What did you think of 3×10 The New Neverland (12/8/13)?

14 responses to “What did you think of 3×10 The New Neverland (12/8/13)?”

1. Kris | December 9, 2013 at 12:29 pm | Reply

   Not thrilled again with last night’s episode. I think I’m jaded because I feel like they’ve carried the Pan storyline way too far. I’m over it. However, I also wondered how they would proceed after the first season because they blew through so many fairy tale characters. Hopefully the season finale next week will be the end of Pan (though I really will be sorry to see that actor go – maybe he could become the new Henry? Blasphemy!! lol)

   Anyway, I had a moment of hope that the love and acceptance of family and community would be what turned Pan, but apparently not. I really, really don’t want to start next season with all of them forgetting who they are again. I don’t know if I would have the strength to watch anymore. Other than the direction they are going, I did like most of the episode. I enjoy the back-story stuff, so that was good. I don’t really have any pithy comments to make about the substance of it – I’ll wait for everyone elses!

2. Jenn | December 9, 2013 at 6:45 pm | Reply

   Funny, I thought the backstory with Snow and Charming to be pretty weak. I also wish the actor playing Pan could become the new Henry, haha. Or at least stay on. I wonder if trying to enact the curse will back fire on him? If he makes it that far. He needs the heart of the thing he loves most do cast it, doesn’t he?
   Again Ariel felt weak. Who is giving Ariel and Belle these atrocious shoes? No one in their right mind walks around casually in 5 inch heels, especially when adventure and danger lurk on every corner. And *double* especially when one has only recently learned to use her legs properly. The sudden kiss with Eric? He has zero questions for her? She doesn’t say “Hey, by the way, I’m a mermaid and an evil queen stole my voice, so that’s why I stood you up that one time when we were going to run away together”? I feel like I rushed the story. I mean, I haven’t liked the Ariel story line from the get go, but come on.
   Again, my favourite parts were Neverland characters. Pan (playing Henry), Hook and Tink are enjoyable to watch. I’m not sad Blue (Mother Superior) is dead…she can be a jerk sometimes, but I did think it was rather sudden. Why *did* the shadow kill her? I didn’t catch that purpose. I’d really like to see the whole town end up back in FTL. And I want to see Regina come face to face with Robin hood. Does anyone else hope that Tink will get a role as Regina’s friend? I feel like Regina needs someone else in her life to be friend. I think her and Emma are getting their, but Tink would be great a her bff.

   • Kris | December 9, 2013 at 8:48 pm | Reply

     Jenn – I have to agree. The whole deal with Medusa was weak – I just like the back story parts because I, too, wish they could all go back to the enchanted forest!

     I’m assuming Pan needed the shadow of Blue in order to enact the curse, but I’m only guessing.

     As far as Ariel’s legs, remember when Regina told her in Neverland that if she helped her and Rumple she would give her a pair of permanent legs and “control over them this time” or something to that effect. I thought it was funny when she said it – seems that’s how they got around the whole learning to use her legs. I’d guess the kiss with Eric is just the whole true love thing. It doesn’t matter what happened. He loves her, she loves him.

     I’m loving Tink – loved her since she first came on – I’d really like her and Regina to be BFFs as well. I have to say that I really like Hook and Emma together, but I don’t know that the general audience will accept that. I think eventually it will be Emma and Bae, and if so, I’d love Hook with Tink.

3. Riles | December 9, 2013 at 9:41 pm | Reply

   I’m wondering how the Shadow took Blue’s shadow so easy. I thought Blue was the most powerful fairy. They had her running and screaming like a little girl away from the Shadow. That scene was rather rushed. I am not a big fan of how fast that happened.
   I also agree with making Pan (the actor) a permanent character. I was never a fan of Henry (or rather the actor).
   Jenn, you are correct, in order to activate the curse, Pan needs the heart of the thing he loves the most.
   Kris, you might be right about the shadow thing. Last episode, Pan tried to take Henry’s shadow when he couldn’t get his heart. Maybe there is something to that.
   Jen/Kris, I totally agree with your assessment of Medusa. It seemed like a filler for the episode. They could have scratched that and made better content–Perhaps a good fight between the shadow and Blue
   Hope the curse gets stopped. I’m not sure I can go thru another season of everybody not knowing who they are again.

4. Marj | December 9, 2013 at 11:38 pm | Reply

   I wonder if the curse is going to take an unexpected form. It would be weird if the show just rebooted back to the beginning and everyone forgot who they were all over again — like that movie Groundhog Day where the same thing kept happening over and over.

