Spoilers Ahead
Flashbacks: The episode opens up with bandit Snow running from the Evil Queen, you know usual stuff, but she’s rescued by a brave little mermaid we all know and love as Ariel (JoAnna Garcia). According to Ariel, legend says that during the highest tide, sea goddess Ursula grants mermen and mermaids the ability to walk on land. Snow White and Ariel go to Prince Eric’s ball where Eric reveals that he’s seen her (Ariel) as his true love. He presents her with an offer to travel the world with him, and knowing she only has a few hours until her feet turn to fins, she goes off to the ocean and calls Ursula. However, she’s approached by the Evil Queen in disguise.
Plot twist: Ursula actually exists and she pays the Evil Queen a visit threatening her to never take her position again. Snow escapes from Regina again with Ariel’s help. Ariel’s voice is taken away as a form of punishment and she’s separated from Eric.
Modern Day: Regina is trying to teach Emma how to control her magic when Hook approaches David and Mary Margaret to tell him about Neal.
At this point, it’s evident that Hook is the most honorable male figure next to Charming. He chose to put his feelings aside, and reveal the secret he knew could possibly ruin his chances of being with Emma. True love is selflessness. Killian Jones became the notorious villain of Captain Hook the moment Milah was murdered in front of him. Killian Jones returned the moment he chose Emma and a life of nobility again.
Fundamentally, everything he’s done on this journey has been for Emma. There’s no denying that he’s in love with her now: “I never thought I’d be capable of letting go, of my first love. My Milah. To believe that I could find someone else. That is until I met you.” As breathtaking and remarkable as last week’s kiss was this moment spoke wonders for the pair. To Emma, it may have been just a kiss, but as we’ve said before, she really has no time to evaluate her feelings just yet. Captain Swan are made to bring out the best in each other. They’re made to heal every wound that’s scarred them throughout their lives. With every episode, it merely becomes more and more obvious that they’re soul mates. Every little detail is meant to mean something greater; therefore, Killian revealing the first secret in Echo Cave undeniably signifies the fact that he has and will always put Emma first. Her happiness matters more to him than anything else and it’s truly beautiful.
Emma and Neal’s reunion was undoubtedly a heartbreaking one. At the end of the day, Emma’s still broken. The kind of love that they have is very real; however, this episode declared that it isn’t true love. They’re both perfectly fitted to be parents for Henry, but together they do more damage than good to one another. “I love you. I probably always will but my secret: is that I was hoping this was a trick. I was hoping you were dead because it would be easier to put you behind me than to face all the pain that we went through all over again.”Emma’s been broken for too long.
Clearly, she doesn’t wish Neal was actually dead, but what she desperately needs is to be freed of all the heartache she’s ever endured because of him. This is the very reason why this couple could never be. The only way they could ever get passed this is to move on as friends. Neal says he’ll never stop fighting, but it’s unfortunately too late. The good thing that comes from his desire is that although it may be too late to rekindle a romance, it’s never too late to grow as a courageous human being.
Mary Margaret’s darkest secret is that she wants another child. Even though she’s perfectly satisfied and proud of who Emma’s become, it breaks her to have never seen her grow up. What do you all think of this?
David finally told his family about the fact that he cannot leave Neverland. We all know this isn’t true as their love has conquered everything. Surely, they’ll find a way to get him home safe and sound.
The most uplifting moment of this week’s episode was Regina isolating herself from the group in order to find Henry. “Believe that a mother’s love is stronger than her dark heart.” It most definitely is stronger, and it’s beautiful to see a purely selfless side of Regina again.
Regina finds Rumple being tricked by Belle who’s revealed to be the shadow. She and Rumple then send Ariel to Storybrooke in order to retrieve something that’ll help them get Henry back. Next week, we finally get a glimpse of what everyone in Storybrooke, including the real Belle, has been up to. Thoughts?
you guys will probably get quite a few notifications from about liking your articles. I’ve been in love with Once Upon a Time for a while, but it has been really hard to find a recap-er whose voice and perspective I’ve loved reading from. Back in my Glee days, thebacklot and autostraddle were great sites for wonderful recapping, but I haven’t been able to find something like that for Once. And trust me, I’ve been looking around HARD. But I read one your later recaps about Captain Swan and Hook from season 4 and loved and agreed with everything you said, and it’s just always fun to find a fangirling voice that similar to your own. So yeah, I’m now going back and reading all your recaps for Once
Awww, wow, thank you so very much for the kind words that really means a lot to us. And we’re looking forward to writing for season 5 as well!