‘Once Upon a Time’: Finally escaping the Underworld, but one must stay behind

In the “Firebird” episode of “Once Upon a Time,” our heroes make their way out of the Underworld with the help of Hades. That doesn’t sound right, and of course it wasn’t without a hitch: Someone had to stay behind.

We’ll get to that, but first -- Regina is telling Hook, Emma, Henry and David that she encouraged Zelena to explore her relationship with Hades -- which they all thought was a bad idea. Then Hades appears, looking for help. Rumplestiltskin and Peter Pan have taken Zelena and are holding her in order to make a deal.. Regina wants to go help her sister, but Hades wants Emma to do it. Her desire to help out and protect her family, Hades believes, is stronger motivation than Regina’s newly formed bond with her once hated Wicked Witch sister.

In the recent past, Emma is out trying to find her birth parents and meets up with a mysterious lady who knows her past The woman puts a boot on Emma’s car and we find out she is a bounty hunter and will be taking the young Emma back to Arizona to stand trial for her crimes.

In the Underworld, Hades meets up with Rumple and Peter Pan. He rips up the contract binding Belle’s baby to him in order to get Zelena back, but that’s not the only thing the duo wants. Rumple tries to use a back door in the deal saying that they agreed to give her back, but not her heart. Pan needs the heart so that he can get his power back, and maybe leave the Underworld. Luckily, right as Pan is about to reach into Zelena’s chest and take her heart, he’s repelled by the just-arriving Emma. Rumple has what he wants, so he teleports away. Defeated, so does Pan. Hades and Zelena then kiss, and apparently it’s really true love because there’s wind and ripples and dust!

Hades then has to fulfill his promise. He says he will open a portal back to Storybrooke for everyone, and even erases all the names off of the tombstones -- the symbol that was forcing them to stay.

Everyone is ready to go, except for Hook. It seems that because he’s been dead for so long in the real world, his body is not live enough to hold life.

Back in the past in the real world, the bounty hunter locks up Emma while she freshens up, but Emma easily escapes the handcuffs. Before she escapes, she sees a website on the bounty hunter’s laptop that looks like a locator site. Instead of running away, Emma decides to stay with the bounty hunter, provided she helps Emma access records of her parentage. I guess we understand that Emma is meeting a bounty hunter and being influenced by her, but this story line isn’t the most compelling.

In the Underworld, Hades has told the heroes that there might be a way for Hook to leave. If he could eat of the fruit of the gods, ambrosia, he might be able to heal his body and leave the Underworld. He says Eurydice did it, and Hook can, too. But to get the fruit, there will be trials. Emma readily agrees to go. The ambrosia is apparently on another level of the Underworld that even Hades doesn’t go to. Emma decides to go down the elevator to get the ambrosia with Hook.

In the past, Emma and the bounty hunter go to the county building to try to find out who Emma’s parents are, or maybe find out who dropped her off at the orphanage. They can only find that a little boy dropped her off and then disappeared. We know that to have been Pinocchio (I think), but that’s about it. The bounty hunter says that’s enough nice stuff, time to go back to Arizona.

In the Underworld, Pan has found Rumple and wants a deal: For Rumple to help him get a heart so that he can somehow escape the Underworld, he’s offering Pandora’s Box. I’m not sure how that helps Rumple wake Belle, but it is powerful.

Robin and the baby have now joined the group as they’re waiting for Emma to return with Hook and the ambrosia. Regina convinces Robin to give the child to the newly reformed Zelena and to let her and Hades go through the portal while they wait for Emma and Hook. Robin very reluctantly gives the little girl to her mother and steps aside. Needing some air, he goes off by himself for a second, but a second is all Rumplestiltskin needs to take out his heart for Pan.

While waiting for Emma and Hook, Henry is writing people’s unfinished business on pages from the “Once Upon a Time” book. As the Author, he’s trying to be a hero until the end. Operation Phoenix is still in play.

Cruella de Vil and the witch who ate kids and ran the Underworld diner decide to detain the heroes, locking them in the library tower where Emma’s elevator is. That darn kid eater, as Regina calls her.

Down below, Emma has to weigh her heart in order to see if she’s worthy to get the fruit. When she does, she’s suddenly in pain. Hook goes to get her heart and is engulfed in flames. Instead of reaching for her own heart, Emma lunges at Hook and pushes him out of the way of the fire. This was the test, and it opens the door to ... rotted ambrosia? Apparently the tree had been cut down long ago.

Back in the past, why is this bounty hunter risking so much? Emma’s young and stupid and breaking into a government building. They get away, but not without damage. The bounty hunter is stabbed by a shard from a window they broke. In an alley, bleeding from her wounds, the bounty hunter tells Emma to leave and not get caught. And that’s exactly what Emma does.

Back in the present day Underworld, suddenly it all makes sense, and on two fronts, Hades has messed with the heroes. The blind witch must’ve been given a power boost to have trapped Regina in the building, and apparently the lord of the Underworld chopped down the tree that bore the ambrosia fruit that could’ve brought Hook back to life. He’s crafty that Hades, and pretty evil! The portal back to Storybrooke that he and Zelena have stepped through will be closing soon, and he’s put lots of obstacles in the heroes’ path to stop them. I guess true love doesn’t have to be in a good person.

Emma and Hook. Looks like Hook is going to have to stay behind. Without the ambrosia, he’d go back through the portal -- only to be dead. He stays down below where the ambrosia tree is. It’s an emotional parting, but at least both of them knew that Emma had to go. Sad, but ... maybe Hook can re-plant the tree? Who knows, but Guyliner has become an integral part of the show. If he’s not going to return, it’s a huge shakeup

Back in Boston, 2010. Emma finds the daughter of the bounty hunter years later, and tells her about her birth mother. The bounty hunter had given her up for adoption when she was young, but had kept tabs on her. This was why she was so willing to help Emma find her own past. The girl is grateful, and Emma buys her signature red leather jacket from the store the girl is working in. It will be come to be her armor, as the bounty hunter called it, so that she can be strong for herself.

Now, the heroes will have to deal with Hades in the real world.