Once upon a Time 3.07

[selenak]

I think I have to give up on the hope that the show will ever write Belle or the Belle/Rumple relationship again in a way that satisfies me (read: lets Belle deal with the whole Lacey interlude both in what it says about Rumplestilskin and about confronting her own darker tendencies). Which is a pity because I started out liking both.

That said, I enjoyed the rest of the episode, though it felt like mostly set up for the next part. The Dwarves observing that the lack of heroes and villains in Storybrooke meant for a quieter life cracked me up. I twigged on the fact that the boys/young men making it barely into Storybrooke before it got cloaked were the Darling brothers (and that therefore the person in the cage had to be Wendy) only a few minutes before the show revealed it, so, well played, show. Because it retrospect it makes sense that in a dark version of the Peter Pan tale Baelfire wouldn't have been able to save them permanently from their story making fate of going to Neverland, and that Darkside!Peter wouldn't just have let Wendy and her brothers go back.

"Darkest evil" in the box that Ariel brings back to Neverland: I still say it's an aging spell.

Emma dealing with her two suitors and their pissing contest: go Emma! They were suitably embarrassed, too. That said, I liked that she figured out why Pan offered the "Neal's alive" information to Hook (and why Hook didn't hide it the way Pan thought he would).

Charming and Snow having it out: believably done, and clears the air. It also brings up something I hadn't previously considered, to wit, that if David is magically stuck on Neverland, Snow would have to either leave him or Emma. Methinks astrogirl2 is right and the Whateveritis will not just deal with Peter Pan but destroy or irrevocably alter Neverland's nature (after which David will be free to leave), because while I could see the show possibly writing David out, it definitely won't do that with Snow.

Now, in s2 Emma and Snow returned mid-season to Storybrooke, only to be followed by Cora and Hook which led to the plot for the second half of the season. So my guess is that the next ep will see Pan defeated (but not dead) and Our Heroes making it back to Storybrooke, and in the tag scene we'll see an aged up (if I'm right about the aging spell) or at least depowered Peter Pan vengefully setting out for Storybrooke as well... with Rumpelstilskin's father in tow. Because evidently it wasn't him in the other cage, but they still mentioned him far too often for the show not having plans with him.