Once Upon A Time – Season 3

Spoiler Alert: The themes, storylines, and production elements below are for a previously aired episode. Read at your own discretion.

After a climactic Season 2 Finale of ABC’s hit fantasy-drama series “Once Upon A Time”, Creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, left viewers on the edge of their couches with the fates of Neal, Rumpelstiltskin, Henry, and most importantly an unlikely alliance in the balance. For those of you new to the series Neal, or Baelfire as he’s known in the Enchanted Forrest, is the son of Rumpelstiltskin. At the end of the second season in a struggle to stop Storybrooke from being completely obliterated, he was caught in the middle of some crossfire, and initially appeared to be dead. Ultimately though Mulan, Philip, and Aurora found him, which is where we find him as another day begins in the Enchanted Forrest. Henry on the other hand was kidnapped by Tamara and Greg, which SPOILER ALERT, were under the command of Peter Pan in Neverland. Lastly, our band of heroes, were last seen saving Storybrooke from complete and utter destruction, and embarking on a quest to Neverland on the Jolly Roger. Read ahead for a breakdown of the episode and some surprising twists and turns that NO ONE saw coming!!!

It’s been purported that the heart of this season will take place in Neverland.

The first, and possibly most grounding scene in the episode dealt with the crux of our hero’s plight. In the particular scene it showed Emma go through the heart wrenching decision of giving up the child in the hospital after the delivery of her child. This scene is so significant because Emma’s entire existence in the Fairy Tale Universe was brought to light back in the Pilot, when Henry, her son reached out to her far away from his hometown of Storybrooke, Maine. Through a series of twisted and fantastical events, Emma found out who her parents were, by staying in Storybrooke through 2 seasons with Henry by her side.

Going forward, Emma’s motivation, on a solely humanistic level is to mother her child because she doesn’t want him to experience what she did as a child. Throughout this episode Emma uses her strength to motivate her unlikely counterparts. First, breaking up the fights between Captain Hook and Prince Charming and the Evil Queen and Snow White, who made this journey with her.

After being attacked by mermaids in Neverland, there is a major storm casted upon them, and Emma realizes that only once they stop fighting will this tumultuous storm stop as well. The parallels there by Adam, Eddy, and the rest of their writing team, are absolutely brilliant, and compels the characters to set aside their differences in order to rescue Emma from drowning.

This sense of unity is what Emma later draws upon once they come aboard land. Once she gets her feet underneath her she enigmatically professes  that they should all, “Save your magic we’ll need it later cuz Pan knows we’re already here.It’s time we stop running. Gold was right this land is run on belief. All of us have been to busy being at each others throats to be believers. I was as wrong as anyone else. It’s time for us to believe. Not in magic, but in each other.” This impassioned plead circles back to the beginning of the episode and her drive to protect her own against the devious and conniving behavior of Peter Pan. With that the unlikely alliance of Emma, Snow White, The Evil Queen, Prince Charming, and Captain Hook is cemented, begin their journey to find Henry.

Emma’s plight as a mother to Henry, and a daughter to Prince Charming and Snow White is at the heard of her plight to save Henry from Neverland and more specifically Peter Pan.

In this dynamic, and arguably one of the best episodes they have ever aired, from an action and intensity standpoint, Henry’s role in all of it was vast. After The Lost Boys are revealed to be the leaders of “The Home Office” that Tamara and Greg had been referring to throughout the Second Season. They are quickly disposed of with Greg having his shadow cruelly ripped from his body, and Tamara being shot by an arrow. With the two of them out of the way, and the Lost Boys in vehement pursuit, Henry is approached by a Lost Boy who said that he’s trying to return home too, and that he stole some Pixie Dust to accomplish that.

Throughout the episode the Lost Boy questions the veracity of Henry to escape the Lost Boys. The symbolic and literal leap of faith takes place when Henry and the lone Lost Boy are about to be caught by all of the Lost Boys and they have to jump off a cliff and use Pixie Dust to fly away. Tragically that leap of faith ultimately is going to cost Henry, as the Lost Boy he is with is no ordinary Lost Boy, he in fact is…………………. PETER PAN. That was the best twist of the ENTIRE episode. I anticipated something further down the line with this Lost Boy, I was thinking that he has his own schemes maybe with the Pixies or with the Mermaids. But no a few scenes later it was revealed that he was Peter Pan, and the thought of it just gives me chills, as Peter was manipulating him all the while, to see if his heart was truly as the title goes “The Heart of the True Believer.” Tragically for Henry after trusting someone so much, Peter ended up betraying him for his own devices. Next week in the preview it showed a clip of Emma holding a sword to Pan’s throat and demanding Henry be given to her.

The third and final dynamic was that of father and son in Rumpelstiltskin and Neal, for although they were worlds away, in Neverland and the Enchanted Forrest, the amount of impact one had the other was tantalizing. After being rescued by Mulan, Aurora, and Phillip, Neal’s main goal was finding Emma. Upon arriving at his father’s Enchanted Castle, with his companions, Neal is confident his father would have left something behind as a means to finding Emma. Although initially he is confronted by folklore myth, Robin Hood, eventually they are able come to terms to Neal’s right to the castle, as the heir to the Enchanted Castle. Through internal struggle, Neal finds a Walking Stick that ultimately releases a transformation spell, and with that they find a crystal glass that they can use to visually see where Emma and the others are. After really putting his heart behind it and thinking about Emma from an emotional standpoint, he realizes that she’s no longer in Storybrooke and that she is in Neverland.

From left to right: Belle, Rumplestiltskin, Prince Charming, Neal, Snow White, Henry, Emma, The Evil Queen, and Captain Hook.

In conjunction with this happening in the Enchanted Forrest, Rumpelstiltskin, who broke off from the group, led by Emma, to attend to some business with the leader of the Lost Boys, who has come to question what his desires are on this visit. Once it is evident that they are both after Henry, for different reasons, Rumpelstiltskin snidely replies to the Lost Boy that,  “Well the questions isn’t if I’ll survive we both know I won’t. The real question is how many of you I take with me.” Although they leave as what they entered the forest as, enemies, the leader of the Lost Boys presents Rumpelstiltskin from his past and as Rumpelstiltskin holds the straw doll in his hands remarks, “Isn’t it funny the thing that we haven’t thought about in years still have the ability to make us cry. See ya around Dark One.” Robert Carlyle is arguably the best actor on the show, and the way he just wept at the sight of the straw doll was captivating. The amount of character work he didn’t in capturing that raw emotion was honorable.

Through all of the enticing storytelling, and the brilliant laying the groundwork for an excellent story from a production standpoint you would not find a more well rounded episodic narrative show anywhere. Starting briefly with the writing, the characters true sense of self, and the phenomenal reveals they made, really enabled some great production elements. From a directing standpoint, the acting has never been better on the show, and the grit display by the Lost Boys, and especially Peter Pan was sublime. Cinematographically, the shots of Peter and Henry flying were much improved from other Peter Pan cinematic incarnations. The Production Design though was what really put it over the top. The set decorations in Neverland, and in the Enchanted forest was exceptional, along with the costuming of the new characters. Lastly, the editing in the pacing and the emotional pulse of the episode was gripping. To maintaining such a high bar throughout the entire season, and to exploring the characters in a whole new light.

Former Lost writers, turned OUAT Show Creators, and now Show Runners. Their ingenuity in creating this show is a true inspiration for all storytellers alike.