Now, THIS is how you do an episode!
As we saw last episode, August is now back, and Gold wastes no time
before beginning his interrogation/torture to get the young man to spill what
he knows about the Author. He even
resorts to forcing August to swallow a potion that brings back Pinocchio’s
characteristic nose-growing trait, so they’d know if he was lying. However, Regina manages to send the rest of
the Nevengers a message by temporary ‘possessing’ Snow, informing them that
Gold has returned to Storybrooke and is in league with the Queens of
Darkness. To try and nip whatever he’s
planning in the bud, they go see Belle in order to ask her to grant them
possession of the Dark One’s dagger. Of
course, by now, it’s too late, as Gold already tricked Belle out of it by
impersonating Killian. And the real Killian
is SO not pleased by this news, angrily announcing they should have killed Gold
when they had the chance. I can only
imagine how rankled Killian must be at learning that his oldest enemy is not
only back in town (who else saw his jaw twitching when Regina dropped that bombshell?), but that he’s still hurting the people he cares about. I’m sure we all remember everything Gold did
to Killian, and what he almost did to Emma during the Frozen arc.
Not to mention how he could have ultimately caused the deaths of
everyone in Storybrooke by having the fairies trapped in the Sorcerer’s Hat
before they could develop a cure for Ingrid’s curse. But now, he’s once again manipulating and
tricking Belle, whom we’ve seen Killian was developing a nice little friendship
with. In my head cannon, Killian might
very well be starting to think of Belle as the younger sister he never
had, and therefore feels protective of her. So it would make perfect sense for
Killian to feel angry over Belle once again being tricked by her estranged
husband. Notice how he verbally expressed his anger after seeing how hurt Belle was over Gold once again tricking her.
To try and figure out what Gold is really planning, Killian decides
to utilize his past with Ursula. It
turns out that centuries ago, when Killian/Hook was still under Pan’s employ,
he had a run in with a much younger Ursula, who was originally a mermaid and
daughter of Poseidon , the god of the sea.
Some time ago, Ursula’s mother was killed by pirates, and
the grief-stricken Poseidon decided to use Ursula’s gift of song, which she’d
inherited from her late mother, as a weapon.
He instructed Ursula to use her song to lure sailors to their
deaths. Because Poseidon is now
convinced all humans are bad, a viewpoint Ursula disagreed with. (You know,
I kinda would like to see a meeting between Ursula and Anton sometime. They both went through similar periods of ‘just because one human was bad, it doesn’t
mean they’re all bad. Oh no! I just had a bad experience with a
human! I hate humans now!’ Is it possible to ship two characters who
haven’t even met in canon?) When
Ursula happened to use her melodic song on the crew of the Jolly Roger, she
couldn’t go through with luring them to their deaths and allowed Hook and his crew to go free. When Hook later runs into Ursula at a tavern
sometime later as she entertains the clientele with her singing, he recognizes
her as the mermaid who spared his crew.
To show his gratefulness for her mercy, as well as how Ursula’s song
actually helped temporary soothe the grief he still carried from Milah’s death,
he agrees to bring Ursula to the kingdom of Glowerhaven, which was her mother’s
favorite spot. But Poseidon was not
willing to allow Ursula to leave, and he tries to bribe Hook into betraying the
young mermaid by trapping her voice inside an enchanted shell. Poseidon states that if Hook does this, he
will give the pirate captain a vial of squid ink that can be used to paralyze
Dark One Rumpelstiltskin. But Hook, who
was always a man of honor deep down, refused to take away Ursula’s voice, as he
knew how much it meant to her and how it reminded her of her late mother. Instead, he tells Ursula about Poseidon’s plan
and suggests that they tweak their original bargain. The new bargain states that Hook will still
take Ursula to Glowerhaven if she can procure him a vial of Poseidon’s squid ink
as payment. Their plan seems to go over
without a hitch. Until Poseidon pops up
again and magically takes away the squid ink.
In furious retaliation, Hook responds by trapping Ursula’s voice inside
the shell. Which isn’t too surprising,
as he’s always had a penchant for revenge.
(First against the corrupt king, then against Rumpelstiltskin, and now
with Poseidon).
