Once Upon A Time – Dark Waters

By: Kelly Kearney

Hook’s secret is out

Last week on, “Once Upon a Time,” Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) deceived Emma (Jennifer Morrison) when he pocketed the savior snipping golden shears instead of chucking them into the ship’s harbor like he’d promised. In episode Dark Waters that secret comes to light when Henry (Jared Gilmore) runs into the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) while avoiding a truly awful fish breakfast courtesy of Hook. The scheming witch tempts her son into searching for “the truth about dear Ol’ Dad to be,” which leads him to the golden shears and tests his faith in the so called redeemed pirate. The Evil Queen goes even further when she says Hook doesn’t care about him or Emma; he only cares about himself. Henry is a Charming and The Queen knows that secret spilling and hero complexes are a genetic trait so she’s hoping Henry tells Emma about what Hook is hiding.

Not long after Henry’s tipped off to his secret, Hook realizes the boy is on to him and the two have words on the docks as the teen tries to dispose of the shears. Henry and his step- dad-to-maybe- be argue back and forth over the shears when they’re interrupted by a submarine surfacing inside Storybrooke’s harbor. It’s none other than the famous Nautilus and Hook seems to know this is no welcome visitor. Not surprisingly, Hook and Henry are taken hostage onboard the ship. The pirate and the captain of the Nautilus have a rather checkered past concerning a certain crocodile and a young orphan named Liam (Nick Eversman).

Call Me Nemo

Flashback to the time of the dark curse and Hook winds up on the Nautilus due to the boats uncanny knack of finding wayward lost souls. At the time, Hook was consumed with killing Rumple (Robert Carlyle) for taking his love Milah (Rachel Shelley) from him. The Nautilus could feel how hopeless the pirate was and it brought him to the submarine and, more specifically, its Captain Nemo (Faran Tahir). Nemo tells Hook his ship and crew can be the family Hook searches for and if he does a favor for Nemo, he will see just what the captain means – a favor to do what a pirate does best and that is search for hidden treasure. Unfortunately, Hook uncovers more than jewels when he gets throttled by a deep-sea creature protecting the treasure chest. Getting strangled by a gigantic octopus might be worth it if the treasure was a treasure and not a key to a mysterious island that Nemo claims is a place they can all be a family.

Back in the present, Henry and Hook are still locked in the hull of Nautilus and the two get to chatting about the pirate’s decision to pocket the shears. Henry asks if Hook intended on telling Emma before he took her powers from her. Then, Henry gives the pirate a final kick to the gut when he asks why Hook even cares since he isn’t family anyway. Hook reveals a sad truth about his past and shines a light onto his reasons for keeping the shears. He already ruined one family when he killed his own father making his brother Liam an orphan and he’s not about to let that happen to Henry. The teen and Hook seem to come to an understanding over the pirate’s deceit and a clever Henry breaks the two out of the hull only to hit a snag when it comes to getting home. The only way back to Storybrooke is out of the submarine and there’s only one protective helmet for the two of them. Hook takes the heroic lead and offers the helmet to Henry so he can be with his mother and the pirate will stay behind. Henry takes the helmet and heads home leaving Hook behind. Liam is more than pleased. Liam, who just happens to be Nemo’s first mate on the Nautilus, dreamed of avenging his father’s death and holds Hook at knife point for the second time in both the brothers’ lives.

In a flashback, Liam comes face to face with Hook and tries stabbing him only for Nemo to step in the way and take the dagger in place of the pirate. The stabbing could’ve been fatal, but Liam sent Nemo to the mysterious island which wound up being none other than The Land of Untold Stories. Once he arrived, Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer) brought Nemo with him to Storybrooke. In the present, Liam still wants revenge for his father’s death. The young man lunges towards his brother with a dagger only to be stopped by Henry who never took the plunge back to Storybrooke! Henry saves the pirate and the two head home, but not before shucking the shears into the ocean where they can’t be used against the savior.

Later, Liam wakes up in Storybrooke’s hospital with Hook watching over him and that’s when Nemo is wheeled into the room next to him. It looks like the captain survived his untold story thanks to Dr. Whale (David Anders) and a team of surgeons. Emma hears about her son and boyfriend’s adventures and shows up outside Liam’s room where Hook confesses he kept the shears out of fear of losing her. Emma shrugs it off and says she would’ve done the same. It looks like Henry and Hook risked their lives for nothing.

Missing crickets, missing lands and missing husbands

Last week, the Evil Queen turned Archie (Raphael Sbarge) into a caged cricket while she disguised herself as the therapist to uncover Emma’s secrets. This week, Regina tricks the Queen at her sister’s farmhouse so the Charmings can free Archie…that is until Zelena (Rebecca Mader) figures it out. Then, the Evil Queen comes face to face with Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and David (Josh Dallas)! On sight, the Queen conjures a fireball and takes aim at Snow only for Regina to materialize in the nick of time to save her. Snow tells the Queen that no matter what she throws at them she can’t break up their family.

At Granny’s diner, Jasmine (Karen David) is still pleading with Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) to help her save the Kingdom of Agrabah from Jafar (Oded Fehr), but the former savior is at a loss without his powers. The young man leaves frustrated and hopeless, forcing Jasmine to call Emma and ask her to give Aladdin a savior pep talk. Emma finds him and the two go on a soul-searching drive in her yellow metal death trap. Aladdin might feel powerless to save Agrabah, but can an ex-savior save something that no longer exists? According Jasmine’s account, her beloved kingdom has all but disappeared – disintegrated into nothingness. So, why all the pleas to save the land from Jafar?

At the hospital, Snow runs into Belle (Emilie de Ravin) who is alone and waiting for her first sonogram appointment. The ever-optimistic Snow asks Belle if she has any hope of getting back with Mr. Gold now that she’s pregnant. Belle admits she has hope her son can learn to love his father rather than hate him.

Later, that hope is sparked even more when Belle slides a copy of their son’s sonogram under the door of Gold’s shop. Maybe things aren’t so finished between these two after all? Although, if the evil Queen has any say in the matte, Gold will forget the book worm and reciprocate her flirtatious come-ons.

Mr. Gold’s golden shears?

While Belle is alone at the hospital, Gold is spending his time plotting over a certain set of shears. The Dark One confronts the Queen and assumes she has the shears so he asks for them back since they belong to him. The Evil Queen tells her former mentor the shears, much like everyone he’s ever loved, are gone and she questions his concern over Emma. Luckily, Gold doesn’t care about Emma. He wants the shears to change Belle and their son’s fate. The Queen is telling the truth, but Gold is not so quick to believe her, threatening her to never cross him because one day she’ll need his help. She smugly shrugs off his threat and says winners don’t need allies.

The episode ends on a fandom rocking moment when the Evil Queen stakes her claim on Gold with a kiss. Her plan to break up Emma and Hook failed when he confessed and Emma accepted his apology. So, now she is on to Plan B – seduce the most powerful man in Storybrooke into giving her what she most desires. With proof of her loyalty to Gold, the Evil Queen hands him the golden shears that Henry and Hook dumped off the Nautilus. It seems the queen called in a few sea minions for a favor and Gold is quite impressed. He asks her what she wants in return and assumes, after that kiss, that the queen wants him. In fact, it is a heart that she’s after, but it isn’t the dark one’s – it is Snow White’s heart! Yes, it looks like The Evil Queen is up to her old tricks (or should I say obsessions) when she seductively pleads with Mr. Gold to bring her the heart of Snow White!