Before you settle in for tonight’s Once Upon a Time season 4 premiere, revisit season 3 with Hypable’s refresher!
From “The Heart of the Truest Believer” to “There’s No Place Like Home,” Once Upon a Time spent 22 episodes trekking through Neverland and battling the wickedness that hails from the West. Not only did the twisted family tree expand, but the villains from Regina, to Rumplestiltskin, to Captain Hook, each grew in their own way. Perhaps everyone does deserve a happy ending!
Neverland
Our journey in season 3 began with a magic bean and pirate ship making way to the land where imagination runs wild.
Meanwhile, across the realms, Neal wakes up in the care of Mulan, Aurora, and Prince Philip. Neal stumbles upon Robin Hood who is guarding Rumplestiltskin’s castle. While looking for some relic enchanted with blood magic to use as a portal he meets Roland and uses the boy as bait to gain passage to Neverland when Pan’s shadow arrives.
The crew of Emma, Hook, Mary Margaret, David, and Regina travel around the island, trusting Hook to lead them. Henry meets Peter Pan and proves that he contains the “heart of the truest believer.” The most manipulative boy ever to exist, Pan works his way into Henry’s mind, convincing him to give up all hope of rescue from the island.
Neverland, as it turns out, was an extremely dangerous therapy session for the entire crew.
Rumplestiltskin, choosing to work alone, prepares to sacrifice himself to save Henry. The consistent reminder of his own father’s abandonment in the form of a straw doll forces his past into the present. Baelfire’s return leads Rumple to believe it is his past creeping up to haunt him yet again. Overjoyed that he has his son back, Neal does not feel the same way when Pan says that Rumple plans to kill the boy.
Along the journey we met some new characters that help the story along. First up is Tinker Bell, who was never quiet so good with the “dust rules” and has a (shocker!) twisted past with Regina.
Next we meet Ariel, a mermaid who lost her love, Prince Eric. Regina, again, had a hand in her unhappiness after imitating the sea witch Ursula to trick Ariel into giving up Snow White. Her ability to swim between worlds helps the search party communicate with Grumpy and Storybrooke.
The path to Pan is a treacherous one and Dream Shade, a deadly poison, takes its first victim when David is nicked by an arrow laced with the liquid. Hook sees David’s demise as an opportunity to win favor with Emma.
As David’s sole confidant, Hook shares the tale of his brother’s mission to the land to bring back the poison and obliterate the King’s enemies. Bad form! Pan tells Hook the way to cure his brother’s ailments, however all magic comes with a price. When Killian’s brother dies, the good form of the sailor falls away and the vengeful captain is born.
David takes Hook’s magic water, understanding that the ruse to find the sexton was a folly and that once he ingests it, he cannot leave the island. Emma is… um… grateful?
Back on Henry’s paternal side, Neal’s past in Neverland is further explored when Rumple remembers the night Neal slipped away to join the Lost Boys. In the forest, the Pied Piper played his pipe and called those who felt lost to hear it’s tune, Rumple included. Rumple’s father, who entrusted his care to the spinster sisters, is none other than the boy who refused to grow up, Pan.
In the Echo Cave even more secrets are revealed. Hook confesses that he never thought he could love another woman until he met Emma, Mary Margaret wants another child, David cannot leave the island, and Emma was happy to learn that Neal was dead to avoid confronting her buried feelings once again.
Speeding along, Henry rips out his heart to “save magic,” but his family ends that plan, capturing Pan in Pandora’s Box and using his shadow to guide their ship back to Storybrooke. However, Pan switched bodies with Henry and is now planning to unleash a curse on Storybrooke that will send them all back to the Enchanted Forest.
All plans fail to stop the curse, but the ultimate sacrifice to save them all from Pan comes from Rumplestiltskin. Rumple summons his dagger killing himself and Pan.
Emma and Henry must leave before the curse reaches them. They are not a part of the Enchanted Forest world and their memories of Storybrooke will be erased, replaced with years of happiness thanks to Regina.
But nothing is easy for the Savior…
Next page: The Wonderful Land of Oz
GIF credit: Brittany Lovely
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