   I agree with everyone that it would be great to have the Pan actor (though not necessarily the Pan character) stick around for a while.

   Just thought of something. If Pan — in Henry’s body — manages to kill or otherwise harm Rumple, would that be a fulfillment of the prophesy?

   • Kris | December 10, 2013 at 12:03 pm | Reply

     Bite your tongue, Marj! We can’t lose Rumple!!! But….I also don’t think they’re quite done with that. They keep bringing it up, and it worries me.

     • Marj | December 10, 2013 at 12:59 pm | Reply

       Ha, ha I don’t think the show would ever really kill off Rumple…Robert Carlyle is just too good in the role … he has to stay … there might be a false alarm though. And, as you say, they keep on bringing up the prophecy … I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

5. David | December 10, 2013 at 3:34 am | Reply

   I was disappointed that the writers chose to bring in Medusa as the monster for Snow and Charming to battle.

   Besides the cheesy computer animation for Medusa, I guess we were to assume Medusa somehow left ancient Greece and time travelled up to the “time” of Snow White et al. (Like King Midas did).

   What’s next? Seeing Romulus kill Remus and and setting up his kingdom just a stone’s throw from the Charming’s summer palace?

   • Kris | December 10, 2013 at 12:05 pm | Reply

     David – I can’t help but think they just have to cast as wide a net as possible. I mean, we see Disney characters, too, and they aren’t really fairy tales. I think if they don’t stretch wide, they’ll run out of story lines. But, yeah, it was a bit cheesy – didn’t really fit into what was happening either.

     • David | December 11, 2013 at 2:48 am | Reply

       Kris — so if the net is really that wide, then will we also see a grown-up Dorothy (from Kansas) in a love triangle with Hook and Dr. Whale?

       • Kris | December 11, 2013 at 11:09 am | Reply

         Hahahaha….oh, Lord, let’s hope they draw the line somewhere!

6. Lisa | December 10, 2013 at 10:26 am | Reply

   I liked this episode. The FTL flashback with Snow and Charming fit right in(IMO). The show often mixes in characters from other mythologies so I wasn’t thrown by the appearance of Medusa. I actually thought the scenes provided a nice parallel for present day Storybrooke. David and Mary Margaret are often telling Emma that, even though they’re the same age, she can benefit from their wisdom and experience. The flashback backed up that claim and showed how Emma’s very existence was, in a way, a leap of faith that Snow and Charming took—–to start a family even in the face of the evil represented by Regina.

   As for Pan’s shadow. I think it’s been established that almost anyone would be pretty powerless against it, and the Blue Fairy’s powers were a bit watered down in Storybrooke. I’m not sure why she was the target; perhaps Pan was getting back at her for the way she treated Tinkerbell. I simply took it as Pan’s way of getting attention(maybe the writers chose Blue believing she was more expendable than other characters on the show). He wanted everyone to believe he was still a threat to Henry and knew he could gain access to Regina’s vault and the curse if “Henry” needed protecting. From what Rumple said the specific details of enacting the curse seem to vary. He mentioned that without her parents’ true love woven in even Emma would be powerless to break it, so perhaps using the heart of “the thing you love most” was only a condition of Regina being able to cast it. I imagine we’ll soon find out.

   I’m starting to think that “the boy” of the Seer’s prophecy was Peter Pan—–Henry made it possible for Rumple to physically find Baelfire but the revelation that Pan was Rumple’s father was what brought Bae and Rumple together emotionally; and as Rumple seems to have left his old self behind(symbolized by his cane) one could say that the “Dark One” has been undone. The show has cast a new villain so one can expect that the “kinder, gentler” versions of Gold and Regina may stick around for a while. Mr. Gold did provide David with the potion that would cure him with no strings attached saying that they are “family” now. If nothing else, Pan provided the Charmings and Regina and Gold with a common enemy; the new villain may do the same.

   I also appreciated all the humor woven into this episode. Starting from the first scene of Eric chopping the head off a fish there were little ironies and one liners throughout the episode that added a lightheartedness that balanced the drama. As David told Emma, you have to look for the good moments between the bad. For me OUAT found the perfect balance this week. Compared with last week’s “Save Henry”, “The New Neverland” was satisfying in every way.

   • Kris | December 10, 2013 at 12:09 pm | Reply

     Thanks, Lisa, that helps me appreciate some of it, and I like your point about Pan and Rumple. I hope you are right! Still not one of my favorite episodes, but I enjoyed reading your perception of it.

7. ann ricci | December 11, 2013 at 1:05 pm | Reply

   We (my girls and me) are all set with Pan….you need to move on …enough with Pan !!!!