Once Upon a Time 2-22: And Straight on ‘Til Morning

Somehow, I had forgotten that they were advertising the season finale of Once Upon a Time as devastating. When I was reminded of that tonight, I started to worry. What were they planning to do to the characters and therefore to us?

Fortunately, it wasn’t as devastating as I had feared. But it certainly is going to be a very long summer until it comes back.

As always, let’s start with our flashback – this time completely in Neverland.

Smee is confronting Hook about hiding the boy. They know that “He” will be looking for this boy since “He” had claimed him. And at first, Hook is willing to go along with that idea. But as he starts talking to Bae down in the hold, he learns who Bae really is. Suddenly, he’s not so willing to turn Bae over to “He” aka the Shadow.

And so he hides Bae when the soldiers of the Shadow come looking for him, even though the penalty for lying to the Shadow is having your shadow ripped off of you – slowly and painfully. (Really, is no one else thinking of the Peter and the Star Catchers books?)

And so Hook befriends Bae. Bae quickly tells him all he is looking to learn – the dagger will kill Rumple.

But then Bae learns Hook’s secret and his connection to Bae’s family. He immediately demands to be taken back to the Darling family in London, but Hook says they can’t world jump like that. So Bae demands to be let off the ship. Heck, I think he’s about ready to jump off the ship even though it would be into mermaid infested waters, and the mermaids don’t sound any too friendly.

But instead, Hook sails close to the island, and then turns Bae over to the Shadow’s soldiers. So Bae is back where he didn’t want to be, and we don’t know what this mysterious figure wants with all these boys.

So, let’s jump to Storybrooke because most of our story takes place there.

Greg, Tamara, and Hook are ready to start the self-destruct sequence. They head to the mines, where they take Happy’s pick and hit the jewel, causing it to start glowing. They tell Hook they are willing to die for their cause, something he pretends to go along with.

Meanwhile, Henry is swinging, guarded by Granny. (And where had Ruby been the last few episodes? Did I miss her in the crowd scenes later on or was she absent again tonight?) Gold shows up and is using magic to slowly fray the rope holding the swing. It is strongly implied that if the rope breaks, Henry will hit the sharp rocks around and be killed. But before we can find out if that will happen or not, Mary Margaret, David, and Emma show up to tell Henry about Neal. They break the news to Gold at the same time. They also tell him about the failsafe and ask for his help in stopping it, but he isn’t interested. This is the price for magic, and he is willing to accept it. Obviously, the loss of his son has crushed him.

Regina doesn’t have much better news for them. She can use magic to slow it down, but it can’t be stopped. And it will kill everyone not born in this world. So Henry, Tamara, and Greg are the only ones safe. Emma is not ready for Henry to grow up alone, so they separate. Mary Margaret and Henry will gather everyone up at Granny’s. Regina and Emma are going to go find the trigger so Regina can work on slowing it down. And David and Hook are going to go get the magic beans from Greg and Tamara.

Yeah, Hook showed up while they were all talking. He’s not quite so keen on dying to get his revenge as he claimed. So he teams up with the rest of them to get the beans, open a portal to Enchanted Forest, and lead the entire town through to safety.

Over at Gold’s, we find the dwarfs breaking in to find Sneezy’s drinking mug. It seems that Mother Superior has found a way to restore the memories of those who have wandered outside the town limits. But they must drink the potion from something that meant something to them. Grumpy had her mix up enough for two doses, one for Sneezy and one for Belle. He gives that second one to Gold before they leave. Gold doesn’t think it is nice to restore memories right before they all die, but that’s not stopping the dwarfs.

David and Hook have tracked down Greg and Tamara who are trying to pack up their stuff and leave town. They confront them to get the magic beans back, but they get one and Greg and Tamara escape with the other.

Meanwhile, Regina has started using magic to slow down the trigger. But she has also made a confession to Emma. She’s not going to make it out of this alive. It’s going to take all of her power to slow it down, she won’t be able to do that and escape with everyone else. Emma immediately figures out that when Regina hugged Henry and said, “I really did try to change” she was saying goodbye. Regina pleads with Emma to let her do this as an act of redemption.

So, everyone meets back up at the diner where Emma breaks this news to Henry. Henry wants to know if there is some way to save Regina, and they decide to use the one bean they have to open a portal and throw the trigger through that. They don’t know if it will work, and this is their one shot, but Mary Margaret and David really do feel that it is the right thing to do. At this point, Hook takes the bean, but Emma talks him into giving it up by pointing out at some point you can’t live for yourself but start living with others.

