Once Upon A Time - Quite a Common Fairy

This point in the season is when writing these could start getting confusing. I am going to start putting headings above sections, I think. I will label them based on where the action is taking place, and by flashback/present day depending on what's in the episode. It'll help clarify things (at least I hope).

PRESENT DAY/ NEVERLAND

Charming's poisoned wound is causing him issues. Poor guy can't keep up, and he's a little sweaty. No clue how he expects to keep this a secret for long, because it's obvious something is up. Hook manages to be the only one who realizes this and calls Charming out on it. He tells him that he has to tell Snow and Emma. Charming refuses, wanting to put his hopes in Tinkerbell and her pixie dust. Sadly, as we learn Tink's backstory we find out she has no wings, no pixie dust, and no way to help Charming.

Of course Peter's hideout is moving around the island. Always with the tricks. At this point I am not sure they're ever going to find the camp. Poor Henry.

So Henry has clothes! They look like ones he was given though, not his. Peter crows! OMG! That caused so many fangirl feels. Peter often crows to call his Lost Boys in versions of the story. It was a perfect nod to the classic. Peter wants to play a game called 'Target Practice'. I can see this not ending well. There is a humorous exchange of Peter tossing Henry an apple, and Henry saying he doesn't like apples, and that it's a family thing. Very cute.

Henry is peer pressured into shooting the arrow towards the apple, which Felix has on his head. He instead decides to shoot at Pan. Peter catches the arrow easily, and seems to be fine with being shot at. He tells Henry he has something to show him. He wants to show off the picture of Henry he's been carrying around. He tells Henry that magic is dying that he has to save everyone. He tells Henry that HE is the savior. Emma was meant to have him, and that was her role, but that Henry will save them all. Pan says that Henry is the product of both light and dark (Emma's the product of true love, and Baelfire is the son of darkness). Interesting idea, but I think Pan's a lying liar who lies.

PRESENT DAY/ENCHANTED FOREST

Baelfire is frantically trying to find anything that will create a portal. He's realized Henry is in Neverland too, and is desperate to get there. We get a mention of 'ruby slippers' being something that can open portals. I can not wait to see their version of Oz. Robin Hood's merry men come in with an adorable little boy following shyly behind. Turns out the tyke is Robin's son. Baelfire says he knows how to get to Neverland. Um, do not be using that boy as bait, Bae (no matter how much I want him in Neverland). Robin, after hearing out Bealfire's plan, agrees to let Roland call the shadow. Baelfire used a little heart-pulling pleading, and reminds Robin that he technically owes him for Rumple saving Marion so that Roland could be born. I like that Baelfire realizes he has a lot to make up for when it comes to Emma. He has to earn back her trust, and I look forward to him doing just that. Roland is saved from the shadow by Mulan and Robin while Bae jumps out the window after the shadow and is on his way to Neverland!! YES! I can't wait for him to meet up with Emma. I predict intense emotions when everyone realizes he didn't die. Of course, Baelfire ends up with Felix who tells him that Peter will be happy to see him. Totally not surprised that he ended up being captured within seconds of arriving on the island.

PRESENT DAY/NEVERLAND

Of course Regina wants to use magic...again. "Have you even been listening?" snaps Snow. No, she really hasn't. Even when Hook tells her it'll result in her death. Hook mentions that a fairy on the island might be able to help. He mentions she has pixie dust. Interesting discussion about whether pixie dust is the same as fairy dust (it's not, pixie is more powerful). Will pixie dust save Charming? I hope so! Emma's reaction to realizing Hook means none other than Tinkerbell is hilarious (every child 'knows' her). Regina immediately says it's a bad idea to go find Tinkerbell. She tries to convince Emma to pool their magic and get Henry back, and Emma very kindly tells her NO! I love Emma's "what did you do to her" reply to Regina very much not wanting to go find Tinkerbell. Regina finally explains that if they want Tink to help them, she's better off staying out of it because of their history. Regina is the cause of Tinkerbell's wings being ripped away, but Regina sees it as Tinkerbell interfering. Tink is justifiably angry. She seems to have genuinely wanted to help Regina and got nothing but trouble as thanks.

A rather sweet moment where Regina and Emma talk about Henry.  Regina refers to what they are doing as "Operation Henry" because that's what he would have called it. Regina tells Emma that it's the most important thing for her to get Henry, even if she has to leave Regina behind. It's these moments that make me want Regina to redeem herself. The young, innocent girl who lost Daniel shines through, and you fee like there is hope for her. If only Regina would let go of the anger, and let love in. Tink catches up with Regina after Emma has left and they have it out. Regina tells Tinkerbell to kill her, even offering up her heart for crushing. She convinces Tink to choose differently than what she herself did, and not become a killer. Tink relents, but says she won't help get Henry back.

