TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 3-8 - Think Lovely Thoughts

Mind blown.  Seriously, even though the friend I watch the show with predicted the big twist last night, I really never saw it coming until the scene where I happened.  Man, we have some very twisted characters here.

Oh, and I still hate how evil they’ve made Pan.

So let’s get to it, shall we.  And we’ll start with the recap.

We meet a man and his son.  The man is trying to make a living by pulling the old follow the card scam, but the man he is currently tricking doesn’t appreciate it and attacks him.  The son intervenes.  Yes, the boy is Rumplestiltskin and we are going to learn what happened with his father.

His father leaves him with two ladies while he goes to look for a real job.  He even leaves that stick figure doll with Rumple we’ve seen multiple times this season.  The ladies teach Rumple to spin, but when his father doesn’t come back, Rumple gets upset again.  They explain that his dad is back out there running his card scam.  They give Rumple a magic bean so he can start over doing something else somewhere else.

However, Rumple wants to be with his dad, so goes and finds him pulling the scam again.  Rumple tells his dad about the magic bean, and they decide to use it to start over again together.  His dad comes up with the idea of Neverland, a place he escaped to in his dreams every night while serving an apprenticeship he hated.

The two arrive and are delighted in this magic island.  Anything you wish for appears for you.  You can do whatever you want.  You can even fly – well you need Pixie dust for that.

The Pixie dust is at the top of a tree, but Rumple’s fear of heights keep him from climbing the tree.  Instead, his dad goes up to get the Pixie dust.  While he is up there, a Shadow shows up.  This Shadow is the only resident of the island.  And he explains that Rumple’s dad has broken the rules.

Back at the base, Rumple is beginning to fear something has happened to his dad.  Then his dad shows up again and explains that he has made a deal with the Shadow.  As the Shadow starts to pull Rumple away, his dad turns into….

…Peter Pan.

Yeah, I know.

Pan then explains that only boys are allowed on the island.  And he can’t stay if his son is there.  So the Shadow takes Rumple back to the ladies.  They try to cheer up the boy, even telling them that he can make a new doll like the one he left behind in Neverland and give it the same name.  But Rumple explains that his dad took that name.  Yet, the doll was called Peter Pan.

Meanwhile, the Shadow takes the newly created Pan out to Skull Rock, which is also newly created.  Inside, he shows him a giant hour glass.  Pan has broken another rule now.  Neverland was created as a place for boys to escape in their dreams.  Living there is forbidden.  But now that Pan is living there, he can stay until the hourglass runs out.  At that point, he will die.

So, shall we switch to present day Neverland?

With Henry’s agreement to save magic, Pan wastes no time, taking him out to Skull Rock that night.  When they arrive, he creates a force field that will keep them from being interrupted.

Meanwhile, Regina and Gold are ready to go get Henry back.  Regina makes some reference to the nonsense of Neal being alive and on the island, and Gold says it is true, but he isn’t interested in meeting up with them until he has Henry safely back and can hand him over to Neal.

And just then they walk into a clearing where the rest of our heroes are ready to go save the day.  Neal explains why Gold didn’t want to see him, and everyone turns on Gold.  He hands Pandora’s Box over to Neal and agrees to not use any magic or Neal will use the box on him.

Emma learns that Mary Margaret is thinking about staying behind with David, but she starts challenging Mary Margaret, talking about not giving up hope.  They will find a way for all of them to get off the island.  Gold overhears and offers to help.  After being poisoned last season, he thinks he has concocted a cure that is back at his shop.  They can take enough water to keep David alive long enough to get it.

Tinker Bell sneaks them into Pan’s camp, and Regina puts the boys under a spell, only Pan and Henry have already left.  They do find Wendy in her cage.  Neal immediately recognizes her and frees her.  She’s doing Pan’s bidding so that he won’t hurt John and Michael.  And she came to Neverland originally looking for Neal to help him.  And she explains that for Henry to save magic, he will have to die.

So Emma, Neal, Regina, and Gold head out to Skull Rock with the others keeping Wendy safe and waiting to deal with the lost boys when they wake up again.  They arrive at the landing inside the skull and run into the force field.  Gold correctly figures that he can go through since he cut off his shadow.  He gets Neal to give him the box back and takes off.  Meanwhile, Regina and Emma start using magic to get rid of the moon so they won’t have shadows either.

Before Henry save magic, which involves taking out his own heart and giving it to Pan, Pan hears Gold following them.  The two confront each other away from Henry, and Pan confesses to being Henry’s great-grandfather.  Pan also talks about how he and Gold are so much alike (which they are to some extend), but Gold argues that point.  After all, he’s spent years trying to reunite with Neal.

Gold goes to open Pandora’s Box, only it won’t open.  Pan has used the magic of the island to get the real one and switched it for the fake Gold has.  Pan then opens the box and Gold is sucked inside.

He returns to Henry, who is ready to start saving magic.  Just as he pulls his own heart out, Regina, Emma, and Neal show up.  They try to reason with him, but Pan convinces him it is a trick to keep him from fulfilling his destiny.  Henry listens to Pan and shoves his heart into Pan’s chest.  As Pan starts to fly away, Henry collapses and the others rush to his side.

End of episode.

FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!

I really can’t wait to find out how they defeat Pan and save Henry now.

I’d also love to go back and rewatch the season so far knowing who Pan really is.  I think there are lots of scenes that would take on different meanings now.

My friend has a theory that the Nightshade plants are from Pan’s imagination and they will die when Pan is defeated.  If that’s true, that would also mean David could leave the island, although I’d like to have some water as a backup if it were to happen.

But with Gold in the box and Henry’s heart in Pan, how long do they have to defeat Pan?  How can they do it and save Henry at the same time?  I really don’t know where they are going next with this one.

And seriously, can two weeks come already?

Hit me up with your thoughts in the comments.  Any and all theories are welcome.