ as the mayor to go over items in the town (complete with baby Neal in her arms), but all anyone wants to talk about is Elsa.Things go south quickly when Marian starts literally turning to ice. After the meeting, Mary Margaret gets some unsolicited advice from Archie about needing to let things go, meaning she doesn’t need to have baby Neal with her constantly and she’ll be better if they aren’t attached at the hip. Mary Margaret is obviously afraid she’ll miss something if she isn’t there with him constantly because of missing out on Emma growing up.

Questions:

Why isn’t Emma’s lie detector blaring when Gold says he’s decided to turn over a new leaf? Or when he says he’s given Belle the dagger? There should be sirens going off in her head.

Exactly how far away is Misthaven from Arendelle? With all the magic going on in the Enchanted Forest, how have they not heard of it in Arendelle?

Since the Snow Queen acknowledges Elsa is queen, why didn’t she realize her sister would have to be dead for that to happen? She seems genuinely shocked when Elsa tells her.

How did Elsa’s urn end up in Gold’s vault? Did the Snow Queen give it to Rumple since we know they know each other?

Have Gold and the Snow Queen been talking since the curse broke? How does he know that she knew Emma once? Does that mean the Snow Queen has been out of Storybrooke?

Observations:

This is the most casual we’ve ever seen Regina. Her hair is in a messy ponytail and she’s wearing a t-shirt and vest!

Emma looks amazing in this episode also. She’s letting her freckles shine through, and she just looks cute as a button.

The two comic books we see Regina get Henry are Thor and ShenLu.

Regina and Henry decide their search for the author will be called Operation Mongoose.

Hook tells Gold that he could have Belle summon him with the dagger and when he didn’t appear she’d have proof the dagger isn’t real. We’ve seen plenty of times when all someone had to do is say Rumpelstiltskin's name (even in other realms) and he’d appear.

The cage that Kristoff puts his torch in is already lit when he and Elsa enter the cave. Then he lights it again. Or there is another cage already lit, which should be a red flag that someone is already in the cave.

Hook now has a cell phone and it has an ‘Emma’ button.

Once Upon a Time Firsts:

Magic can change form but never be destroyed.

So, we find out a little bit more about the Snow Queen, but not what her end goal is yet. She is obviously very bitter about something having to do with her magic and people fearing it, and she doesn’t seem to care if people are okay with it like they are in Storybrooke. I am not happy about Hook blackmailing Gold as it just goes against everything he’s worked so hard to put in his past. But Emma and Hook seem to be getting on the right path for being together despite that! Yay!

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @thisonesatellite​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @justbecauseyoubelievesomething​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @laschatzi​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @profdanglaisstuff​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @mariakov81​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @lfh1226-linda​

[allaboutjmo]

🦢 Jen as Emma Swan on Once Upon A Time episode 3x04 ‘Nasty Habits’

[dinneratgrannys]

ONCE UPON A TIME 3.04, Nasty Habits

[princess-aziza]

Archie could make a fortune as Rumplestiltskin and Baelfire/Neal’s family counselor alone

[aceofwhump]

Well it finally happened. Finally caught covid for the first time 😭. Got any favorite whumpy eps/movies to rec to keep me busy? ❤

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that! I hope you feel better soon! Here's some stuff to keep you busy!

Whumpy episodes/shows/movies

Once Upon a Time has a lot good whump for various characters. I'm partial to Killian Jones and August Booth so I'd rec the following episodes: 2x12 killian hit by a car and broken ribs and handcuffed to hospital bed, 3x20 killian nearly drowned, season 5 killian covered in blood and tortured by hades, 4x16 has both hook and August whump

Hawaii Five-0 is a fav of mine. Specifically these episodes: 1x23 danny is poisoned, 4x19 danny and steve collapsed building, 5x07 major Steve whump, 6x25 steve shot, 8x10 danny shot in quarantine, 10x22 danny kidnapped and shot

Stargate SG-1for some great Daniel whump the og whump king: Need (2x05), Legacy (3x04), Meridian (5x21), The Light (4x08), The First Ones (4x08), Evolution (part 2) (7x12)

The A-Team 5x13 when Face is shot and held hostage

The movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E is both a fun movie to watch and has some good whump

The Martian. Just watch the Martian. It's so good

Burn Notice. I don't have specific episode recs but Michael Westen gets whumped often. Sometimes its tiny and sometimes its BIG and its always great.

