Once Upon a Time: Ariel (3x06)

Okie dokie, people. Things are getting really intense. I was actually blown away by the acting talent in this episode, and that's not ordinarily something I would say about Once Upon a Time. There were a lot of really stellar moments in this episode, but it also had one big structural problem, so it made it a little hard to sink in to all this good acting. Let's take a look.

So, the title of the episode is "Ariel," and we get a story that takes place while Snow is on the run from the Evil Queen. She escapes some of Regina's henchmen by jumping off of a cliff and into the water, and is then saved by Ariel, a mermaid. Ariel then tells Snow about her true love, Eric, a man she has never even spoken to. Ariel then loses her fins and grows a pair of legs. She explains to Snow that the mythical sea goddess Ursula is said to grant mermaids this gift for a short period of time. Ariel and Snow go to a ball, where Ariel dances with Eric - he announces that he is leaving for a grand adventure in the morning, and wants Ariel to accompany him. She's upset, because she knows that she'll lose her legs in a few hours, making her journey with him impossible. She prays to Ursula for help.

Regina, who has been tracking Snow, decides to impersonate Ursula to serve her own purposes. She gives Ariel a gift, or rather what seems like a gift at first. Ariel goes to Snow to say she's solved both of their problems - Ariel can keep her legs if Snow becomes a mermaid. That way, Ariel can be with Eric, and Snow can go elsewhere, escaping Regina for good and starting a new life under the sea. However, Regina then shows up to capture Snow. Ariel is horrified by what she's done. While at first she wants to leave and go be with Eric, she ultimately decides to come back and save Snow, stabbing Regina with a fork and escaping into the sea with Snow. Snow gets away, and Ariel goes to tell Eric the truth. Just as she swims up in the harbor where his ship is docked, Regina takes her voice away from her, thus preventing her from talking to her true love.

Alright, so what's the structural problem I was talking about? Well, we've already seen a million stories about Snow while she's on the run from Regina. This flashback plot line did nothing to advance Snow's character whatsoever. It also gave us nothing new of Regina, just more of the same. If you were to cut out this flashback, the A-plot of the season would be in no way affected. Regina could just say a throwaway line about how she and Ariel had crossed paths, and that's really all the information you need to know.

Now, the character of Ariel was pretty great. JoAnna Garcia Swisher had a lot of fun with the role, and it was a joy to watch her. The romance with Eric was laughably stupid, but obviously the episode wasn't trying to set up a more complex romance. It was love at first sight, at its most basic and trite. I don't really mind this, necessarily, but like I said, this plot didn't teach us anything about our existing characters. The most we can say is that it gave us a very fun new character. Oh, and one other thing it gave us - a hint at the real Ursula. I'm waiting for that to come back. I want Regina and Ursula to battle it out. That would be awesome.

So, now for in Neverland. Last week I complained that we weren't really taking steps forward, so I'm happy to report that we're actually moving in the right direction now. So, first thing's first, I'll talk about Rumple and Regina. Regina is annoyed about the Charmings and their new plan to try and find Neal, so she goes off to find Henry on her own. She then runs into Rumple, who is having a conversation with "Belle." Just as he's about to take "Belle's" hand and supposedly go back with her to Storybrooke, Regina shows up and uses her magic to expose "Belle" for what she really is: Pan's shadow. Now, this was a pretty cool idea... I'll admit I was getting annoyed with Rumple's random hallucinations of Belle, so the fact that it was Pan the whole time makes it awesome.

But anyways, Regina says that she and Rumple can go after Pan themselves. Rumple says the only way of killing Pan is dying himself, so Regina then suggests that they find a way to get Pan out of the way without killing him. Rumple says he has a way to do that, but it's back in Storybrooke. So, what are they going to do? Use Ariel! Apparently mermaids can cross realms (okay, whatever...), and Regina is sending her back to Storybrooke to get what Rumple needs. The incentive for Ariel? Well, she gets her voice back, and also apparently Eric is in Storybrooke!

So, even though this was such a brief moment in the episode, I do want to talk about it for a moment. I love seeing Rumple and Regina working together. I think it's so fascinating to have these two powerful characters come together for a common goal. Particularly intriguing is that they have to use their intelligence to find a way to defeat Pan without killing him. Hopefully, they will have to plan and be strategic as the story continues, rather than just resorting to a big powerful spell or something.

Now back to the other characters in Neverland: at the beginning of the episode, Hook shows up and immediately tells David and Mary Margaret that Pan told him Neal was alive. Yes! I was a little worried they were going to show him hiding it for a while, which would have been a really contrived way to increase the drama. But luckily he did the right thing and came forward with the information right away. David and Hook agree that telling Emma should wait - what if Pan is lying? They don't want to get Emma's hopes up only to have them crushed again. Initially, Mary Margaret agrees with the guys, but then she blurts out the truth to Emma. So, they decide to sidetrack from their mission to find Henry and look for Neal.

They approach the Echo Caves, which Hook knows all about. When they enter, they see Neal in a cage out on a pinnacle in the middle of a huge canyon. There's no way to get to him. Hook tells them that this is all part of Pan's game. If they each reveal their darkest secret, they will be able to get to Neal. So, my initial thought about this? This is a seriously contrived plot device oh my lord this is ridiculous. And that's still my basic impression of Echo Caves. I mean, it's a crazy silly plot device. But, you know, it's a fairy tale show, and these things have to be excused. What comes out of this very contrived scenario is a bunch of really great revelations and acting moments, so I'm actually happy with it over all.

Hook shares his secret first: he kissed Emma. That's not his whole secret, though. His secret is that the kiss exposed the possibility of a future for him. He never thought he'd be over Milah, but now he has hope because of Emma.

Then Mary Margaret goes. She says that she's been holding something back ever since the curse broke - while she's really happy to have found her daughter, and she knows they have something special and unique, being the same age as Emma isn't what she wanted. When they get back to Storybrooke, she wants to have another kid with David.

David's confession is predictable - he tells Mary Margaret the truth about his near death, and that he can never leave Neverland.

The bridge is complete, and it looks like Emma has gotten out of revealing her secret. When she runs across to Neal, she finds she cannot open the cage. She has to tell her secret. Emma tells Neal that she still loves him, and probably always will, but that a part of her was hoping that this was a trick, and that Neal was really dead, because she didn't want to get hurt again. The cage opens up, and Neal is reunited with the group. They all continue on to try and find Henry.

Holy Hell. Talk about not pulling punches! These confessions were insanely deep. Hook's feelings for Emma are a lot deeper than just lust, which was something I suspected, but it's awesome to see it developed. While often times love triangles can feel trite and silly, this one is set up between three very dynamic individuals, and I feel like it works really, really well. I'm excited to see how it continues.

Mary Margaret's confession was something that I didn't know I was waiting for, but I loved it once I got it. It's so tragic yet so accurate to how someone might really feel in this situation. Of course Mary Margaret loves her daughter, but she didn't get what she wanted. She didn't really get to be a mother.

And then we have Emma. It's actually pretty hard core of the show to go there. To have a character admit a secret that heinous and that heartbreaking is quite the risk, and I think it paid off wonderfully. Can you imagine actually having to say that to a person? Essentially, "I'm so afraid of how much I love you that I sort of wish you were dead?" Wow.

As we move forward, I hope the show handles the fallout from such confessions. It should be very interesting to examine. While I had some qualms about the necessity of the Ariel story line, I thought the character herself was fantastic. If we can get more of her, I'll be happy, although I could do without the extremely dull Eric making a return appearance. And the Neverland plot is pushing forward in a big way. I hope we can get to Henry soon and maybe get back to Storybrooke!

7.5/10