Previously on Once Upon A Time (if you said that in your best Agent Coulson voice, you are winning at life), everyone had come back to Storybrook from their very dark and sometimes boring trip to Neverland, Peter Pan had switched bodies with Henry becoming Penry, tricked Regina into showing him where she kept her magic in Storybrook, knocking her out and stealing the curse that brought all of the Enchanted Forest to Storybrook in the first place! Emma has realized that Penry is not her son and has let the Henry (who will be referred to as Han. Do NOTsay this life Han Solo, but like hand without the D) out of Pandora’s Box. We left OUAT with Penry and his always faithful minion Felix looking over the sleepy little town with the curse that would make everyone forget who they were (AGAIN!) and turn Storybrook into the new Neverland.
This week we got to see if Penry really did turn the town into the new Neverland. Right up front my thoughts before I saw the episode was Oh god, if he does I’m so done with this show. I hate Neverland so so much. Hook is the only good thing to come from that place.So I’ll tell you now Penry does not succeed, but what happens may, in fact, be worse. ‘Going Home’ starts out with Penry and Felix actually casting the curse with elements of both the original curse (Penry takes Felix’s heart) and how Gold broke the curse (throwing the curse down the town well). Back in Storybrook Gold tells the group that there’s only one person who can break the curse, Regina. But like all magic, it comes with a price. Gold also has a plan to change Penry and Han back into their regular selves, but he needs the Black Fairy’s wand. This is first time any mention of a Black Fairy has been mentioned. Any hope that it’s the Wicked Witch from Oz? There’s not many fairy tales the writers haven’t really covered already. Oz being the only one that is blatantly left out. Anyway, the team splits up to get the wand and Penry.
Hook, Neal, Charming and Tink go to the Church to get the wand (the Blue Fairy and her fairy troops have all been turned into nuns in Storybrook, thus all the magic is at the church), but they’re met by Pan’s shadow who wants the wand as well. Hook begins to distract Pan’s shadow so Tink can use the last of her pixie dust to fly up and trap the shadow in the coconut candle, or as I like to call it Night Light of DOOM. Once Tink traps the shadow, she throws it into a nearby fire, killing the shadow (I’ve learned that killing magic entities is really just luck on this show). The Blue Fairy, who had her shadow stolen by Pan’s shadow, which makes you dead, returns to life after Pan’s shadow had been destroyed (again, magic), reinstates Tink as a fairy and gives them the Black Fairy’s wand to help stop the curse.
When Hook, Neal, Charming and Tink get back to Gold’s shop, they use the wand on Han so they can place the boys in their correct bodies. After they’ve been switched, Gold puts a cuff on Pan’s wrist so he can’t use magic. Pan is unconscious for a short bit, Gold tells the others to go find Henry and the scroll containing the curse. He’s going to stay behind to take finish off Pan. When Pan wakes up, Gold begins to taunt Pan and tells him about about the life he missed out on with Gold as his son (it’s a weird family tree, see previous recaps). Pan turns this taunting back on Gold, telling Gold he never loved him. Pan then takes off the cuff (which he enchanted to only be used on other people not him. Magic!) and puts it on Gold and throws the now powerless Gold across the room and leaves.
While all this is going down in Gold’s shop, the real Henry runs to the rest of the crew with the curse in hand. He give it to Regina. When she opens it up, there’s a flash of light and Regina passes out. Upon awakening, she tells the group she knows exactly what she has to do to stop the curse. Conveniently, Pan shows up and freezes the heroes and takes back the scroll! BUT JUST THEN GOLD SHOWS UP and stabs Pan/his dad (again, another really long story, see previous recaps) with his magical dagger and both of them disappear. While everyone is shocked, the curse is still coming quickly. Neal asks Regina if she can stop the curse. She says yes but is hesitant as she’ll have to give up the thing she loves most. Her son, Henry. She’ll never be able to see him again and everyone who belongs to the Enchanted Forest will return to the Forest and Emma as well as Henry will never remember any of them.
At the edge of Storybook, the crew says their tearful goodbyes as the curse clouds (which are green because apparently teen angsty magic is green) get closer and closer to the town lines. Henry and Emma get in her yellow bug and drive away as Regina tears up the curse and stops the second Neverland. The curse smoke turns purple and completely envelopes the crowd, stopping at the town line. Henry and Emma smile at eachother like nothing happened, their memories completely wiped of anything about Storybrook and the fairy tale people there.
Oru episode ends with Emma and Henry a year later in an apartment in New York eating breakfast. Their doorbell rings, they are stunned because they weren’t expecting visitors. Emma goes to open the door to find Hook standing at the door. He kisses her (people are assuming that he thinks it’s true love and was trying to break the spell with True Love’s Kiss), she punches him and he begins to tell her he HAS to listen to her but she slams the door in his face.
Guys, it was an interesting half of a season and I’m hoping things pick up during the next half. Hopefully we won’t have to live through more of Emma’s disbelief about fairy tale characters or a complete reenactment of the first season. Perhaps Hook will just kidnap Emma and Henry and show them (honestly, it’ll be easier). We’ll see when the season starts back up in March!
~Princess Marvel
