Episode Discussion Post IT'S FINALLY BACK!!!!

[hughville.livejournal.com]

Heart Of The Truest Believer

As Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, Mr. Gold and Hook enter Neverland to search for a kidnapped Henry, they’re greeted by a school of not-to-friendly mermaids who threaten to end their search before it begins; Henry finds himself on the run from the Lost Boys with another escapee from Peter Pan’s encampment; and Neal, recovering from his wounds, travels through the Enchanted Forest with Mulan in an attempt to learn the fates of Emma and Henry, on the Season Premiere of “Once Upon a Time,” SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Once Upon a Time” stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David, Emilie de Ravin as Belle, Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills, Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood/Ruby, and Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold.

The one-hour recap special, Journey to Neverland, promises to not only “explore the new series in a way that will bring new viewers up to date, but which current viewers will also find illuminating.” The special will take a look at a few big storylines, including Emma and Snow White’s separation from their family in post-curse Fairy Tale Land; Cora’s plan to eliminate Rumple and become “The Dark One”; the big Neal reveal of him being Henry’s father; Greg and Tamara kidnapping Henry; and Neal’s fate when he’s found by Aurora, Mulan, and Prince Phillip. Additionally, “backstories and secrets” of our favorite characters will be reveal, and it will also offer a glimpse into the trek to Neverland in Season 3. The special airs tonight at 7 PM EST on ABC.

Please be respectful.

Feel free to comment as you watch the special and the premiere.

Save your thoughts about spoilers, potential storylines, characters you want to see, etc. for the Speculation Post on Tuesday.

HAVE FUN!!!

Comments

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thought it was a very even handed episode Sets up the chess board nicely.

[hughville.livejournal.com]

I agree. They did an excellent job setting up the story lines for this season.

[hughville.livejournal.com]

I loved the premiere. I like Neal much better. I laughed when he told Mulan they made a movie about her and that it was good. It's nice to see that she and Robin Hood are going with Neal to find Emma.

I did figure out that the boy with Henry was Pan.

I loved that Emma stepped up and told them that they have to work together to find Henry.

This had so much packed in it that I need to watch it again. And perhaps again. :)

[sparkythegeek.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was awesome - the Journey to Neverland show was a great recap that made sequential sense of seasons 1 and 2. Enjoyed that.

And the premiere! <3 Sooo good. Regina's one liners had me laughing :D, the Peter Pan reveal made me gasp, and I loved how Emma took charge to make them work together. Neal and Mulan was HILARIOUS.

I think I'm going to love season 3!

[raktajinos.livejournal.com]

Regina's one liners were awesome. I loved her this episode, what we got of her. And the fight between her and Snow was fantastic.

[sparkythegeek.livejournal.com]

Yes - their cat fight was great! :D I was reading Lana and Ginnifer's twitter feeds just now and they'd been begging for a chance to scrap it out. LOL

[raktajinos.livejournal.com]

Anyone else shipping Mulan/Robin Hood now?

[hughville.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling you won't be alone in that, especially if they have more scenes together. Mulan needs someone to love.

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

The best thing about this episode is that it made me like characters that I found boring last season. Like Neal. So that's great!

And I avoided news and spoilers all summer, so I didn't know they had recasted Robin Hood, and spent all his scenes thinking he was someone else just saying that he was Robin, and that Tom Ellis would come swooping in by the end. Oops.

[hughville.livejournal.com]

I agree about Neal. I just really liked him in last night's ep. And I was so glad to see that the writers wrapped up the terrible, horrible, oh so badGreg/Tamara subplot so perfectly.

"I"m sorry, Mr. Gold. Can you forgive me?"
"No." ZIP! Out comes her heart which he crushes to dust. So Rumplesque. I LOVED it.

I've read and posted so many spoilers since the end of S2 that I can't remember what happened with Tom Ellis. I think he signed on to a new show but I can't remember exactly. After awhile, all the spoilers tend to run together. LOL!

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I tried to like Tamara and Greg (mostly because I like the actress who plays Tamara a lot), but they had such a terrible subplot, they just made me cringe everytime. So glad we got rid of them, although it was quite a bit anticlimatic:

"Oh, and by the way, you've been working for an evil force of magic all along, and this eleven-year-old boy realized it two minutes in. Look at your life. Look at your choices."

[limbomonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad Tamora and Growen are gone. Every time they said "Home Office," my skin crawled a little. Though it all did feel a little ridiculous--you were working for magical people all along and didn't know? Maybe that was part of some larger message--knowledge and curiosity are more important than blind allegiance.

It felt like the episode was over so quickly. I don't think I mean it felt rushed. Maybe I mean that they crammed a lot into only 40 some minutes.

I loved the interaction between Robin Hood and Neal.

I loved that their own fighting was what caused the storm (and guessed that was what it was by the mermaid's smiling as they are fighting).

[hughville.livejournal.com]

Every time they said "Home Office", I was reminded of my favorite A Bit of Fry and Laurie sketches about 2 British spies who worked for The Home Office. The sketches are hilarious and I so wanted Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry to pop up as Tony and Control. LOL!

The episode did seem to fly by and there was a lot to take in but I saw that ABC is showing the episode again before the new one on Sunday.

I think Neal, Robin Hood, and Mulan are going to make a great team.

[sakuraberries]

Ohhhh, I LOVE ship narratives; wish their journey had lasted longer. There's something about being on a ship - you're stuck in the middle of the ocean with whoever you're with, there's no escape, and you become close whether you want to be or not, plus tensions are always high. It's awesome! And in this particular scenario, the characters weathered a storm together. So much fun! I LOVE ships!

I had a few issues with certain bits of dialogue here and there, but overall I really loved this episode. I like that Emma's really shaping up to be a leader - if the endgame is for her to live in the Enchanted Forest, I can really see her as a military leader. Boots on the ground type character.

I'm so happy this show is back in my life, tbh.