'Once Upon a Time': 'And Straight on 'Til Morning' a bridge to next season

By Jevon Phillips

May 13, 2013 12 AM PT

The season finale of “Once Upon a Time,” an episode titled “And Straight On ‘Til Morning,” led us not into the spinoff world of Wonderland, but brought us to the brink of the destruction of Storybrooke, and to next season’s Neverland showdown.

It’s only fitting then that it start with Captain Hook, who we’ve always been led to believe was the scourge of Neverland. Hook holds Bae prisoner on his pirate ship as he tries to figure out who he is. All he really has to do is ask. Hook: “What’s your name?” Bae: “Baelfire.” And now he knows.

Greg and Tamara activate the jewel to destroy Storybrooke by using one of the dwarves’ pick axes. The end begins.

Charming, Snow White and Emma find Henry and Mr. Gold, telling them that Neal/Baelfire was shot and fell into a portal. Both grieve, with Gold taking on suicidal tendencies. Snow and Charming ask Gold to help them save Storybrooke from the destructive diamond. Gold says no, and is ready to die.

PHOTOS: Movie princesses through the years

Hook, after receiving a fist to the lip by Charming, joins up with Emma, Regina, Snow and crew to stop the diamond fiasco. Emma and Regina will go after the diamond, with Regina attempting to slow down the destruction. Hook and Charming go after Greg and Tamara to reclaim the magic beans, hopefully to transport all the townspeople back to the Enchanted Forest. Snow and Henry go to round up the townspeople and have them ready to go.

In the past, the Lost Boys are not jolly kids flying through the air. They seem to be dangerous hit men for a higher evil being, so dangerous in fact that they board Hook’s ship as they please, searching it for Bae. Hook helps him hide, and the Lost Boys leave.

Grumpy gets a potion from the Blue Fairy to help Sneezy remember who he is. He has to get Sneezy’s cup from Gold’s shop to restore him. He also gives Gold some of the potion for him to revert Lacey to Belle before everyone in the city dies.

Hook, in the past, tells Bae that his father abandoned him. Seems very much like a lie, but could be true. Bae tells Hook that his father is the Dark One. That look in Hook’s eye ... maybe he’s going to become a great friend to Bae, to get even with Rumpelstiltskin?

Back in the present, Hook and Charming find Tamara and Greg. After a gunfight and a skirmish, they get a bean as Tamara and Greg escape again. Is that enough? Maybe Hook actually got another. Can’t trust that guy AT ALL.

TIMELINE: Snow White through the years

Emma and Regina find the diamond, and Regina says that she’ll have to sacrifice her life, basically, to even slow down the diamond’s destruction of Storybrooke. Emma says no, but she can’t stop her, and Regina starts. The action’s speeding up as vines and greenery seem to start sprouting everywhere in the town, destroying buildings and all.

In the midst of the carnage, Gold gives Lacey the potion. Belle’s back! He didn’t want to wake her up just to tell here they were all going to die, but he missed her. Awwww?

The townspeople, Snow, Henry and Charming convince Emma to use the magic bean to somehow get rid of the diamond, thereby saving the town. Archie, whom we haven’t heard from in a while, starts off as the voice of reason, which Jiminy Cricket should do. No one knows if it’ll work, but they try it anyway. When Emma and crew arrive to help Regina, it seems that Hook pulled the double switch on them. He still has the beans and is sailing away on his ship. Dastardly, seriously.

Back in the past, Bae finds out that Hook was the reason his family was torn apart, even if Hook’s intentions weren’t to do that. He wants off the ship, and fights with Hook. Hook tries to get him to stay, but he doesn’t want to. Bae reminds Hook that his whole purpose is to kill the crocodile Rumpelstiltskin, so he gives Bae away to the Lost Boys, and goes back to his revenge-y ways.

Back in Storybrooke, the worst is coming, and they seem to know it. Group hug before annihilation -- though Regina is valiantly fighting on. Henry goes over to hug her, and Emma decides to give her latent magical powers a try, hopefully helping Regina stop the destruction. Well, in short order, their powers combine to overpower the gem. Probably should’ve been harder to do, but apparently it wasn’t. Yay. But, it was all just a distraction.

Tamara and Greg kidnapped Henry during all of this, saying that he was the key to it all and that he was the reason they were actually there in the first place. They use a bean and make their escape.

Speaking of portals, Neal is back in the picture. He’s washed up on the shores of the Enchanted Forest. Luckily he was found by Princess Aurora, Mulan, and someone who looked to be Prince Philip.

Emma and the crew would be happy to hear that, but they’re on a mission. Hook, somehow getting a tinge of a conscious, returns with the bean. Regina, Gold, Snow and Charming and Emma get on board the Jolly Roger, uniting to go find Henry. Gold’s blood-powered globe allows then to track Henry. Apparently, he’s been taken to Neverland.

Meanwhile, back in Neverland in the past, Bae is brought before Peter and the others, and they figure out that he’s not the kid they want. They seem to have a picture of Henry, and Peter Pan the bounty huntin’ man is going after him.

Definitely a cliffhanger, though there didn’t seem to be as much pressure on this episode as there could’ve been. The show was obviously picked up for another season, and even has the promise of a spin-off being created centering on Wonderland. What I’ll be thinking about until the next premiere is who exactly the HIM is that the Lost Boys and Hook kept referring to, and what Regina’s reaction will ultimately be to Emma’s emerging magical powers.

See you next season!

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