Broadchurch for some excellent angsty, heart condition David Tennant

These three episodes of Bones: 1x15 when booth is in an explosion, 2x18 for some booth torture, 11x01 good whump too

These episodes of 9-1-1: 2x18 my fav. Trapped under an exploded fire truck, 3x01-3x03 the tsunami arc

Lucifer 4x05: Held hostage in Lux, shot in the stomach and is bleeding out in the club until he, Chloe, Eve, and Ella are rescued.

Graceland: Just the whole show really but check out 1x09/1x10 when he gets stabbed, 2x13 he gets shot, 3x01 aftermath of getting shot, 3x07 emotional whump, 3x08 the best! Withdrawal scene

BBC Merlin the whole show. 1x04 is a fav of mine. Merlin poisoned. 1x13 good Arthur whump, 4x02 and 5x08 more good merlin, and 5x13 for more arthur

[exhaustedpirate]

i was recently making a compilation for a friend of ouat scenes and i found the scene where they are at baelfire’s cave in neverland and the DRAWINGS ON THE WALLS PEOPLE !!!!

they focused on the counting thingys but baelfire, even after his argument with hook, what does he draw ?

first of all, right there in bold, the port and starboard thing killian carves, he’s not even on a ship and he left it there for prosperity, plus what i think its the view from the front of the jolly roger on top of that !

and my absolute favourite, he drew the hook !

i’m just, it made me so emotional when i noticed it and i wished, i fucking wished the writers had more balls to include that in the episode, maybe see killian get visibly emotional - we didn’t need much, just a prolonged, longing look at the drawings and then maybe not include the love triangle thing cause you know, it’s absolutely ridonkulous !

there you go, hookfire feelings

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 3x04 Nasty Habits

Istg the lost boys are a cult and Felix is super brainwashed by its leader. His loyalty seems to know know bounds and he speaks so highly of Pan. Come to think of it, maybe he loves him.

“You may have grown up, Baelfire. But it would appear you have grown up stupid.” Lol!

Rumple be my mum. I feel ya Baelfire. Some parents be like that, not letting you out on your own however old you are.  

Why did Rumple mark his face?  

Hmm. I wonder who left Neverland first, Hook or Bae? I suppose it must have been Hook, considering that he was frozen for idk, 18 years when Emma met Neal and I don’t think Neal was (18+14) 32 years old at that point. But then, how does Hook know Bae supposedly left Neverland without Pan’s permission if he left first?

I guess that’s why Rumple has to be separated from the rest of the group. It would have been too easy to get to Henry. He could have just put a sleeping spell on all the lost boys. But then, I suppose he’d have to go through Pan and I’m not quite sure which one is more powerful. I would assume Rumple is but I’m not entirely sure.

Rumple reunited with his Bae! He must be so relieved that he’s alright!

Did Rumple kill a king to get that crown? Or maybe he just made a deal with one.  

I absolutely love that Pan is also the pied piper! It fits so well and it makes him all the more creepy.

Even Rumple believes Pan is so powerful that you’d have to die to beat him. Perhaps Pan is more powerful than Rumple.

Also, why is Rumple so sure that he will die if he faces Pan. Is there some sort of magic between them that ensures that if Peter dies, Rumple must too? Did I miss something?

Did they get the idea of using giant squids from Harry Potter? Also, I think I’ve mentioned it before but giant squids really do exist! I don’t know if they produce magic ink though.

That poor squid cane to have a good time but they’re honestly feeling so attacked right now.

I’m guessing Baelfire lived away from the lost boys in that cave, at least for part of the time he was there. Or maybe he just slept there? It’s hard to know how much time he spent with the lost boys, especially considering he really didn’t want to be there.

How does Hook know that that was Baelfire’s home? I guess he must have crossed paths with Bae again even after he surrendered him to Pan.

That’s a lot of boys who feel lost being lured by Pan’s music. I wonder why so many of them feel that way.

Woah they’re doing flips and everything!

Can’t he tell which one’s Bae by the length and colour of his hair?

I wonder what made Pan’s eye red here. Did one of the boys flip and inadvertently kick Pan in the face coz that would be hilarious. New headcanon! Also, it was Bae that did it.

So children can still visit Neverland in there dreams. That is such an interesting realm, fuled by imagination. I wonder if there’s any other realms like that.

I just had a thought. The season 7 cast but in Neverland! I would kill to see that! Poor Alice would feel like such a lost girl, having been alone for so long.

