Monday Recap: Good Form - Spoilers Ahoy!

 Belay that ahoy there! Shipshape! Sailor Talk! Holy Hook in a Hairbow!

Yowza.

I'm starting to have some doubts about this season. It's really starting to meander. We all knew that a Captain/Swan hook up (ha!) was coming, and while that kiss was worth the price of admission - Emma's relationships all feel really forced to me. I don't know...maybe it's me. But I really do buy her as a consummate survivor with a LOT of trust issues, and I don't see those walls come down enough to buy her with any of the guys we've seen her paired with yet.
 
Who did we meet?: Captain Liam Jones (RIP), and a lost boy who is NOT Felix.

When and where did the events take place?: Present Day Neverland, unspecified past in an as yet unspecified kingdom. We STILL have not been to Storybrooke.

What did we learn?: Dreamshade has an antidote, and the antidote has a pretty major catch.
Also, Hook's backstory! It was interesting, if a leeeetle hamfisted. We *know* that Hook Killian becomes a pirate. He didn't really need the Norma Rae moment with AAAAALL the exposition. Although Colin O'Donohue played it well. I think the guys on that ship were just happy to have a reason to lose all that fussy gear.

Why does this matter?: Maybe the better question is DOES this matter, but this King that Killian and Liam are in the employ of, who knows not just of Neverland's existance, but of a virulently toxic plant and needs it to win a war. Is this a framing device or, will this be important later? We really don't know where Killian and Liam are from, although it certainly seems like the Enchanted Forest.

Since he's sworn off Neverland, it can't be too terribly long after Liam's death when he meets Milah. So maybe the wars are the Ogre Wars?

Oh Henry!: Yeah, I got nothing. I miss Rumpelstiltskin.

Best Line: "A one-handed pirate with a drinking problem?" - Peter Pan to/about Captain Hook. Ouch and zing - but let's be real, pop-psychologists don't diagnose guys with Captain Hook syndrome, now do they?

Missed Opportunity: "Go get some firewood or something." - Emma after that RAUNCHY kiss. Really Hook, all you can muster after THAT is "As you wish?" Well, I guess there's some precedent for simplicity.

Wait, What?: Is there really a sextant that will help them decode the map  and get them off the island? Cause...let's find THAT. It sounds more useful than a golden compass.

And where's Tinkerbell? She's possibly the inabitant  of the other cage along with Rumpel, or Owen/Greg. My money is on Ethan Embry. I think Tink is playing both sides of the field, because WE NEVER SAW A BODY. That line about there "not being enough of [Owen]" to salvage anything had to have been a lie, because all that happened to him was his shadow was taken.

There are three shadows roaming around loose...well, dissected from their owners. Rumpel, Pan, and Owen. Wonder what's up with them? 

Really OUAT?: Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen. No one wants to #savehenry. I have a feeling you'll get a lot more twitter traction with #shutupsnow and/or #shutupcharming.

Crackpot Theory: I don't know...I can't nail this down Pan's motives. The idea that he's grooming Henry to be the new Pan has some audience traction. But I just don't know. Pan really seems to have the world calibrated to his liking. And here's the other thing - we haven't yet seen him out and out lie. He tells the truth selectively, and in a way that will ultimately benefit him, but he does tell it. So I'm inclined to believe what he said to Henry about wanting/needing him to bring back magic. And it still doesn't explain how Pan knew to look for The Heart of the Truest Believer or how he got that sketch.
We also haven't seen him outside the context of Neverland, even though we know he's originally from the Enchanted Forest.

So how did Peter Pan find his way to Neverland and become its defacto ruler? Does anyone else find it odd that we haven't seen ANY fairies in Neverland yet, excluding the fallen Tinkerbell? This has shady blue fairy dust all over it to me.

Random Thoughts: Charming is an INSUFFERABLE ASSHOLE throughout this episode. "It's your fault we're here!" "Stay away from my daughter!" "Emma will never love you!" "You're a LIAR and liars SUCK." "You're nothing but a pirate" ...SAID THE SHEPERD WHO MASQUERADED AS A PRINCE AND MARRIED A TITLE. #ShutupCharming SHEESH.

OUAT drinking game - take a drink every time Regina: A. uses magic for something superficial. B. whines about how they could solve this problem with magic. C. says something snippy, D. uses a bad pun (all puns are bad puns.)

Henry turning that stick into an actual sword was not as neat as Robin Williams turning empty bowls into bowls full of rainbow frosting. Maybe that's my bias.

Monday Recap: Heart of the Truest Believer

Spoiler Alert! (because I know you were all watching Breaking Bad last night and forgot that this was on.)

Who did we meet?: Peter Pan! And at least one mermaid.

What did we learn?: A lot! How portals work! Who is in charge of the "home office". That Henry possesses the titular heart. That Rumplestiltskin has history with Peter Pan. That mermaids are worse than sharks, whales, or krakens, and that you can say 'bitch' in primetime.THE IMPORTANCE OF COOPERATION. Maybe the Charming-Snow-Swan family can team up with the Evil Queen and Captain Hook to make a community garden.


