TV Recap: Once Upon A Time Season 2 - Episode 21 - ‘Second Star to the Right’

As the season 2 finale approaches, the episodes of Once Upon A Time are getting slightly better. There are still a few things that they need to work on such as plot, special effects, and the writing. There have been numerous plot holes and horrendous dialogue this season. Despite this, several actors have managed to keep this show alive. The constantly strong performances by Lana Parrilla and Robert Carlyle keep this show on the air. Hopefully season 3 will be as good as season 1 was.

At the beginning of the episode, Regina is missing. Guess who actually cares about her now? That’s right, Henry. Of course! Regina refuses to give away any information to Greg and Tamara. Tamara actually tells Greg that, “I think the home office is going to have a field day with everything we’ve collected so far.” What is this home office? Who runs it? Later in the episode, we found out that Greg and Tamara are there to stop magic and to keep it out of “this world.” They also state that there are many others out there who are just like them who also want magic gone. It also appears that Captain Hook is still in cahoots with Greg and Tamara. His goal is to kill Rumplestiltskin, however.Belle and Rumple are an interesting couple right now. Clearly, “Lacey” is no good for Rumple. Rumple finally shows Lacey magic, promising the world. He tells her about the “boy” who will be his undoing. Lacey states, “I thought you were a man who wouldn’t let anything stand in his way.” This furthers Rumple’s path of destruction. He also promises to make Lacey immortal. It’s something she wants. She tells him, “Could you keep me young? We can be together forever. Nothing can keep up apart.”

Once Greg finally turns the electricity-shock machine on high, Regina admits that she killed his dad a long time ago. This infuriates Greg and he leaves her for dead. His dad’s body is at the old camping site where they used to go. Regina is ultimately saved by Snow and Charming who quickly take her to the Blue Fairy who helps heal her and says, “She’s going to be okay. Her magic will return.” Sometimes I feel as if the Blue Fairy is just a plot device. Just like Henry. And Belle. And Anton the Giant. (I could keep going).

While all this is happening, Tamara goes to confront Neal and Emma. Emma has been suspicious of Tamara from the start – and for a good reason. Tamara’s is bat-shit crazy. (I refuse to believe that Emma’s lame “superpower” helped her form this conclusion. It was simply a hunch). Tamara shoots Neal in the chest/side (it isn’t very clear where) and then knocks Emma in the head. Emma gets up and attacks her. Clearly, Emma is a pretty good fighter. However, Tamara throws out a magic bean and tosses it at Emma and Neal.

At first, Emma grabs onto a pipe. However, the pipe starts to bend and she is slowly lowered into the portal. Neal saves her however, but not before the wood beneath them collapses. Emma is planted firmly, but Neal is dangling above the portal. Emma holds on to him so he won’t fall. In an emotional scene, they profess their love for one another. Neal ultimately lets go of Emma’s hand so that she will stay behind and protect Henry. There are several things I noticed about this scene. First, it’s very ironic considering how Neal left Fairy Tale Land to begin with. This time however, he goes through willingly, sacrificing himself. Before, he went through angry and yelling. This is a great way to end this character – if he’s truly dead.

Also, this scene reminded me of a very famous scene in LOST when Juliet is pulled into the Swan Hatch and Sawyer grabs her to keep from falling. She ultimately let’s go so that he won’t fall in with her. This is exactly what happened between Neal and Emma. Although, the LOST scene was WAY better – there was better acting and special effects. Emma and Neal tried to pull the scene off, but I don’t care much for either character so I wasn’t very emotionally invested. Also, why are people in such an uproar over Neal’s apparent death? Honestly, who picks that as their favorite character? I never even liked the casting choice either. The actor is great, but he just doesn’t portray Bae/Neal the way I think he should be portrayed. Despite all this, the scene was emotional and brought some of the intensity that this show so desperately needs right now.

As for the flashbacks involving Peter Pan, I’m slightly confused. Clearly, I need to brush up on the story of Peter Pan. I liked how they represented the shadow as being a dark, “bad” person. Seeing Nana the dog was nice. I enjoyed seeing Wendy as well. When Wendy said Neverland was a plce with “mermaids and fairies,” I couldn’t help but think of Ariel fro The Little Mermaid. In the flashback, we also saw Bae/Neal sacrificing himself. He went with the shadow in place of Wendy’s brothers. Once almost to Neverland, the shadow drops Bae into the water. Guess who finds him? It’s Captain Hook! What will happen once he finds out that this is the “Crocodile’s” son?

All in all, this episode was one of the better ones this season. Did you see the previews for next week? Spoiler Alert: It looks like Regina is keeping the failsafe diamond at bay while everyone in the town gets to safety. Is she sacrificing herself? All I know is that if they kill her character off, I will no longer be tuning in. Plus, their audience will drop dramatically. Hopefully it was just portrayed that way in the teaser and she survives the finale.

LOOSE ENDS:

• * What will happen if/when Greg and Tamara use the diamond to blow Storybrooke off the map? Who will live? Who will die? Who do you want to survive?
• * Is Bae really dead?
• * Will we see The Little Mermaid soon?
• * What will Hook do to Baelfire?
• * Will everyone go back to Fairy Tale Land and leave Storybrooke behind?
• * Will Rumple eventually harm Henry?
• * Will Belle get her memories back?
• * Who works at the “home office?”