Once Upon a Time Recap: Unhooked
This week on ABC’s Once Upon a Time, the heroes made a deal to secure safe passage out of the Underworld — though Emma’s plan to rescue Hook hit one final snag.
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Having discovered that Rumple and Pan kidnapped Zelena, Hades offers the heroes a sweet deal: help him rescue his One True Love and he’ll erase their names from the headstones. And sure ’nuff, after Hades rips up his contract in front of Rumple, Emma thwarts Pan’s plan for a double cross by zapping him. When a reunited Hades and Zelena kiss, the Underworld overlord’s pumper starts beating again, freeing him from his servitude. Later at the cemetery, he erases the headstones as promised — though Emma’s idea to share half of her heart with Hook doesn’t pan out, seeing as he’s a bit too dead.
Hades relates a “rumor” about Orpheus and Eurydice using ambrosia to cheat death, but to do that Emma and Hook must take the ‘vator down to the bottom-most level of the Underworld. There, they are presented with a scale, to measure the level of true love in Emma’s heart. Emma and Hook take a moment to note the fact that their OTL status is about to be officially verified, before she puts her ticker on the scale. When Emma collapses in pain after, Hook is ensnared in a swirl of flames. Hook urges Emma to save her heart, but she rescues him instead — thus proving her love and opening the door to the room of… long-dead ambrosia fruit. They’ve been had by Hades! As have the heroes topside, who have been locked in the library by a Hades spell cast by the Blind Witch.
After escaping the crumbling ambrosia room, Hook informs Emma that he isn’t going back up with her, as there is nothing that can save him now. The two say a tearful goodbye, as he urges her to not put her “armor” back on just because she lost him. (In flashback, we learned that Emma bought her red jacket/”armor” from the daughter who had been given up for adoption by a bounty hunter who chased her in 2009.) Emma in turn makes Hook promise to not dwell on any unfinished business and “move on.” Emma then reunites up top with the others, where Henry as the Author has penned a handy reference guide for the Underworld denizens (eighth, Bashful-resenting dwarf Stealthy included!) to realize their unfinished business. Emma and Regina use their combined magic to blast open the doors and make tracks for the portal, through which Hades, Zelena and Baby Hood have already passed.
Rumple meanwhile owes his father a heart, in trade for a Pandora’s Box to transport Belle back to Storybrooke. (I am not sure why he couldn’t just sling his wife over his shoulder, but….) Rumple steals Robin Hood’s heart, and then delivers it to dear ol’ Dad. But it turns out Rumple pulled a switcheroo and instead gave Pan a wineskin filled with water from the River of Lost Souls, and Pan dissolves away soon after, damned.
With the portal about to close, Emma stops short of leaping through, explaining to her father that she questions if she did her very best to save Hook. She ultimately makes peace with Hook’s decision and vows to never lose anyone else, before traveling back home with David.
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What did you think of the episode “Firebird”? And do you think there’s a way Hook still might be saved?
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