‘Once Upon a Time’ starts fight against Hades with a surprising hero leading the charge
The Underworld battleground has heated up, and there's a surprising new hero in the frontlines.
After living in his family’s shadow for years, Henry embraced his Author role and is ready to rewrite Hades' story to help take down the evil ruler. But that decision didn’t come easily -- it took a huge sacrifice from Hook and his brother, Liam, and some interesting role swaps to get there.
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Don’t get us wrong -- Sunday's episode wasn’t all about Henry. (What kind of world would that be?) It was mostly about Hook’s origin story with his brother and him finally deciding his fate post-Underworld with Emma.
A deal with the devil
In flashbacks, ponytail-wearing Hook and Liam are servants on Capt. Silver's boat after their father sold them. #TBT.
They were supposed to buy their way out and join the navy, but Hook’s drunkenness ruined that plan. Instead, they gain freedom by taking over the ship when the Captain tries to steer them into a storm to find a gem, but it isn’t all heroes' work here.
Hades pops in and strikes a deal with Liam and says if he lets the crew die, he’ll save the Jones brothers and give them the Eye of the Storm gem to buy their way into the king’s army.
Without hesitation, Liam makes a deal with the Devil and lies to Hook about the shipwreck that killed their whole crew.
But as OUAT shows us often, the past always comes back to haunt you.
Brotherly love and betrayal
Were you hoping for a joyful Emma and Hook reunion? Not so fast. He says she was wrong to save him, contemplates not going back to Storybrooke at all, and then his brother Liam shows up and thinks Emma isn’t good enough for Hook.
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Naturally, Emma is immediately suspicious of Liam, and the only good thing to come of Liam’s introduction is discovering Hades’ weak spot is the magical storybook.
Instead of being an honorable brother, Liam strikes a deal with Hades to rip out all the ruler’s mentions in the book, or else Hades will tell Hook the truth about their first run-in. As soon as Emma confronts Liam about the missing pages in the storybook -- which they found in the Sorcerer’s mansion -- Hook yells at her about trust and reveals he’s not going back to Storybrooke with her.
Literally one minute later, Hook discovers Liam was lying and they’re kidnapped by their old crew and the truth comes out. Just as they’re about the “walk the plank” into the fiery pits of hell, Hades appears, kills Captain Silver, and kind of saves them before immediately trying to kill ‘em both.
Liam tries to save Hook, and in turn, sends himself to death. After Hades blows him over the edge, Hook almost saves his brother, but Liam lets go and sacrifices himself. Don’t cry yet -- this isn’t over.
Instead of dying, Liam ends up on a lifeboat in the middle of clear blue water, since he sacrificed himself for his crew like he should have long ago. They sail away while Hook decides to stay back to defeat Hades with Emma.
And of course, that all ends with a heartwarming Captain Swan reunion, complete with a long reunion kiss.
Henry the hero
Henry’s road to heroism was not an easy one. He decides to help Cruella to alleviate Emma’s guilt for killing her, and in turn makes Cruella make out with his grandpa, David. (Storyline sidebar: David poses as James in the jailhouse and Cruella puts the moves on him. Now he and Snow are even in the twin mix-up department.)
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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice tells Henry that the Sorcerer’s mansion is down here and that’s where he’ll find his quill, but he must use it for good. Henry toys with being evil and helping Cruella, but ultimately decides to write stories truthfully -- starting with Hades'. But first they have to find out what the ruler is hiding from them.
As the episode comes to a close, we only have one piece of the puzzle: Zelena. Hades’ secret past with the Wicked Witch may be the answers to all of the Underworld’s questions, including but not limited to why his CGI hair is so bad.
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Sandra Gonzalez was a Senior Television Reporter at Mashable. A Texas native, she spent almost four years in New York City before leaving the land of superstorms for Los Angeles, where she was introduced to these terrifying things called "rolling earthquakes."Previously, she was with Entertainment Weekly, where she wrote about every show that could fit into her perfectly crafted TV schedule and anything ever touched by Shonda Rhimes.You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @theSandraG
