Sunday, October 6, 2013

Once Upon a Time 3.02; "Lost Girl"

“See, it’s not about finding Henry. It’s about how you find him. And Emma, you are the only one who can. You’ll be able to read that map when you stop denying who you really are.”
- Peter Pan

We’re back on the “let’s find Henry” campaign. Before checking back in with the Charming clan, we find Rumple doing a bit of interesting magic. He severs his own shadow and orders it to hide his dagger where no one (including himself) can find it. I’m guessing he doesn’t want another incident like with Cora to happen. Pan being the Dark One sounds even scarier than Rumple. Elsewhere, Hook is leading the gang through the forest to find a vantage point of Pan’s hidey hole. We learn the origin of the poison Hook used on Rumple (they come from some nasty thorns) as they come to realize the geography has changed since last Hook set foot on the island. Oops! Emma is also having a little trouble accepting Snow and Charming as her parents. Calling them mom and dad was sort of a ‘we’re all about to die” circumstance. That night, Emma wakes to hear crying and gets her first meeting with the island ruler himself. He gives her a map to find Henry (it’s blank) saying that it’s about how she goes about finding her son that’s important.

Back in Fairytale Land that was (I know we haven’t been there in a while), Regina learns that Charming has woken Snow from the sleeping curse and they’re plotting to take back the kingdom. Regina interrupts a campaign speech and threatens to kill a bunch of people if Snow doesn’t renounce her claim to the throne. Somehow, I don’t see Snow going along with that plan. And would be horribly wrong. She doesn’t want to be alone but she’s not confident in who she is to fight back. Charming wants to change her mind but the dwarves are firmly behind Snow. If she wants to go into exile then they’re behind her. So of course, Charming pays Rumple a visit to ask for help. Rumple agrees to help only after Charming says he’s not leaving without help. We also get a hint that magic doesn’t create belief, belief is what spurs magic. Charmings brings the news back to a still-dejected Snow. He says there’s a magical weapon that will show Regina who Snow really is and it will help get the kingdom back. That magical weapon would be freaking Excalibur. Snow pulls it from the rock, proving she is the rightful ruler of the realm. The sword does its job. It gives Snow the confidence she needs to stand up to Regina. So a war is a-brewing! But there’s trouble in paradise when Snow calls on Rumple to settle Charming’s debt for Excalibur. Charming faked the sword to show Snow who she really is. But hey, she gets over it quickly enough to snog him while the dwarves stand awkwardly by and watch

Back on the island, the Charmings and their evil entourage are bickering about what to do with the map. Regina suggests just using magic on it but everyone else in the group vetoes that plan. They have to play by Pan’s rules or else they could be royally screwed. Elsewhere in the forest, Rumple is musing over the figurine when a noise distracts him. Someone snatches up the doll and Rumple runs after them, only to discover the thief is Belle. Say what? Rumple is confused by her presence (as was I) until she explains that she’s a vision that Rumple conjured. He’s not fully the Dark One so there’s hope. Something tells me this has to do with the whole prophecy thing. Quite honestly I’m expecting Rumple to give up his powers as the Dark One but survive to save Henry. Thus fulfilling the prophecy. It turns out Rumple is preoccupied with the prophecy. He’s summoned Belle to be something of a conscience. He admits he’s a coward like his father and the straw doll was the last thing his father gave him before abandoning him. Belle insists Rumple needs to let go of the past and no repeat his father’s mistakes. So the doll gets chucked off a cliff. That doesn’t work however. The damn thing keeps coming back. He tries to burn it but that doesn’t work either so he’s resigned to just carry the stupid thing with him.

Emma is trying to figure out the map so she starts rattling off facts about herself: her name, location of birth, parentage, professions. She even says she’s the Savior but the thing is I don’t think she believes it (as that is the theme of the first half of the season). So the map doesn’t work. I think she needs to admit that she was a lost little girl who is still trying to find herself but that’s just me. Regina gets impatient and casts a locator spell on the parchment to lead them to Pan. This involves going into the spooky evil Dark Jungle which Hook said never to enter. Yippee! It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Regina’s methods yield poor results. Pan knew they cheated and therefore he’s got his Lost Boys to surround them all with arrows and torches and the like. Pan is not a fan of cheaters. Interesting.

A fight ensues and Emma lands a Lost Boy on the ground. She’s about to throttle him when she stops. Her moment of hesitation lets him live. We also get a nice Rufio reference from Hook as he and Felix duke it out. After Pan and his boy retreat, Emma has an honest conversation with Snow about the fact she couldn’t hurt the boy because she saw herself in his eyes. She was a lost little orphan (I called it!). This of course makes the map work. They’re going to need to change their game plan though since Pan let them escape the last time. Emma and Hook share yet another drink before she heads off to pick some berries and Charming goes off to assess his rather nasty sword wound in his side. Emma runs into Pan and he congratulates her on getting the map to work but taunts her that when she finds Henry he’ll never want to leave the island because he doesn’t forgive her for abandoning him and Emma will leave the island (maybe) an orphan. Pan doesn’t mess around. He’s going for the jugular.

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