While the
group is following Pan’s map, they discover Pan has pulled a fast one and moved
his camp to a new location. This leaves
everyone with the question of how they’re supposed to make it to Pan’s camp and
rescue Henry if Pan is only going to keep moving it whenever they get too
close. Hook, once again showing his
knowledge of the island, suggests seeking out the fairy Tinkerbell, stating she
might be able to assist them. However,
Regina is instantly opposed to this idea.
The reason for her reluctance is revealed in the episode’s flashback,
which takes place during that span of time between Regina marrying Snow’s
father and the events that were shown in ‘Fruit
of the Poisonous Tree.’ Regina is
growing increasingly frustrated with her lot in life, much like a tiger in a
cage. When she accidentally falls off the
balcony, she is saved at the last minute by Tinkerbell, who’d happened to be
passing by. (That must have been one
shoddily-placed railing to have broken off after Regina simply hit it a few
times. Exactly how hard was she slapping
the thing?) The two instantly become
BFFs, and after bonding with each other by discussing the late Daniel (ugh, I
almost forgot how annoying Regina could be when she insisted on pegging
Daniel’s death on Snow), Tinkerbell vows to help Regina find a new
soulmate. She eventually locates one in
a man who’s staying at a nearby tavern- a man who is later revealed to be Robin
Hood (who we also learn had lost Maid Marion in the present day, sometime after
the events of the ‘Lacey’ flashback). But Regina chickens out at the last minute
and doesn’t go up to meet Robin. As
horrible as it may sound, while Tinkerbell’s motives were certainly pure, I do
think it was a good thing that Regina didn’t allow herself to meet Robin Hood
back then. After all, she was
technically still married to King Leopold at the time. Let’s not forget how he reacted when he
suspected Regina had a secret admirer back in ‘Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.’
If Regina had gone into the tavern and spoken to Robin as planned, the
guy might very well have been executed.
So, in a way, Regina’s actions kinda saved Robin’s life. As for Tinkerbell, because she defied Blue’s
orders in her attempts to help Regina, she was stripped of her wings and
banished from the fairy kingdom.
Speaking of
Blue, she is such a major snot. I get
she’s obviously the head fairy, but that doesn’t give her the right to be all
high-and-mighty, treating the other fairies like figures in her own personal
life-sized dollhouse. ‘I would be the judge of what is fairy-like.’ Whatever you say, Queen B, supreme ruler of
everything. One question- do you mind if
I slap you? Is there anyone out there
who actually likes this
character? I wouldn’t be surprised if
she was universally hated. First it was
her preventing Nova from being with Dreamy/Grumpy, and now this. Blue, you do realize that being the head
fairy doesn’t mean you can have unbridled control over the lives of all the
other fairies, right? I’m surprised you
haven’t magically stripped them of their free will and given them all hive
minds.
Getting back
to the story, the group eventually finds Tinkerbell, who hesitantly agrees to
help them infiltrate Pan’s camp when Snow offers her the chance to leave
Neverland with them. Here we do get a
small moment with everyone back at camp.
While Snow and Charming are cuddling with each other and Hook and Emma
are enjoying some coconuts (and who else saw the way Tink was eyeing those two? You think she kept her ability to recognize
soulmates even after losing her wings?) Tinkerbell ends up stepping away to sit
with her old BFF, criticizing her for never going back later to find the man
with the lion tattoo/Robin, stating that doing so ruined his life as well.
Meanwhile,
Neal’s still bumbling around Rumpelstiltskin’s old castle, trying to find a way
for him to travel to Neverland after Emma.
Until he discovers the existence of Robin Hood’s small son, Roland. The moment he sees Roland, you see the rusty
cogs in Neal’s head start to turn as he devises his evil scheme. Remembering how the shadow almost abducted
Michael Darling back in Victorian London until he’d stepped in to take
Michael’s place, Nealfirebagelperson decides to use Roland as bait to lure Pan’s
shadow to them so he can then force the shadow to bring him to Neverland
instead. Our hero, ladies and gentleman-
someone who purposely endangers another man’s beloved son for his own personal
gain. Have I mentioned that I hate this
guy? What makes me even more irritated
about him in this episode is when he’s talking to Robin and Mulan about how he
messed up with Emma. But the mistake he
mentions making with her was waiting too long to respond to her ‘I love you’ before he got pulled through
the portal. As if that was his only transgression
that he needs to be forgiven for. Oh come
on, Neal! Don’t pretend like the
whole ‘sending her to jail for your crime’ thing didn’t happen! Because THAT’S what you should REALLY be
sorry for. Stop being all ‘no biggie’
about it!
It just astounds
me that there were people who actually wanted to see this guy get back together
with Emma. Even if I could overlook all
the moronic and selfish stuff he did, I never saw any sort of chemistry between
them. At all. And I’m someone who thought there might have
potentially been something between Boy Baelfire and Morraine (who’s most likely
dead by now), or even between him and Wendy.
Adult Neal had way more chemistry with Mulan than he did with Emma, and
Mulan ended up being revealed as a lesbian.
(I guess this means Shang doesn’t exist in OUAT’s reality.) I don’t know, maybe the role of Adult Neal
was just miscast. I’m sure actor Michael
Raymond-James is a great guy and that he’s acted well in other stuff, but in
OUAT, his character just always seems to be as bland as wonder bread. Even his nonverbal acting seemed off to me-
no matter what’s going on in the show, this guy almost always seems to have the
same facial expression of apathetic disinterest. Watching Adult Neal react to anything just
reminds me too much of the ‘Expressions
of Darth Vader’ T-shirt.
Anyway,
despite Robin’s justifiable misgivings about Nealfirebagelperson’s diabolical
plan, it does end up working. (Still
doesn’t change the fact that Neal was very self-centered in endangering little
Roland.) Anyway, once he’s gone, Robin
offers Mulan a place among his band of Merry Men. At first, Mulan hesitates to take the offer,
as she has romantic feelings for Aurora.
But when she finds out Aurora is pregnant with Prince Phillip’s baby,
she decides to continue keeping her feelings a secret and accepts Robin’s
offer. While I do feel bad for Mulan, I
do have to question her reasoning. She
must have known her feelings were going to be one-sided, particularly since
they went to such (unseen) lengths to get Phillip back from the wrath.
While I
should probably mention Henry, there’s just not that much to talk about. Just Pan being all creepy and whatnot, trying
to force Henry to act out the famous scene in William Tell and informing him
that he’s some prophesied Chosen One who’s going to help save magic. Which is kind of weird, as Henry actually
tried to destroy magic midway through season 2.
Again, not much to discuss in terms of Henry’s subplot at the moment.
Oh, yeah,
and Charming’s slowly dying of Dreamshade poisoning. But despite Hook’s very sensible advice, he
insists on keeping it a secret from Emma and Snow. Just to mention that, as it’s gonna be an
issue for the next two episodes.
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