Once Upon A Time Episodes 10-11 Recaps: Storybrooke Packs Up And Leaves Town (Mid Season Finale)

Thus ends "Once Upon A Time" until March. What will we do? I'm already sad.

To be honest, I know "The New Neverland" was a setup to the mid season finale but it was pretty boring. The flying Jolly Roger arrived back in Storybrooke. Everyone was warmly greeted except of course for Regina (when she's the one who saved their mangy asses in the first place).

Regina reintroduces Tinkerbell to Blue in the hopes that she could get her wings back... but nope. Bitchy Fairy Blue says Tink still doesn't believe in herself enough. Oh well, when the Shadow is liberated from the ship's sails it makes a beeline for Blue and now she's dead. That's what ya get for being mean to Tinkerbell.

Panry (Pan is Henry's body) is acting strangely. Emma notices it but doesn't trust her instincts. Regina is enjoying the fact that he actually seems to like her for a change. Pan is liberated from Pandora's Box but outside the city limits. Rumple keeps encouraging Emma to shoot him. He finally convinces her that he's Panry (Henry in Pan's body).

Meanwhile back at the crypt, Panry (Pan in Henry's body) knocks Regina out with a potent. He steals the curse that took everyone from FTL to Storybrooke and erased their memories. He plans to turn Storybrooke into the "New Neverland". Didn't we already see a similar plot previously? I'm just not feeling this one.

There's a flashback to FTL. Snow and Charming are supposed to be on their honeymoon but instead Snow is busy thinking of ways to get back at the Evil Queen (who crashed their wedding). Does anyone else think this is strange? Anyway apparently Medusa has moved from Greece to FairyTaleLand because she's living in a cave nearby. Snow goes there and ends up turning a really hokey looking Medusa into stone. Case closed.

And that leads us to the main event-- episode 11 "Going Home". Rumple has a plan to get Henry into his right body and stop the curse before Storybrooke becomes New NeverNeverLand. Rumple puts the anti-magic cuff on Panry (Henry in Pan's body) so he cant start trouble when he switches back. Meanwhile Panry (Pan in Henry's body) throws all the ingredients into the well. The last one, unfortunately for Felix, is his heart.

There's lots of flashbacks that I didnt care about. The only really necessary one was Emma giving birth to Henry. There was also a storyline about Tinkerbell getting her fairy groove back and bringing Blue back to life. They locate the wand of the Black Fairy. Then Tinker captured the shadow in the magic coconut.

The shadow wont find us if we all hide behind this pew

The boys (Pan and Henry) switched bodies relatively easy. Henry brings the scroll to Regina but she promptly collapses. RED ALERT! Regina down, all hands on deck. All activity in the town must cease until we make sure she's OK. She recovers but is a little woozy. She says "Emma" when she wakes up. Oh, now they're just toying with us. Meanwhile Pan rips off his magic cuff and slaps it on Rumple. He rolls around in the floor for a while. A good hacksaw will fix that problem.

Then there's a showdown outside. Rumple says the only way to get rid of Pan once and for all is to kill himself too. He summons his shadow and uses the magic dagger to stab them both. Pan turns back into his real Bad Daddy self. They disappear in a cloud of smoke. Poor Belle is devastated. We think it's over but....no... of course not.

My plan is to slowly hug you to death

Regina tells them that she can stop the curse but it will mean they all go back to FairyTaleLand. And since Regina created the curse, she must give up the one person she loves most, who is Emma. But she's afraid to say that out loud so she says Henry instead (cause he's her kid and all) Emma reluctantly agrees to stay with Henry so he doesnt have to be alone. The other kicker is they will have no memories of their time in Storybrooke or it's inhabitants. Regina gives Emma a gift of new memories. She and Henry can live happily ever after. The goodbyes were terribly sad. They made me cry. I would like to take a moment to point out that if Emma was not going to have any memories of Regina, why not plant a big kiss on her. What's it gonna hurt?

Before you go, I have something to say. I LOVE YOU EMMA SWANN!!!

Fast forward to one year later. Henry and Emma are in New York eating breakfast. They seem to be very happy. There' s a knock at the door. Its Hook. Emma's parents need her help. She must come right away. Then he kisses her. Of course she has no memories of Hook so promptly knees him the groin and shuts the door. Haaa that was funny. That kiss didn't work buddy cause you're not her soulmate. Regina is. So move it on down the road. I hear Belle is single again. Go bug her. Oh goody, the whole dysfunctional family (including Rumple I suspect) will be back together in March.

Where It All Began

Favorite quote:

"“I am a villain and villains don’t get happy endings.”- Rumple to his Daddy before killing him.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). I would have given it 4 1/2 but those flashbacks took up too much valuable time. And now I have to lay down for a while and process my feels.