‘Once Upon a Time’: Hades gives a final end to one of the heroes

The full extent of Hades’ evil was on display in the “Last Rites” episode of “Once Upon a Time,” and a hero fell protecting the ones he loves — with no hope of returning.

Hades and Zelena wait in the land of the living, Storybrooke, for the heroes to burst through the portal at any time. Zelena proposes they go into town, but Hades is hesitant since Snow and the rest don’t now that he’s “good” — at least in Zelena’s eyes. Zelena gives the baby to Hades. (To Hades!?!?) Probably safest for her to go into the town and tell everyone that Hades is good now — so that they won’t automatically attack. As soon as she’s out of sight, Hades runs into King Arthur, who has escaped his cell after knocking out one of the dwarves, apparently. A little chit chat between them, and snap, Hades breaks King Arthur’s neck — right there on the bridge, while holding Zelena’s baby.

Merida is about to round up the dwarves to search for Arthur, and that’s when the heroes return. Everyone hugs Snow White — Henry, David and Emma — and she finds out that Hook had to stay behind. Emma looks numb. Also, if Snow is home, that should mean that Dorothy and Ruby and Mulan are around? We don’t see them, but I guess we can assume.

Robin and Regina also returned to Storybrooke, and they run into Zelena, who has just left the baby with Hades. They try to tell her that Hades is evil and not to be trusted, but love has blinded the Wicked Witch.

In the Underworld, newly deceased King Arthur and Hook meet up in the diner. Hook knows that Hades has a weakness of some kind, and now that he’s not in the Underworld, he and King Arthur will go on a quest to find out what that weakness is to help Emma and the other in the living world defeat him.

But defeating him will be tougher than they first thought. Zelena tells Hades that the heroes may be coming after him. He tells her that they might have to fight, but that he has an all-powerful weapon to use against them should they need it: the Olympian crystal. It apparently once belonged to Zeus. It’ very powerful and very dangerous. But what does it do, I wonder?

As the heroes prepare to go after Robin and Zelena’s baby and confront Hades, they recognize that Emma is too emotional to help. She gets a talking to from David, then gets sidelined a bit by Regina as she and Robin prepare to surprise Zelena and Hades through underground tunnels.

Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin. What’s the dark one doing during all of this? Well, threatening Belle’s dad, of course. Rumple came in peace, asking Belle’s dad to wake her with a kiss of true love. Dad actually refuses to take the sleeping curse off of Belle as long as she’s with him. Rumple begins to threaten Belle’s dad, slamming his walking stick on the counter multiple times. Emma interrupts Rumple’s tantrum and asks for his help in defeating Hades. He can’t help much.

Others are trying, though. Hook and Arthur go to Hades’ throne room looking for pages from the “Once Upon a Time” story book that held Hades’ tale. It would tell how to defeat him. Hook has a mini breakdown: Though he promised, he knows that he’ll never be able to move on from the Underworld until he knows that Emma is safe in the land of the living. Thinking like a secretive king, Arthur finds the hidden pages in a side panel on the actual throne. Now, how will Hook be able to get the pages to the people in living Storybrooke?

With a little reluctant help from Cruella de Vil, of course. The martini-swilling bad girl doesn’t particularly want to help the “stubble sandwich” of Hook and Arthur. But it comes to light that the “Once Upon a Time” book, held in a lower level of Hades’ land, could help.

Hook and Arthur find the “Once Upon a Time” book, remarkably unguarded, after taking a little trip on the River of Souls. Some of the spirits actually attack the duo and try to make off with the book for themselves. They hadn’t done that before, so Hook surmised that with Hades gone, it’s a bit of a free-for-all in the Underworld. Then, placing the pages back into the book, he miraculously gets them back to Emma, who was researching how to stop Hades.

Hades wants to rule Storybrooke, and he wants it a lot more than Zelena, who just wants a quiet little house and a yard for her daughter to play in. Hades, though, also doesn’t really want to share it. That becomes apparently when Rumple calls to offer his help. Rumple knows all about the Olympian crystal that Hades is slowly trying to put back together, and he can help. Hades says no. Rumple: “All right, but we’re not in your kingdom. We’re in mine.”

Regina and Robin see this, but they don’t want to barge in. They need a distraction, and they get a timely one from Emma, who attacks the magic wards around the house. Zelena goes to confront her, while Hades, after finally forming the crystal, will look for other heroes that he knows are inevitably there.

Robin and Regina sneak in and grab the baby, but Hades is there as well. He tells them that the crystal doesn’t just kill you and send you to the Underworld, it actually ends you. Nothing left to go anywhere else. He points it at Regina and fires, but Robin steps in to take the blast. Hades ends Robin Hood!!!! His essence reaches out one last time to touch Regina, then it disappears as his body falls to the ground.

Zelena arrives to provide a bit of a distraction, and Regina knocks the crystal from Hades’ hand. Zelena picks it up. Luckily, the emotion from Regina over the death of Robin, and the timely interference by Emma, in which she showed Zelena the “Once Upon a Time” pages talking about Hades taking over, cause Zelena to finally see the truth. She plunges the crystal into Hades, ending him. Regina and Zelena hug.

Emma stands solitary at Hook’s grave. She lets him know that she did it and kept everyone safe. The she goes from that grave to the funeral for Robin Hood. Arrows are placed on his casket, and cute little Roland, who has now lost his mom and his dad, looks on. Argh!

And his half sister, held by Zelena, now has a name. Fittingly, she is named Robin. But now, little Roland and Robin are both without a father.

As Emma mourns Robin and Hook alone, Hook returns right behind her. In the Underworld, as he walked toward the light, he found himself in what looked to be the halls of Olympus. Zeus himself thanked him for his help in defeating Hades. Zeus said that he was there to help guide him to where he was supposed to be. Turns out, that’s Storybrooke.

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In a twist, we add insight to the recap by publishing occasional questions, concerns and comments submitted by Layla Andre, 9, a fervent fan of “Once Upon a Time” and the daughter of an L.A. Times staff member. They come about while watching the latest episode, and they’re probably some of the same that many viewers have.

— Zelena should have been wary of Hades because he tried to trap the heroes in the Underworld in the last episode.

— Did Merida get her ears pierced?! I don’t remember her wearing earrings before...

— It would have been cool if the Olympian crystals were Zeus’ lightning bolts.

— Wouldn’t it have been awesome if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles popped out when Regina and Hood were in the sewers?

— I thought that Hades had thrown the missing pages into the water with the Lost Souls? That’s what I would have done if I wanted to destroy my secret. It was sooo easy for King Arthur to find the pages.

— It would be so tempting to touch a Lost Soul. But you know you can’t.

— Zeus looks so much younger than his son Hercules!

— Shouldn’t it have been Regina alone at Hood’s grave at the end, not Emma?

— I’m so glad they didn’t get rid of both Hood AND Hook in this episode.

— Finally! Zelena’s baby got her name! I like the name Zara, but Robin was the right choice.