Meanwhile, back at Gold’s, he’s finally decided that he needs Belle back in his life, so he magically repairs Chip (I knew that cup would be Belle’s item), and she drinks. He apologizes for not being strong enough to keep her as Lacey, but he has lost too much with having lost Bae/Neal.

Emma, Mary Margaret, David, and Henry head down to the mine. Only, they don’t have the bean. Hook still palmed it. But when all seems lost, Emma decides to see what will happen if she combines her magic with Regina’s. That is enough to stop the trigger. All is saved. I’m a little unclear if the trigger was a one time thing that can never be used again or if they will have to guard it very carefully now.

Anyway, we have just one small problem. Greg and Tamara have come and captured Henry. Yes, they came to destroy magic and Storybrooke, but he is something much more important – something that makes everything else seem unimportant. The others chase after them, but they use their bean to open a portal and jump through it with Henry.

Just as Emma is standing there close to breaking down completely, who should come back but Hook. When he learns what has happened, he offers his ship to help them navigate on their quest to get Henry back.

And so, going on the quest are Regina, Mary Margaret, David, Emma, Hook…and Gold. Hook and Gold seem to have buried the hatchet enough to go on this trip together at least. (Hook exact line when asked if he was done trying to kill Gold is, “I believe so.”)

Before they leave, Gold gives Belle a spell that will hide the town from anyone outside the limits. That way, the people that Greg and Tamara work for can’t find it. Belle realizes this means those leaving won’t be able to come back, but Gold also points out that Henry is prophesized to be his undoing. Belle says that the future is fluid and she will see him again.

About this time, we get a quick glimpse of Enchanted Forest present. Neal has washed up on the shore. He’s barely alive. And who should find him but Aurora, Mulan, and wasn’t that Phillip? At least I assumed it was until I went to write this. Those two must have figured out a way to restore his soul from the wraith.

Meanwhile, Gold uses his magic globe to locate Henry. It seems he’s been taken to Neverland. As the ship is leaving through the portal of the one remaining bean, Emma asks who they are up against. Gold replies that it is not Greg and Tamara. They are only pawns who don’t know who they are working for. Our heroes are facing someone to truly fear.

So let’s end like the episode does – in Neverland of 100 years ago. Bae arrives on the island only for the Shadow’s soldiers to learn he is not the one their master is looking for. “It’s your lucky day, boy. You get to live.” And we end with two of our soldiers talking. “What if we can’t find him? ” “We will. Peter Pan always gets his man.” And then the first one unrolls a small scroll with a picture of the boy they are looking for on it. That boy is Henry.

End season two.

Okay, so Neal is alive and we know where he is. (Why do I feel like there were a few more scenes with all of them that were cut for time?)

But they’ve indeed made Peter Pan bad. He looks like the villain we’ll be facing, at least right away in season 3. Then again, they could turn things around later, but I have a feeling they won’t for some reason.

Anyone else find Hook’s change of heart a little too convenient and fast? Maybe it is real, or maybe they will play into that again next year. And how long will we be able to work with Regina and Gold? I think as long as everyone is trying to rescue Henry, everything will be alright. But then the distrust might come back.

I am impressed. Yet again they have resolved many of the major plot arcs of the season. The only difference is this time they have added a major cliffhanger that gives us some idea where they are going next season. And I am already very anxious to see the first episode.

So, when does season 3 premier again?

Meanwhile, if you haven’t heard, ABC has greenlit a limited run spin off series about Alice in Wonderland that is supposed to run during Once’s winter hiatus. That will be interesting. And was it just me or did the “teaser” for SHIELD really not show us much of anything? I still plan to watch, but it wasn’t as big a deal as they tried to make it.

My recap really doesn’t do this episode justice. There were so many great emotional moments that were played perfectly. I was actually feeling for Regina again. Honestly, if they had killed her in the act of saving everyone else, I would have felt it was great. Of course, she’s a great character, so I’m glad they saved her as well.

BTW, does Mary Margaret saving Regina counteract the blackness in her heart from killing Cora? That is something we need to get back to at some point as is King George and his desire for revenge on David.

So, what are your thoughts on this episode? Did it wrap up the season well for you? Theories about what we’ll see next year?

Outside of these recaps, I post reviews of anything and everything. I’ve been transferring them over to a blog of my own the last few months, and I’m just over half way done. (I’ll finish in July, but I’m not counting down or anything.) Here’s a link to all my Disney reviews, and you can watch the number grow over the next few months. And if you are interested, you can also click around and see what else I have reviewed.

Oh yeah, and is season 3 going to premier soon?