When/Where do the events take place?: Present-day Neverland and the Enchanted Forest. 11 years ago in an unspecified hospital.

Why is this important?: Taking Greg/Owen's shadow. Hm. File him under not dead yet.

Oh Henry!: No, we are NOT making smores. *facepalm*

Wait, what?: Aurora tells Bae/Neal that he is in "Our kingdom". Meaning...hers and Philip's? Or hers and Mulan's? OR...hers AND Philip's AND Mulan's? Multi-Ethnic Polyamory Royals! Royals behaving badly! Nah, I'm guessing it's Aurora and Philip's (half decimated) kingdom because she has a new hairdo and some kind of tiaraish crowny headgear. And Aurora has a superpower! ...sleeping. Sleepwalking. Sleep...realm-jumping. Hooray she's being given something to do,  but boo her something kind of sucks. BUT her superpower is still better than Emma's. Womp-womp.

This is probably the kind of thing that will only bother me BUT, in a wink-to-the-fourth wall moment, Mulan asks Bae 'What's a movie?', but when Bae meets Robin Hood, and says he's Rumplestiltskin's son, and Robin takes him at his word. Bae says 'What, you don't want to see ID?'...how is Robin hood familiar with the idiom ID?

Best Line: "It is so much easier to get people to hate something than to believe." - Peter Pan. Truth.com.

Best Line Honorable Mention: "Good thing you guys don't ask questions." - Henry  Bahahahaha! Ok, that was solid. It's not often ever than Henry gets a good line, and this just proves that I hate(d) Greg and Tamara more than I hate Henry.

Really OUAT?: The lights flickering during Henry's "auspicious" birth was totally ripped from Wyatt's birth in Charmed. That 11 years ago flashback was SUPER unnecessary. It did nothing to enhance the story, and it didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

Overall, I'm maintaining my optimism. Tamara and her nonsense storyline are out of the picture. Things seem to be refocusing on the characters and their relationships. Henry's contributions to the actual episode were few. If last season was the Harry Potter season, this is going to be the 'Lost' season. Our heroes trapped on a malevolent, magical, possibly sentient island? Hm.

It's REALLY interesting that Rumple genuinely seems to fear Pan, and that he's gone sort of lone wolf in going after Henry. In a way, Peter Pan seems to be a bigger threat than Cora.

Weekend Speculation

"Your acting all season has been
 more wooden than mine right now."

Well, this is it. The culmination of a bizzare, lackluster season. A season that started with tremendous promise and then seems to have shat the bed.

By Kitsis and Edwards own admission their biggest regret of Season 2 was having August/Pinnochio tasered to death, because wood is historically traditionally scientifically not the greatest conductor of electricity.

Biggest Season Two Regret
Eddy and Adam also took a moment to address a major fan complaint this season: The Tasing of Pinocchio. "Here's the thing, we thought, 'We need a real world weapon.'" In the moments in making that decision we never realized the backlash that would be from a taser," Eddy emphatically said. "We just figured the audience assumed it wasn't a taser ... but they didn't. So I got a lot of history lessons about wood and conducting electricity. If I could go back one season and change one thing, I would have made it a syringe. If she had just taken a [glowing] syringe and shoved it into the dragon, no one would give a sh*t. I am sorry we chose a taser. We are willing to take the hit for the taser. We f*cked up." (http://www.etonline.com/tv/133446_Once_Upon_A_Time_Season_2_Finale_Spoilers/)

So we head into "And Straight On Til Morning" on Sunday. Neal/Baelfire has been shot and gone through the portal into another world. We've gained some insight into Hook and Baelfire's past relationship - that is, that they had a past relationship.

Here's what we know:

• Neal and Emma are Henry's biological parents
• Neal is Baelfire, Rumpelstiltskin's biological son
• Rumplestiltskin believes that Henry will be his undoing, based on the prophecy of the seer.
• Neal and Emma both traveled to other worlds through the Blue Fairy's involvement.
• Rumpelstiltskin says that fairy magic doesn't mix well with what he is
• Emma is inherently magical - The Chosen One, born of true love destined to break the Dark Curse. She hasn't actually broken it yet. 
• Shortly after being sent to A World Without Magic, Baelfire is taken to Neverland.
• In Neverland, you don't age. Hook goes there with the intent of giving himself unlimited time to plot his revenge against Rumpelstiltskin, since The Dark One has "life eternal". (But can apparently be killed by poison. Whatever.)
• Rumpelstiltkin is the "crocodile" responsible for cutting off Hook's hand - and killing his True Love - Milah.
• Milah is Rumpelstiltskin's former wife, and Baelfire's mother.
• There are faries in Neverland, according to Wendy.

Here's what we don't know:

• We don't know why The Shadow is kidnapping boys to Neverland.
• Where Neal is now.
• What happens to Baelfire while he is in Neverland.
• How Baelfire/Neal gets back from Neverland to A World Without Magic.
• What Hook and and Baelfire's relationship is to one another.
• How Henry got his book of Fairy Tales - weren't we promised that this season?

