Sunday, October 20, 2013

'Once Upon A Time' 3.04 "Nasty Habits" Review

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Sometimes a game-changing episode is touted as such in the promos leading up to the episode's air date. Other times, it occurs under the radar and genuinely provides a bit of a shock to the audience. If Once Upon A Time is suggesting what I think they were in tonight’s episode, ‘Nasty Habits’, then this situation definitely falls toward the latter. You'll never look at this version of Peter Pan the same way again.



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Let’s set the scene, shall we? Neal meets up with his constantly estranged father, Rumple, and together they go about rescuing Henry from Pan and his lost boys. It’s a brief victory though as Neal soon makes a decision against his father, specifically his magical capabilities, which leaves his son and himself vulnerable to an ambush. The trust issues between both characters powers much of this episode's plot and brings forth consequences for father, son, and grandson. The unsurprising game of pass around Henry isn’t what made me sit up and take notice though, instead it’s what Pan told Neal when he encountered his former lost boy once more to get the prophesied heart of the truest believer back. As we all know, the show-runners of Once Upon A Time formerly worked on Lost, a show that dealt frequently with the ideas of predetermined destiny vs free will and the power of making one’s own choices. It’s said over and over again on this show that the only way to leave Neverland is with Pan’s permission, but Neal was always the standing exception...until now.


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If Pan is truly suggesting that he allowed Neal to ‘escape’ his island then it’s easy to assume he somehow knew that Neal was going to unknowingly take part in giving him the gift of this special boy, and that ultimately he was going to return to Neverland once more. Pan is more than just the pied piper in a flashback sequence, he’s the puppetmaster of half of this show’s mythology. His long game with Neal is responsible for Henry’s birth and for Neal’s unwitting return to the place he suffered through the most. This is essentially suggesting that the so-called choices of many characters has continued to feed into their predetermined web of destiny--it's been seen many times that prophecy cannot be outrun in this world. Emma became the Savior of Storybrooke, Henry wound up in Pan’s clutches, and perhaps even Rumple will be the one that preserves his own well-being by making on attempt on Henry's life.


Many of the show’s jilted fans roll their eyes at the overuse of happy endings as endgame on
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this series, but this episode brought up the very salient point that in some cases a happy ending is in the eye of the beholder. Rumple continues to hallucinate a version of Belle (one it should be noted is far more morally complex and interesting than the real deal so it gives us some insight into what he really sees in her from this reflection of his inner thoughts). It's this continued affection for her that could cause his own dark prophecy to come into fruition. That of Henry being his ultimate downfall and, as Neal argued, the only happy ending in that case would be Rumple killing Henry before that can happen. It's a certain tragedy for most of our characters, but the only thing that would ensure Rumple’s existence if the prophecy is to be believed.

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I don’t think the show would ever truly go about eliminating Henry, even though I wish they’d at least recast him now that his character has proven an important part of the mythology--something that probably wasn't planned for on the actor's initial casting. But it’s fascinating to see Rumple’s moral conflict arise and create such contention between him and Neal. The audience should be left asking if the ‘Dark One’ would actually make an attempt on his grandson's life given no other option in his mind. In a different scene Charming mentions that family always finds a way but things may not be so sunny if Rumple is stuck between his life and that of the boy. We’ve seen how committing evil on this show is either fodder for a future redemption arc, or the thing that finally drives a wedge between the baddie and everyone else. It would be intriguing if OUAT allowed Rumple to make that attempt because this version of his character is far more compelling than the defanged occasionally amusing love interest he's reduced to when stuck in Storybrooke. This mix of characters with different sets of values and varying moral centers is one of the things that’s working so well about this season so far and it makes me hope the Neverland adventure continues.


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One of the most tedious things about last season had to do with the focus on too many noble characters and their noble choices. Things get boring fast when even Regina has lost her bite and that’s why this impromptu trip to save Henry has been a great story development for the show. Every situation they face on Neverland makes the group have to consider approaches carefuly that they may not have if it was just the Charmings and Emma for example. Plus having the expertise of Hook doesn’t make it easier for them to accomplish their mission--Neverland is a place with many dangers that not even someone that’s been there before can easily navigate as we’ve seen tonight with Neal. So there are real challenges that aren't simply solved with the wave of a magic hand and it's showing us the true character of these people.

Now the only thing left that would make this trip truly something special would be if there is loss suffered during their journey. David seems like he's not long for this world but he's surrounded by family and perhaps they will find a way to save him too. That is, if he mans up and tells anyone other than Hook about his affliction first. It leaves them all incredibly vulnerable to Pan if he turns out to be the only one that can cure him before it's too late. I think these characters are about to learn a very hard lesson in sacrifice one way or the other before they leave Neverland's shores.


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