Once Upon A Recap
By Kelvin Cedeño
Ariel
(Episode 3x06)
Flashback: Ariel
Snow White is on the run from the Queen’s guards
after they’ve found her hiding in another kingdom. She jumps off a
cliff into the sea and is rescued by a mermaid who introduces
herself as Ariel. Snow and Ariel talk for a bit, and Ariel reveals
that she’s in love with the human prince named Eric. During the high
tide, it is said that Ursula, the goddess of the sea, grants
mermaids the ability to walk on land until the next tide. Ariel
tries it and is granted with legs, although the next tide is only 12
hours away. She and Snow decide to use this time to attend a ball
Eric’s throwing. Eric is immediately smitten with Ariel and invites
her to sail around the world with him in the morning. Ariel,
however, is unsure of what to do as she’ll be a mermaid by the time
he leaves.
Regina watches all this from her mirror and decides
to take action. Disguising herself as Ursula, she gives Ariel a
bracelet that will make the wearer a mermaid while in turn making
Ariel human. Ariel decides to give it to Snow so that Snow can take
refuge from Regina under the sea, but as soon as Snow’s transformed,
Regina reveals herself. Snow’s unable to get the bracelet off and
struggles trying to get away with her new tail. Although given the
chance to leave, Ariel chooses to save Snow by stabbing Regina with
a fork she collected from Eric’s ball. Once she gets the bracelet
off of Snow, the two transform back into their proper selves and
escape into the sea.
Once she’s on shore, Snow tells Ariel to hurry and
go find Eric before he sails off. Ariel does so, but when she tries
calling out for him, she finds her voice is gone. Regina appears and
reveals she took it as compensation for what Ariel did. A
heartbroken Ariel swims away as Eric departs. Later back at her
palace, Regina is confronted by the real Ursula in her mirror who
warns her never to impersonate her again.
Neverland: The Quintet
Hook tells Snow and David that Bae’s alive, but they
suspect Peter may have been lying to him. Snow notices some branches
near their campsite that have broken in half and a trail leading
from them, showing a struggle had taken place of some sort. Hook and
David don’t think it wise to tell Emma in case it all ends up being
in vain, but Snow does so, anyway. Emma is shocked, and when it’s
decided they need to rescue Bae, Regina is frustrated that this this
taking precedence over Henry. She leaves, and the rest of the
company follow the trail to a place called the Echo Cave.
The Echo Cave is a cavern that can only let you
escape if you confess your deepest, darkest secrets. Hook suspects
Peter placed Bae in here in hopes the group will turn on each other
when their secrets are revealed. They go inside and find Bae, but
he’s separated from them by a 100 foot chasm. Unsure of how the
magic works, they each have a turn making a confession. Hook admits
he’s in love with Emma. Snow confesses that she wants to have
another baby after missing all of Emma’s childhood. David reveals
that he can’t leave Neverland because of the healing water he drank
to overcome nightshade. With each confession, a rock bridge forms.
Emma runs across it to Bae but is unable to break him out of his
cage until she says her own secret: she was hoping Bae was dead
because as long as he’s alive, she will never get over the feelings
she has for him. With that, he’s freed, and the group leave
awkwardly and uneasily after hearing each other’s confessions.
Neverland: Rumpel and Regina
Peter finds Rumpelstiltskin and tries to persuade
him to go back to Storybrooke and start a new life with Belle. The
vision of Belle appears and confirms that she wants to start a
family with him. Just as Rumpel’s tempted to take the offer, Regina
shows up and unveils who Belle really is: the shadow. Regina wants
to partner with Rumpel to get Henry back as she feels the two of
them can overpower Peter. Rumpel’s reluctant at first given his
history with Peter but eventually relents. Regina takes him to the
lake and blows on a seashell. At first he thinks she’s trying to
call another squid like Bae did, but her intended recipient shows
up: Ariel. Regina gives her back her voice along with the bracelet,
promising to make her human if she’ll assist them since mermaids can
travel through realms. Ariel’s wary at first until Regina tells her
Eric is in the realm she needs her to travel to – Storybrooke.
Once Upon A Theory
The series first dropped a nugget about The
Little Mermaid back in the season one episode Skin Deep.
In it, Regina approached Rumpel about a mermaid situation she needed
help with, but he was nonresponsive after recently kicking Belle
out. That places this episode’s flashback sometime around the period
where Belle frees Phillip from the Yaoguai curse and is captured by
Regina (it’s unclear if Regina already had Belle in her clutches
when she lied to Rumpel about Belle’s death). It raises the
question, though, of why Ariel hasn’t aged since she apparently
wasn’t anywhere near the Enchanted Forest when the curse hit, and
that was about 30 years ago.
It’s interesting that after having Regina play the
Ursula role, we find out Ursula really does exist in this world and
is some sort of deity. Her appearance here is a bit random and
surely must mean she’s going to reveal herself in full at a later
time (she appears as a solid gold CG creature in Regina’s mirror).
It was also good to finally have some explanation as to what the
Belle vision was all these episodes. If the shadow can impersonate
her, who else can it impersonate? Having it transform into other
people seems like the best way to cause chaos amongst our heroes.
The confessional scene in the Echo Cave was quite
the emotional rollercoaster, and while things seem to be headed in
the right direction for Emma and Bae, there’s still the issue of how
to get David off of Neverland (not to mention whether or not Hook
will ever find true love). Now that Regina and Rumpel are going to
communicate with Storybrooke, the season is going to take on an
interesting dynamic as we bounce back and forth between the two
realms.
