Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 146 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT PANtheism
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.29.2013
Neverland. Rumpy finds Tamara, who I am sad to report is still alive. He magically removes the arrow from her back and asks her where Henry is. Finally free from pain, Tamara tells Rumpy that she told Henry to run, because Pan is after him and was behind all of this. She confesses she didn't know for whom she was working and says she's sorry about Neal. Crouching down beside her, Rumpy acknowledges Tamara was only a pawn. She asks if he can forgive her. Oh Rumpy, I often root for your redemption, but right now, I feel like praying a modified version of St. Augustine's, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." Never one to disappoint, Rumpy keeps his voice low and gentle, answers, "No," rips Tamara's heart out of her chest, and crushes it to dust. Hurrah! Commercial.
Jolly Roger. Hook and Charming think they need to throw the mermaid back into the sea, but Regina wants a hostage. As this unlikely team debates the usefulness of this plan (Regina, of course, wastes no time suggesting torture), the mermaid grabs her conch shell and blows into it to sound a warming. "Let me go, or die." We cut to the...
Enchanted Forest. Mulan is leading Neal across an arid stretch that could be the remains of Lake Nostos, as he admits he doesn't know how to explain what a movie is. Um, it is pictures that move, such that you're looking at something play out as if it's happening before your eyes, Neal. I think you could give her a bare bones explanation. Mulan must smell the incompetence oozing from him, so she asks why Emma never mentioned him when she was in the Enchanted Forest. Neal confesses he broke Emma's heart. "I let her go so that she could break the curse and fulfill her destiny. When it was broken, I could have gone after her. I could have told her I loved her, but I was afraid she would never forgive me, so I wound up taking the easy way out -- which is not trying." Mulan decides to play Neal-Apologist in chief. "Your belief in love wasn't strong enough to overcome your fear of rejection." Neal appreciates the assist and piles it on a little thicker. "Greatest regret of my life. Not one I'd wish upon anyone." Nice try writers, but it's even worse than that. He let her go to prison for crimes HE committed. He should have convinced August to go with him and tell Emma about her destiny and then leave the decision to believe them or not in her hands. She might have laughed them off as con men, but at least then they would have done their best. That's what really happened. Still, Mulan is touched by his sob story. We cut to the...