Why does he only want boys?

Pan’s really getting a kick out of taunting Rumple. Why be so needlessly cruel. Isn’t abandoning him enough?

How does Pan know about Milah? How does he know of so many things that have happened outside of Neverland? Is it his spies telling him? But he doesn’t even have any lost boys at this point. I guess he could just have grown people watching Rumple.

That sleeping spell Rumple can use would have been so useful when they faced the lost boys. But again, too easy. It’s hard to write for characters with powers. For the book I’m working on I have to be very conscious of each characters abilities and I have to think of loopholes all the time. Must be really difficult to write for Rumple.

Bae to Rumple: “I would have chosen to come home. I would have chosen you!” My Papa Rumple heart!

Rumple to Bae: “You’re my happy ending.” Damnit it! I love this father-son relationship so much!

Emma: “All that time thinking that he didn’t love me, only to find out that he did, and it was too late. I can’t even tell him how angry that makes me, or how much it hurt when he left, or how terrified I was when he came back, because… I knew the moment I saw him, I never… I never stopped loving him.” Swanfire feels!

Peter: “You got him, I got him back. It’s the game.” Lol. My mum and I are also doing a rewatch and when we watched this ep we made up a whole load of scenarios where Pan just responds with “It’s the game!” It was a fun game!

I’m inclined to believe Pan. I think he allowed Baelfire to leave. I also think it was the same with Alice and the tower. I think she was only able to leave because Gothel allowed it to be so. Perhaps, something to do with Alice’s Guardianship. She might have thought that at that point it would be a crueller punishment to allow Alice to see her Papa with the knowledge that she could never be near him. Just a headcanon.

Does shadow!Belle only appear when Rumple looks at the doll?

Henry: “Wait. I… I remember something. My dad… When I was asleep, I… I could’ve sworn I heard him calling for me.” Pan: “Really?” Henry: “It must’ve been a dream.” Pan: “Well, how can you be sure?” Such mind games.

Pan: “You’ll find new things to dream about. And when you do, they’ll start to come true.” That’s so cool how dreams can supposedly come true on Neverland.

Pan told Rumple that the only magic that that pipe has is that only people who feel lost can hear it. But it seems to me that it puts them in some sort of trance. The way the sound is distorted and what we see is blurred suggests that that pipe has more properties than Pan cares to share.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 3x04 “Nasty Habits” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01 3x02 3x03

So Neal still has major trust issues when it comes to his father. Emma still has ‘feelings’ for Neal that she never got resolve because of his death (more on that in Emma’s section), and Tink (yes, she told Emma to call her this so that is what I’ll be using from now on) pretty much has decided they’re on a suicide misson. And David’s still being a selfish ass.

Summary: Gold and Neal rescue Henry by making everyone, including Henry fall asleep, and Neal reveals his deep seated trust issues with his father are still alive and well. Hook takes everyone to Bae’s cave for clues on how he escaped, and in the Enchanted Forest, we discover that Peter Pan and the Pied Piper of Hamelin are the same person.

Opening: Lost Boy dancing

Character Observations:

