"I have a magic button that will kill every one, I'm going to kill everyone, then go home to fairy land and then periodically strip my child's memories until he stops asking questions that make me feel like a baddie." I like the gray, but this episode is written by a moron who wasn't told about the gray.
I don't know anymore what to feel about Regina, one episode I just feel sorry for her because Snow always messes everything up when she's trying to be good and I just want to give her a hug. And then comes an episode like these when I get to see just how plain and simply evil she is, standing over the corpses of her victims with an insane glitter in her eyes saying she is doing good... I'm not saying she is being written badly, just that she is walking a rope so thin she falls down several times a week and sometimes just doesn't care any longer. But the best part was the nod to everyone who can't figure out if Emma has superpowers or not: "Your superpower has been known to be unreliable, Emma. Especially when you are emotional." - Mary Margaret
Wow great episode tonight. Rumple is going to go nuts finding out he lost his son again. I bet Neil ends up at Neverland again though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVngV1J_mfA for a sneek preview for next week final. So cant wait.
Cross-posted: I didn't see who wrote this ep, but what they delivered was awesomeness on a Joss Whedon-esque level. There's so much to talk about, it's hard to know where to start, but I think I'll start with the twist on the classic Peter Pan story that was presented to us, and branch out from there. I don't know who here is familiar with Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's Starcatchers novel series, but there were a number of things about tonight's ep and the writers' take on the Peter Pan story that reminded me of that series, the biggest one being the nature of the Shadow. It's almost as if the writers took the character of Lord Ombra from the Starcatchers series and merged him with Peter Pan, which, quite frankly, is a stroke of brilliance. Making the Darlings Bae's foster family was another stroke of brilliance, and Bae making the sacrificial gesture of going with the Shadow really strengthened his character, especially when you consider that he makes the same type of gesture later on as an adult with Emma. I also loved the way the writers answered the question of how Bae/Neal knew Hook; I so totally wasn't expecting things to go down as they did, and I'm really intrigued as to what Hook and the Jolly Roger were doing in our world to begin with. I'm a die-hard SwanThief, Rumbelle, and Snowing shipper, and loved the moments/developments for the three ships that tonight's ep gave us. My heart especially broke for Emma when Neal basically did for her the same thing he did as a teen for Wendy and her brothers and let go in order to close the portal that Tamara opened. Speaking of, she and Greg are basically 'Anti-Starcatchers', which is awesome. What's also awesome about these two is that the writers had us as an audience believing that Tamara was the bigger threat individually, only to reveal that Greg's worse than she is. The end with Regina and the Charmings was also great, and a perfect example of the old adage 'The enemy of mine enemy is my friend'. This coming week is going to be excruciating because of how this ep set up the finale and what, based on the promo, the writers have planned for that ep (which, based just on the promo, sounds like it might rival Becoming and The Gift when it comes to epicness).
Considering that it was only after the shadow launched himself and Bae up towards a certain star and vanished, and only after Bae saw Neverland -- which he called by name -- on the horizon, that he started to squirm to break free and fall into the sea... Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's certain. Nevermind the island with the giant mountain on it. Which I'm pretty sure isn't a London landmark.
^ What I saw was Bae and the Shadow fly through London out over the ocean, and Bae then try to get away. If that's indeed what happened and they did reach Neverland, I missed some parts of the scene somehow.
I'm guessing that this anti-magic group aka the Home Office was set up by Wendy Darling. I think more was going on here than just going into Bae's history. And no way is Neal dead. He's probably in Neverland or the Enchanted Forest.
Or maybe Neil fell into Dr Frankenstein's world, where they are familiar with gun shot wounds. I too suspect that the home office was set up by the Darlings...I just hope we learn somewhere along the line that Wendy and her brothers didn't start out planning to kill, simply because weren't the Darling kids based on a real family? I'd hate that their descedents would be looked upon as the (attempted) murderers of Snow White and Prince Charming. Then again, wouldn't they already know he was Bae? Wasn't that why Neil was targeted in the first place? Tamara's cry to Bae, "You of all people..." suggests she does know his full history. Can't wait for next week!
They flew through London, then we saw them fly up into the sky towards a break in the clouds where a single star twinkled. Did you see that?
It was pretty clear (to me) that they flew to the "second star to the right" and straight on to Neverland's "world" where Bae fell into the seas surrounding it. I was expecting him to be rescued by mermaids though - didn't think of Hook till he arrived.
Figured he would have been Peter Pan, but this works too. Kinda dark twist on the fun shadow from the comics. Either way, he had clearly met Hook before and was familiar with the boat... And yeah, thought it was pretty clear they were in Neverland. Flew past the 2nd star to the right, and then were heading to what's pretty clearly the island from Peter Pan when he wiggled free. Clearly wasn't a suburb of London.
Yeah, I think he's definitely in Neverland again. And I think the Darlings set up Home Office too (unless it goes back even further than them). I did like the twist on Peter Pan. I'm wondering if Bae will be Peter Pan or whether we'll meet the actual Pan next week. But, given how Rumplestiltskin is multiple characters it would be fitting that Bae has a couple of identities too. It was clear to me it was Neverland as well and I too thought he would be rescued by mermaids. But speaking of them, easy way to get Ariel next season! Overall the episode was amazing. I loved the reveal that Tamara and Greg are working for a larger company, really opens up the whole show. I like the seeds planted between Lacey and Gold, I think Lacey is going to betray him eventually. Loved that Regina was still defiant while she was being tortured, and I really liked the bit where Neal sacrificed himself. I can sense a VERY big cliffhanger coming next episode.
I'd be shocked if they actually destroy Storybrooke next week. But then I was shocked that they broke the curse in the first season finale so what do I know?!?
This episode could have been the season cliffhanger-- I can't wait to see what next week has in store. I'm pretty sure that Bae ended up in Neverland and we'll probably be spending a lot of time there next year, which is cool. I wonder if we'll meet Wendy and the kids again in the present, grown up or not-- I have a feeling the shadow went back for the lot of them once he lost Bae. It was probably their parents who started the "Home Office."