Once Upon a Time - Second Star to the Right

After last week's iffy episode, things really started picking up in this one.

This week's flashback takes us back to Baelfire/Neal first arriving on Earth. Giving us a good estimate of the time that has past, he lands in Victorian London, and is taken in by the Darling family. He and Wendy particularly become close, and the the two develop a strong brother/sister relationship. But when an evil shadow threatens to abduct one of Wendy's brothers off to Neverland, Bae must make a sacrifice to save his new family. Right off the bat, it was good getting to see Young Baelfire again. I really like the boy who plays him, and he is a consistently strong actor from what I've seen in this show. Wendy, despite not getting to do much, comes off really well here. She was characterized much like the classic Wendy, but, with this dark spin on Peter Pan, she has much more of a "break the cutie" moment than the happy realization of Disney's Wendy, and I like that. It works well within this show's tone. The whole concept of Peter Pan as an evil, child abducting shadow is fascinating and I love it. It's very creative. Baelfire sacrificing himself to the shadow in order to keep it from snatching Michael was a great moment. It really characterizes Baelfire well. Him winding up on Hook's ship is very interesting. Do I sense a Jim Hawkins/Silver relationship brewing, perhaps? Also, I'm calling it right now, Wendy either started the society that Greg and Tamara work for, or she's somehow still alive and still running it.

The story in Storybrooke, this week was slightly less enjoyable, but certainly built up the suspense and served to set up for what looks to be an epic season finale. Greg and Tamara have abducted Regina, and Greg is torturing her to find his father's wherabouts. I swear, Greg remains consistently the least threatening villain in Once Upon a Time. Even when torturing Regina, he still doesn't register as a threat. Hell, Smee was more of a threat than Greg is. But Hook displays more of his sense of honor that he talked about in his first couple of episodes with him refusing to help torture Regina.... Yes, I still ship this.... Anyways, we got to see more GoldenLace this week. This pairing just keeps getting better and better. I love the way it's being handled. The big reveal to Baelfire that Tamara is the villain happens here, and she shoots Neal and then uses a magic bean to throw him off to some other land. In a particularly heartbreaking moment, Neal falls through the portal after telling Emma that he still loves her, where Emma assumes he'll die without medical attention. Oh, don't worry about it Emma, if Heroes has taught me anything it's that a personal can be shot four times in the chest and survive. But, seriously, I don't think that Neal is gone. He still has too many loose ends with his father to deal with. Although, if he is dead, that'll make him Emma love interest number three that has keeled over. Does Emma just have her own curse that any man that loves her has to die? Well, Greg finds out that Regina killed his dad, and, after a big damn heroes moment, Snow and Charming save Regina. But Regina has bad news for them: Tamara and Greg have the gem that she retrieved from Maleficent that will destroy Storybrooke. Dun dun DUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!

So, really good episode that leaves me wanting to see more of this twisted Neverland as well as what becomes of the reset. To the season finale, with speed!