Rumplestiltskin/Gold: Rumple is essentially holding Bae hostage by being the Dark One. No one wants to play with him because they’re afraid of Rumple. And this whole scene is obviously supposed to take place before Bae went through the portal in The Return, but that was filmed almost two years ago and the actor playing Bae went from 13 to 15 and looks it. Anyway, Rumple just wants Bae to be happy, but Bae won’t be happy trapped in their hovel. Rumple offers to build him a castle (maybe this is why he knew to look for a castle in The Heart of the Truest Believer?), but Bae just wants to have friends. Bae thinks Rumple doesn’t trust him, but Rumple is quick to tell him he does trust him, it’s his enemies he doesn’t trust. And this is the theme of Rumple and Gold’s arc. Trust. Bae thinks Rumple thinks he won’t come back, and you can see by the look on his face that the thought has occurred to him, but he insists it’s Bae’s safety that he’s worried about. He doesn’t know what he’d do if he lost Bae. Rumple comes home later with a crown (because of the castle he’s going to have them live in), and Bae is gone. He looks shaken when he realizes Bae isn’t there. He traces Bae to the city of Hamelin, first accusing them of taking Bae, but then realizing that boys have gone missing. The man in town exposits how only some boys heard music and their parents didn’t believe them when they told them about it. Rumple is going to take this piper down! Rumple’s just hanging out on a rooftop when he hears the music and starts seeing teenaged boys climbing out their windows. Rumple follows them and sees a whole group of boys dancing around a fire wearing masks. He confronts the piper who turns out to be Peter Pan. And Rumple looks scared the second Pan takes off his hood and calls him ‘laddie’. Pan does nothing but berate Rumple. We get hints to their relationship as Pan makes reference to Rumple being all grown up. He also tells Rumple the reason he can hear the pipe is because only boys who are lonely and lost can hear it. Pan goes on about Rumple being abandoned and he’s really cruel about it and you can see how upset Rumple is getting and it’s really weird to see him so vulnerable. Pan wants to make a deal for Bae. If presented with the choice, Bae chooses if he’ll go home or go with Pan. Rumple refuses to make the deal. I know we’re supposed to think it’s because he doesn’t trust Bae (and Bae tells him this later on), but come on. What kind of parent would make that kind of a deal? You don’t bargain with your child’s kidnapper! Rumple doesn’t take the deal. He eventually does find Bae in the circle of dancing boys, and it almost looks like he’s going to give Bae the choice that he and Pan had talked about, but instead, he poofs them back to their hovel. Bae is pissed, and accuses Rumple of abusing him with his power. But no, turns out Rumple’s known Pan since he was a boy and they were incredibly close. He wasn’t immortal until he went to Neverland. But he ended up betraying Rumple so he can’t be trusted. So who is Pan to Rumple? Friend, brother, another relation? He insinuates that Pan is darker than he is. But Bae doesn’t think anyone could be worse than him. Rumple tells him he had no choice and he had to protect him, but Pan told Bae about the deal he’d offered him (of course he did), so Bae knows Rumple could have let Bae make his own choice. And this whole thing just goes to show that teenage boys are the same whether they’re in our realm or the Enchanted Forest. They don’t understand that sometimes what their parents do to protect them is not what they wanted them to do. Rumple took Bae out of a bad situation that he knew more about than Bae. But all Bae sees is his father not trusting him to make the right decision, so he leaves. Rumple looks devastated. I’m going to assume it’s not too long after this that Bae gets the bean to go to the Land Without Magic.

Gold is getting ready to go to war, complete with war paint. Imaginary Belle tells him he was always more comfortable behind a mask and she was the only one who saw past it. And then they go through this whole thing where he needs to be the monster to save Henry and Belle doesn’t want him to lose himself because of the prophecy. That he has a nasty habit of self-preservation (I wouldn’t call that a nasty habit. Who wants to die?), but since Neal died, Gold has nothing left to live for, not even Belle. He says she’ll eventually see the monster, despite that she always says she sees the man behind the monster. So is he saying there is no man behind the monster? Or that he’s just going back to being the monster without any chance of being the man again? Whatever it is, he’s convinced it’s the only way for him to save Henry. He goes to Pan’s camp and doses some of the Lost Boys with poppy powder? He’s certainly not using his magic here. Maybe it’s so Pan can’t detect him? He grabs one of their spears and that’s when a very much alive Neal comes crashing out from the woods. Since Gold believes Neal to be dead, he thinks Neal is a figment of his imagination to remind him of how he failed as a father. But he’ll sacrifice himself for Henry. He’s about to kill him when Neal calls him Papa, and Gold finally realizes that it is truly Neal. Gold tells him that no one in their group has the stomach for what needs to be done to rescue Henry (and I’d say Regina does, considering she’s almost sacrificed herself several times for Henry just to be saved at the last minute), and that Neal doesn’t have the stomach either. Neal thinks they can do this without hurting or killing anyone, but Gold doesn’t agree with him. Gold tells Neal that Pan is too powerful and the only way to beat him is if you’re willing to die. Neal tells him there’s another way. Gold ponders this as if he never considered there could be another way. Especially since this other way is apparently using squid ink, something Gold has experience in using and has had used against him. Gold uses some sort of sleeping spell to take down everyone in Pan’s camp, including Henry, although it doesn’t work on Pan. They confront each other and Pan reveals he knows Bae is with him. Neal shoots at Pan, who once again catches the arrow before it hits him, but Neal coated the shaft and not the tip. Gold and Neal grab Henry once Pan is frozen. Pan tells Neal about the prophecy and how Gold is there to kill Henry, but they need to get out of the camp and away from Pan, so they leave. Neal is understandably upset about this, but Gold reminds him that Pan lies. Neal eventually gets him to tell him about the prophecy. Neal is convinced that Gold is going to try and kill Henry to subvert the prophecy, despite the fact that Gold said he was willing to die for Henry when he thought Neal wasn’t real. Gold tries to get Neal to trust that he’s willing to die for Henry, but Neal doesn’t think he can believe him. Neal says the only way he can trust Gold is if he gives him the dagger. Unfortunately, Gold gave it to his shadow in Lost Girl and can’t give it to Neal to prove his trustworthiness. Neal understands that at this moment, Gold will do anything to save Henry, but he also knows that once he’s back in Storybrooke and happy with Belle, he may not have that same notion, and will want to live out his happy ending rather than be ‘undone’ by Henry. Gold insists that Neal is his happy ending and that saving Henry is his redemption. He just needs Neal to have faith in him. Neal basically tells him he can never believe him since he left him behind all those years ago (which brings Gold on the verge of tears), and then doses him with the squid ink so he can’t follow him. Gold is terrified for Neal. He knows Pan will find him without his protection, but Neal tells him he has no choice. I mean, Neal did live a lot of years on Neverland, it’s not like he doesn’t know his way around and how to hide from Pan. But Gold just sees his son leaving him again and knowing that he’s failed to protect him. The squid ink wears off and Gold is alone with his thoughts (Belle), who talks him through whether he’s willing to die for Henry now that Neal is alive. She tells him habits can be broken and he tells her to go away. He doesn’t want to hear what she has to say. And now he’s really all alone.

