Once Upon A Time #2.21 “Second Star To The Right” Recap & Review

Baelfire meets the Darling family and winds up aboard Hook’s ship. Neal and the Charmings rescue Regina from Greg and Tamara, but not all make it out. Here is a recap and review of “Second Star to the Right.”

Recap:

Six months after Baelfire was sucked to Earth, he meets Wendy Darling, who takes pity on his hungry stomach and hides him in her room. Her parents agree to let Bae stay with them. Wendy tells Bae about a magical shadow from Neverland that visits their window, and one night, Wendy flies off with the shadow and returns the next morning. Later on while protecting Michael, Bae is taken by the shadow. He escapes and is pulled aboard by Hook.

In Storybrooke, the Charmings storm Regina’s office to steal back the beans, but they are missing and so is Regina. Tamara stole the beans, and Greg gives her the curse’s trigger, while trying to torture information out of Regina. Tamara and Greg reveal they’re there to cleanse the land of magic again with the rest of the believers.

Gold connects Mary Margaret’s sight with Regina’s. Separately, Mary Margaret and Emma figure out that Regina is at the cannery, and they all sneak in. Tamara urges Greg to leave because of their company, but Greg stays behind with Regina. She claims she killed Greg’s father. Tamara knocks Emma down and shoots Neal in the chest. Emma fights with Tamara, who throws a magic bean causing a portal. To prevent Emma from being sucked in along with him, Neal lets go of her hand and disappears.

David and Mary Margaret bring Regina to Mother Superior, who heals her and removes the magic-preventing cuff. Greg digs for his father’s body where Regina said it was and does find a body. Tamara gives Greg the trigger, and they discuss blowing Storybrooke off the map.

Review:

“Second Star to the Right” was an average episode of Once Upon A Time even though it gave the audience a hint at the long-awaited world of Neverland. On the other hand, it did successfully build up to the final episode and increased the threat of the obliteration of Storybrooke to a likely possibility.

The scenes between Baelfire and Wendy were beautifully done. Her intrigue at a land without adults, her sadness at missing her parents there, and her strong will to protect her brother was just as maternal as the classic character, but also filled with her innocence. The setting of the Darling house was quite extravagant, as are all the lands on Once Upon A Time. Overall, these scenes were enjoyable to watch. Hopefully, the reference to mermaids indicates that we will soon be seeing Ariel.

At this point, Tamara’s motivations are still too unclear. While Greg despises magic because of what it did to his father, the idea that Tamara may be helping him out because of love for him is unbelievable because she seems to be the leader and bossier of their duo, not a sidekick.

The revelation that the two of them are working for someone greater is hitting me with mixed emotions. It could explain Tamara’s interest in destroying magic if this person or group promised her something in return for her help. However, this tidbit came out of nowhere. Unexpected twists are not unwelcomed, but this one looks like an oh-so-convenient plot point to cause greater drama.

The title “The Believers” does not sound as ominous as it should considering they may completely destroy an entire town. “The Believers” comes with a religious connotation that implies that they are on this mission for what they see as a righteous cause. If this were the case, I would love to see Regina go up against the leader in a battle of principles and beliefs.

Prior to this episode, the relationship between Emma and Neal was not as visible as their words made it appear; i.e. they previously didn’t show the love for one another that they mentioned. This episode clearly demonstrated their chemistry even though it took Neal realizing his fiancée never loved him and allowing himself to be sucked into another world alone so Henry would still have one parent to show it. Emma and Neal’s parting scene was sweet and tragic, but hopeful that Neal is still alive somewhere. He already survived once on his own in a new land, granted he wasn’t bleeding from a bullet wound then.

Neal’s disappearance brings up questions of what Mr. Gold will do now that he has once again lost his son. Given that Neal rejected his father after Gold spent so much time and effort tracking him down, there is not much Gold has to look forward to if he were to find his son again.

The prophecy that Henry will be Gold’s downfall was briefly mentioned, thankfully, instead of dropped for a while and then thrown back into the flow of the show. Lacey urging him to take out the person who threatens him nicely contrasted how Gold was less than enthusiastic about taking out his own grandchild. Despite how devious and occasionally cruel Gold is, he spent so much of his life missing his child to prove that he does have a heart deeply buried somewhere.