Title Dark Hollow

Two-Sentence Summary Ariel meets up with Belle in Storybrooke to search for an item in Gold’s shop that could be the key to defeating Peter Pan, who we discover has been keeping Wendy Darling prisoner and forcing her brothers to do his bidding in order to keep her alive. Pan is using Wendy to manipulate Henry into believing in him and his games, but the Operation Henry team gets one step closer to their goal when Emma, Hook, and Neal retrieve Pan’s shadow from the dangerous Dark Hollow.

Favorite Lines:
Emma: The only thing I have to choose is the best way to get my son back.
Hook: And you will.
Emma: You think so?
Hook: I’ve yet to see you fail…When you do succeed, that’s when the fun begins.

My Thoughts “Dark Hollow” was a great example of what Once Upon a Time can be when it’s firing on all cylinders: surprising, inspiring, romantic, funny, sincere, smart, and even a little bit unsettling. The recurring theme for this season so far has been belief, and this episode wove that theme through all of its various storylines and character interactions with a sure hand and an open heart. In doing so, what could have been a disjointed episode became one that both moved the plot along in a very real way and hit every emotional beat that needed to be hit on the journey.

I liked that, after a few episodes without any real progress on the Operation Henry front, we got two very important steps forward and each one came from a different part of the Neverland rescue team. The Storybrooke plot was a great way to keep the plot moving along while bringing back all of the characters we’ve been missing so far this season. It was great to see Grumpy, Archie, and especially Granny.

The real star of the Storybrooke plot, though, was Belle, and this episode was a great way to highlight what’s so unique and beautiful about her as a character. She may not shoot arrows or use a sword, but she’s incredibly resourceful. And she can read people and their true natures in the same way she reads the books she loves so much. I loved seeing the return of the chipped cup and all it represents for the relationships between Belle and Rumplestiltskin—what can I say, I’m a sucker for symbolism. I found Rumplestiltskin’s hologram message an obvious Star Wars shout-out (“Help me, Belle, you’re my only hope…”), but that actually made me enjoy it even more. However, the Belle-centric relationship I found myself caring about the most in this episode was the bond she formed with Ariel.

Once Upon a Time has done a good job of creating some very strong relationships between women—both as friends and enemies—that aren’t focused on talking about their love lives. Belle and Ariel made quite the dynamic detective duo, and I really enjoyed the playful, sisterly chemistry that developed between JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Emilie de Ravin. Garcia Swisher was especially strong in this episode—even better than she was in her introductory episode last week. I loved her wide-eyed curiosity in Gold’s shop (Anybody else start singing when she said “Look at this stuff?”), I loved her slightly sarcastic remark about Rumplestiltskin being overly cryptic, and, more than anything else, I loved seeing how her strength complemented Belle’s. Neither woman is a warrior, but they’re heroes in their own right. They used their brains (and tails, in Ariel’s case) to save the day, even though you could feel their fear of the two outsiders. The most real and admirable kind of bravery is when someone pushes on even though they’re terrified, and that’s something I’ve always admired about Belle (and now Ariel)—their fear feels real, but then so does their bravery and heroism.

What ultimately saved the day, though, was Belle and Ariel coming to understand the outsiders’ motivations and getting them to believe that they could get their sister back using the power of good rather than evil. I called the Darling brothers twist early on in the episode (I’ll admit it wasn’t 100% serious—more like a “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” scenario), but that didn’t make the reveal any less impactful. Once again, this show highlighted that all kinds of love can be motivating factors and sources of both incredible goodness and incredible darkness when that love is threatened or destroyed. There haven’t been many examples of the love between siblings so far on this show (besides this season’s exploration of Killian and Liam Jones), so it was nice to see that bond put on display as another example of true love that can exist outside of a romantic relationship.

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Title Ariel

Two-Sentence Summary After Hook reveals that Neal is alive in Neverland, he joins Emma, Snow, and Charming on a mission to rescue him, but, in order to do that, each of them must reveal their darkest secret. Believing that rescuing Neal is a distraction from their real mission, Regina teams up with Rumplestiltskin, and her relationship with Ariel—as shown in flashbacks to Fairytale Land—proves to be an important part of the puzzle to overpowering Peter Pan and saving Henry.

Favorite Line “My secret is I never thought I’d be capable of letting go of my first love—of my Milah—to believe that I could find someone else. That is, until I met you.” (Hook, to Emma)

My Thoughts Well that one hurt.

