Title Think Lovely Thoughts

Two-Sentence Summary Rumplestiltskin and Regina rejoin Operation Henry just in time for them to attempt to rescue the boy before Peter Pan takes his heart and uses it to become immortal, but Henry’s desire to be a hero proves to be his own undoing. In flashbacks to Rumplestiltskin’s childhood, we discover just how well he and Pan know one another.

Favorite Line “You said no magic; I agreed. But I’m not walking in there with nothing but my good looks.” (Rumplestiltskin)

My Thoughts That was definitely the most intense episode of Once Upon a Time so far this season, but I’m not sure it was the best episode. In fact, for as many cool twists and strong scenes as this episode featured, it also reminded me the most of some of the things I disliked about last season—too much plot and too little emotional investment and characters behaving more as plot devices than as people. This episode was probably a big hit with people who felt this Neverland arc was moving too slowly, but I thought this episode didn’t move slow enough. There were some truly great moments in “Think Lovely Thoughts,” but overall, for an episode that featured a huge twist and a shocking “death,” I found myself less emotionally invested than I’ve been all season.

My favorite part of this episode was the way the big reveal of Peter Pan’s identity began to dawn on me more and more as the episode went on. It built from the immaturity shown by Rumplestiltskin’s father to his dreams of Neverland and, finally, to that exquisite moment of perfect plotting when he told Rumplestiltskin that a child can’t have children. When he said that line, I was floored with the knowledge of what was about to happen, and I loved every second of it. For the longest time, I had guessed that Rumplestiltskin and Pan were going to turn out to be brothers, but this twist was even better. It made so much sense for the plot, but, more importantly, it made sense for the characters.

Can I just take a moment here to congratulate the casting department on doing an excellent job once again? Because the casting for young Rumplestiltskin was absolutely perfect. Wyatt Oleff looked like he could be a baby version of Robert Carlyle, and he had just the right line delivery and accent, too. Also, Stephen Lord was a great casting choice for Rumplestiltskin’s father and the man who would become Pan. His laugh was exactly the same as Rumplestiltskin’s, and something about his eyes and posture connected very strongly with Robbie Kay’s work so far this season as Pan.

For a show that I often praise for the way it handles its female characters—especially its mothers—I have to give credit to the Once Upon a Time writers for the incredibly painful, broken, and believable “sins of the father” narrative they’ve created with Pan, Rumplestiltskin, Neal, and Henry. This episode built upon everything we know about these men and their weaknesses in a way that gets even more interesting the more you think about it.

It seems that each generation improved from Pan’s grievous abandoning of Rumplestiltskin, but they all could only get so far in terms of breaking the cycle of abandonment. Before becoming Pan, Rumplestiltskin’s father didn’t want the responsibility of fatherhood, so it made sense for him to choose the power of eternal youth—the power of Neverland—over his son. But just because it made sense, it didn’t make his betrayal any less painful. Watching young Rumplestiltskin get taken by the Shadow (voiced with perfect creepiness by Marilyn Manson) absolutely broke my heart. And it both helped me understand why Rumplestiltskin was so afraid to use the portal with Bae and made me even angrier with him for not taking the chance for a fresh start that he was denied with his own father. As an adult, Rumplestiltskin has always appeared a tragic character, and never more so than now that we know he let go of Bae the same way he was let go of by his own father.

Rumplestiltskin did feel remorse and regret instantaneously; something that couldn’t be said for his own father. But he chose the power of magic over his son in the same way his father chose the power of youth and Neverland. Hundreds of years later, Bae also faced a choice between power and love. He found power in his distance from his father, in his new life as Neal. By leaving Emma (and unknowingly, his unborn son) and then choosing not to go back for her after the curse was broken, he chose to hold on to the power he had in being free of his father and his past instead of fighting for the person he loved. But unlike the men who came before him, once Neal knew he’d abandoned his son, he worked to do the right thing for the little boy he left behind without even knowing. Neal’s role as Henry’s father played a very prominent role in this episode, and I liked seeing him fight for his son in an episode that highlighted fathers who didn’t fight for their sons when they had the chance.

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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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