#the fosters 2x11

[forbescaroline]

11k celebration: top 50 m/f friendships (as voted by my followers) #42. jesus adams foster and mariana adams foster - the fosters

[mayabishopgold]

Considering Stefania keeps trying to get rid of Liam every time they talk about their kids, what do you think about his fostering/adoption?

Are you happy they chose to tell that story?

I loved Liam and the baby they cast. No idea why Stefania keeps trying to get rid of him lol, but I’m into that storyline.

That said, I’m not a fan of how it was executed. We barely saw any moments between them and the baby, and none of the legal hurdles. I guess because we already got a lot of that with Pru and Benley and the focus was always somewhere else. It had so much potential, but it feels like there wasn’t enough care put into it.

I mean, I recently giffed the Season 2 episode with Maya and that abandoned baby (pretty sure it’s 2x11), and she had way more connection and interaction with that random kid than she did with her own child over an entire season. That’s just… unfortunate.

[toughpaperround]

Danny Nucci

Danny is a frequent guest actor in 911 fox, playing Det. Rick Romero, an LAFD colleague of Athena Grant. His first appearance was in 2x11, 'New Beginnings'.

Or check out Danny in his teen heart-throb days.

He was born in Austria in 1968, though his parents are Moroccan Sephardic Jews and he lived largely in Italy. In America he has starred in numerous films and TV series, perhaps best recognised for his roles in Crimson Tide (1995), or as Fabrizio in Titanic (1997).

Later known for his role in 'Some of my Best Friends' (video), and in 'The Fosters' where he was Mike Foster (and a director for one episode in season 5) [videoclip]

He has played a wide range of roles, but interestingly he's been part of law enforcement in The Rookie, CSI, NCIS: LA, the film 'World Trade Centre', tv series '10-8: Officers on Duty' and 'The Fosters'. Arrow had him playing a Fire Chief 🔥

He met his second wife, Paula Marshall whilst filming the comedy directed by the late Carl Reiner, 'That Old Feeling' (see gifset here). 911 fox fans, of course, will know Paula as Mrs Helena Diaz!

[IMDb] [other 911 cast bios]

[petnissonfire]

Callie and Jamie being adorable and domestic

[blackcinderella1]

Good Trouble Season 2B Trailer (HD) The Fosters spinoff

[lifeisdeal]

[annemarieyeretzian]

also he (nathaniel) is so pretty he is just;;; so Pretty

[crazyexedits]

You did have a dream. I see it. Your eyes have been touched by the Winds of Diablo.

[venivivividi]

headcAnon ✨ here! How great were the Rosa and Michael moments?! And Jones is Michael’s dad! He and Alex should start a support group. I wanted to ask if you have any headcanons about Michael and Alex and fatherhood. If you think they ever thought about it and what. What kind of parents they would be. If you think they will have kids in the future. Adoption or using a surrogate or some other alien option. Maybe dog or cat children also or instead.

I know, right?? They definitely speak the same language even when they disagree with each other. Also, I have a feeling that Michael has taken to send Rosa every picture of a dolphin he finds online with the same commentary: "look. it's you ahaha" I love them.

Oooh, fatherhood, you say? What a wonderful topic to tackle after the latest episodes...

I have to say, I tend to separate what I think realistically would happen, informed by canon, vs what I'd like for them to be in my headcanons, and to this day we canonically know:

Michael has thought about fatherhood: this is something he wants in his future and has dreamed about in the past; we learn this in two separate occasions, in 2x10 when he offers to father Isobel's child and in 2x11 when he tells Flint he wanted to start a dad band.

We have zero insight on Alex's thoughts on matter: we know his childhood was not a happy one, his relationship with his father is extremely negative and his entire family's dynamic is skewed, unhealty. That could reasonably push him towards two completely opposite directions: either he wants nothing to do with kids and a "traditional" family, deemes himself unsuited for fatherhood or he wants to somehow "avenge" his lost childhood and create the happiest family in the world, proving to himself that he can and will be a good father. Either could be and anything in between, honestly. (I'm not gonna delve into that but let's also remember that Alex grew up in a reality where gay marriage was not legal until he was like 23 and adoption was a pipe dream even after that, so that has clearly influenced his mindset even without considering the military of it all)

But for the sake of the HCs, I choose to believe that Alex is at least open to the idea of having children:

I dont think this is something they would go for very early in their relationship. They've had such a turmoiled past, they overcame every possible obstacle so that once everything settles down, they just enjoy each other's company for a while. They still can't believe they just get to be together without jumping through hoops.

As far as pets are concerned, you heard it from Mimi first: a beagle is written in Alex's future. But first, he tries to convince Michael to get a reptile. You remember Willow, his pet lizard? She was so cuute, Micheal, it's basically zero maintenance (completely false, but hes' trying) and it's so cool to have a lizard, c'mon.

Michael, as we know, is incapable of looking Alex in the eyes and deny him something. But it takes one google search for him to veto Project Lizard. There is no way he's allowing a lizard in his house after learning what they need to be fed. Also, lizards escape their enclosure. No thank you, the same night he learned too much about it he had a nightmare about waking up to a lizard stuck to his curls. Always protect the curls. No lizard.

Alex pouts. A lot.

Once the beagle settles in the truck ready to go to his forever home, Alex stops pouting. (and Michael starts because Alex is now cuddling the beagle at night. woe is Michael.)

As this thing usually go, Michael is instead adopted by a kitten, one of those impossibly small black balls of fur. Their first encounter at the junkyard went disturbingly High Noon, but after they claimed each other, the kitten is now stealing Michael's body heat and Michael is stealing all the cuddles Alex is so rudely denying him in favor of *scoffs* The Beagle.

Speaking of Sanders' Auto, once Rosa(...linda) starts picking up stray kids and unexplicably bringing them to Michael, it comes to be a place where kids who need to escape orbit around: with Sander's blessing, Michael always finds some easy work for them to do and earn some money, and when a couple of them seem truly interested, a question here and a question there quickly turns into a Michael Guerin lesson on mechanics. Those of them who are not interested, are free to just hang around as long as they dont wreak havoc or make a mess out of the place.

The thing is, Michael is completely unaware of the irony in all of that. Sanders is not, and he just hangs around smirking to himself about how much of a grumpy old man Michael is shaping up to be and laughing at history repeating itself and things like that.

It takes Isobel talking about them as Michael's junkyard children for Alex to bring the topic up. I mean, Michael is basically already doing it, and if they start fostering teens they could give some of them the happy childhood Michael never got. After that, not every kid who passes through the junkyard stays with them but some of them do, and some of them keep hanging around even after aging out of the system.