Emma and the rest find Tinkerbell's treehouse. Snow remarks that she sympatizes with Tink a little because she recognizes this as just a place to stay, just like where she stayed when she was on the run from the Queen. She recalls this when she meets Tink later on, and offers her a home with them when they leave Neverland. I am on board with Tink coming to Storybrooke!

Once everyone is back together, Hook and Tinkerbell greet each other. He calls her Lady Bell (um...*SWOON*). They give each other flirty looks. I officially want them together. Hook beseeches her to help them after 'everything they've been through together'. I want to know what their past was! Did she help Hook leave the island the first time? It's Hook that makes Tink relent and help. She agrees to get them into Peter's camp but warns that they will only have one chance.

ENCHANTED FOREST/ FLASHBACK

In a flashback Rumple comes to taunt Regina. She missed her magic lesson and tells him she doesn't want to do it anymore. He tells her it's pretty much too late. She's tasted darkness, but more importantly the darkness has tasted her. He tells her that her rage is all she has. How much of this is him pushing so that she'll do what he needs and get dark enough to enact his curse? ALL OF IT! It softens me a little towards Regina because she is not evil yet, and Rumple is doing his best to make sure it happens. After almost falling off a balcony she ran to when Rumple leaves, Tinkerbell rescues her. I LOVE Tink. She's perfect. Full of adorable sass ('Snow White? That's her name? Even I think that's a bit precious and mine's Tinkerbell'). She tells Regina that she needs love, and Tink can help her find it. She's going to use pixie dust to find Regina's soul mate. This is the first confirmation that you can have more than one 'true love'. Intresting. It leaves the door open for other people to have second chances. Regina is totally having a pity party, and needs to harness this into something productive, sadly we know she won't. Regina eventually relents and Tink steals some pixie dust to help get the job done. They use it, and it brings them to a bar/pub in which a man with a lion tattoo is lit up by the pixie dust. Regina is scared, and doesn't go in, instead she runs away.

Regina's second chance at love is later revealed to be Robin Hood (which, hello, obviously). Will she let love in? I found it extremely interesting to consider what her going into the 'bar' would have changed. She might have let go of her anger, and never enacted the curse. Emma and Baelfire may never have met and had Henry. Would Rumple have gotten another person to create the curse to help in his search for Baelfire? If so, what would it have changed under someone else's hand? Would Emma have still been ripped out of Enchanted Forest, or would someone else have become the savior instead? All interesting to ponder. It's frustrating that Regina couldn't let her anger go, and walk towards potential happiness. I hope we see her change, and let love in. This episode showed that Henry's happy ending will include Regina. I think Robin Hood is a start to Regina's walls coming down. They are each other's second chance, it's rather sweet. I do find it curious that Tink says she ruined Robin's life too. How exactly? Robin loved Marion (whom I am guessing he met after that night in the bar) and had Roland. I assume he's sad that Marion died, but I don't see how his life is ruined. He had love, and a son whom he seems to adore. Curious to see how this will play out.

Blue Fairy is a bit of a hard ass. She is strict and demands complete obedience. Her and Tink did not see things the same way, and since Tink did technically misbehave by helping Regina she's stripped of her wings. A totally crushing moment. Also intriguing is that this was Tink's SECOND chance. What did she do with her first? I found it fitting that to take away her wings Blue had to tell Tink that she no longer believed in her (I do believe in fairies! I do, I do!). I am curious to see if Henry's true belief can get Tink back her wings.

ENCHANTED FOREST/PRESENT DAY

The episode continues with sadness, as Mulan, who has spent the whole episode being told that you have to tell the one you love that you love them, goes to talk to Aurora. She didn't want to speak with Phillip, whom I theorized Mulan may have feelings for. Instead, we find out it's Aurora she is in love with. She doesn't tell Aurora as she's stopped by Aurora's new of being pregnant. Realizing that Phillip and Aurora are happy, she decides to join Robin Hood's band of merry men. I hope Mulan finds her true love, and that we get a happy ending to her story. Unrequited love seems to be a theme that is developing this season.

Now that Tinkerbell is going to help, I hope we're going to Pan's camp next week. I can't wait for Baelfire to meet up with Emma. Rumple's reaction to his son being alive is going to be filled with emotion. It's going to be an exciting couple of episodes!

Until next Wednesday... Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust.