Once Upon a Time Season 5 Episode 20 Recap

This week’s episode was interesting. Up until this point, we’ve been seeing Hades as the primary antagonist, but at the top of this episode Hades comes to our heroes for help. See, at the end of last week’s episode Rumple kidnapped Zalena with the help of the evil Peter Pan in order to get leverage on Hades. However, Emma comes to the rescue and everything seems hunky dory. Hell, even Hades, now that he has Zalena, has opted to retire from running the Underworld and wants to settle down in Storybrooke and agrees to help the heroes escape as well. However, because rule number one of fiction is: when things seem like their going perfectly, that means something is about to go south. And indeed, it turns out Hook has been dead too long for Emma’s heart split revival trick to work. However, helpful Hades has a suggestion. It’s a long shot, but if they find the ambrosia tree, Hook can live again. But, it turns out that all of this is an elaborate trap by Hades in order to escape the Underworld and leave our heroes stranded. Our flashback this week is very unique. Instead of cutting back to the enchanted forest or something like that, we instead go back to Emma’s past where she was a criminal on the run. She’s caught by a cop, but the cop, being a woman who had to give up her daughter, sympathizes with Emma and agrees to help her find her family before taking her to jail. The point of all of it is to show the origins of Emma’s trademark red jacket. It’s nothing to right home about, but it’s got its share of enjoyable moments. Though, I must ask, who in the hell doesn’t notice an eleven inch shard of plate glass lodged in their spleen?

Anywho, this was a very enjoyable episode with some solid performances. Seeing Pan again, even if only for a short time, was great. Pan was always my favorite villain in the series and I’m glad that even in death he’s still an irredeemable bastard. However, the MVP of the episode is Jennifer Morrison as Emma, who plays the young and naïve Emma and the more confident and sure of herself Emma we know today brilliantly. The scene where she has to say goodbye to Hook, knowing she has to leave him behind in the Underworld is not only heartbreaking, but it is also a fine bit of acting from both Morrison and Colin O’Donaghue.

However, I want to talk about something that’s happening next week. Yes, the teaser for next weeks episode has informed us that one of our regulars is going to die next episode. I’m usually not a fan of this, because it can often take away the emotional impact that death is intended to have if you see it coming (look no further than the current season of Arrow for evidence of that), but, the teaser got me thinking nonetheless, so, I’ve decided to make a prediction. I personally believe that next week, Henry is going to die. I believe this for two reasons. One: At the funeral in the teaser, Emma and Regina are shown, the two people who Henry feels closest to, and two: Henry was the most reluctant to leave the Underworld as he felt it was his responsibility to use the power of the author to help the dead find their unfinished business. While losing Henry would be a tragedy, a transition to a sort of shepherd for wayward souls would be a fitting fate for the character. Am I right? We’ll just have to see next week.