There is a panicked moment after their first foster kid gives him the silent treatment, where Alex runs to Greg for guidance; Greg has to politely remind him that he's an elementary school teacher, and his 16 years old kid might not react with the same energy to glitter glue and a happy song, so he has to figure out a different way.

Eventually they start to foster smaller kids too, and of course sometimes it's sad when they have to go and the house feels empty, but they always try and remember: it's not for them, it's for the kids. And during those nights The Beagle™ needs to find cuddles in the now domesticated ball of fur, because Michael is in very big need of a snuggle that Alex is more than happy to provide. It's how he recharges too, after all.

As far as their parenting style, Michael's a lost cause: he is incapable of not spoiling the kids because, why deny them the little joys if there's no harm in it, right? They deserve them. But he also realize the kids need structure, and he is pretty no-nonsense about it, also because, on the other hand, Alex is very much afraid of being the strict parent. It's a new chapter with every new kid, as every instance of parenting is, but the baseline of a good home is always there: love and safety.

I also can't seem to decide whether Michael would be the kind of hip parent who knows all about the youngsters culture, uses the correct terms and shares the right memes or the most embarassing dad who watches instagram reels about tiktoks and is always six months behind the last big thing. But I feel there's no in between.

Alex, sadly, despite being a cyber intelligence specialist, still mourns last.fm and that tells you everything you need to know.

Somewhere down the line, once they've collectively bought enough land to build a communeplace for all of them to live together while still maintaining a semblance of privacy (Isobel's broad interpretation of boundaries has not changed, sadly), the possibility of a full Oasian becomes a reality. The thing is, this is not just Isobel's baby, this is the podsquad baby, the triad's baby. Isobel and Michael might be the biological donors, but this is their baby.

As you can easily imagine, this is the most spoiled baby ever, because each one of them expect the others to be stern, when in reality, the baby has them all wrapped around their little fingers, and this is without powers, yet.

The first time Alex holds the baby he is completely overwhelmed: they seem so tiny, so fragile, but when he gently strokes his thumb on their forehead, they open their big, staring eyes, and everything else disappears.

Michael, you ask? Ooh, Michael is gloating. He never thought he could have half a thing in his life and now he has everything. He also self-appoints himself as the defender of the baby's curls: that entails slapping the hand of everyone that tries to play with a lock of hair to make it bounce. Do you know how annoying that can be? Leave the baby alone.

Of course, Michael is also a little shit and as soon as the baby starts talking and figuring out a way of calling them all, he tries to make them refer to Max as grandpa, to the utter hilarity of Liz and the total indignation of Max. He has yet to succeed, but the baby's still young, so Only time will tell.

[landonkirbyappreciation]

Whenever I see someone call Landon useless and weak. All I think is "Landon useless and weak? I wonder which Landon they're talking about?"

Because Landon Kirby is far from those things. He spent his whole life going through non stop trauma. Grewing up he went from crappy foster home to the next and he had to deal with all of that alone. To then finding his mom only to lose her day later to finding out who is father is what he wanted Landon for. To then being willing to spend his life alone with monsters coming after him just to keep everyone at the school safe in s2. To then having to spend the day watching his brother die, he was even willing to give up a part of himself only to find out he lost his powers. So he lost his brother and his powers all in one day. To then melting and being stuck in malivore for weeks. To then being stuck in a PW filled with monters while also being huntered by malivore. And he was able to fight off and kill all those monster without any help and WITHOUT his powers. That fact right there not only makes him more capable but also stronger than anyone else at that school. To then being possessed by malivore, to then giving up his life to save everyone from malivore(and those people don't even care that he did that or what Hope had to do. But that's another story).

As for Landon being "useless" Landon is the one to figure out the monster problem more often than not. He helped Wade with his fairy powers and if it wasn't for him Lizzie would be dead. I could go on but I think this ask is long enough. But needless to say if that's weak and useless then I want to be weak and useless like Landon Kirby

Literally all of this!! The way people have been calling Landon useless and weak for years has gotta be one of the dumbest arguments I’ve seen and there’s no way they’re actually watching the show. Like everything you listed, Landon has gone through so much trauma and pain his entire life, both mentally and physically. Just the amount of severe physical pain he’s endured at his time at the school, how much death he’s experienced, is insane to me. And that added to the years of mental trauma he had throughout his life, plus infinitely more of that at the school and all of last season... it’s crazy. Anyone who can survive that is the exact opposite of weak and useless. And he’d survived so much of it on his own, without any help. Especially in season 3, like you said, he survived a prison world full of monsters with no help, while having no supernatural powers at all. Having to learn how to fight and survive on his own. And I totally agree with you, that makes him stronger than everyone else. The fact that the squad was scared to go to the prison world just for a short period of time to save him when they all have supernatural powers and Landon had survived there for weeks, or however long, with no powers at all like?? And also like you mentioned, all the sacrifices he’s willing to make, especially the biggest one where he just died and no one even cares, no words.

And exactly! He’s figured out the monsters so many times. It was like his first day at the school when they were gonna officially let him stay (in 1x09) and he was the one who figured out the monster and was also the one to bring it into the real world for Hope to kill. He also helped figure out the slugs and get rid of them, he also killed the monster in 2x03, his subconscious saved Hope in 2x07, and he saved her in 2x11, and like you said, he helped Wade and also saved Lizzie’s life twice, and he saved Dorian as well. And that was all before everything he went through and survived in season 3. So anyone who calls him useless is just showing that they don’t actually know anything about the show when it comes to Landon and are just blinded by their hatred. Fr, I would love to be as “weak” and “useless” as Landon Kirby, aka incredibly smart and strong and able to survive anything.

[goofiedvil]

I was worried Jesus was going to crush the metronome Callie gave Brandon for Christmas in 2x11 the one he keeps on his night stand. I'm glad they didn't go there if you think Brandon is pissed now imagine if he found that in pieces.

[samanthaswishes]

I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS JUST NOW

So you know how in 2x17, Daisy kind of freezes up when she breaks the glasses in front of Jiaying? She then goes onto tell her that she was just thinking about how she broke something at a foster home and they sent her back to St. Agnes.

Do you think that's what she was thinking about when she broke the glass lights when she was in quarantine in 2x11? Like, yes, she was definitely scared to tell May and Jemma what happened because of her powers, but could she have been scared also because of the memory she has of breaking something? Like they were going to send her away for good.

This is me kind of rambling on something that came to mind, so I hope it made sense haha😅 I just really wish the show had dove more into Daisy's past. I just wanna hug her after everything she's been through.

[lambourngb]

re: your tags on that one post abt plotholes in rnm: what are the plotholes that make you lose the most sleep?

