Since Rumplestiltskin decided to go off on his own to deal with his past and Peter Pan, he’s been hiding away in the woods. Using his dagger, he cuts off his own shadow and sends it off to hide the deadly weapon in a place where not even Rumplestiltskin can find it.
Meanwhile, Emma and her crazy entourage are combing the jungle for their magical foe. They face an entire wood-full of deadly thorn bushes dripping with poisonous goop. Tip: Don’t touch the poisonous thorns if you desire a quick and painless death. Aside from the scary thorns, the dark jungle separates them from Pan. Well, they can’t go around it, can’t go under it, can’t go over it. Guess they’ll have to go…through it.
Back in Fairy Tale Land just after that magical kiss and Snow and Charming’s announcement to take back the kingdom, the two love birds face their greatest challenge: The Evil Queen. Her threatening and manipulative
ways have Snow second guessing her ability to take her down and take over her rightful place at the throne.
But Rumplestiltskin is holding tight to his secret. So…Charming devises his own plan. Excalibur, the famous “sword in the stone” that only the rightful heir to the throne may exhume, you know, the one in Camelot? Well, funny thing, it isn’t in Camelot. No, it’s right here in the Enchanted Forest and Charming talks Snow into giving it a try. Demonstrating that even his own strength can’t unearth the sword, Snow gives it a try. With little effort, the silver blade slides from its resting place. It is now in the hands of the true ruler.
Let the games begin!
In the camp, she tells her posse. They try to help her unveil the map, but even once she admits that she is the savior, the map is still devoid of details.
Regina, impatient, puts a locating spell on the map, letting it float ahead of them towards Henry.
So, Rumplestiltskin throws his precious cornhusk doll his father gave him into the watery abyss at the cliff’s edge. However, when it flies back up and lands at his feet, he tries and fails to burn it with fire. With only minor
hesitation, Rumplestiltskin pockets the toy, thus holding his past close to his heart.
map has stopped somewhere in the vast jungle. But it’s a trap. Hook warned the group that the dark jungle, along with the entire island, is all part of Pan’s mind game. The dark jungle is his greatest strength. Now caught in a trap, Pan and the Lost Boys gang up and attack. Swords and arrows fly. People are cut and wounded. But when Emma comes face to face with one of the Lost Boys, knife in hand and going in to kill, she hesitates.
Pan calls his Boys off and they disappear into the woods, but not without a reminder of the rules: stop denying who you really are and the map will reveal where Henry waits.
Mary Margaret questions Emma’s hesitation in killing one of their foes. In a heart-warming/melting conversation, Emma admits that she saw herself in the eyes of the boy. The abandonment she has felt all her life. She was and still is an orphan, a lost girl.
Swoosh! The map is unveiled! It will lead them straight to Henry.
Snow is furious, but not for long. Charming admits that he lied but it was for her own good. She is and always will be a brave, fearless leader. She just needed a reminder.
Warm-fuzzies abound and all is forgiven in the name of love.
Switching back to the present day Neverland, Mary Margaret is concerned about a wound David contracted
while fighting the Lost Boys. He pushes it off, saying that the sword never touched his skin. Appeased, Mary Margaret leaves David alone, but once she’s
gone, he examines his side.
There, thin but deep is the wound caused by a poisoned dipped sword. Inky black veins of poison are
beginning to spread.
David’s fate is a slow, painful death.
But why stop there?
That night, Emma wanders off to pick some berries. Peter Pan silently creeps up on her, muttering the worst words a mother would want to hear. Sure, Emma may have discovered Henry’s location, but by the time she reaches him, Henry will never want to leave Neverland, because despite all the good memories they share from the past few months she’s been in his life, he is also an orphan, just like her. And Henry has never forgiven her for it.
Oh, and one last thing: Emma may feel like an orphan now, but by the time her journey to find Henry has come to an end, she won’t just feel like an orphan; she’ll actually be one!
1) What will it take for Rumplestiltskin to get rid of his past? Or is that his fate—his undoing?
2) Where is Henry?
3) How and when will Emma and her family get Henry back and get out of Neverland?
4) What does Peter Pan want from Emma, Henry, or anyone else? What is his grief with Snow White and Prince Charming that he desires to kill?
5) What will cure David from the poisonous thorn bush
cut?
6) How will Snow White and Prince Charming take back the kingdom? How do they “get rid of” the Evil Queen?
7) Will Emma ever accept Mary Margaret and David as her parents? Will her parents ever get to act as her parents rather than just her peers?
8) What’s going on in Storybrooke?
~Taryn