Once Upon a Time Recap: “And Straight on Till Morning”

by Tracy Ladd:

Once Upon a Time Recap: “And Straight on Till Morning”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday May 12, 2013
Season 2 Episode 22

To say that this season has been uneven would be an understatement.  I haven’t been quite as invested as I was last season because I felt that this season was all over the map.  The Gold/Belle storyline, while once charming and interesting, turned out to be tiring.  Emma has seemed to lose her once independent, head strong quality and everything seems to hinge on Henry.  Regina was trying to be good, then went bad again, then turned self-sacrificing in the name of good, while Mary Margaret had a “dark heart” storyline that was filled with plot holes.

I was wondering if and when the announcement would come regarding a third season and word finally came this past weekend.  There will definitely be a season three.  I’ll stick around and see what happens, especially knowing how this season ended.  This episode was better than previous episodes so at least the season bowed on a higher than normal note.  However, I am a bit disappointed that Neal is not, in fact, Peter Pan.

Neverland

After being rescued from the waters in Neverland by Captain Hook, Bae finds himself being mentored by the crotchety captain.  Hook’s plan to avenge Mira’s death by killing Rumpelstiltskin seems to have been sweetened knowing that Bae is Rumpelstiltskin’s son.  The lost boys show up, knowing that Hook has a child on board, and they aim to take him to the “Shadow”, but Hook denies having anyone aside from him crew on board.  Once the lost boys leave, Bae opens up to Hook about being abandoned by his father, who happens to be the Dark One, and unknowingly gives Hook all the information he’s looking for.

As time passes, Hook grows fond of the boy, much to the dismay of Smee, who tries to convince Hook to cut the boy loose.  Hook won’t hear of it however.  Bae seems to have a found a place he belongs, that is until he finds a hand drawn portrait of his mother in Hook’s quarters.  Hook comes clean about what happened and how he and Mira were in love and had talked about going back to get Bae when he was older.  Bae only hears that his mother left him too.  Too late to cry over things though, as the lost boys arrive to finally claim Bae for themselves.  They load him up into their boat, while Hook looks on.

Once the lost boys get Bae to shore, the leader asks another boy if Bae is the one they’re looking for.  The other boy says no, and shows the leader a picture.  The boy they’re in search of happens to be Henry.  When asked if they’ll ever find him, the leader simply responds saying “Peter Pan never fails.”

Storybrooke

The bulk of the episode takes place in Storybrooke, as it should.  What with Tamara and Greg taking a pick axe to the trigger, which activates it.  So begins the destruction of Storybrooke.  Destruction being that vines and trees begin to cover the town.  Meanwhile, Regina hugs Henry close when Henry is informed that since he was born in that world, he’ll survive, but he’ll be alone.  Rumpelstiltskin, setting his quest for revenge aside, suggests they get to work on fixing the issue at hand and Hook joins the cause saying he can help.

At Gold’s shop, Leroy and boys are rummaging around looking for the potion that will fix Sneezy’s memory.  They inform Gold that Mother Superior was able to do it and tell Gold how.  This gives him an idea about Belle/Lacey, but doesn’t want to “wake” her up, just so they can all die but he’s moved by the gesture regardless.  Later on, while sharing a drink with Lacey, he pours the potion into both of their cups and they drink.  After a blue aura appears, she’s Belle once again.  Their little reunion was actually quite touching.  But I’m still tired of those two.

Down in the tunnels, Regina and Emma try to find a way to stop the self destruct jewel and Regina does the noble thing by using her power to hold off the inevitable.  The catch? It’s a one way ticket.  Back at Granny’s, Hook and David arrive with the last of the beans.  Henry doesn’t like the thought of Regina being left behind and mentions the wraith.  Mary Margaret hatches a plan to open a portal and send the evil jewel through, which will save the town, but Emma is unsure.  Mary Margaret pulls the ‘mom’ card and Emma has no choice but to go along with it.

After getting back down into the tunnels, they tell Regina the plan, not like she can really help at the moment, when Emma finds that the pouch is empty.  That scoundrel Hook made off with the bean.  The ground shakes some more and everyone hugs each other close.  Henry runs to Regina and hugs her tightly as well.  Meanwhile, Hook is sailing far away from Storybrooke with the bean.

Regina warns that she can’t hold out much longer, but Emma says that maybe she can help.  The two of them together are able to deactivate the switch, and the town is saved.  There is one minor problem however; Henry is gone.

Turns out that Greg and Tamara swiped him in the heat of the action because even though they set out to destroy magic, Henry is more valuable.  At the docks, Greg tosses a bean into the water, which of course opens a portal, where he and Tamara jump in, dragging Henry with them.

Emma & Co. get to the docks too late.  However on the horizon is the Jolly Roger and it’s headed their way.  Seems that Hook had a change of heart.  He, along with Mary Margaret, David, Emma, Regina and Gold plan to use the bean Hook stole to go find Henry.  Gold says his goodbye’s to Belle, leaving her with a cloaking spell that will blanket the town.  Once away, Gold tracks Henry to Neverland, they open the portal and ship disappears.

Meanwhile, on a beach in Fairytale Land, Neal is found by Prince Phillip, Aurora and Mulan, unconscious on a beach.

So there you have it.  Season two is officially in the books.  How did you feel about this season overall?  Happy, sad, indifferent?  Like I said, to me it was uneven, but I’ll stick around just to see where it goes.  Hopefully they’ll scale back on a lot of the side stories and stick with the meat that makes it good.  I guess we’ll have to wait until fall to find out.

DarkMedia contributor Tracy Ladd has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she’s back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks.

You can find her on Facebook, on Twitter @ReelGoddess, and on her website The Reel Goddess.