Once Upon a Time Season 3, Ep. 4 “Nasty Habits”

Neal is welcome back to Neverland by a Lost Boy. Mr. Gold is marking his face with some black stuff and Belle is trying to talk him out of being evil to save Henry. Tinker Bell lets the group know that they need to plan for a way off the island first. Apparently no one gets off the island without the assistance of Pan and only one person did, Neal. Mr. Gold and Neal meet. Neal and Mr. Gold extract the ink from a squid which has the magical powers of stopping Pan. Hook keeps motivating Charming to tell his family about his pending doom but he steadfast refuses. 

Flashback: Mr. Gold does not let Belfire out for fear an enemy would hurt him and Belfire feels trapped. Mr. Gold comes home to find that Belfire is not home. Turns out the Pied Piper lured all the kids including Belfire away. Mr. Gold waits for the music to see where all the kids went. The Pied Piper is really Peter Pan. Pan makes up the name of Lost Boys while talking to Mr. Gold. It appears as though Pan and Mr. Gold go way back. The music from the pipe can only be heard by boys that feel lost and unloved. 

Hook takes the crew to Neal’s old home while he was in Neverland. Henry is unable to hear the music of the pipe. The crew finds a map to go home. Mr. Gold and Neal show up to face Pan. Mr. Gold knocks out all the Lost Boys. They are able to infect Pan with the ink and paralyze him but Pan lets Neal know of the prophecy and how Mr. Gold wants to kill Henry. Neal does not trust Mr. Gold and infects him with the squid ink as well. 

Flashback Cont.: Neal has a choice between going with Pan or staying with his father. Mr. Gold takes the choice out of his hands. In the end Gold takes the choice away which drives a wedge between father and son.

The crew realizes that the map of the stars is in code. Emma realizes how much she still loved Neal. Neal meets up with Pan again. They take Henry away. Belle urges Mr. Gold never to give up. Pan makes Henry believe that his father is dead and his mother will not come for him. Henry can now hear the music, Pan has broken Henry down and he is now a Lost Boy.


My Thoughts: 

It is heartbreaking to see how much pain Mr. Gold is in because he believes Neal is dead. Seeing the flashback of Mr. Gold and Belfire is interesting. I enjoy when the show takes a known story and twists it just a little. The creativity of making the Pied Piper and Peter Pan the same was a smart move. Charming continues to be foolish with putting off letting his family know what is going on. While they are searching for Henry, they can also be making a plan to save him if they knew what was going on. You have to respect Hook for urging Charming to let everyone in on what is going on.

When Hook mentions that Neal’s mother it adds to the creep factor of him hitting on Emma. Wow when Neal infects Gold it is so sad. Gold is finally trying to redeem himself but it is too late and Neal refuses to believe him.

This prophecy is not what Mr. Gold thinks it means. It says Henry will be his undoing. I think the undoing will be of his evil and his need for self-preservation, not necessarily his death or lack of magic. Wow the manipulation of Pan is amazing. He broke Henry down and now Henry is a Lost Boy. The question is how do you unmake a Lost Boy?