Sunday, March 9, 2014

Once Upon a Time 3.12: "New York City Serenade"

“If one small part of you senses that I’m right, don’t you owe it to yourself to find out? What do you say, love? Take a leap of faith. Give it a go.”
- Hook

After a three-month hiatus, the denizens of the Enchanted Forest are finally back on our screens. I cannot tell you how excited I am for it to be back. They ended the mid-season finale on such a great cliffhanger that I’ve been anxious to see how it’s resolved and where they go with the back half of the season. We start in the Enchanted Forest a year ago when our gang returns. They find Prince Phillip and Aurora and after getting some rest, the Charmings and Regina (much to Regina’s surprise) head off to their own kingdom to start restoring things. Since Regina did marry into the family, Snow thinks it’s a great idea to return united as a family. Unfortunately, things aren’t as they seem. Aurora and Phillip share a moment where they discuss an ominous “her” that they have to report to. Or else their unborn baby is at risk. Yeah that doesn’t sound good at all.

We jump to New York in present day. Emma is on a date with her boyfriend, Walsh when Hook shows up. The dashing captain attempts to apologize to Emma for kissing her and then begs her to take a leap of faith. He gives her an address and tells her to come find him when she wants to talk after going there. He also points out that he knows she senses something is amiss thanks to her handy dandy superpower. She seems kind of dazed after Hook leaves and Walsh returns from a trip to the bathroom. A waiter brings dessert and then quite predictably, he proposes to Emma. For the love of God, she needs to say no. Well she doesn’t outright say no (or yes). She kind of freaks out at the sudden popping of the question. We learn they’ve been together eight months and he’s head over heels. But he’s willing to give her time to think about it. She gets home and we find out that she’s been honest with Henry about her issues with Neal. Henry points out (as they play a magic-based video game) that Walsh isn’t his dad. God I want her to remember so we don’t have to do a giant freaking rehash of season 3A and their emotional journey. The next morning after Henry goes to school, she pays a visit to the address Hook gave her. As soon as she spies the dream catcher (I’m calling it the infamous baby making dream catcher) she knows she’s found Neal’s place. And then she finds Henry’s camera from when they were there a year ago. She goes to meet Hook in Central Park and he offers her a potion to jog her memory. But she’s got other plans. She handcuffs him to a bench and calls the cops to have him arrested for assault (the kiss) and criminal harassment. Yeah, that’s totally not going to go well for our dashing pirate.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, the Charmings are starting to get ready to make the trip home. More denizens of Storybrooke are showing up around the realm so things are looking good on that front. Hook is off to find the Jolly Roger (his home) and Neal wants to make a trip to Rumple’s castle. He thinks that maybe Rumple may actually be back and will have a way to cross back to our world to find Emma. He’s determined, I’ll give him that. And he’s really not interested in listening to what the Charmings have to say about accepting their fate of being stuck permanently in the Enchanted Forest away from the woman he loves.

It seems we will be getting some interesting team-ups in the near future. Belle whispers to Neal that she thinks they can find Rumple and his dagger since they never did find the dagger in Storybrooke. And she’s confident he’ll see his loved ones again. It’s kind of sweet she’s being all mama bear towards him, even though he’s got centuries on her. Elsewhere, Snow goes after Regina when Grumpy reports the Queen is missing. Snow finds Regina burying her heart in the woods. She’s in pain having to live with losing Henry forever. But in typical Snow fashion, she gets Regina to see things on the bright side and that things will get better. With her ticker back in her chest, they head back to join the group only to be accosted by giant flying monkeys. Yep, that just happened.

Regina tries to ward off said flying marsupial with some fire but misses and it nearly nabs her. An arrow shot by one Robin of Loxley saves their hides and we finally get the meet cute between Regina and her true love. I’m stoked, honestly. She deserves some happiness, as Snow said and I’ve been waiting to see how this plays out. Regina gets a little defensive when Little John gets accusatory but it’s all good. She’s starting to mellow. Robin and Neal have a little reunion as do Robin and Belle. And Regina and Snow assess their newcomer, including Snow noting that he’s cute. Oh she is so going to play match maker. They get to the castle but it’s protected by magic not of Regina’s doing. They’ll have to take up refuge with Robin and his men until they can break the curse.

Back in New York, Emma checks out the photos that were on Henry’s camera and goes to spring hook from lock up. We get a rather amusing bit about him being force fed bologna. Gotta love it. Reminds me of the deleted scene where he’s bewildered by Jell-O. Anyway, he convinces Emma to trust Henry always telling her to trust her gut and take the potion. And it works! Hallelujah! I’m so glad they didn’t drag that out for more than half the episode. It would have been a bit much. She and Hook share drinks at her place as he explains that someone powerful cast another curse and yanked everyone back to Storybrooke (so at least they don’t have to go far). Hook also reveals that Snow and Regina mended their relationship. Unfortunately, just as Emma has to figure to how to break all of this to a non-believing Henry, Walsh shows up. She takes him to the roof and says she can’t marry him and that her past is catching up to her. And then he turns into a giant flying monkey. Good thing she didn’t marry him. They scuffle and she knocks him off the roof and he goes splat into dust on the street below. Which didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense since he could fly.

The next morning, Emma’s making breakfast for Henry and convinces him to go on a trip for a “case”. Hook shows up and she says that he’s her client. They head off to Storybrooke and it’s quite obvious that things have changed. Emma leaves Hook to watch over Henry while she goes to find her parents. They know that a year’s gone by but have no memory. And they know about the time jump you ask? Say hello to the Snowing baby bump (courtesy of Ginnifer Goodwin’s real-life pregnancy). And we finally cut back to the Enchanted Forest to find that the Wicket Witch has taken over the castle. One of her monkeys has gotten Regina’s blood and now the Witch can get her own revenge. This is going to be epic.

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