In present-day Storybrooke, Killian meets with Ursula and lets her
know she doesn’t need the Author in order to get what she wants- he can get her
voice back without the Author's assistance. It turns out that the shell
that Ursula’s voice is trapped inside still remains on the Jolly Roger, which
is still in the Enchanted Forest. Taking
advantage of the fact that Ursula can access underwater portals, Killian has
her open one up in order to bring the Jolly Roger back. Only when she does, they discover something’s happened to
it, and it’s now been transformed somehow into a ship in a bottle. Okay, not the strangest think we’ve seen
happen on this show, so I can buy that.
To get it full-sized again, Killian swings by Gold’s shop to enlist
Will’s help. Since Will had spent a
particular amount of time in Wonderland, Killian figures that Will might know
of a way to restore the Jolly Roger.
(Speaking of Wonderland, are we ever going to see Jefferson and Grace
again? Considering Will is now a
recurring character on this show, they really do have the perfect set up, as
I’m sure Will and Jefferson must have spent some time together at some point.) Anyway, with Will’s essence of magical mushroom,
they restore the Jolly Roger to its former glory. Which is awesome for Killian. He LOVED the Jolly Roger but sacrificed it
for the sake of Emma. So it’s just so
satisfying to see him get it back. However,
first thing is first; they have to get the shell that contains Ursula’s
voice. But when they obtain the
enchanted shell, they can’t release Ursula’s voice. Deciding that listening to Killian was a
waste of her time, Ursula knocks him unconscious and throws him overboard. Thankfully, Killian is saved from drowning by
a surprise reappearance of Ariel. But
wait, wasn’t she sequestered on a desert island with Eric back in the Enchanted
Forest? Yes she was, but apparently
after Elsa, Anna and Kristoff returned to Arendelle, they also managed to deal
with Blackbeard, who had been wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom in their
absence. To put a stop to that, Elsa had
the Jolly Roger shrunk down. (She can do
that? I thought Elsa’s powers were
limited to ice magic. Answers,
please!) It turns out that when the
Jolly Roger got shrunk down, Ariel was hit in the crossfire and got trapped in
the bottle as well (why was she even hanging out around the ship to begin with?),
only being freed when the Jolly Roger was restored. His reunion with Ariel ended up giving
Killian an idea, and he asks Ariel to track down Poseidon, realizing that only
the sea god can release Ursula’s voice.
Killian’s plan ultimately succeeds, and Poseidon returns Ursula’s voice. The moment is made even more satisfying as
Ursula and Poseidon decide to make amends and leave together. Before she leaves, Ursula rewards Killian for
his assistance in helping her find her happy ending by letting him know Gold’s
ultimate plan. Apparently, he knows the
Author cannot rewrite the book’s rules, because Emma was the one who brought
about the heroes’ happy endings. So the
only way to give the villains what they want is to corrupt Emma’s heart with
darkness.
In the final moments of the episode, August wakes up from his nap
(because I imagine spending the entire episode being tortured for information
can be quite draining) and informs Emma, Regina and Henry that the illustration
of the door is not just an illustration.
It IS the door, and the Author is trapped inside the book. So all we need is Gumby. Or Atrus from the Myst games.
I have to admit, I hadn’t realized that I missed August until this
episode. But seeing him interacting with
Emma when the Nevengers show up to rescue him from Gold and the Queens of
Darkness really put a smile on my
face. As much as August messed up in his
job of protecting Emma when she was young, there was never a doubt that August
and Emma shared a pretty nice friendship during season 1. When they meet again for the first time since
the second half of season 2, it’s like no time has passed, and their camaraderie
is still just as strong.
We also get such a great development between Emma and Killian. When Ursula shows up at Gold’s cabin,
interrupting Emma, Snow and Charming’s attempt at rescuing August (by the way, who's watching the baby?), Emma is immediately
worried, knowing that Killian was supposed to be with her. So if Ursula is here and Killian is
unaccounted for, then what happened to him?
And when Killian appears, alive and unharmed, Emma’s relief is
tangible. So much so, that she immediately
reaches out to grasp his arm, and she doesn’t stop touching him until everyone
else begins to leave. And when they’re
left alone, we get one of the greatest Captain Swan moments to date. Killian opens up to Emma about his fears
surrounding the Author. If it’s true
that the rules of the book the Author wrote essentially forbids villains from
ever getting their happy endings, then it means that he himself will ultimately
lose his happy ending. Which leads to
the following exchange.
