Once Upon a Time Review: Souls of the Departed (Season 5 Episode 12)

Once Upon a Time is back (finally!) with its winter premiere and 100th episode of the series, “Souls of the Departed.” Picking up immediately after the winter finale, we find our merry band of heroes/antiheroes en route to the Underworld to retrieve the deceased Captain Hook.

“Souls of the Departed” opens with a hard-hitter, a lovely scene between Emma and Neal (“a long distance call from an old friend”) while Emma is passed out on board the Underworld ferry. I’ve enjoyed just about every single one of Emma’s love interests with her (the chemistry is strong with JMo), so seeing Neal again is a pleasant surprise.

Those two have excellent chemistry, and the emotion in Jennifer Morrison’s eyes as Emma tries to explain to Neal that she would’ve attempted a rescue mission for Neal had she known it was possible just about bowled me over. I also appreciate the fact that the writers threw in the explanation for why a rescue mission wasn’t doable in Neal’s case: only those who have unfinished business go to the Underworld, a sort of way station. Everyone deceased who is not there is already at their final destination (be it heaven or hell). OK, simple enough. I buy it.

Like most of the other special guest cameo appearances in this episode, Neal showing up isn’t just fan service. He actually serves a specific plot purpose: he warns Emma off of her mission, telling her that it’s not going to go as she hopes. Ruh roh. Talk about foreshadowing.

Once the crew actually gets to the Underworld (an arrival that is marked by the screen just turning orange… I assume because they ran out of budget money for production design…?), we see that it’s actually just dilapidated Storybrooke with a sort of orange-y tint to it. Orange because fire and brimstone, I guess? Sorta?

From then on, the rest of the episode deals with two concurrent major plots. One is Regina’s reunion with both of her parents, Queen Cora and King Henry. The other is the group’s attempt to find Hook so that they can retrieve him and head back to Storybrooke.

At some point, we flash back to Gold telling Belle that he’ll be back in a day. Yeah, right. Did anyone actually believe it would take a mere 24 hours to navigate the Underworld and figure out how to get Hook back to the land of the living? I don’t think so.

By far the stronger plot in “Souls of the Departed” is Regina’s. It’s pretty obvious from the get-go that Emma is not going to find Hook easily. First, the group splits up and each person basically asks around town after him, which is absurd.

For one, why on earth would they think that anyone in the Underworld would be willing or able to help them? The episode’s funniest moment occurs when Snow goes to the Underworld version of Granny’s and tries to ask the Blind Witch if she’s seen Hook.

Blind Witch: Is that…? I know you. Are you Snow White? Can you imagine? Uh, well, what can I get you? Do you like gingerbread, or children? Kidding. But the gingerbread’s actually not bad.

Snow: I’m looking for a friend, he would’ve gotten here recently. Dark hair, a hook for a hand?

Blind Witch: Captain Hook!

Snow: You know him?

Blind Witch: No, no, but your description’s pretty complete.

Emma Caulfield as the Blind Witch is flawless, as is Emma Caulfield in everything ever.

While everyone is just kind of bumbling around town, Rumple gets proactive and heads to the Underworld equivalent of his shop. Once there, he meets his father, Peter Pan, who is basically the Mr. Gold of Underworld-Storybrooke, right down to the snazzy suit. Lookin’ good, Pan!

Robbie Kay is great, as usual, and he and Rumple play off of each other really well. Pan gives Rumple a potion that allows a person to converse with a spirit and also tries to convince Rumple to allow him to hitch a ride back to the land of the living (which can be accomplished by one of Rumple’s group remaining behind). Rumple refuses, but I like the idea of this being a subplot for the second half of the season. Pan is a great character, so if anyone is resurrected, it would be cool for it to be him. Much as I enjoy Cora, her redemption arc is complete and there’s no reason for her to come back. Also, Henry can totally stay in the Underworld so that Pan can return, it’s fine by me.