(this is my main btw, my rnm blog is @curlyguerin )

Hi! Okay... strap in, because there are a lot of little and big things that wiggle into my thoughts and makes me wonder ...am I the only one who couldn't follow that plotline?

In my opinion RNM suffers more from abandoned narratives and continuity errors than plot holes I guess, since we only have 2 seasons, with at least 2 more to go I guess I can hope they come back to these issues... but: [Under the cut plus some spoilers for season 3]

Things I would like explained :

1. What did Jesse Manes fund with family money in 1x08 ? I'm guessing it was surveillance of the town and the search for more aliens that could have escaped the military in 1947-1948. The idea that Jesse funded Caulfield is just laughable to me, along with how he was able to get his Army-assigned son moved from Germany to New Mexico for 5 years and no one noticed?? Caulfield has to be separate from whatever Jesse was doing in Roswell. Clearly there is still an ACTIVE military project focused on aliens because Flint isn't AWOL, Flint also takes Noah's body to Area 51, so where was Jesse in violation of his orders (Alex's threat to Jesse in 1x08 and then shipping him to Niger)? Surveilling citizens and setting up cameras all over town?

2. Did they ever build an Air Force base on the Fosters Homestead Ranch? (1x01-1x02) ...then it's never mentioned again.

3. I am aware I am the only one who cares about this little bit, but the show seemed to set up a narrative in season 1 about the spotlight Roswell shined white victims of crimes - like Katie and Jasmine, that the town of Roswell holds quite a lot of racism regarding justice- vilifying Rosa for over 10 years, ignoring the deaths of people around Ranchero Night, and then Noah kills Wyatt Long's best friend Hank Gibbons in 1x13. I dunno, I was expecting more from Wyatt in season 2 about this than picking a fight with Michael over Mimi's missing persons sheet and showing up with a crossbow in 2x04. And like, there was a theme of people going missing in season 2!! Mimi, Jenna, the weird twins from 2x06, Charlie -- but yet, no closer scrutiny by Sheriff Valenti other than her focus on Max Evans and the story about Mexico- Like this felt not like a plot hole, but a dropped narrative -- to wrap up the fate of Racist Hank in a missing persons sheet in 2x01. To treat him weirdly like all of Noah's other victims (who were women and men of color and poor), but for a few factors like he was white, he had actual lines in the show over a couple of episodes, and he's one of the few townspeople we learn his first and last name still sticks out in my mind as strange. The Doylist explanation is the actor wasn't available for season 2, but the Watson-perspective of this is just someone the in-show universe doesn't care about ...? Okay. I will keep that in mind, and try to ignore the fact that the town of Roswell swings wildly back to caring about white victims again in 2x13 with Jesse Manes.

4. The Alighting from 1x13 - just how far away was it from happening? Noah was ready to stick a sheriff's deputy, the town event planner and Michael (who probably would be been the only one to go missing without much fanfare, except maybe by Alex) into a pod...for how long? Months? Years? What was his endgame? how did he expect to go unnoticed by the town while he waited for his alien salvation/alien UBER to arrive? Could he just mindwarp everyone into forgetting about the pod squad? Since we didn't see any alien ships show up in the six months from 1x13 to 2x13, and no further follow up by any of our heroes about what Noah was babbling about... I'm going to say this should come back into play for season 3, otherwise it's the most egregious plot hole from season 1.

5. Why did Flint want to work with Helena? Jesse had this master plan that Helena knew all about apparently but she never shares the plan with Flint? Jesse never shares this plan with Flint either? Why? As far as I can tell from the plot of season 2, Jesse takes the console piece from Alex, he was going to kill Alex to keep him out of the way, use the console to blow up civilians, he created a paper trail that pointed the finger at Max, and then when everyone knew the truth about aliens, he was going to use HIS atomizer bomb to release the toxin that Charlie had already developed for Project Shepherd to kill all the aliens.... WHY would Flint want to stop that, especially since they fight in 2x11 over how slow Jesse was moving in his plans? Other than objecting to killing Alex, why would Flint turn Alex over to Helena to blackmail Michael into building a second atomizer bomb? He should have just kept Alex out of the way until it was all over and let Jesse proceed with his plans. Flint's desire to work with Helena Ortecho remains a plot hole to me, that is explained in the most flimsy way of he thinks his dad isn't serious about killing all the aliens even though he has the means? And if he takes Alex from Jesse's control so easily, why not steal the bomb Jesse had too?

6. These are more gripes about continuity, not really plot holes, but the fact we have this loose timeline of events but it doesn't match the weather of filming.... Like Heather Hemmens looked so gorgeous in that little silk outfit in 2x01, but she's wandering outside in Dec in Roswell New Mexico looking like that. I get that it was filmed in August/Sept of 2019 but come on... so my main frustration is I have no idea what season and month is supposed to be on screen. Universe timeline says Winter but filming schedule meant it was early fall with still having the heat of summer there...then the show ends in May/June in the universe, but we all know RNM wrapped in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 so they are all bundled up in winter again.

7. Also on continuity, small things like Rosa's birthday being wrong, the fact her astrological sign isn't Pieces for either date, openly letting Greg Manes see Rosa, not seeming to care that Liz's ex-fiance hears that Rosa is alive - like i'm sure her "dead" sister came up in conversation between Liz/Diego

- the show gives us this beautiful conversation with Michael sharing his background with Alex in 1x10, but then Alex completely forgets it in 2x04 by dropping some line like "this is what you do with family" when Michael expresses confusion about a height chart. Also, on the same note- the jabs about the Library being a dive bar, also felt like a drop in continuity because Alex knows that Michael just lost his mom (1x12) , the government IS studying aliens, and his brother is in a pod, so like, he has some very valid reasons to drink if that's what he wanted to do with in his life in early season 2!! but, also he knows Michael is a genius??

- Why Alex never mentions Rosa, Isobel's blackouts/why Michael gave up UNM, or even hint about what happened with his dad in the shed during his conversation with Maria in 2x05 is also beyond bizarre to me. It was an "information" dump conversation that Alex still doesn't share all the information he has about a situation and just ends up looking kind of judgmental in my opinion.

- the truck conversation in 2x06 between Maria and Alex, why Maria prompts a girl's name when Alex says he's never been in a real relationship INSTEAD of addressing the very real elephant in the room, Michael Guerin, that they had a conversation about in 2x05- also feels like a gap in continuity.