No matter which characters you love or hate, sympathize with or wish would get their hearts crushed, “Ariel” was painful. No character got away unscathed; everyone ended up hurt and everyone took part in the hurting, too. Yes, there were victories, and there were even moments of gleeful camp and villainy, but, ultimately this episode was about the very human struggles of people who just happen to be fairytale characters—and we all know that’s when Once Upon a Time is at its most compelling.

Let’s start with those much-needed moments of fun before we move on to the heartbreak, shall we? I knew that the Ariel backstory episode was going to be a great one for Regina from the second I found out that she would be channeling Ursula in the flashbacks. Lana Parrilla has made no secret of the fact that Ursula is her favorite Disney villain, and you could see just how much pure fun she was having every second she spent channeling Disney’s animated version of the sea witch. It was a joy to watch an actress so clearly loving her job and doing such a great job honoring a classic Disney character in the process.

What I liked most about the flashbacks in this episode was the way its emotional impact snuck up on me. For most of the episode, I didn’t really care about Ariel or Eric, if I’m being honest. I thought Joanna Garcia Swisher was a great casting choice, but I thought most of the story itself (and the characterization of Eric) was sadly one-dimensional, especially when juxtaposed with the incredibly complex emotions happening in the Neverland storyline.

But just when I was ready to write off this flashback as a cute but empty trip into the realm of another beloved Disney princess, Ariel stabbed Regina with her dinglehopper salad trident fork. That show of friendship, courage, and ingenuity made me love this little mermaid—and it made what happened to her even more horrible. I was not expecting to be so affected by the scene of Ariel losing her voice, but I think my reaction spoke to the power of surprise that Once Upon a Time invokes so well. I should have seen it coming, but I’m glad that I didn’t. Because it hit like me like a sucker punch (I’m still getting emotional over how well Garcia Swisher sold Ariel’s desperation), and sometimes I love being blindsided by my emotions.

Something that didn’t really surprise me was Ariel being used to help Rumplestiltskin and Regina get something from Storybrooke. As soon as we learned mermaids can travel between realms, I knew she would factor into Operation Henry somehow. But I loved the way the end of this episode set up a great storyline for Ariel next week, and I’m looking forward to seeing her reunion with Eric. Also, any scene that features Regina sassing Rumplestiltskin about ordering calamari is going to be a favorite scene for me.

Most of Regina’s scenes in this episode were favorites for me, to be honest. I liked her teaching Emma how to use magic, and I thought it was important to hear Emma calling her a monster because their relationship will never be completely devoid of antagonism—as it should be. And I loved her decision to skip out on Operation Henry when it turned into Operation Neal. If I were Regina, I would have done the same thing. The only thing she cares about is getting Henry back; she has no tie to Neal to make her want to help. Plus, that decision put the dream team of Regina and Rumplestiltskin back together. Whenever Parrilla and Robert Carlyle share a scene, I’m like a kid on the Fourth of July—just watching the fireworks. Those two are incredible together, and watching Regina snap him out of his pity party with plenty of sass and common sense was everything I never knew I always wanted.

I love the Regina we’ve been given this season, and I hope she never goes away. And if it means keeping Robbie Kay around longer to be the show’s central antagonist, then that’s even better. His “Breakfast with Rumple” scene was another moment for his growing highlight reel. Regina, Rumplestiltskin, and Pan were a trifecta of awesome antagonists who provided a strange kind of light at the end of some very dark tunnels (or Echo Caves) throughout the rest of this episode.

I would like to take a second and give the writers so much credit for not dragging out the “Will Hook tell?” drama at all. If there’s one thing these episodes are proving, it’s that Hook in regaining his lost sense of honor through putting Emma’s happiness above any thought of his own. I was so happy he chose to tell Charming first; it was a nice way to continue to build on the trust and openness we’ve been watching develop between them so far this season. To watch them act as a united front against Snow was a great way to make explicit the similarities between these two men and how they view honor, nobility, and love.

Jennifer Morrison played Emma’s suppressed fear of seeing Neal again perfectly. I loved the tension in the scene between Emma and Snow when Snow talked about Emma’s happy ending. You could tell that Emma wanted so badly to tell her mother about all the ways Neal destroyed her ability to hope for so long, but she kept it to herself. I don’t think Snow has any real idea about Emma and Neal’s history, just like I think she has no real concept of a love that can exist after first love. For Snow, “true love” and “first love” have always been synonymous, and she thinks that’s the way it’s going to be for her daughter as well. But every character on this show is growing and learning through the trials of Neverland, and I think part of Snow’s journey is coming to terms with having a daughter whose experiences are so different from hers, both in life and in love.

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