Bae/Neal: Bae is lonely. He has no friends and his father won’t let him leave the house because he’s afraid his enemies would use Bae against him. So what does he do? He gets lured out of the hovel by Pan when he plays a song for lonely and lost boys. And then he gets mad at his father when Rumple poofs them back home because he wanted to make the choice for himself. And, I’m sorry, I get that Bae is a teenager at this point (he’d be 14 since Rumple is the Dark One and he was still 14 when he went through the portal), and teenager’s think everything is about them, but this has nothing to do with Rumple trusting Bae to make the right decision. I get that Bae wants the freedom to live his life (as most teenagers do), but running away and then hoping your parent lets you make the right decision as to whether you stay with your potential kidnapper or go home with your parent is not about trust. It’s about good parenting. So suck it up Bae. Papa made the right decision to take you out of there.

Neal, on the other hand, still doesn’t trust his father. And this is more because of his father choosing his power over him. Neal is captured by Felix who calls him stupid for coming back, but Neal manages to until the knot that Felix had tied his hand up in and punches him out. He literally runs into his father attempting to rescue Henry, and Gold almost kills him because he doesn’t think Neal is real (which makes sense since he was told that Neal died). Neal is surprised to see his father since he only saw Emma in the crystal ball, or maybe because he doesn’t expect his father to care about his son. Either way, for someone who spent lots of time in Neverland, he seems to think it really weird that Gold doesn’t believe he’s real (isn’t the whole point of Neverland to use your imagination). It isn’t until he calls him Papa that Gold finally believes it’s him. Neal doesn’t even get into how he survived when Gold asks, just that Robin Hood’s debt is paid. Neal wants to know where Emma is, but Gold informs him that he left them all on Hook’s ship. Neal doesn’t seem too happy about Gold’s intentions of needing to kill Lost Boys and Pan to get Henry. Gold tells him he doesn’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done to save Henry, but Neal tells him he’ll do what he needs to do. To be honest, Neal really needs to think about killing Pan, because he knows what he’s capable of and he knows that Pan could get to Henry once they get him off Neverland. So the whole not killing Pan route doesn't seem like the smartest course of action on Neal’s part. Anyway, Gold tells Neal that the only way to beat Pan is to be willing to die, but Neal knows of another way. He calls on a giant squid so that Gold can extract the squid ink. So, Neal is smart enough to coat the shaft of the arrow in squid ink, knowing that Pan will catch it and it will immobilize him, but, unfortunately, squid ink does not immobilize the mouth. Instead of Neal and Gold taking Henry and just fleeing, they listen to Pan spout off about the prophecy that Pan insists means Gold is there to kill Henry. Gold takes them to the other side of the island where Neal is freaking out, but Gold placates him enough to make him think that Pan is playing games. I mean, that is a hard decision to make, believe Pan or the father you have a bad relationship with. Neal attempts to wake up Henry but can’t because of the spell, so he gets back into it with Gold. Eventually, Gold tells him about the prophecy, and how he was planning on killing the boy until he found out it was his own grandson. Neal does not take kindly to this information. Gold is begging Neal to believe him, to let him help, that he would give up his life for Henry, but Neal has a hard time believing this. Neal wants the dagger from Gold to prove that he trusts him, but Gold doesn’t have it. Neal finds this too convenient and feels his father has an excuse for everything. Neal finally tells him why he doesn’t trust him. Because today he’ll do the right thing, but once he’s settled into a happy life with Belle, he’ll decide that he wants to stay happy, and Henry will be in the way of that. Gold tries to convince Neal that he is his happy ending, but Neal tells him he left his own son for the dagger, how could he think it would be any different. The whole time he’s been holding Gold’s hands and he has actually dosed him with squid ink. He takes Henry and leaves a heartbroken Gold behind. Neal finds the remnants of a campsite and assumes it’s Emma, but Pan and the Lost Boys are lying in wait. They grab Henry, and Neal swears he’ll get Henry back, but Pan says if he’d only stayed with his father Henry would’ve probably been safe. Pan also mocks Neal for not having an exit plan, especially since no one leaves the island without his permission. Neal is pretty sure he can escape since he did it before. But Pan tells him he wouldn’t be too sure of that, since he’s back on the island like he never left (um, he’s an adult now, so that’s a lot different than the last time he was there). Neal starts to realize that Pan may have let him go and Pan says everyone is right where he wants them. Henry finally starts to come around, and Neal yells out for him as the Lost Boys take him somewhere on Pan’s bidding.