8. Science wise- the pathogen that Charlie developed? It was supposed to be so specific that it could kill a leader of Al Quada and all of their direct descendants but leave the rest of the population unharmed. [Which um, that's a war crime, but whatever!] How was Maria affected? the DNA they had at Caulfield to develop it - like, Maria was descended from Louise and Louise lived free. The only person that pathogen SHOULD have affected was Michael (if they used Nora to base it on) Unless you're telling me that there's some protein in "alien dna" that is so specific to aliens, that no other human shares it, but also so completely undetectable that Kyle couldn't find it in Maria's blood... ? I suppose it's possible. I hope we get more explanation about that in season 3. It makes me wonder why Caulfield/Project Shepherd ever let Patty Harris go after she volunteered for some study then, and remained content to just pay her medical bills through a fake insurance company? [But also didn't flag Mimi and all the doctors that Maria took her to???]

9. Michael's hand. I'm going to reserve judgment about this, because some of my salt on this is based on season 3 promo pictures, but I really thought that moment in 2x13 when he takes off his hat, while Alex is singing, you see him without the wrapping on his hand, that maybe he found some peace with Jesse dead and demolishing the shed with Alex. But then it looks like the hand-danna is all over season 3, right up until the finale of season 3, so... was that a mistake in wardrobe AND not a beautiful moment of character growth??? I wish I could extend some grace to RNM about that, but alas... see above for why I have trust issues.

10. Perhaps I wasn't watching season 1 closely, but I thought Noah's madness was brought on by the fact he was stuck in his pod? That it was "lower class travel accommodations" and Isobel's scream at 13 got his attention? I assumed that he stayed in the pod, possessing Isobel on and off, right up until he used her body to kill Rosa in 2008, absorbing enough power to break out. So how did Noah find Jim Valenti so quickly? If it was through Isobel's memories, then why did Jim not immediately have Noah, some random alien approaching him about his recently dead daughter, hauled off to Caulfield? Jim pays $1,000 for Rosa's body, putting her in a pod [Noah's broken pod??] and stores her, waiting for...something? An alien to come along to bring her back. So did Jim know about The Savior? Why would Jim work with Noah and vice versa? Again, I'm hoping we get more about this in season 3.

11. Was there a point of keeping Alex in the Air Force? He arranges a place for them to work on bringing Max back, but I feel like anyone could have done that? Like Isobel had money, she could have rented a storage facility. All of the equipment was borrowed from the hospital, not the military. The information about 1947-1948 was from the drives decoded from Caulfield or the AAR report left by Flint in the Project Shepherd bunker (which again was decommissioned, not an active military installation). I could support the decision if it had provided some richness to the plot or some conflict within the character, neither of which really happened. Alex hacking the government and going undercover in the Air Force to protect Michael is basically fanon. I love that fanon, but alas...

12. Finally, the time jump. What year are we jumping into? 2020? 2021? Why does it make me think none of those questions above will be answered.

[blackcinderella1]

Good Trouble x ATTN: Season 2 | "The Trouble With" Fentanyl | Freeform

[cakebeam]

It is truly baffling that the one and only time this show chose to portray Michael as emotionally astute about Alex was in 2x11 when he confronted Jesse. The general fandom impression in s1 was that Malex were mutually unaware of the extent of each other's trauma. It was a whole thing that Alex wasn't just clueless about the alien stuff. He also didn't know about everything Michael went through in foster care and learning about it had him adjusting his behaviour in their relationship. How Michael is so knowledgeable about Alex's upbringing still baffles me but suddenly revealing that he apparently knew exactly what Jesse was doing to him makes his behaviour retroactively so much worse. He knows exactly how much Alex has been struggling with his family and being a Manes and he repeatedly taunts him about it? Michael's character is a great concept in theory but the execution has been terrible for the most part so far and I really want s3 to salvage it. It needs to be 13 episodes of Michael legit committing to his own well-being and to being there for Alex even when it's not about pursuing a relationship with him.

I'm gonna be super honest here nonnie, I constantly forget about that scene between Jesse and Michael in 2x11. It's the only "Malex" scene that I keep blocking out. I think it's because it comes out of nowhere and makes no sense in the season 2 narrative that we've been seeing where Michael has apparently no interest in Alex anymore, it's all about Maria. And then Michael out of nowhere just confesses his almost current love for Alex (though that could be me reaching) to JESSE of all people and dare I say there's a compliment to Alex in that confession that Michael is making? It's just so bizarre to me, almost like whiplash, because then after that scene it goes right back to Michael being indifferent about Alex and once again choosing Maria Deluca over him and even telling her he loves her. I just... do not understand this writing at all.

The writing of Michael (mainly in season 2 for me) is completely off the rails and I can't keep up with what the f*ck is going on with this kid. I've said it previously in another ask but the show keeps Michael the most emotionally constipated out of all the other characters by not allowing him growth when the other characters are getting it and moving forward. I think Carina liked keeping Michael chaotic and for viewers to always sympathize with him but it did not come off well in season 2 and instead it just made Michael look like a immature ass to Alex the entire time for no reason because Carina can't write for sh*t.

I think it says a lot when viewers have no idea what's going on in a character's head but then again I can apply that to almost every character in season 2 (especially Maria, RIP you crazy f*cking bitch). Even Alex with him being super groovy, cool with his best friend sleeping with Michael when he was NOT cool about it in season 1. Every character got screwed in the writing in season 2 but Michael looks especially bad in the sense of him ever being a future boyfriend to Alex. How are the writers going to make Michael look like a strong enough a love interest for Alex after how he treated him in season 2 and after he chose Maria over and over? I mean... I have no idea how their going to do pull this off but I seriously hope the writers can salvage this and bring back the epic love story that was forming in season 1.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 3x02 “Lost Girl” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x111x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x032x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x152x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01

This episode is all about knowing who you are. We have Emma who still feels like an orphan, despite having found her parents, Snow White who almost gives up her kingdom because she’s lost her way, and Rumple who feels like he’s still that coward from years ago. They all have to go through something to move past that hurt and shame inside of them and become a Savior, a Queen, and a hero. Unfortunately, the whole storyline is really slow.

Summary: Pan gives Emma a map to find Henry, but warns her that only she can unlock the map when she admits who she really is. In the past, Snow White is having doubts about taking back the kingdom, until Charming takes her to an enchanted weapon that helps her injure the Evil Queen.