Of course, the potion that Pan gives Rumple doesn’t work for Emma. She sees Hook beaten and bloody, but he can’t hear her or tell her where he is because, naturally, this Underworld arc isn’t going to be just a one-episode thing. The quick-and-easy find isn’t going to work, so the team is set to be there for the foreseeable future, trying to track down the missing pirate.

Regina, meanwhile, is brought before her mother. Cora tries to convince Regina to leave the Underworld, ostensibly for her own good, and she does her convincing in the most Cora way ever: threatening to hurt someone, to give Regina “her best chance.” In this case, it’s Regina’s father, King Henry. Intercut with present-day Regina struggling to do the right, selfless thing against her mother’s desire for her to do the selfish thing and hitch a ride out of the Underworld are flashbacks to Regina’s birthday back in the Enchanted Forest, pre-Dark Curse.

Both of Regina’s parents make startlingly stupid mistakes in the flashback sequences. Henry summons Cora via the magic mirror for advice about Regina, and then just leaves without seeing her leave, allowing her to escape from Wonderland through the portal. Then, Cora tasks Henry with wrapping Snow White’s heart in a box, for Regina’s birthday present, giving him the chance to steal back Snow’s heart and switch it out with a rando guard’s. We don’t know all that much about Henry’s level of intelligence but man, this seems really out of character for Cora, who has always been portrayed as pretty clever. They’re just a pair of schnooks in these flashbacks.

We all know that Regina has been redeemed, so it’s no surprise when she decides to remain in the Underworld to help her friends, despite Cora’s threat against King Henry. Regina’s scenes in the Underworld with her father are the strongest of the episode (mostly because Lana Parrilla is just so, so good), emotional and heart-breaking.

Lucky for Regina, her father is able to escape Cora’s machinations when his selfless act allows him to escape the Underworld to a better place. I don’t think I could’ve handled seeing Regina struggle with the guilt of her father’s pain yet again. Not when she’s come so far since then. Their goodbye is lovely.

Finally, as #TeamHeroes prepares to rescue Hook/save a couple of wretched souls along the way, Cora is revealed to be in league with the king of the Underworld–but not because she’s relapsed to the Dark Side. (Thank goodness!)

I love the look of Hades’ lair. It’s super cool. We only meet Hades for about two minutes, so it’s hard to form a concrete opinion, but I do think it’s really interesting that Cora is in league with him, against her will. It begs so many questions. What exactly does Cora want from Hades that gets her to do his bidding? She mentions that Hades promised to “save us.” Who’s us? What does she mean by “save”? So many questions! Greg Germann does a fine job with that two minutes, so he’s definitely a promising villain so far.

And hey, we do get that Hades blue flame-y head visual, so I’m satisfied!

Other thoughts:

• Why does the Underworld look like Storybrooke? Rumple: “Doesn’t matter.” Regina: “Maybe the Dark Curse?” Me: “Because production design budget.”
• “Blueberry… I prefer apple.” Oy. That’s going to go down in Once history as one of the most on-the-nose instances of dialogue ever.
• Is anyone else alarmed that Snow couldn’t tell the difference between David and James from their kiss?
• It’s hilarious that they tried to really amp up the tension during that “Regina almost crushes Snow’s heart!” flashback scene, as if we’re not already aware that Regina does not, in fact, crush Snow’s heart. Seeing as how present-day Snow is all alive and everything.
• He isn’t very prominent but I was so glad to see Sidney Glass again, even briefly!
• It is completely, 100% nonsensical that Regina brought Henry along to the confrontation with Cora when her father nearly bites it. She would never do that, putting Henry in danger like that. Clearly, they just want Henry to be present for Regina’s goodbye with her father so he can meet his Grandpa/namesake, which… meh. Falls flat for me, as does basically everything Henry has ever done.

What did you think of this episode of Once Upon a Time? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Once Upon a Time airs Sunday at 8/7c on ABC.

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