“The Brothers Jones” initial reactions – ONCE236

Our thoughts about the book which have the power to defeat Hades, the Apprentice’s unfinished business, the better sailor Hook can never be, and “Bob” is back! Plus, is Hades all bark and no bite? All these and more on our initial reactions of the episode, “The Brothers Jones.”

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Finally reunited, Hook and Emma must find a way to defeat Hades so that they can return to Storybrooke with Snow, David, Regina, Robin, Henry and Gold. A surprise visit from Hook’s departed brother Liam just might provide the lead they were looking for—others who have tried to overthrow Hades spoke of a book that contained the key to his downfall. Tired of watching from the sidelines, Henry secretly takes matters into his own hands while the others search for the book. Meanwhile, Hades redoubles his efforts to trap the heroes in the Underworld by playing them against one another. In flashbacks, the bond between the two young Jones brothers is tested and strengthened on a merchant ship heading into a dangerous storm.

These are our first thoughts about this Once Upon a Time episode. We’ll share more about “The Brothers Jones” in our upcoming full discussion (usually live on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., USA Eastern Time).

Initial Reactions

Remember, these are only our initial reactions regarding tonight’s episode so please bear with us if we’re a bit all over the place. If you have your own thoughts, feedbacks, or theories regarding tonight’s episode, however, send them over to us and join our upcoming full discussion!

Finally reunited, Hook and Emma must find a way to defeat Hades so that they can return to Storybrooke with Snow, David, Regina, Robin, Henry and Gold. A surprise visit from Hook’s departed brother Liam just might provide the lead they were looking for—others who have tried to overthrow Hades spoke of a book that contained the key to his downfall. Tired of watching from the sidelines, Henry secretly takes matters into his own hands while the others search for the book. Meanwhile, Hades redoubles his efforts to trap the heroes in the Underworld by playing them against one another. In flashbacks, the bond between the two young Jones brothers is tested and strengthened on a merchant ship heading into a dangerous storm.

What an interesting episode! It’s not as exciting as some of the others but it sure did have some cool things to it that we’ll certainly dig into a lot more depth on our upcoming full discussion. It was a good episode, and we enjoyed a lot of the backstory that we got but it was a little slow, and the whole Henry situation is still a little annoying, although he did rectify that in the end. It’s great to see that Bob is back—the pen whom we’ve affectionately named “Bob”—and that Henry can write the story was we thought was going to be the point in the first place, but instead he needs to find the book. Henry could’ve written the whole book and we’re still very confused about the author, the power, what the Apprentice wants from him, and what Henry can do. When he became the author does he suddenly becomes someone who can find a bunch of information that he could normally not get or is he going to be able to write what he knows as Henry? His storybook has everything in it, things that one author seemingly couldn’t possibly know.

Now that we know that the quill is a living entity, it seems that’s not actually the author who has to know the story but Bob does, and it needs to be used by the author to record the stories. It wasn’t always that we was necessarily writing the exact words, he was, for the most part, running the quill across the page, letting the quill do the writing itself. It’s almost like a symbiotic relationship, maybe, that the author needs the quill and vice versa, and that the author doesn’t have any power without the quill and that the quill itself was the one doing the recording. So now that the authorship was given to him, Henry could be the key to writing everyone out of the Underworld. After all, it seem like it might work for Cruella.

Captain Silver—Long John Silver? It was neat to see another captain and we’ve heard before about Liam and Killian’s adventures when they went to Neverland and we do wonder, does this completely line up? It surprised us that it was so far back in the timeline and we were wondering if the storm that they were going in to, which was the Boiling Sea, had anything to do with Wonderland, or could it be just an expression and not another way to reference Mount Doom?

It’s more plausible to understand that Zelena might have some deal going with Hades, but perhaps not a romantic relationship. Where were Zelena and Hades when they were having that dealing? What is the deal that Hades wants to hide and how does that somehow makes his weakness? That being said, we liked how Hades mirrored Regina back in the first season with the secret to defeating him being in the pages.

One of the things that we learned from this is the nature of Hades’ magic and its limitations. Apparently, he can leave the Underworld and go to the overworld and still use his magic, but he can’t hurt people outside of the Underworld and selectively save people and do a few other random things. Does that mean that he couldn’t harm Rumplestiltskin and Belle’s baby without taking it first to the Underworld? Is Hades all bark and no bite that he can’t do anything to the baby so long as it stays in the Overworld? Also, Hook’s brother Liam has a knowledge about Hades, as well as Zelena, so it seems odd that Rumple is the one in the dark this time, seeing how long he has been the Dark One.

Is the book the embodiment of hope in the Underworld as it is in the Overworld? Shouldn’t it be the opposite? What stories does it contain? Does it contain different stories than the ones left in Storyrbooke? If Hades existed at any point in the Enchanted Forest, wouldn’t Henry, at least, how some knowledge of him?

Speaking of Henry, we really enjoyed the relationship aspect on the show especially with the Charmings and Regina. Just the banter and Henry acting like a teenager, as well as his bonding with Charming, and seeing him voicing his deep desire of wanting to stop being rescued and wanting to be a Hero.

What an awkward and embarrassing scene between David and Cruella, and even when David found out about Mary Margaret. Are we going to see Ruth, David’s mother, in the Underworld? If so, what unfinished business could she possibly have? Giving James away? Or has she completed her unfinished business by letting Snow drink water from the Lake Nostos and allowing her to have a baby?

What do you think about tonight’s episode? Send all your feedback by sending us an email or giving us a voicemail and join our full discussion of “The Brother’s Jones” this coming Wednesday. You can also write your thoughts us using the comment section below or simply go over the forum if you want to share your theories, spoilers, as well as your favorite and least favorite moments from the episode!

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