Shady. Bitch.

Is it possible that The Blue Fairy is playing a bigger end game than Rumpel? Both Emma and Neal made it to A Land Without Magic through her involvement. But Baelfire/Neal was born and went through the portal LONG before Emma was conceived or even thought of. So a mysterious magical force, coming from a land which houses mermaids and faries is kidnapping young boys and keeping them in a land where they don't age for reasons unknown. But we know Neal leaves Neverland somehow. In time to meet Emma and father a child. A child who is now being prophesied/assumed to be the undoing of The Dark One.

Rumpelstiltskin's willing to chalk Regina's adoption of Henry up to 'fate'.  I'm not so sure.

I also still think that Bae is the reason that Hook knows about Rumpel's dagger. I can't help but wonder if/when Baelfire finds out that Rumpelstiltskin is actually the person responsible for Milah's death.

I'm not so sure that Baelfire IS Peter Pan. I'll be pleasantly surprised if he's not.

Recap: The Miller's Daughter - I don't have to tell you that spoilers dwell here, right?

Who did we meet: Young Cora, Young Princess Eva, and Young Prince Henry (who time is NOT kind to - yipes!)

When and Where did events take place?: Present Day Storybrooke, Pre Dark-Curse Enchanted Forest - it's important to note that this is before Regina's birth, and this is AFTER Rumpel has aquired the seers powers. So Milah and Baelfire are gone at this point.

What did we learn?:  We learned how, when, and why Cora removed her heart. We learned that Rumpelstiltskin CAN die - despite the Dark One having "life eternal". We learned/reiterated that Emma IS magical - as opposed to Cora, Regina, and Rumpel, who either learned or acquired their magical skills. If all magic comes with a price - what is Emma's? (Please OUAT writers, introduce a character named Price as Emma's next love interest.)

Why does this matter?: Cora married Prince Henry and became queen. Why did she need her daughter to become King Leopold's queen? Not clear on that. There seem to be 4 kingdoms in the enchanted forest, and royal title seems to be conferred upon firstborn regardless of gender. So by all means kill Eva, since she seems to have been a right little piece of work - but why did Regina have to be queen of THAT kingdom? There's more to this story, I suspect.

Remaining Questions/Problems: Hook is still out in the wide wide world. That's a concern to someone, right? However - Rumpel is back to full power. Cora is out of the picture. Rumpel can leave Storybrooke without losing his memory, and he's got Baelfire and Belle back, or at least he's got them both within the realm of his magical power. So what does he want now? To kill Hook? To kill Henry? To have all the power? He's arguably pretty dangerous right now.

Oh Henry!: What a great episode. Can we make a habit of ushering Henry off to the diner? Or failing that - school?

Wait, what?: Regina! Let me put a few ithings in perspective for you. Cora killed Daniel. Mary Margaret tricked you into killing Cora. V. grey area. YOU killed your own father, as well as Snow White's - so you win all the awards for patricide. Cora killed Queen Eva. YOU sent Hook to assasinate Cora. Please, let's not play the role of the aggrieved avenging daughter now. Do us all a favor, and schedule some couch time with Archie - OR an actual licensed therapist since you can leave town and all, and give us a break.

Really, OUAT?: So hey, remember that time that Regina was Mayor, and Emma had superpowers that told her when people were lying, and that guy Greg came into town and is texting someone about all the magic he keeps seeing like some kind of modern-day Gladys Kravitz? Yeah, me either.

More on the 4 kingdoms soon!

Charming Rogues

Forgive the metaphor, but while the apple may not fall far from the tree, sometimes it rolls down the hill. For where Snow White found her Prince "I will always find you" Charming...

If you like it then you'd better put a ring on it.

The types of men that Emma seems to attract definitely tend  to have feet of clay. But who's looking at their feet? Beginning with the dashing former Sheriff/Huntsman Graham...

Moment of silence, requiem et en terra pax, etc etc.

And (arguably) moving on to A Not-so-Little Wooden Boy

Could you not look quite so bored, Emma? Some of us are trying to live vicariously. Thanks.

Taking a brief detour via Wonderland....

Yes. This. Times a million.

 

And now trapped in the Enchanted Forest with the epitome of the trope...

You're yummy, but I don't trust you.

there is no doubt that Emma Swan attracts charming rogues.

And sometimes even makes SUPER ANNOYING babies with them.

'So what?' you might ask. Once is, after all, a popular show airing in primetime on a major US network. It's not like they're going to cast unattractive rogues. But go back and look at those pictures again. Notice anything similar?

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Emma's got a type, for sure. A very tasty type. Curly dark hair. Distinctive eyes. Swarthy features. All roughly in their early to mid 30's. These are all features we've seen on someone before. Coincidence?

The question is - does Emma attract the type, or is she attracted TO the type?

Curiouser and curiouser...