Emma: Wait. If you're afraid of losing your happy ending, that means
you found it. What is it?
Killian: Don't you know, Emma? It's you.
Not only is this the closest they’ve come so far to an actual ‘I love
you’ without actually saying the words, his confession brings Emma to emotional
tears. Emma had grown up feeling unloved
and unwanted. So for her, the knowledge
that Killian considers her his happy ending is just huge for her. Of course, she probably knows that Killian loves
her. After all, she'd have to pretty dense to not realize that. He did trade his ship for her,
after all. But then again, her parents
also love her. And yet, simply having her in their lives just isn’t enough for them. The very existence of Baby Neal is a
testament to that. They needed something
more than Emma before they felt satisfied.
But here, Killian is stating that all he needs to have a happy ending is
Emma, and nothing more. And for someone
who’d spent most of her life feeling like an unwanted, unloved orphan, the revelation
that someone could be completely satisfied with just her is simply staggering.
Small bit of foreshadowing happened this episode. Regina ends up falling asleep for a brief
moment, and dreams that Robin somehow was able to return to Storybrooke. However, when they’re having their reunion, a
second Regina appears, only this Regina is Evil Queen Regna, who promptly
launches a fireball towards them. When
Regina later discusses this dream with Emma, she admits she feels like her Evil
Queen persona was trying to protect Robin from someone. The question is, does this mean Regina can
instinctively feel that Robin is in some kind of danger through the power of
True Love? It wouldn’t be the first time
something like this happened. When Snow
fell under the Sleeping Curse with the poisoned apple, Charming immediately
KNEW something bad happened to her. So
if Robin is in danger, what’s he in danger from? Wanting to assist Regina in settling her concern for Robin's well-being, Emma states she will give Regina Robin's cellphone number.
Okay, it’s time I discussed my thoughts on Killian stating that he
was once a villain. To be completely
honest, I have NEVER thought of him as a villain in this show, so I can’t
understand why people refer to him as such.
I personally feel the only reason to think of him that way was because
that’s how the character of Captain Hook was portrayed in J.M. Barrie’s
original story. Allow me to explain my
reasons for not classifying this version of Captain Hook as a villain. They say that first impressions are very
important. So let’s look at my first
impressions for the three main ‘villains’ in this show. I think I made it quite clear how I felt
about Regina during all of season 1. Nearly every time she appeared on screen,
I was all ‘oh, come on, lady! Go eat a Prozac. Or treat yourself to a singles vacation
package at a tropical resort in Fiji.’
With Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, my initial take on him pretty much alternated
between ‘ugh, you twisted, manipulative
snake!’ to ‘wait, you’re helping the good guys now? I don’t buy it. What’s your game?’ However, when it came to Killian/Hook? After watching his interaction with the
‘Princess Squad’ in ‘The Doctor,’ I
was all ‘yeahhhh. Hmmm.
Tell you what, Hook. I’m just
going to take my stopwatch here, and time how long it takes for you to officially
join the good guys. I hope you don’t
mind.’ Yeah, to me, it was obvious
from the get-go that it was only a matter of time before that character became
a permanent ally to Emma and the others.
As a result, when Emma left him behind at the top of the beanstalk, even
though I understood why she was doing so, I was still mimicking C-3PO in saying
‘what are you doing? Trust him, trust
him!’
In addition, let’s look at what motivated Killian/Hook to choose the
path he ended up going on. Just about
everything he did throughout season 2 was fueled by his desire to avenge
someone he’d loved. I can’t see how he can
be faulted for that. Wanting to avenge
the murder of a loved one is a very human reaction. While it could be argued that Regina also had
the same motivation, she lost my support when she chose blame a ten-year-old
girl for Daniel’s death instead of the person who actually committed the
murder. You never saw that level of
warped logic with Killian/Hook. He never
tried to hold Mr. Smee responsible for Milah’s death on the grounds that, if
Smee had chosen to have his meeting with the Dark One in a different tavern,
Rumpelstiltskin might never have crossed paths with Killian and Milah
again. No, Killian maintained enough
semblance of logic to place blame where blame was due, and I say he deserves
merit for that. In a related story,
there are the things Killian actually did.
