OUaT's writers continue to show just how brilliant they are and what the format of the show allows them to do with regards to telling the stories they want to tell.
Hook described it best when he called Pan a bloody demon, as did Regina when she referenced the term 'smugness'. This kid thinks he's got all the answers and has everybody doing what he wants them to do, but that's exactly why he's going to fail.
Rumple was absolutely brilliant in this episode, and I have to say that I was totally right about the doll having something to do with him and his father. The conceit of his psyche manifesting itself in the form of a vision from Belle might be an old one that we've seen countless times in other places, but it worked perfectly nonetheless.
I also got a kick out of the doll returning after Rumple threw it away and then burned it.
Really good episode tonight. Though didn't like the flashbacks as to me they didn't really do much but be filler.
This comment indicates that you missed the broader underlying thematic story of the episode, and what its title actually refers to. What the PTBs and writers have done since the start of Season 2 and that they very much did in this episode was to take two thematically linked story ideas - one from the present and one from the past - and play them out alongside each other. The title "Lost Girl" isn't just a reference to Emma's lingering abandonment issues, but also a reference to Snow 's lack of confidence in herself. In a sense, Snow was 'lost' until Charming got her to embrace her inner strength through his ruse with 'Excalibur', just as Emma needed to face down and admit just how deeply she was affected by Snow and Charming's attempt to keep her safe and give her her 'best chance'. There's a parallel between the two women - mother and daughter - and, although Snow passed her test and found herself, Emma's just starting that journey and will probably end up in a similar situation in the end.
Charming keeping the fact that he's hurt and now has the Darkshade poison in his bloodstream a secret isn't going to end well, but Pan's assertion that Emma's going to end up an orphan for real is a bit too premature.
Some other stuff that made the episode great:
* Emma and Hook's 'meta' conversation about Peter Pan, what Hook is like in the traditional Peter Pan stories, and Hook's love of rum
* Hook's direct shout-out/reference to the movie HOOK and the character of Rufio