Monday Recap - Into The Deep SPOILERS

I started this entry the day after Into The Deep aired, but I am finishing it after Queen of Hearts has aired. So...deal with it. There was a LOT happening in this episode!
 
WHO did we meet: No one new - but lots of allusions to who we might meet. It's interesting to remember that Neverland is the home to mermaids and faries, as well as pirates and lost boys.

WHAT did we learn: Oh boy. A lot. A whole lot. And somehow not enough. With the hearts in her posession, Cora can control those whose hearts she's taken - more so even than we've seen Regina do. (Although the only person we've seen Regina control is Graham, and I don't want to think about when and why she'd have to take his heart out of the vault to make him say what she wanted to hear. Squick.) The magic ink, and the possible promise of a mermaid in our future...or past? Gold says that he has a "private supply", not a stockpile - which seems to imply that he's got a supplier? In other words, he can still get Magic Squid Ink.  Maybe not significant, but Gold can use his magic to put people to sleep and heal.

WHERE and WHEN did the events take place: All the events in this episode take place in the present. Storybrooke, Enchanted Forest, Cora's Lair, The Burning Room

WHY does this matter: Hook taunts Cora, daring her to kill him.But she doesn't. Why? She doesn't especially seem to need him. Maybe it's just fun to see evil team up. Also, even though the Burning  Room exists on some kind of metaphysical plane, you can wake up with actual burns?

Remaining Problems: SO MANY PROBLEMS. Aurora is a puppet-spy! Emma and Mary Margaret are still trapped in the Enchanted  Forest! David is under the sleeping curse! Everyone in Storybrooke is about to have a raging case of PTSD.

Best Line: "Condiments are this world's most powerful magic." - Mr. Gold. Dark One humor...I guess.

Really OUAT?: So...Snow White can just speak bird? Why not just send messages via owl, since we're already using Inferi and Dementors this season.

Educated Guesses: The 'Cora-is-The-Queen-of-Hearts' theory will play out. All the clues are there. I'll be shocked if she isn't.

Strange Coincidence: Cora says to Aurora that when a soul is taken by a Dementor wraith, it travels to another realm. ...just like with the Burning Room and the Sleeping Curse?

Don't Trust: Cora, Aurora, Hook, Gold, Regina, Mulan. Yes, Mulan. She's so rigid in her interpretation of beliefs. In her own upstanding way, she's no different than any of the 'villains'. At the first opportunity she stole the compass and ran. She's hellbent on saving/protecting Aurora. Lucky for Aurora because up until all this Sleeping Curse/Burning Room nonsense she has been USELESS.

Crackpot Theories: None specific to this episode (surprisingly!), but I REALLY want to know what the history is between Cora and Rumpelstiltskin. The exchange between Regina and Gold about Cora is LOADED and FASCINATING. Apparently Cora is the one person who can "unite" the two of them, Gold thought that she was dead, but Regina says that he (Gold) "taught her well". We know that the Dark One's powers render the bearer immortal. So is Cora immortal? Regina seems to think that Cora's return is bad news for the both of them, Gold seems confident that he is more powerful than Cora...or at least that he can "handle" her, and that he "won in the end".  There's some significant history there. Not too crackpot, but it seems like Cora is a very good candidate for the miller's daughter in the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale

Monday Recap - Tallahassee SPOILERS

Trying to give myself a comprehensive recap format. Let me know what you think!

WHO did we meet: Neil Cassidy, The Last Giant

WHAT did we learn/do we know: A lot! We learned the identity of our Mystery Man from the premiere. We can safely assume that Neil is Henry's father.(It is never safe to assume ANYTHING.) We learn how long August has been tracking Emma, albeit with a very well funded vacation somewhere in between. We can see more of the fact that Hook is one of the few characters we've seen who actually seems fairly knowledgable about realm-jumping. The others are Jefferson (who seems to understand the rules that govern his hat), Rumplestiltskin (who has a compelling reason to learn all he can about realm jumping, but can't seem to do it himself?), and The Blue Fairy (who seems to have some knowledge of ways and means - but, like Rumplestiltskin, can't seem to manage it with her own magic.).

WHERE did we go: Enchanted Forest, Up the Beanstalk, Storybrooke, Portland, OR

WHEN did the events take place: Present Day, 11 years ago

WHY does this matter: Tallahassee. Title of the episode, and yet it's someplace we never go. We know Emma spent two years there. We have an idea why. We also know that Mr. Gold orchestrated Regina's adoption of Henry, and we can assume Emma went there after giving birth/getting out of jail.

Connections: Henry and Aurora had the same dream? Both were recently affected by/awakened from the Sleeping Curse.

 Remaining Questions: The big questions are obvious - what did August show to Neil to get him to listen, and what's up with the dream? Smaller question - why didn't August just go to Emma once he had found her? I would think it'd be easier to convince an 18 year old drifter/thief that she's got an epic destiny than a 28 year old cynical bounty-hunter. Is Neil Cassady's name an homage or a clue?

Best line: "The victors get to tell the story" - The Last Giant. I think this is an important sentiment, and something I've been harping on since last season. Why are they called Fairy Tales anyway??

Really OUAT?: We couldn't do something to modify Jorge Garcia's voice to make it sound more...menacing? Giantlike? Supernatural?

Educated Guesses: We will see this windowless, doorless room with the bloodred curtains on fire later in the season.

Don't trust: Hook. Clearly we're setting up some romantic conflict here, but I don't trust him. He may believe in "good form", but he's an opportunist. And I think we're missing something important in the fact that Hook and Smee have been separated. Regardless of what Smee was after, I doubt Hook would have let him live (and become first mate!) if he hadn't seem that Smee would be useful. So somewhere between Neverland/The Enchanted Forest/Storybrook, the ONLY pirate (besides Milah) that Hook had use for somehow wound up in Storybrooke, which is exactly where he's trying to get to now?  Doubt that's a coincident. However honorable the captain may be deep down, I think his only real motivation right now is revenge.

Crackpot Theory: I think we're due for a sacrifice this season, and I think August is going to be it. Last we saw him (in the present day), he was alive, but had turned back into wood. The same wood, if you remember that was enchanted and fashioned into a wardrobe that functioned as a portal. The same wood whose ASHES are currently believed to be able to still transport between realms. In this episode, we're "introduced" to August, who has been trying to be a good boy - looking for Emma, destiny, etc. But still can't resist temptation - takes off for Phuket with a WAD OF CASH. This is a constant with August. A fallible human being who has serious consequences when he gives in to temptation. Characters like that always seem to wind up being lambs to the slaughter. I suspect present-day August has sought out the Blue Fairy (shady bitch) to entreat her to turn him back into a real boy. Without wands or dust, she has no way to channel the magic, and I think she'll leave him to suffer his wooden fate. I think August will wind up sacrificing himself as a form of redemption.