Emma: Tink basically tells them that without an exit plan she’s not helping them. Emma tells the group she’s right, Neal taught her to never break in somewhere without a way out (and as we learn later, he learned that from Pan). Hook lets them know that Neal is the only one who’s left the island without permission and takes them to the cave Neal lived in when he was on the island. Emma is in shock at all the whole thing. Hook wonders if she notices any clues, but she’s just impressed by the drawings. Hook tells her Bae got it from his mother and it gets a little awkward. Emma lights a coconut candle and starts looking for more clues. She realizes that Hook cared for Bae with the way he talks about him, and things get a little uncomfortable between them again. Emma deems them just a bunch of pictures. Emma figures out that her coconut candle actually has a top on it that makes a star map. They think that’s the way he got off the island. Emma gets upset when Hook can’t read the star map because he thinks it’s in code. She runs out of the cave and Mary Margaret and David try to talk to her, but she’s trying to keep her emotions in check. She tells them she’s not sad about him dying, she’s pissed off because she thought he didn’t love her when he left her, but he really did. And she can’t tell him how angry it makes her that she can’t do anything about all her feelings now, because he’s dead. She tells Mary Margaret and David that she knew she still loved him when he came back into their lives. And here’s where I have to say something about Emma’s reaction. I know a lot of fans who wanted her back with Neal use this as the reason why. Emma obviously loves him and he loves her and Neal’s apologized for what he did and they love each other and blah, blah, blah. But here’s the thing. Neal was just engaged to Tamara a few days ago. He’d moved on, content that Emma had broken the curse and was living her happily ever after while he was too much of a chicken shit to confront his father. Emma may still love Neal (lord knows why), but it’s the love that she had for him when she was 17. It’s that first love that stays with you and that you look back on with rose colored glasses no matter what really happened. Emma doesn’t know Neal now. She’s barely spent any time with him. And Neal doesn’t know Emma now. And all we’ve seen is his condescension towards her. Are we really going to believe that the strong woman Emma has become now, the one who doesn’t put up with Regina or Gold, the woman who slayed a dragon, the woman who confronted a giant, and who now has magic, would put up with the man who let her take the fall for his crimes and go to jail, forcing her to give up her child in the process? Emma may still love Neal, but she’s not in love with him. And yes, she’s upset, but she’s just seen that he was as lost as she was as a child (if not more), and I think she’s finally realized that he’s gone and not coming back (just wait a few days, the island is not that big), and that’s where the emotions are coming from.

