Once Upon a Time - Souls of the Departed

5.12 "Souls of the Departed"

After our long hiatus we are back in the land of fairy tales and ridiculousness! Let's dive right into tonight's episode.

Tonight our intrepid travelers made their way into the Underworld where we, fortunately, find that not everyone will be there. Unfortunately, the people who will be there are people with unfinished business, which means that people we won't want to see are more likely to pop up. A flashback shows us more about Regina's battle with Cora as Regina in the present has to face up to what she did to her father. Rumple stomps around making vague threats to leave while not actually doing so, and Snow gets kissed by David's evil twin.

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I was so happy to see Neal and to learn that he's not in the Underworld. That was purely there for the fans and I am so grateful that they put it in. However, I didn't understand why Emma didn't explain about Neal to Henry the first time he talked about it.

I was a bit surprised to get the Regina flashback and I'm really super confused about the timeline on things. I guess I haven't paid close enough attention. Part of me is curious as to Cora's story, but most of me doesn't care, especially if it means the return of Zelena.

ALL the tears
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It was nice to see Regina 1) make the right choice based on the living people in her life 2) get some closure with her father 3) get to introduce Henry to Henry.

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Having James back will be interesting, but mostly because I love when the actors get to branch out and play different characters. I was also pleased to see Pan again because I think that actor did such a great job. I am nervous about what Pan is expecting from Rumple and how long Rumple will last before turning against them. I also thought he was going to leave - didn't he say he'd meet them at the boat? - but then he was still there making more vague threats. He promised to help find Hook and hasn't done that yet, so I wonder if that is holding him there.

And can we just talk for a minute about the way
Regina and Robin were so quick to protect Henry
And how Henry just trusted them and clung to them
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I want to know why the potion didn't work completely for Hook. Is it because of where and how he is trapped? I thought it was the potion, but then Regina used it on her father's grave, so that doesn't seem to hold water. Also, though, if they still had more potion left, why didn't they try AGAIN?

And was anyone else creeped out by pervy Jiminy Cricket crawling around in Snow's dress?

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And finally, Hades? Really? I mean I guess I should have seen that coming. The funny thing is that I thought the guy looked familiar, but it wasn't until the blue flame that I realized who he reminded me of and once again the casting is eerily well done.

I'm not sure what I think about the introduction of the myths into this fairy tale world though. I mean, obviously the movie Hercules is a Disney movie, but the Disney Hercules isn't exactly like the actual mythical Heracles and it looks like they're going to be bringing in Cerberus and maybe other things? I'm not sure about it.

Also, if they really try to run around and save all of the people in limbo ... let's just say that's going to get really old really quickly.