Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 156 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT PANting
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.27.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.In Neverland's past Hook is young Lieutenant Killian Jones. His brother Liam (Bernard Curry) is Captain of H.M.S. Jewel of the Realm. Along with their crew, they fly to Neverland. Yes, I said fly. The JR sports a sail made of the Pegasus wings. Liam is in search of Dreamshade. His Majesty alleges he needs it for its "healing" properties.
Killian and Liam meet Peter Pan, who warns them that Dreamshade is poisonous, and while Killian thinks the boy might be telling the truth, Liam will not be dissuaded from his quest. To prove his point, Liam scratches his arm with a thorn from the Dreamshade bush and is immediately stricken. Pan shows Killian the water that is the source of Neverland's power. I have a flashback to what was probably the worst ever episode of Lost and have to collect myself.
The water heals Liam for the nonce, but once the brothers Jones (is their father Davy?) sail (or soar) out of Neverland, Liam dies. The water only works while you're in Neverland, which is of course, what Pan wants them to believe. I think belief is what fuels Dreamshade poison, and the "nobody leaves without Pan's permission" rule, and every other damned thing. Stop believing in all this crap, Team Henry, and you'll get your boy and get home.
Anyhow, once Liam dies, the upstanding and honorable Killian is all, "Yo ho yo ho, a pirate's life for me," and it's just about that abrupt. I mean, I get that he no longer wants to serve a king who dispatched his brother on a mission to find poison to use in some genocidal plot, and lied that it was some miraculous, curative plant -- but so the next step is piracy and the whole crew is on board? Whatever. He burns the pegasus wing sail, which seems like a hasty choice, and rechristens the ship as the Jolly Roger.
Now, on Neverland, Hook takes a cue from his former king and brings Charming along on a false mission. The swashbuckler knows our fair prince is about to bite it due to his own Dreamshade poisoning, so he lies that they're looking for his brother's old sextant which will help guide them out of Neverland, once Operation Henry is complete.
However, Hook is really just trying to get Charming to the magical water. While briefly separated from Charming, Pan presents our pirate with a deal: kill Charming, and Pan will grant Hook passage off of Neverland -- with Emma. Hook doesn't accept the deal, but he doesn't refuse it, either. Charming overhears the whole thing and makes sure Hook knows so, but that happens before the water heals him, and I think it later slips his mind. When Charming returns to the women, he's very frisky with Snow, even in front of Regina and Emma, who make no secret of being grossed out. Charming truths that Hook saved his life, but lies that the threat was a Lost Boys ambush.
Emma must have left her lie detection super power back in Storybrooke, because she buys her father's less than credible story. She buys it so much that when she's alone with Hook and he gets flirtatious, she grabs him roughly and gives him such a kiss that I'm pretty sure his knees buckle. She makes sure to tell him that was a singular event, but Hook isn't convinced, and neither am I. Pan finds Hook later and tells him he should have accepted his earlier deal, then lets him know that Neal is alive and on Neverland. Do our privateer's less than private feelings for Emma spring from a heart of gold, or do they only run skin deep. Time, of course, will tell, but it's not telling yet.
While the guys are off on the magical water quest, Emma, Regina, and Snow have a mission of their own. They trap a Lost Boy, in hopes of using him to get a message to Henry. The thing is, it's the same Lost Boy whom Henry just cut in a sword fight. The boy is less than agreeable, even when Regina magics up an Apollo chocolate bar, so against Snow's wishes, but with Emma's permission, Regina rips out the boys heart. She doesn't crush it. Instead, she uses it much like Cora used Aurora's heart, last season -- as a remote control over the boy. He takes half of a compact mirror back to Henry. Emma, Regina and Snow use it to Skype with their boy. Henry seems off, though. At first the "truest believer" doesn't believe his moms and grandmother are really talking to him. Then, he says Pan's coming (which he is) but Henry doesn't just pocket the mirror or drop it, he throws it to the ground, where it smashes. Your next seven years are going to be rough, kiddo. Adolescence sucks.
