Once Upon A Recap
By Kelvin Cedeño
Dark Hollow
(Episode 3x07)
Storybrooke
Flashing back to the end of season two/beginning of
season three, we see Rumpel and Belle’s last moments together before
the Jolly Roger disappears. Belle, despite her pain, is determined
to carry out the task Rumpel gave her and protect Storybrooke. She
lets the Blue Fairy know about the cloaking spell he had given her,
and Blue suggests they go down in the mines where the fairy dust
will spread the magic. As Belle activates the spell, two mysterious
strangers manage to drive into the town just as the shield descends
behind them.

Flash forward to now. Belle
still grieves for Rumpel and desperately wishes
she could do something to save him. At that
moment, Grumpy arrives with none other than
Ariel, who he found swimming to their shore. She
was told by Rumpel to retrieve an item in his
shop that only Belle would be able to have
access to. Based on a series of clues Rumpel has
pre-recorded via a sand dollar Ariel brought
with her, Belle figures out the chipped cup is a
key to a secret compartment. Inside the
compartment is Pandora’s Box.
The two strangers arrive on the
scene and reveal that they’re from the home
base, but unlike Greg and Tamara, they’re aware
they work for Peter Pan. They bind Ariel and
Belle up and steal the box. Belle manages to
take Ariel’s enchanted bracelet off which turns
her back into a mermaid and frees her from her
ties. Once Ariel’s legs are back, the two chase
the strangers down in the mines where they plan
on opening the box. Belle stops them by pushing
a mine cart their way and disarms them. They
explain that they’re only doing this because Pan
has their sister hostage: Wendy.

Ariel takes the box back with
her to Neverland and hands it to Rumpel. As a
reward, Regina enchants Ariel’s bracelet so that
she can become a human whenever she pleases.
Before heading back to Storybrooke to find
Prince Eric, Ariel tells them about Wendy’s
imprisonment and requests they save her.
Neverland: Emma,
Baelfire, and Hook
Emma, Baelfire, and Hook venture
out to capture the Shadow as a means of leaving
Neverland. Snow and David, meanwhile, have an
argument over his secret. Bae takes Emma and
Hook to the Shadow’s lair called Dark Hollow. It
is here that it also brings the shadows of its
victims. The candle Emma assumed was designed
for just a constellation map also turns out to
be a device that can trap the Shadow. Hook and
Bae, both in an effort to impress Emma, fight
over the lighting of the candle much to her
chagrin.

Suddenly, the Shadow appears
with two of its victims. Hook and Bae are pinned
to trees and almost have their shadows ripped
out until Emma summons a flame on the candle via
magic. The Shadow is sucked into it, and Emma
traps it. Emma clarifies that she’s not choosing
between either Hook or Bae but instead Henry.
They rejoin Snow and David, who’ve found Tinker
Bell, and formulate their plan to rescue Henry.
Neverland: Henry
Pan continues trying to sway
Henry over to his side to no avail. After
overhearing Pan sending Felix on a mission he
stresses Henry can’t know about, Henry follows
Felix through the jungle. He arrives at a
treehouse and finds Wendy inside, lying in bed
and coughing. She tells him that because she’s
been on the island for over a century, she’s
tied to it, and its dying magic had made her
ill. Henry vows to find a way to save her and
departs before Felix finds him.

Peter comes out of hiding in the
treehouse and congratulates Wendy on her
performance which she was obviously reluctant to
participate in. He then has her locked up in the
cage she’s been in for the past century. Henry
later confronts Pan about Wendy, and Pan
confesses that he didn’t wish for Henry to find
out about it because it would be too much of a
burden. When Henry asks Pan how he’s able to
save magic (and consequently Wendy), Pan tells
him the location he must venture to: Skull Rock.
Once Upon A Theory
It was a bit astounding to
discover that the seven episodes of season three
thus far have amounted to merely five days in
the story’s timeline. After spending all these
episodes in the jungles of Neverland, it was a
nice change of pace to see Storybrooke again.
More importantly, Belle was able to service the
plot in an active way instead of just being
Rumpel’s emotional anchor as usual.

The twist surrounding the
identity of the home base duo (John and Michael
Darling) was a fascinating one. They explained
to Belle and Ariel that they’re currently in
their 20s due to Pan. Since Wendy is still a
young girl over in Neverland, most likely John
and Michael have spent most of their time in
Neverland over the century and have aged little
by little in that time frame whenever they’ve
returned back to our world. How Wendy even ended
up kidnapped and why hasn’t yet been explained,
but she apparently knows Baelfire as does Tinker
Bell. It remains to be seen if Tink has any
familiarity with Wendy in this version and if
so, what her opinion of her is.

Using Pandora’s box to control
Pan is a cheeky device on the writers’ part, and
the audience is still waiting to know what
exactly Rumpel and Pan’s history is. Whatever it is, it’s
bound to give more layers to the showdown between the two entities,
and while everyone is out trying to save Henry, who will save Wendy?