Opening: Sword in the Stone

Character Observations:

Gold: He immediately cuts off his shadow and gives it his dagger to hide so that even he can’t find it. I guess if you’re magical you can have your shadow taken from you without risk of death? Or maybe it’s different for people from the Enchanted Forest then from Earth? Not sure. Either way, Gold no longer has his shadow or his dagger. Gold is looking at the doll when he hears rustling. A hooded figure steals the doll and it turns out to be, Belle? Gold is confused about how Belle is there, and she doesn’t really answer his questions about it, just asks her own about his wardrobe. She thought it was his past, he tells her it’s now his future so he can save Henry. She tells him that there’s still hope and that he would never go completely dark again. He almost kisses her before he realizes that something is amiss. At first he asks her questions about Storybrooke, but then thinks that she’s a trick of Pan’s. She tells him he conjured her. Gold is understandably confused about that, because he seems to think he has everything under control, so Belle asks him why he conjured her. Belle brings him to a ledge overlooking the ocean. Is this the same place Henry and Pan flew from? It looks like it, but they may also only have one cliff and have to dress it up differently each time. They argue about why he’s brought Belle to the island. He claims he doesn’t know why he’d imagine her there and she insists he does (is he literally arguing with himself right now if Belle is a figment of his imagination?). He finally admits he’s a coward just like his father. He finally admits that Pan wanted him to leave Henry and Gold would get to live. Belle says he’s afraid he’ll make the selfish choice because he knows Henry will lead to his death. Belle reminds him how he spent most of his life looking for Bae after he abandoned him. He wouldn’t do the same to Henry. He needs to let go of the past. We finally find out that the doll is the last thing Gold’s father gave him before he left. So that’s why he’s so sentimental about it. Belle tells him to let go of the past so he doesn’t make the same mistakes. She leaves and Gold drops the doll over the cliff’s edge. Except the damn thing keeps coming back like a bad penny. It falls from the sky back at Gold’s feet. He sets it on fire and crushes it beneath his foot, but there it is, completely unharmed, just behind the next bush. Gold decides it’s probably best to keep it on him after that. But he looks really worried, which is not a look we normally see on him.

Emma: While Gold is busy trying to move past his past, Emma is being forced to relive hers in order to save Henry. Hook is leading them to a ridge to be able to see the whole island. Emma defends him when Regina is being a bitch again. Emma thanks Mary Margaret for some water and Mary Margaret asks her to call her mom instead. Emma is not comfortable with that. Only in life and death situations. Do you not know your daughter yet, Mary Margaret? They reach the ridge and find the Dark Jungle has grown more than when Hook was last there. Emma worries that it will be too late when they find Henry. Mary Margaret assures her that it’s never too late. Um, if Henry is dead then it will be too late. Emma is woken by the sound of the Lost Boys crying. She ventures away from their camp (though she does try to wake the others, but they’re all sound asleep). Emma finally meets Pan and she immediately puts a sword to his throat (good job, Emma). He tells Emma he’s there to help her find Henry. He’ll give her a map that only she can open if she stops denying who she really is. Regina wants to use magic to unlock the map, but Emma is determined to figure it out herself. She also doesn’t want to risk ruining the map. Emma tries naming things about herself to unlock the map with no success. Mary Margaret and David are trying to help her, but they are so overeager that Emma is clearly uncomfortable with them there. And while Mary Margaret tells her not to hold anything back, it’s very obvious that she doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Everyone thinks Emma saying she’s the Savior will unlock the map, but it doesn’t.  Regina decides to use a locator spell on the map to find Pan’s camp. Emma does not look convinced this is the right decision. Way to be a leader, Emma. And then Regina tells Emma to be a leader and lead them into the Dark Jungle after the map after Emma said she didn’t want to use magic to find Henry. WTF! Regina snarks at Emma if she’s ready to thank her yet. Emma says she will, but then the map stops. The gang goes on ahead convinced that Pan is there, but Emma looks very uncertain about everything. They do come across a camp, but no one is there. Emma sees someone who she thinks is Henry, but it’s actually Pan dressed in Henry’s clothes. She wants to know where Henry is, but Pan tells her she broke the rules, she doesn’t care, she wants Henry. Pan tells her cheaters never win, so the Lost Boys attack. Emma has a little freak out when she gets the upper hand on one of the Lost Boys. Pan reminds Emma that the map will only reveal itself when she stops denying who she really is. Mary Margaret and David try to lift Emma’s spirits, again, but she rebuffs them, again. Mary Margaret goes to talk to her privately, but Emma doesn’t want to talk to her. She is too afraid of hurting Mary Margaret’s feelings about how she felt when she was fighting the Lost Boy. Emma claims that she stopped fighting him because he was just a boy, but Mary Margaret keeps pushing her. Eventually, Emma says the boy reminded him of her when she was in the foster care system; a lost girl who desperately wanted a family and couldn’t understand what she’d done to make her parents give her up. On Neverland, she feels like an orphan. Bravo to Jennifer Morrison and Ginnifer Goodwin on this scene. I know it made me cry. The map finally unlocks. Emma apologizes to Mary Margaret, but Mary Margaret knows it’s the truth and that its her job to change the way Emma feels. They tell the rest of the group that the map is unlocked and they make preparations to leave. Hook flirts with Emma, but in a sincere way, and she seems slightly uncomfortable about this new dynamic. Pan comes by while Emma is alone and picking berries and she tries her best to ignore his taunts. But then he says she never forgave her parents for abandoning her and Henry hasn’t forgiven her either. Which, I call Bull. Shit. Henry has told Emma numerous times he knows why she had to give him up. And he didn’t have a hellish childhood like Emma did. Pan says by the time she gets to him, Henry will never want to leave the island. Emma’s not buying what Pan’s selling and walks off, but not before Pan gets out one more quip about her leaving the island an orphan.