Highlights
Before Charming sets out with Hook, he already knows he might die before he returning, so he gives Emma a big hug (from which she shrinks) and tells her to tell Henry his grandpa loves him. He also bids Snow a touching farewell, because Neverland's a dangerous place, and all. Snow is confident he will be fine. And if these people listen to me, he will be fine, because Snow believes it. Also impressive is the scene in which Regina pulls out the boy's heart. That's not the striking part (okay, except maybe to the boy). The striking part is Emma agreeing to this plan. Her agreement harkens back to the season premiere, in which Emma tells the team that to succeed in this land which runs on belief, they need to be who they are: a hero (or 2 or 3), a villain, and a pirate. She holds Snow tight, and cringes, herself, but she believes in Regina at that moment, and that is so important. Emma knew it in the premiere, but she and her whole team have been so caught up in the chaos, that none of them have been remembering that it is belief which will save them. Look, belief turned Henry's stick into a sword. In that moment, the writers gave us a spoiler to this plot's resolution. They will get Henry (and Neal, and whomever else Pan is holding in that other cage, right now I'm believing it's Sawyer and Kate) and get home, once they believe they can. Similarly, once Rumpy believes he can do the right thing, he will do the right thing, and that will be his so-called "undoing." Show's over, everyone.
I'll be back with the full recap, ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode up top, and then join us on the boards, where we're making out with Hook.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Congrats to the 2013 Boston Red Sox! Sorry. I just had to get that off my chest. I'll go straight to the show now. We open in Neverland at night. It's always night. A torch bearing Felix leads a band of Lost Boys through the jungle. When they get to their destination, they throw a still unconscious Neal into a cage. We cut to...
Pan's camp. Henry watches some Lost Boys whoop it up, until Devin (Skyler Gisondo) pokes him in the back to get his attention. Devin has a case of new-kid envy, so he scoffs in disbelief that Henry is the one Pan's been waiting for all this time, then bullies Henry into sparring with him. Henry picks up a nearby stick to defend himself. He holds his own. Looks like those toy sword fencing sessions with Grandpa Charming, and later Dad, taught him a little something.
Pan arrives on scene and goads Henry into harnessing his belief such that he turns his stick into a real sword. The boys are wowed, except for Devin who is too busy trying not to soil his britches. Henry faces off with Devin and soon cuts his still-wooden weapon down to the hilt. And Son of a Savior! Doesn't Henry take one last swing and slash Devin's cheek. Being Henry, he is immediately all, "Sorry, it was an accident." Pan says that the Best Thing about being a Lost Boy is that there is no apologizing. Henry faces the cheering horde, shouts, "Yeah," and raises his sword, victorious. We cut to...
Baelfire's Cave. Emma and Hook find where young Bae had marked his days trapped on Neverland. Emma realizes at some point he stopped marking the days because he lost hope. Regina snarks, "You got that from scribbles?" The flicker in her eyes when Emma tells her she recognizes what happened, because she'd do the same in each foster home is -- well, it's priceless. We all know Lana Parrilla is great at playing the big, campy villain, but man, her subtle work is even more impressive. In just that little glance, she manages to convey sympathy for Emma's childhood, respect for her acumen, and a ripple of guilt when she realizes her fault in the matter. Even better, Regina just as quickly she shuts it off.
Emma's afraid the same thing is happening to Henry, since he doesn't know they're there to rescue him. She tells the team Pan told her Henry would lose faith. She wants to get him a sign. There's more snark from Regina, but it gives Snow an idea. She leads the way out of the cave. Regina and Emma start to follow, but Hook detains Emma for a moment. He's trying to get close, to bond, to feel her pain. It's a move, sure, but it seems born of feelings, even some that radiate from above the belt. Emma doesn't do this, though. She doesn't bond. She makes that pretty clear to Hook and leaves him hanging. Once she's gone, Charming tells Hook, "She's never going to like you. [...] How could she? You're nothing but a pirate." The faraway look in Hook's eyes carries us into a flashback to a...