Once Upon a Time - "Dark Hollow" - Review

Intro

Making a slight change in at least the order I do my reviews in. Since I watched Once Upon a Time last night, I might as well do the review that's technically scheduled for today instead of waiting until I can do it chronologically.

SPOILER WARNING

The following review is for Once Upon a Time, Season 3, Episode 7: "Dark Hollow." If you haven't seen the episode, I would watch it before reading this review. Even my character lists contain spoilers.

Once Upon a Time - "Dark Hollow" - Review

Characters:

• Emma Swan - Played by Jennifer Morrison. Daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. Birth Mother of Henry Mills. Product of True Love. "The Savior."
• Regina Mills - Played by Lana Parrilla. Mother of Henry Mills. Step-Mother of Snow White. The Evil Queen.
• Prince Charming/David Nolan - Played by Josh Dallas. Father of Emma Swan. Husband of Snow White.
• Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard - Played by Ginnifer Goodwin. Mother of Emma Swan. Wife of Prince Charming. Step-Daughter of Regina Mills.
• Henry Mills - Played by Jared Gilmore. Son of Emma Swan, Baelfire, and Regina Mills. The Truest Believer.
• Captain Killian "Hook" Jones - Played by Colin O'Donoghue. Pirate.
• Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold - Played by Robert Carlyle. Father of Baelfire. Grandfather of Henry Mills. The Dark One. Regina's mentor.
• Neal Cassady/Baelfire - Played by Michael Raymond-James and Dylan Schmid. Son of Rumplestiltskin. Father of Henry Mills.
• Peter Pan - Played by Robbie Kay. Big Bad of Wonderland.
• Felix - Played by Parker Croft. Peter's messenger... or something.
• Ariel - Played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher. Mermaid.
• Belle - Played by Emilie de Ravin. Rumple's True Love. Storybrooke Librarian.
• Archie Hopper/The Cricket - Played by Raphael Sbarge. Storybrooke's resident Psychiatrist.
• Blue Fairy/Mother Superior - Played by Keegan Connor Tracy.
• Grumpy/Leroy - Played by Lee Arenberg. One of the Seven Dwarves.
• Michael Darling - Played by James Immekus. Youngest of the Darling children. Kept alive by Pan.
• John Darling - Played by Matt Kane. Middle Darling child. Kept alive by Pan.
• Wendy Darling - Played by Freya Tingley. Eldest Darling child. Captive of Pan.
• Granny - Played by Beverley Elliott.
• Tinker Bell - Played by Rose McIver. Yup, that Tinkerbell.

Review:

We got to go back to Storybrooke today! That was a giant breath of fresh air, I have to say. Like, I love the Neverland stuff, but there's only so much jungle I can take. It was nice to be in a lighter area for once. Also, all the magic in this episode was awesome. I'm a sucker for the sparkles and the lava-y effects.

I very much enjoyed seeing everyone in Storybrooke. It was cool to see how Granny and Archie are attempting to take care of Belle, even if she's being Mopey-pants. I was also glad to see Belle and Ariel hit it off right away. They're one of those pairs I never thought I'd see put together. They made a great team, even if Ariel was incredibly distracted.

Jumping back a bit, I thought the cloaking spell was pretty cool. I was surprised to see John and Michael's car actually make it through, mostly, before it slammed down. Actually, I didn't think they'd made it into Storybrooke. I thought they'd somehow ended up on the other side or something. I don't know why I thought that, but the reveal of who they were later was actually a giant surprise to me... as I was putting the pieces together anyway. I figured out who they were before it was revealed on the show.

Speaking of, we finally found out who the other person in the cages was. Of course it would be Wendy. I was surprised to see her still a young Wendy, instead of grown up more, like her brothers. It was also interesting to see her sort of working with Pan. I think he's holding her brothers' lives over her head, like he's doing to them with hers. Also, that entire thing with Henry was obviously a manipulation of him. He's being played like a fiddle and doesn't even realize it. I wanted to smack him again.

I wasn't at all impressed with the "Dark Hollow." It wasn't very dark at all, just very red. Like a dark room, but brighter. I figured Neal and Hook would fight over whatever they had to do there, because fighting over things that aren't Emma but are stand-ins for Emma in front of Emma is such a good plan. That was dumb, but gave Emma a chance to use her one magic lesson. I think Emma learning magic is going to throw a wrench into her and Neal's relationship. However, I'm very glad Emma put her foot down with the boys. Henry is her priority and them fucking things up is unhelpful and annoying.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Regina honor her bargain with Ariel at the end of the episode. I didn't really think she'd reneg on that, but it was still nice to see. Uhmm... also, Pandora's Box? Really? How did Belle even know what that was on sight? That bugs me. A lot.

As I said in my last review, we're definitely getting toward the mid-season finale. All the pieces are falling into place. I like that we don't really know what Pan's goal is here, though watching the preview for next week seriously spoils that. Don't do it, if you haven't already. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Time in Neverland: 5 days... presumably.
• Hook actually annoyed me this episode with his telling Neal and messing with Emma. I dislike obvious love triangles.
• Using Ariel's tail to get free was very clever. I missed Belle.
• Skull Rock actually exists. Why am I not surprised.

Housekeeping

Let me know what you thought of the episode in the comments. Follow me on Twitter!

Also, that's gonna be it from me today. I've got some stuff to do before work... and then work... and sleep.

Love ya, Jessie