Snow/Mary Margaret: Snow has just been woken by Charming and proposed to and wants to take back the kingdom. She has now gone to a village in her kingdom and makes a passionate speech about fighting the Evil Queen, but the villagers are too scared to fight with her. Then the Evil Queen comes to threaten them some more.  Snow and Charming both grab their swords, but the Evil Queen ties Charming up while she offers Snow a deal. She wants Snow to give up her claim to the throne and exile herself. She wants Snow to live a life where she sees everything that should have been hers taken over by the Evil Queen. She wants Snow to get down on her knees and swear on her father’s grave that the kingdom belongs to the Evil Queen. Snow wonders what happens if she doesn’t, so the Evil Queen grabs the nearest villager (a young girl) and starts magically choking her. Snow runs after the Evil Queen with her sword, but the Evil Queen poufs away leaving Snow sprawled on the ground. The Evil Queen gives Snow a deadline and says she’ll start killing a loyal subject a day if Snow doesn’t take the deal. So this is different from the way things currently are, how? The Evil Queen tells her she may have been a princess but she’ll never be a queen. Snow is pretty much done at this point. Her confidence is shot and she wants to take the queen’s deal. Charming says the Evil Queen will still menace the people but now they’ll have no one to protect them. Snow doesn’t think she did such a great job protecting them today. Grumpy says as her friends, the dwarfs will do whatever she decides. David reminds her that she’s Snow White, but she’s not sure who that is anymore. This is an interesting dichotomy here, because Charming only knows her as the Bandit Princess who tried to rob from him. He doesn’t know the innocent Snow who had everything her heart desired from her father and who grew up with Regina as a stepmother. So when he calls her Snow White he’s referring to the strong woman he met in the woods, whereas Snow doesn’t know who she is anymore, bandit or princess or both. Snow makes up her mind to take the exile deal since they’ll all be alive and can live together. Snow is working off some anger by doing target practice, but she hasn’t hit a target yet. Charming tells her he made a deal with Rumplestiltskin to find a weapon that can help her defeat the Evil Queen. She wants to know how the weapon can help her defeat the Evil Queen. He tells her by showing the Evil Queen who Snow really is. He then helps her with her stance and she shoots the arrow into the bullseye. They get to the weapon and it’s Excalibur, the sword in the stone. Charming can’t remove it from the stone and offers for Snow to try, but she doesn’t think she’ll be able to if he couldn’t get it out. Charming tells her the legend states only the true ruler can get the sword out. Snow is able to get it out, and she is shocked! Snow is chock full of confidence when she sees the Evil Queen. Snow is not taking the deal. This time the Evil Queen starts choking Grumpy. Charming reminds her that she can defeat the Evil Queen because she pulled the sword from the stone. This time when Snow goes after the Evil Queen and she poufs away, Snow is smart enough to swing behind her and she ends up cutting the Evil Queen’s cheek. Snow is in awe of what she’s done, the Evil Queen is now shocked. Snow tells her this is her kingdom and she will fight for it. The village rejoices. Snow calls upon Rumplestiltskin to pay the price for Charming, but he tells her he didn’t help her prince. She doesn’t believe him since she’s holding Excalibur, but Rumplestiltskin tells her it’s a fake and the real Excalibur is in Camelot. And I’m not sure what’s up with Ginnifer Goodwin’s acting in this scene, because she’s really hamming it up. She reminds me of how Bailey Madison plays young Snow. Which is great for a child, but not for a grown woman. Snow is adamant that the sword must be Excalibur because she was able to strike the Evil Queen, but Rumplestiltskin’s not having it and he takes the necklace from her neck for wasting his time. Snow comes back to Charming and the dwarfs, pissed as hell. She wants to know why he planted a false Excalibur. He just wanted her to realize that she has the strength inside her. They kiss, all is well.

Mary Margaret is now trying to get Emma to realize who she is, although she won’t like it in the end. We start with her trying to get Emma to call her mom, like she did in Storybrooke. Emma’s not so comfortable with that when they’re not about to die. Mary Margaret says she gets it, but the second Emma walks past her, her face falls in disappointment. When they realize they can’t see Pan’s camp from the ridge, Emma worries that they’re going to be too late to save Henry, but Mary Margaret, in her hopeful manner, tells Emma that it’s never too late. After Emma gets the map Mary Margaret reminds Emma that Pan is playing a game, so that means they can win.  Emma is trying to unlock the map and Mary Margaret and David are acting like cheerleaders. It’s actually really annoying. Like they’re literally sitting across from her cheering her on and giving words of encouragement, but they’re also trying to get her to admit to being the Savior, which is not the answer Pan is looking for because the map is still blank. Regina uses her magic to find Pan’s camp and when they get there, no one is there and Mary Margaret thinks maybe Regina’s magic didn’t work. Regina gets pissed that Mary Margaret is blaming her for something going wrong, again. I think Mary Margaret has every right to blame Regina, it’s not like her magic is usually used for good. And usually when she uses it, things tend to go wrong. Anyway, Pan has the Lost Boys attack and David gets his jacket ripped by an arrow possibly laced with Dreamshade while saving Mary Margaret. She notices that Emma is kind of freaking out over one of the Lost Boys after the fight ends. Once again, Mary Margaret starts spouting off platitudes and Emma is just not having it. She follows Emma when she goes off by herself and tells her they need to keep fighting. Emma thinks they’ve already lost because saying she’s the Savior hasn’t revealed anything. Mary Margaret realizes that Emma isn’t who she thinks she is, or at least tries to hide who she used to be, and asks why she freaked out with the Lost Boy. Emma is really trying not to delve into the past to upset Mary Margaret, but she keeps pushing her. Eventually, Emma blurts out about feeling like an orphan and wanting parents and crying herself to sleep at night and all the things she knows Mary Margaret doesn’t need to know, or Emma didn’t want her to know. And Mary Margaret is crying and feeling guilty the whole time. Luckily, this revelation opens the map. Emma doesn’t understand why, but Mary Margaret does. Emma finally admitted she still feels like an orphan, despite having found her parents is what she’s denied about herself. Emma tells Mary Margaret she’s sorry for feeling that way, but Mary Margaret accepts that it’s the truth, and it’s her job to change the way she feels by being her mother. 

Charming/David: Charming is all about empowering his love to do what he thinks is best for her. She’s scared (obviously) of the Evil Queen, especially since no one wants to help her fight, so he has to convince her that she’s still the feisty bandit he met in the forest that didn’t take any guff from anyone. But she doesn’t know who she is anymore. Snow decides to take exile. Charming isn’t happy about that. Grumpy accuses him of only wanting to be with Snow for her kingdom, despite that he woke her with True Love’s Kiss. Charming is offended. They tell him that if he wants to change Snow’s mind they need to do it without their help. Charming goes to Rumplestiltskin for help. Rumple can’t help him. Charming knows he must have something, just name his price. Charming goes to Snow who says she won’t change her mind about exile, but Charming tells her about a magic weapon that can help her defeat the Evil Queen by showing her who Snow really is. Snow eventually agrees. They ride to the weapon, which happens to be Excalibur. Charming can’t get the sword out because he’s not the true ruler of the land. But Snow gets it out easily, and Charming reiterates it’s because she is the true ruler of the land. The Evil Queen comes to exile Snow, but when she refuses she starts to choke Grumpy. Snow doesn’t know what to do, but Charming tells her she can do this, and helps give her some of her confidence back. Snow manages to nick the Evil Queen and she tells her she will fight for her kingdom. Charming couldn’t look anymore prouder or turned on by that. They all rejoice when the Evil Queen poufs off. Charming is staring into the lake looking like a proper prince when the dwarfs apologize to him for calling him a gold digger. They drink, but then Snow comes back from meeting with Rumple and is pissed because she found out Charming lied to her about Excalibur. Charming looks like a husband who’s just been caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing when Snow confronts him and it’s hilarious. He tells her he needed her to believe in something he already knew. Snow’s freaking out about having stood up to the Evil Queen, but Charming tells her she did that all on her own. The lie about Excalibur just gave her a little push. She kisses him and they’re all good now.