Mary Margaret/David: I know, I’ve put them together all season, but they don’t really do anything away from each other. Emma has put a plan into motion but when Tink finds out there is no exit plan, she basically tells them it’s suicide to enact it. David pulls out the whole ‘we find each other’ line, but Tink is not going to help them until there’s something a little more concrete. She peaces out and David is about to go after her, but Emma tells them that Tink is right. They need an exit plan. David asks Hook how he got off, but he’s vague and just says Pan probably won’t repeat the deal they made. Hook brings them to a cave and David volunteers to help open the door with Hook. Hook tells him he doesn’t look so hot, meaning he can see the Dreamshade affecting him, but David just quips that it’s a million degrees in the jungle and he’s plenty hot. Hook wonders how much longer he’ll keep up the charade of hiding his sickness from his family. David wants to know why Hook cares so much, and Hook wants to know why David doesn’t seem to care. David feels that he doesn’t want to burden them while they’re looking for Henry, especially when there’s no hope for a cure. Hook tells him that heroes always believe in hope. David wonders if Hook is keeping something from him, but Hook insists that hope and reality are two different things. He repeats that David will never make it off the island alive. David is resigned to his fate once again. Inside the cave Emma realizes Neal lived there and Mary Margaret is hopeful that Neal left some sort of clue as to how he escaped. They find the star map and realize that the only person who can read it is Neal. Mary Margaret and David follow out an upset Emma. After Emma tells them about her sadness and anger, and then leaves, Mary Margaret gets upset because she doesn’t know how to comfort her daughter. That’s the first thing a mother learns and she missed it. David understands and feels the same way. Mary Margaret tells David she wouldn’t know how to move on if David were to die before her. David insists that she would move on and be happy without him. Mary Margaret is thankful that nothing will happen to him then. David looks extremely guilty.

Pan: In the past, he has become the Pied Piper to lure unloved and lost boys to him (and saying that to Rumple gives him the idea to name his band of boys the Lost Boys). He has a panpipe that only lost boys can hear. Rumple confronts him after Bae runs away.  Pan is luring boys to Neverland while they’re awake so he will have friends there (sounds like he’s lonely too). They’ve only been able to come to Neverland in their dreams previously. Pan is a complete ass to Rumple. He makes fun of him for having been abandoned as a boy, mocks him for his wife running off, and now his biggest fear has happened, his son has left him. Rumple doesn’t think that’s true, so Pan wants him to test that out. Give Bae the choice to stay or leave and see what he chooses. Rumple refuses to take the deal. And man, who pissed in Pan’s Cheerios because he obviously has some pent up anger issues when it comes to Rumple. He’s just so angry and he seems to derive some sick pleasure out of tormenting Rumple and seeing him close to tears. He’s like an abuser of some sort, and I get the feeling that he was a bully or abuser to Rumple as a child and that’s why Rumple has reverted back to how he was before becoming the Dark One. Pan again mocks Rumple, telling him he doesn’t recognize Bae dancing around because he’s actually happy. Pan goads Rumple into making the deal with Bae, but he doesn’t, and Pan says he’s going to regret it.

Currently, in Neverland, Pan is trying to get Henry to believe he’s brought him there to save magic. The Lost Boys are dancing and celebrating because of it. Pan tries to get Henry to go out and dance by playing his panpipe, but Henry doesn’t hear it! This confuses Pan greatly. All Henry’s been saying is how his family is coming for him. He is there because he has the heart of the truest believer. Why would Pan think he feel unloved and lost? He’s about to explain to Henry why he should be hearing it, but Felix comes to tell him that Neal escaped. At first he’s angry, but once he realizes Neal and his father have been reunited, he feels this is perfect for his game. Rumple uses a sleeping spell to make all the Lost Boys and Henry fall asleep. He, again, mocks Rumple, now, for coming to save his family, and speaking of family, reveals Neal is with him. He can’t resist getting in another dig about Rumple abandoning Bae, and then Neal shoots an arrow at Pan. He catches it and basically calls Neal an idiot for not remembering how powerful Pan is, but Neal catches him off guard when he reveals he didn’t coat the tip in squid ink. Pan is impressed, but he makes sure to let Neal know about the prophecy and his father’s intention to kill Henry before they leave. Pan ruins Neal’s plans for finding Emma and the rest of the group, and also tells him sticking with his father would’ve been the smart thing to do. He reminds Neal that there is no escaping Neverland and a very smarmy Neal, tells him he did it once, but Pan tells Neal that he’s right back where he escaped from, and basically insinuates that he let him escape because everyone is right where he wants them to be (that sounds a lot like Rumple getting captured before the curse and being exactly where he was meant to be). They take Henry back and take Neal somewhere, not sure where yet,the Lost Boys they know where to take him. Back at camp, the Lost Boys are dancing around the fire again, and Henry finally wakes up. Henry remembers his father calling for him, but gets upset when he realizes it was just a dream since Neal is dead. Apparently, that’s enough for him to feel unloved and lost, because now he can hear the panpipes and dances with the other boys. Honestly, I’d like to believe that Henry joins in because he has no friends and this is the closest he’s going to get to having them.

