Once Upon a Time 3.11: "Going Home"

“Your happy ending may not be what you expect, but that’s what will make it so special.”
- Mary Margaret

Well folks, we’ve finally reached the mid-season finale and last episode in the Neverland arc. Our heroes have a big crisis ahead of them. Not only do they need to undo the body-snatcher situation with Henry and Pan but they need stop the little imp from enacting the curse and screwing the whole Maine ‘burg over big time. Pan and Felix head to the well where they begin to cast the curse. Not surprising, it’s Felix’s heart that will fuel the spell. I was hoping Pan would need to use his own heart but then I realized that in Henry’s body, it wouldn’t work anyway with the spell Regina cast. Back at Regina’s crypt Rumple explains that if they get the scroll and Regina destroys it, the curse will be broken but there’s a steep price. Tink mentions something about a Black Fairy (who the hell is that?) and her wand which might at least be able to help switch Henry and Pan back into their right bodies. So while Tink, Charming, Hook and Neal head off to retrieve said wand, Emma, Snow, Regina, Rumple, Belle and Henry head back to the shop to prep for the body swap.

Back in the Fairytale Land that was, Regina’s original curse is on the horizon and the Blue Fairy tells Snow and Charming they need to have faith and hope that their plan will work and that Emma will one day find them and know their story and save them all. In the present, Snow and Emma sorta bond over wishing things had been different and they could have raised their respective children. And at the church, Pan’s shadow appears and busts in probably looking for the wand to keep them from undoing his switch.

We jump back in time to Neverland, shortly after Bae left the Jolly Rodger. Hook and Smee are off trying to find a way to get out of Neverland so they can hunt down the Dark One’s dagger when Tinkerbelle happens upon them. Hook explains what he’s there for and asks if she’s got any magic seeing as she’s clearly a fairy. She denies having any and there’s some rather obvious euphemisms about Tink giving Hook his happy ending. Yeah even back then she wasn’t interested in him. He says he’s willing to do anything for love and revenge. But she can’t help him with his pursuit of the second. In the present, it turns out that Tink is the one to save the day by believing in herself and trapping and then destroying the shadow. This brings Mother Superior back (which I’m assuming means somewhere in Neverland, Greg is alive again. The bastard. Anyway, they snag the wand from Mother Superior and hightail it back to the shop so Rumple can cast the spell to swap bodies back. It appears to work (after some fitful shaking of Pan’s body) and everyone heads off (save Rumple) to find Henry and get the scroll. Rumple insists on staying put because he and daddy have some issues to work out. I kind of wish Neal had stayed behind since he has some family drama he could stand to work out himself.

And because we haven’t visited enough points in the past in different locations, we jump back to just before season 1 begins when Mary Margaret gives Henry the storybook because he seems pretty down on life. He thinks his birth mom didn’t love him and his adoptive mom doesn’t either and life just sucks being him. But seeing the book lights a new hope within him. In the present, he and his parents are reunited but Regina touches the scroll and gets knocked out. Things are going any better in the shop. Pan wakes up and when Rumple says he wants to talk, daddy lights into him in the cruelest of ways. He never wanted Rumple. All he saw when looking at his son was a leech on his resources and the ripping away of his own dreams. This makes me wonder what happened to Rumple’s mother. I can’t imagine this self-centered bastard would ever care about having a wife. So it was likely a brief affair and he got saddled with the kid. He rips off the magic-suppressing cuff and puts it on Rumple and then beats him up a bit. This man-child is not winning any Father of Century awards ever. I have to say Pan has turned into quite the despicable villain. Rumple and Regina had their evil moments but they were never so callous. Their needs and desires were fueled actually by places of love (however deep they were buried). Pan says he’s going to kill everyone Rumple cares about just because they mean something to him and there’s nothing that powerless Rumple can do. It would seem that Pan is actually “the boy” from the prophecy and that unless he can get the cuff off, his own father will be his magical undoing (and an emotional one I suppose).

We jump back to a different point in the Fairytale Land that was to see Rumple honoring Bae on his birthday and Belle interrupting but suggesting that he and his son could be reunited at some point. He’s not hopeful. And back in his shop after he fights with the cuff a bit more, manages to get up. Outside, Regina wakes up and realizes she knows what needs to be done but Pan’s got the real scroll and freezes everyone. They can still see and hear though. He’s about to go after Neal when Rumple shows up and calls his shadow to him with the dagger. He realizes he’s ready to die and that Neal’s happy ending is not with him (and apparently neither is Belle’s) and he stabs Pan in the back (after somehow stabbing himself, too). Pan reverts to Malcolm and Rumple twists the dagger harder. They’re enveloped in light and then black smoke and nothing is left but the scroll. Belle falls to the ground in tears and Neal looks devastated.

Regina is hesitating on doing what needs to be done to stop the curse because she realizes what it will cost. She has to give up Henry (the thing she loves most) and it will be like the curse never happened. Everyone goes back to the Enchanted Forest except Henry. Well and Emma has to stay as the Savior because she can break the curse again. But they can never come back to this world. Dear sweet baby Jesus what the hell just happened? I can’t even comprehend right now!

Emma and Henry say goodbye to everyone and much to this shipper’s chagrin, Emma and Neal only hug. But hey, at least she doesn’t kiss Hook. Regina explains that when she undoes the curse, Emma and Henry won’t remember Storybrooke or anything that’s happened. But Regina can give them a happy life with fake memories and so we see in flashback that as Emma drives over the town line, she decides to keep baby Henry. They move to New York a year after the curse whisks everyone away and things are going great. Henry and his mom are happy until someone comes knocking at their door. Hook shows up and begs Emma to help him because something horrible has happened and her parents are in trouble. She doesn’t believe him and nails him in the balls when he kisses her. I guess he was hoping it would be true love’s kiss. Heh, score one for Swanfire baby! I wish Neal had been the one to cross over because at least she would have had a reason to kick him in the nuts but at least she would remember him. And maybe, just maybe, true love’s kiss would have worked. I’m still not fully done comprehending and processing this episode. It was epic and intense and I cannot wait for March 9, 2014 when episode 12 “New York City Serenade” arrives on our screens.