David, on the other hand, is being an ass and a liar, when he’s not being Emma’s cheerleader that is. If you are on a strange island that you’ve never been on with someone who has been on that island and lived there, shouldn’t you listen to them and not fight them on every single little thing? Because that’s how David is acting toward Hook, and it’s really annoying. I’m really confused as to why David is leading the group when he has no idea where he’s going. Then, Hook pulls his arm back as he’s about to machete his way through some Dreamshade, and David barely listens to the reasons why he shouldn’t hack through the thorns. Hook gives his suggestion about which way to go, and David decides to go a different route, and everyone follows him! I get that Hook is the ‘bad guy’, but do they all really not trust him enough that they’ll follow David who has no clue what he’s doing? They eventually make it to the ridge but they can’t see anything so they bed down for the night. After Emma receives the map from Pan, Regina wants to use magic to unlock it, but everyone is against that, including David who agrees with Hook about not breaking Pan’s rules. Wow! David is actually agreeing with Hook! Who’d have thunk it? Emma is trying to figure out who she is to unlock the map and Mary Margaret and David are cheering her on. Okay, they’re lending moral support by building her up positively, but they’re just really annoying when they do it. David thinks using magic on the map is a bad idea and Hook agrees with him. David doesn’t like agreeing with Hook. Regina uses magic to find Pan, David once again takes the lead. But Pan isn’t happy they broke the rules so the Lost Boys attack, and David ends up getting sliced by a Dreamshade laced arrow. Except he tells Mary Margaret it just sliced his jacket and that’s it. Apparently, keeping the truth from his wife to ‘protect her’ is something he hasn’t stopped doing. David and Mary Margaret try to talk to Emma, but she’s not up for their cheeriness. David attempts to go talk to her again, but Mary Margaret stops him to talk to her instead. Later on, after Emma unlocks the map and they camp down for the night, David goes off on his own to reveal that he did indeed get sliced by the arrow, and we can see that his veins around the cut (which has also stopped bleeding) have started to turn black due to the Dreamshade. Looks like David is in real trouble.

The Evil Queen/Regina: The Magic Mirror informs The Evil Queen that Charming has awoken Snow with True Love’s Kiss. She doesn’t seem that angry, just upset that her plan didn’t last that long. The Evil Queen interrupts Snow’s speech to the villagers about taking back the kingdom, noting that they don’t seem too enthused to help her. She offers Snow a deal: declare her queen and put herself, Charming, and the dwarfs into exile. She tells Snow that killing her cursing her everlasting sleep hasn’t worked, and the better punishment would be to make her live in exile knowing that the queen has taken everything that was supposed to be Snow’s. That’s actually growth for the Evil Queen at this point. She’s looking at the bigger picture instead of right in the moment. Too bad it doesn’t stick. If Snow doesn’t take her deal, someone will pay the price. And to prove her point, she starts choking a young girl with her magic. Snow tries to go after her with her sword, but the Evil Queen just poufs away and tells her she has until sunset the next day to make up her mind or she’ll start killing a peasant a day. She also tells Snow to stop denying who she is; she may have been a princess, but Snow will never be queen. The next day the Evil Queen goes to Snow to ask her what her decision will be. Snow doesn’t take exile so The Evil Queen starts magically choking Grumpy. Snow once again goes after her with her sword, but the Evil Queen poufs behind her, and Snow manages to scratch her cheek with her sword. The Evil Queen is stunned. She wasn’t expecting Snow to be able to hurt her. Apparently, this makes her change her mind about killing a villager a day, because now she’s talking about an all out war. Hey, Evil Queen. You are right up in Snow’s face right now. Grab her heart and crush it. No one could stop you at this point. Or send a fireball to kill the entire village or even Charming. I don’t understand why she has all this power and she’s really just all talk. Anyway, she poufs away probably to go lick her wounds.

Regina is all about not listening and whining this episode. Seriously, she’s just so annoying. First she complains about traipsing through the forest when she could have just magicked them all up to the ridge they’re headed to. But Hook points out that she doesn’t know where it is because of the thickness of the jungle. Then she follows David instead of Hook, who actually knows the island. She even throws Hook a look that basically says David will never trust him, and it’s weird. When they get to the ridge and see the Dark Jungle has grown more since Hook was last there and they can’t see the camp, Hook suggests bedding down for the night and Regina is outraged that Hook would suggest sleeping when her son is in danger and possibly suffering. Notice that Regina always refers to Henry as her son and acts like no one is serious about saving him. They are all on Neverland to save Henry! Hook tells her they need rest if they want to save Henry. Regina is not happy about this (spoiler, she’s never happy). When Pan gives Emma the map she immediately wants to use magic on it to unlock it (what happened to the magic is like a drug arc she was going through last season to prove she had changed for Henry? Is magic no longer considered a drug now that Emma has it?), but Emma is adamant that she can figure it out and unlock it herself. Regina also thinks the map is a distraction for them to not look for Henry. No one wants her to use magic on the map, because they think she might hurt the map. She says it’s a risk she’s willing to take (she’d rather blow up their only way of finding Henry just to prove she’s right by using magic?), but no one else agrees. Regina looks annoyed the whole time Emma is trying to unlock the map. When Emma admits she’s the savior and that doesn’t work, Regina takes the map and puts a locator spell on it. It leads them to the Dark Jungle and even though Regina put the locator spell on the map, she makes Emma lead since Emma had insisted on being the leader. So petty. As the map leads them deeper into the Dark Jungle, Regina starts getting smug and asks Emma if she’s going to thank her for her help. Really? You don’t think for one second that because you used magic you might be headed into a trap? They reach an empty camp and because no one is there Mary Margaret comments that maybe Regina’s magic didn’t work right and Regina gets upset that Mary Margaret is blaming her for something again. Regina, grow up!! I swear she gets worse with every subsequent episode. She had some good growth last season and then Cora made her get off track, then she almost sacrificed herself for Henry, and now she’s bitchy Regina again. During the fight with the Lost Boys Regina uses her magic against them (even though Pan just said using magic was cheating, but whatever). Emma finally unlocks the map, and they decide that they need to stop playing Pan’s game and make Pan play theirs. Regina questions this, but eventually agrees. I don’t understand why she’s questioning this or wants to work on her own. So far everything she has tried has failed, while Emma has been the one to actually get things done. I’m really not liking Regina this season. She’s whiny, and bitchy, and has lost any growth she had from season 2. Last season I actually cared about what happened to her, now she could fall off a cliff and I wouldn’t care.

