‘Once Upon a Time’ recap: Could Storybrooke be ‘the New Neverland’?

“Once Upon a Time” may be looking to find the magic once again after the events of “The New Neverland” episode of the show. Our heroes have triumphantly returned -- or so they think -- but may have brought back a worse evil in the form of Rumpelstiltskin’s father, Peter Pan.

In a brief interlude that we don’t return to in the show, Ariel finally meets up with Prince Eric. A fish-chopping scene, a kiss and it’s over because Captain Hook’s ship drops in from Neverland, descending through a rift in the air. There’s congratulations and revelry on the pier for most as the boat docks -- for most, I say.

Poor evil Queen Regina doesn’t get so much as a handshake. Even Rumpelstiltskin has someone to hug as Belle welcomes back her beast. It takes Snow White thanking her for saving them all for any acknowledgment. Meanwhile, Peter Pan-inside-Henry is looking to make mischief right off the boat. He helps get his loyal servant Felix imprisoned, then later watches as Rumpelstiltskin magically seals away Pandora’s Box, with Henry-inside-Pan locked within.

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We return in time to the Enchanted Forest, to the moment after the evil queen Regina vows to make the lives of Snow White and Prince Charming a living heck while crashing their wedding. It infuriates the fiery Snow, so Charming has to be charming. He quiets her anger over Regina ruining her wedding, promising to take her anywhere she wants to go. But, as Grumpy finds out, Snow has just put her temper on a low simmer, with something up her sleeve during the Summer Palace honeymoon that could help them deal with Regina forever. Hmm ...

Back in Storybrooke, a lot of scenarios begin to play out in Granny’s celebratory diner. Emma sees a weirdness in Henry that she can’t figure out. How perceptive. Regina takes Tinkerbell to the Blue Fairy to get her wings back. No go though -- Tink still doesn’t believe in herself enough. Hook tells Neal he’ll back off from trying to woo Emma for the sake of Henry, though it’s a backhanded kind of favor in that he’s not sure Emma and Neal will ever get back together. Neal wants to try to repair what they have, and Snow and Charming think their daughter should give him a chance. Not for him, but for her sake. Despite the fact that he’s shown heroic and fatherly qualities, I don’t know why they’re pushing so much. Too darned optimistic.

In the Enchanted Forest, we find that Snow is out for blood, but Charming knew it all along. There is a creature near the Summer Palace that can help take out Regina once and for all. That creature is Medusa! Wow, Snow’s not playing around when she brings a gorgon into the fight. They had a great plan to behead her, but it fails when the sword breaks/melts against Medusa’s neck. Snow: “That wasn’t part of the legend.” I don’t remember that part either, but Perseus did have an enchanted sword. Ah well. A heroic Charming tries to save them by distracting Medusa while they run -- but it, also, doesn’t work. Medusa captures Charming and turns him to stone. Uh oh. Luckily, Snow is smart enough -- spurred on by a reflective, taunting visit from Regina -- to let Medusa’s own reflection be the key to stopping her. Voila, it works. But now, Medusa is stone and no good to any of them.

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Oh, you sneaky Pan. We thought his shadow was nothing more than a harmless part of the sail on Hook’s boat, but it turns out the shadow played possum and Pan still has control of it. Its first mission -- take out the Blue Fairy. Besides Rumpel and Regina, she would seem to be the most powerful magical person in Storybrooke, so maybe by snatching her shadow (killing her?), he can gain some power. Pan-as-Henry did say that magic was the answer, and the whole situation plays right into his hands. He manipulates the group into thinking he needs protection, and Regina decides that in order to keep Henry safe, she must take him to her hidden crypt where all of her magic is held. #PanNeverFails again.

Once they -- they being Rumpel, Emma, Snow, Belle and Charming -- know that Pan is somehow after Henry again, they decide to confront (who they think) is Pan. They release Henry-as-Pan from Pandora’s Box while outside of Storybrooke’s city limits, and the powerless boy convinces Emma that he’s really Henry in Pan’s body, reciting the fact that she gave him up (for adoption) to give him a better chance at life. So now the secret is out, but it’s a bit too late for Regina since Pan-as-Henry knocks her out with some kind of smoke-like potion while they’re in her safehouse/crypt.

Why did he want to go there? For the curse, of course. THE curse. The one that made all of this possible. If Pan rekindles the broken curse, everyone in Storybrooke -- including Regina, Rumpel and Emma -- would lose their memory again and be suspended in time. That would leave Pan-as-Henry and lost boy Felix to, somehow, rule Storybrooke -- though they’d still just be kids. The master plan is that they hope to turn the town into a new Neverland.

Next week’s winter finale is pointing toward the curse somehow returning. Not sure if a reset of everything is the best way to go in keeping fans interested, but hopefully something unexpectedly magical will happen.

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‘Once Upon a Time’: It’s Regina vs. Peter Pan, and Pan never fails