Hook: He is very sensitive in this episode. He’s very upset that David is keeping the fact that he was scratched by the Dreamshade from his family. He looks very upset when David asks him if he’s been keeping a cure from him. Hook is very deliberate in his wording when he says David won’t make it off the island alive. You can see his jaw twitch when he says it. He brings the gang to Neal’s cave and you can see that he regrets the actions that led to Bae living on Neverland. It does seem that Bae and Hook had some sort of relationship after what we saw in And Straight on Til Morning. Otherwise, how would Hook know where Bae lived. Unless he was just watching him from afar. After they discover the star map, Hook toots his own horn by telling them how he taught Bae to navigate by the stars, but he also taught him the importance of secrecy, so he can’t read the map. And while this is upsetting to Emma, Hook seems to have some fatherly pride in Neal using what he taught him.

Questions:

What happened to Greg after the shadow was ripped from his body that there wasn’t much left of him? Did the Lost Boys tear him to pieces or are there wild animals we haven’t seen yet?

Did Bae live in the cave before becoming a Lost Boy? Was he a Lost Boy first and then ran away to live in his cave? Was he always at odds with Pan? If so, why was he ever considered a Lost Boy if he didn’t blindly follow Pan? Why does Hook know where Bae lived when Bae wanted nothing to do with him?

Was Neal always planning on using squid ink to immobilize Pan? How was this possible if he needed Gold to get the ink out for him?

Does anyone else think it’s weird that it’s only teenagers that Pan’s music seems to affect (with the exception of Henry at the end)? Isn’t the whole point of Neverland not to grow up? Isn’t a teenager pretty close to being a grown up?

How does Pan know about Milah?

Did Mary Margaret really suggest the coconut with holes in it was a colander? Come on! Mary Margaret lived in the forest and she couldn’t think of a better reason why he might have a cup-like object with tiny holes in it?

Did Bae recognize Pan from this adventure? Did he know about Pan wanting to take them to Neverland? Is that why he was so insistent about Wendy not going with the shadow?

How does Bae know that Belle is back in Gold’s life? Wasn’t Belle still Lacey the last time he saw her?

Why is Henry still asleep and all the Lost Boys are awake when he’s recaptured? 

Observations:

It’s nice that Emma’s false eyelashes have stayed on throughout their Neverland adventures.

Regina’s expression when Tink tells her that nothing much was left of Greg was amazing.

Hey look, Neal actually took off his coat because it’s hot in the jungle!

Rumple calls Hamelin a rathole of a town, which is funny because the story of the Pied Piper is that he gets all the rats out of town with his music.

Blowing into a giant shell is how you call a giant squid from the bottom of a bottomless ocean (as Gold told Henry that’s where they live in Into the Deep).

Drawings that I noticed in Bae’s cave: P & S for Port and Starboard like Hook showed him on his ship, sea turtle, the Darling Family, possible hands in a portal (his and his father’s letting go of him?), the Darling house (and two stars above), Hook’s hook, a boot squashing a snail, a hand holding a writing utensil.

Pan is playing a Pan Pipe, which is named for Pan who is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, and rustic music. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. The literary character of Peter Pan is also named for Pan.

Pan calls Rumple laddie, which makes sense if he knew Pan as a child, but not as much if they were children together. Laddie is usually something a grown up calls a child, not what children call each other.

Still no mention of Rumplestiltskin’s mother.

Pan taught Neal about never breaking into a place without having an exit plan strategy.

So, I really hate Pan. He’s a bully, and an asshole. While Rumplestiltskin is evil and dark, he at least had a goal, to get his son back. Pan just seems to derive pleasure from torturing Rumple. Why that is hasn’t been revealed yet, but Rumple has decided that he doesn’t want Belle, his voice of reason, hanging around anymore because of Pan’s antics. Henry apparently feels lost since ‘dreaming’ about his father, despite the fact that he was pretty confident about his family coming to rescue him at just the beginning of the episode. David is getting worse, Mary Margaret would die without David, and Emma has finally realized Neal is really dead.

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