Without reading other people’s reactions… This was pretty solid, all in all. 8/10
Liked:
Henry Sr and Regina. I’ve always felt that Henry Sr didn’t make too much sense, but this episode both fleshed out his character, and resolved it. Henry and Henry Sr was a lovely scene. Bonus points for the Indiana Jones-style inferno prop (a kind of mashup of IJaHG and Temple of Doom?)
The Neal scene. Though I am note sure why Neal’s afterlife is resolved, considering he’s admittedly missing Henry. I think this is a majorly lost opportunity to have them have a scene together.
Cora. Cora’s always amazing. Cora and Regina together hit it out of the ballpark. It’s nice to see actual good acting on this show.
Hades. The actor nails it. Also, I am actually impressed with OUAT, for once, addressing the issue of class — although granted, a bit perversely if you think about it. I mean Cora’s eternal torment is to become a Miller’s Daughter again and deliver flowers for eternity? I suppose that if Hades is able to materialize one’s deepest fears, then this is actually an interesting commentary on what drives Cora as a character.
James. David’s evil twin has so much more chutzpah than his brother.
Rumple playing unwilling tour-guide. Much as I enjoy watching him ambling about in his designer overcoat and sneering at everyone, a bit more purpose to the ambling would be nice. They’re really not doing much with his character so far — the scene with Pan had promise but felt a bit rushed. I think I understand what they’re trying to do here, i.e. recapture that spirit of “chaotic neutral” where you never know whether Rumple is going to side with the heroes or the villains, but we’re missing a sense of purpose beyond ‘Hey, I want nothing to do with your harebrained schemes’ (though, to be fair, can’t blame him on that).
Mixed:
Belle. Nice, what was that — 5 seconds of screen time?
General plot. Maybe I was skipping over a lot of things, but so far the cosmology they’re laying out is a bit confusing. So, the UW is a sort of relay point on the way to other places: presumably, something more like Hell proper, and presumably some heavenly realm(s). But how on earth does this relate to unfinished/finished business? Or does it not? What if a villain is stuck in the UW — wouldn’t it be in their interest to not get things resolved, lest they end up in an even worse place? Anyway, I’m confused.
Disliked:
While I sort of like the Emma/Gold antagonism, blackmailing Rumple through Belle is a bit OOC for Emma — whatever one might think of Rumple, none of this is Belle’s fault, and she should not be used as collateral, especially by someone who has claimed for herself the title of Savior.
I’m still not 100% sure why the whole lot of them are so gun-ho about finding Hook. I get it that the plot demands it, but it would have been a lot more organic if the writing reflected different characters’ multiple motivations for following Emma blindly into the Underworld to retrieve a dude who is really not particularly relevant to anyone but Emma.