At the end of the last season of “O

At the end of the last season of “Once Upon a Time“:  Emma, her parents Snow and Charming, Henry’s Other Mother Regina, Hook and Rumpelstiltskin were all on the Jolly Roger sailing to Never Land. Henry had been kidnapped by Tamara and Greg, and fallen through to Never Land. And Neal/Bae had fallen through a portal to the Enchanted Forest, right under the noses of Aurora, Mulan and Philip.

First, we flash back to Emma giving birth to Henry. Not sure why. Then back to the present. Last season took place at different times. Looks as though this season is going to be more about different places.

Tamara and Greg are slow on the uptake that their walkie-talkies don’t work when covered with magical sand, and keep talking about “the home office.” The home office turns out to be: Lost Boys. The two last-season baddies try to run. The Shadow rips Greg’s away, and Tamara gets a little further. Henry runs into the Never Land rainforest, and bumps into a very Lost Boy, friendly, with a British accent. The boy says Pan is after him for stealing Pixie dust, which doesn’t even work.

Snow and Charming get a smack-down from Emma when they tell her not to blame herself for what happened: she blames them, she says When Charming says they will get their family back, Emma growls, “How can you two be so infuriatingly optimistic?” To which the only possible answer is, of course, Charming’s “It’s who we are.” Rump then appears to say he’ll do the rescuing himself. He gives Emma a smack-down too, because she’s never taken a leap of faith, and this is Never Land, “a place where imagination runs wild. Sadly, yours doesn’t.” He twirls his cane… and vanishes. Next, Emma, looking like a Yoplait commercial, does chin-ups, with Hook watching appreciatively. They bond over Bae/Neal. Hook gives her a sword that was Bae’s.

And speaking of Neal, he realizes quickly that he’s “back” in the Enchanted Forest, which gives Aurora pause since he’s dressed like the people in her dreams. She offers to get a message through to Emma by manipulating the sleeping curse, as Snow taught her, but it doesn’t work.  Mulan’s not thrilled when he tells her that people in our world think of them as legends. When he tells her there’s a good movie about her, she asks,  “What’s a movie?” Since the sleeping trance thing flops, he mentions that his father always had something magical around—his father the Dark One.

The Jolly Roger rocks madly due to some angry mermaids. In Never Land, good guys are bad, it seems. Emma and co. catch a mermaid in a net, who flops about but can speak. A horn sounds, and she tells them to let her go, or die. “I’m all out of fish food,” Regina says. Nobody’s heard of Neptune? Regina waves a hand at the mermaid, who then turns wooden and vanishes. But the storm continues. “Undo the spell” Emma shouts. And, Regina gets the best reply of the entire series so far: “And what, you’ll win her over with your rainbow kisses  and unicorn stickers?” But Emma shouts that they are causing the storm. To get everyone’s attention, she dives off the ship.  Charming leaps overboard with a rope and finds her immediately, because it’s television. Do not try at home. The moon comes out and the storm ends because everyone has made peace.

Rump finds Tamara, touches her and she’s able to talk. She says she didn’t know who she was working for, after saying Pan is after Henry. Sorry? She’s sorry? She tried to blast a whole town out of existence. He says he knows she’s sorry. Then she asks if he can forgive her. No, he says, takes her heart of of her chest, and crushes it.  Fair enough.

As Neal and Mulan walk to his father’s abandoned castle,  he confesses to Mulan that he broke Emma’s heart. She tells him his belief in love wasn’t strong enough to overcome his fear of rejection.  Apparently, there are no movies in the Enchanted Forest, but Oprah is in everyone’s subconscious. Robin Hood is in the looted, messy castle, but backs down when Bea/Neal identifies himself (even without I.D., which Neal offers). Robin Hood has a truce with the Dark One, who once spared his life. Neal finds a walking stick, twirls it around, and a door uncloaks.  After some difficulty getting the magic to work, Neal thinks of Emma and sees her in a crystal ball. He’s startled that she is in Never Land.

Rump, still in the forest, says dearie! First dearie of the season! The head Lost Boy, who I think is called Felix, emerges and says that Pan welcomes him, but he won’t survive if he’s here “for the boy.”  Rump shrugs and says, “the real question is how many of you I take with me.” Felix throws down a poppet, and Rump weeps.

The Jolly Roger crew are on the island. Emma tells them they have to believe, not in magic, but in one another. “You want to be friends?” Regina says. She’s getting great lines this season. Yes, essentially. They need all of their skills.

Meanwhile, Henry and his friend run to the edge of a sheer drop. Henry has enough faith in the pixie dust for both of them. He pours it out, and they turn green, and fly, and it’s all magical and pretty, the usual Never Land. They land, and Henry says, “If you believe, anything is possible.” But the friend replies, “You couldn’t be more right, Henry.” Uh oh. Henry hadn’t introduced himself.

The boy doesn’t work for Pan.

He is Pan.

What he really wanted all along was the heart of the truest believer.

Which Henry has proved himself to be.

Pan smiles a wolfish smile as he shouts “Come on boys! Let’s play.”

The season’s off to an exciting start!

For the latest entertainment news