Hook: Flirtatious as ever with Emma and David (although, mainly to get under David’s skin which is hilarious). He’s the only one in the group familiar with Neverland, yet David doesn’t trust him so no one else does either. David fights him when he tries to cut through some brambles, but Hook knows it’s Dreamshade, which is the poison he used to try and kill Gold. I don’t understand why David is fighting him so hard when he knows nothing about Neverland and Hook lived on the goddamn island! Hook knows he’s a villain but takes offense at Pan not being one when Emma explains that Pan is the hero in all the stories in her world. Hook wants to know how handsome he is in Pan’s books, but Emma thwarts his preening by telling him that perms and waxed mustaches are not handsome. Once they get to the ridge, Hook is disappointed to find out that the Dark Jungle has grown so much they can’t see Pan’s camp. He suggests sleeping for the night to gather their strength. Despite Regina’s protests, everyone actually agrees with him this time. Hook and Regina argue about the map Pan gives Emma. Hook talks about how Pan likes his games and when Regina thinks the map will lead them into a trap, Hook reminds her the whole island is a trap. Regina wants to use magic but Hook tells her breaking Pan’s rules would be unwise. David actually agrees with him and Hook quips about winning him over. Later, when Regina steals the map from Emma to use magic on it, David says it’s not a good idea to use magic and Hook agrees with him.  David can’t believe he and Hook agree again and Hook says he’s winning him over. I smell a bromance blooming between these two. Hook is not happy that the map leads them into the Dark Jungle, since he told them never to set foot in there. When they get close to Pan, Hook warns Emma to be careful because while Pan looks like a boy, he’s actually a demon. The Lost Boys attack them and Hook warns that the arrows are tipped with Dreamshade. Hook ends up fighting with Felix and reminds him of Rufio and that it will be a far worse fate for him. Eventually, Pan calls everyone off. Emma finally manages to unlock the map. Hook congratulates her on her patience with Regina and tells her that patience will help her defeat Pan, and then he offers her some rum. She quips about rum being the solution to everything and he says it doesn’t hurt. He’s interested in how she unlocked the map and in getting to know her better. It’s one of the first times he’s truly sincere with her, and you can see how uncomfortable Emma is with it. Not because it’s creepy, but because that might mean Hook is a real person and not just someone she banters with.

Pan: He’s a lot of talk. He talks and talks and talks. And he makes threats, but, with the exception of the Lost Boys attack, he doesn’t actually do anything. He’s more annoying than anything else, because he also says the same things all the time. This time it’s that Emma needs to stop denying who she really is, over and over. Then he threatens that Emma will be an orphan again by the time they leave the island. I mean, at least he’s not villain monologuing, but repetitive monologuing is just as bad. Maybe he and Bell should hang out with the whole, repeating the same thing over and over dialogue.

Questions:

Why did Gold’s shadow change from one that looked like him to the generic shadow that Neverland boasts?

Still wondering how the magic mirror works. Why can she see through to places that obviously don’t have mirrors or reflective surfaces, but Rumple felt it was necessary to cover his mirrors in Skin Deep so she couldn’t spy on him? If she doesn’t need a mirror, then covering his mirrors wouldn’t matter.

Why are we back to Snow’s hair looking so awful? Are they spending all the stylist money on special effects?

Why are Mary Margaret, David, Hook, and Regina still wearing their jackets when Emma has taken off her turtleneck and is traipsing around the hot jungle in her tank top?

Okay, I get that David does not like Hook, but he’s the only one with knowledge of Neverland. Why won’t he listen to him?

Where was Hook when everyone was sleeping? We saw everyone at camp but him. Was he keeping watch? Because he didn’t do a great job seeing as Emma wandered off and Pan found her.

Would Regina really risk blowing up the map with magic?

Who’s the sheriff of Storybrooke now that both Emma and David are in Neverland?

Why is Emma still wearing her false eyelashes in Neverland? How is Regina’s hair still flipping when it’s obviously humid out?

After the scene in the village, the front of Snow’s white bodice was covered with dirt and mud. How is it perfectly clean the next time we see her? Actually, how has she kept her white, leather outfit so clean? Why white? Did the costume designer decide she needed to wear that because of her name?

How did David get to and from Rumplestiltskin’s castle so fast? We’ve seen in Skin Deep that his castle is in the mountains and not in a location that is just easy to pop in to for a quick favor.

Didn’t David need a potion from Gold to pour over Jefferson’s hat to locate him in We Are Both? How does Regina do a locator spell just using magic?

If the sword is from Camelot, shouldn’t the person who pulls the sword from the stone be the ruler of Camelot? Not the Enchanted Forest.

Is Belle really conjured from Gold’s head or is she something more? Neverland does run on imagination, so it’s not a stretch to think your thoughts could manifest as reality.

So, since Snow didn’t take the deal with the Evil Queen, is someone going to die everyday still?

Where did Snow’s mother’s necklace come from? It only shows up on her neck when she and Charming go to find Excalibur. What does Rumplestiltskin want with it?

Observations:

Considering it’s only supposed to have been maybe a week or so since Charming woke Snow, his hair goes from the short cut he had in season one, to his current longish cut.

Love that Charming and Snow both unsheath their swords at the exact same time. They’re already so in sync with each other.

Dreamshade is the poison Hook used to try and kill Gold back in The Queen is Dead.

What Emma says to try and unlock the map: Her name, being Henry’s mother, she used to be a bailbondsperson, she’s currently the sheriff of Storybrooke, she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, she’s the product of True Love, she was born in the Enchanted Forest, she’s the Savior.

Hook mentions Rufio to Felix. In the movie Hook, Rufio is the new leader of the Lost Boys and Hook kills him.

The Evil Queen has quite the interesting wardrobe this episode. She goes from an Elizabethan style dress to what I can only describe as an 80’s hair band inspired form fitted gown and headpiece.

I finally realized what’s been bugging me about Mary Margaret’s hair. It’s too fluffy. Maybe it’s the humidity of the jungle, but it looks more like a teenage boy cut rather than the cute pixie cut she’s been sporting.

Sorry this review took me so long to get out, but I was really bored with it. Mary Margaret and David seem to be very out of character with their over-cheerfulness when it comes to Emma. Regina is just whiny and bitchy. Gold seems to be having some sort of mental breakdown. Pan is not as dastardly as Hook is making him out to be. Hook and Emma seem to be the only people in character as we get more hidden feelings exposed from Emma and more flirting from Hook.

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