Granted we only saw a few of his past deeds, but the bits we did see
didn’t strike me as all that bad. Let’s
take his backstory with Ursula in this episode for example. At the start of it all, he was completely
willing to help Ursula achieve her dream of reaching Glowerhaven (can we please
visit that kingdom in the future? I love
seeing new locations in this show). So
much so, he actually offered to escort her there free-of-charge. And when Poseidon tried to bribe him to
double-cross Ursula in exchange for a way to finally defeat Rumpelstiltskin,
Killian/Hook REFUSED to even consider it, and instead thought up an alternative
option. In fact, when he did end up
taking away Ursula’s singing voice, it didn’t strike me as a particularly evil
act. Just another very human reaction. Poseidon had taken away the very first lucky
break he’d gotten in his quest of finishing Rumpelstiltskin, so of course he
was going to react to that. How many
people lash out when they’re upset or angry?
That’s just human nature. It’s
also probably important to note that Killian/Hook didn’t just destroy the shell
after Poseidon left. Instead he kept it
locked up in his personal quarters aboard the Jolly Roger. The fact that he kept the shell intact could
suggest a part of him regretted his impulsive action once his anger had
subsided a bit, but since it was probably virtually impossible for him to track
down Poseidon or Ursula afterwards, there wasn’t really anything he could do
about it.
All in all, even when Killian/Hook was at his worst, he always seemed
to know where to draw the line, which is a glaring contrast to Regina, who
massacred an entire village because Snow happened to spend a night there, and
Rumpelstiltskin, who frequently murdered people for the smallest offences. And while I won’t pretend Killian/Hook hadn’t
killed people, even then, he always seemed to prefer to avoid wholesale
slaughter (i.e. his reaction to Cora killing all the people at the refugee
encampment; he was completely ready to turn against her for that, even before
he met Emma.) In fact, the only time
he’s done something that made me thing ‘whoa! Going a bit too far there!’ was when he
nearly killed Belle in the ‘Queen of
Hearts’ flashback. But even then, you
have to ask yourself- if that was just some random person and not a character
we’d already gotten to know and care about, would that have bothered us as
much? I’m pretty sure we were all kinda
‘meh’ over him killing Claude (who was later revealed to be a bit of a jerk,
anyway).
Finally, there’s the whole aspect about the condition of the
character’s heart. When a character on
the show does something that’s particularly evil or corrupted, their heart will
reflect that by becoming darkened. The
impression I’ve gotten from past episodes is that once someone’s heart obtains
a dark spot, that spot is permanent.
That possibility makes the most sense to me because if you commit an
atrocious act, even if you can make up for it, you can never take it back. So of course your dark spot will remain, no
matter how much you turn your life around.
(Of course, I’m not on the show’s writing staff, so I could be
interpreting this the wrong way.) With
that said, let’s compare the conditions of the three main ‘villain’s’ hearts.
First, let’s look at Regina’s heart.
Even though she’s supposed to have redeemed herself, her heart still
remains mostly black.
Next we have Gold/Rumpelstiltskin’s heart. Even though we haven’t actually seen it by
this episode, it will appear before the completion of the Author arc. Much like Regina, his heart is almost
entirely black, with only the tiniest speck of red light left.
And that brings us to Killian’s heart, which we’ve all got a good
glimpse of thanks to Gold’s actions during the Frozen arc. Again, while I’m no expert, that certainly
looks like a healthy heart to me. (And
this is me pointing and laughing at what Belle said about his heart in ‘The Outsider.’ Yeah, rotten my eye.)
The very fact that Killian’s heart is mostly devoid of any darkness
suggests that Killian never reached the
level of depravity that Regina and Gold did, indicating once again that he
always knew exactly when to draw the line.
For those reasons, I think it’s a harsh exaggeration to say Killian
was ever an actual villain. Personally,
I think a more accurate label for this character, particularly at the early
stages, would be the antihero. What is
an antihero? It’s someone who possesses
heroic qualities but is morally ambiguous.
I think this describes Killian perfectly. He certainly has plenty of heroic qualities,
such as bravery and a sense of honor.
How many times has he mentioned believing in good form or keeping to a
code? And I think we can all agree that
he was certainly morally ambiguous during season 2 with his tendency to have his allegiance bounce back and forth depending on the current situation.
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