Once Upon A Time 6.18 "Where Bluebirds Fly" Review

                                             
An episode that concentrates on Zelena (Rebecca Mader) just to drag the final battle out a little bit longer.  Once again showing she's made mistakes in her past but she'll make them again cos there's a kind of arrogance that comes with being wicked and possessing so much powerful magic.  Beginning with being better than Regina (Lana Parilla) and more powerful and that their mother should've kept her for this reason.  Obviously she was going to come down to earth with a thud.  Anyway as a little girl she's seen as an outcast by the rest of Oz and is considered a freak for her magic.  One day she's helped by Stanum (Alex Desert) who found a nest with an egg in it.  She puts it back finding it was the local bullies who did that.  She makes a friend.

However years later when he needs help cos he accidentally knocked down the Wicked Witch of the North's tree and she turned him in tin.  He needs the crimson heart which will help him become human again.  She doesn't want to help him and as he walks away she agrees, but only to show that she should be feared and her magic is stronger and she fears no one.  When they gets there they meet a lion along the way and frightens him thus becoming the cowardly lion.  Yeah just as I said where's the lion, out he pops!  Ha.  Stanum tells her she needs friends and not to be alone but she doesn't listen.  When they get to the heart, she finds it's worthless and it's draining her magic away so she lets Stanum become tin and suffer as a tin statue.  Taking the heart with her.

In Storybrooke the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) wants Zelena to help her, but she refuses, again thinking she could destroy her withe her magic but she disappeared.  Obviously she's forgotten that the final battle will be with Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and only her.  Regina needs eye of newt, she still hasn't stocked up on that, though last time she told Henry (Jared S Gilmore) to get if from Emma's shed.  This time she goes to the Pawn shop where she finds Zelena has left Robin and has entered the Dwarf mine on her own.  Belle (Emilie de Ravin)  being left to look after Robin. Rumples (Robert Carlyle) still hasn't found away to get the Blue Fairy (Keegan Connor Tracy) her magic back as she's older than him and will know things about his mother.

Henry finds his author powers have made him powerless, he can't write anything, the words vanish. He's been working on what he drew in Regina's crypt.  Charming (Josh Dallas) tells him he should take a break and come back to it, he can't write anything even if he tries he couldn't change anything. Charming thinks he recognizes part of the symbols for a moment.  Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) is busy making wedding plans and interrupts Emma and Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) in their romantic interlude in between making pancakes.  She wants her to have the perfect wedding which wouldn't exactly be at Granny's or the Town Hall cos that's so romantic a setting.  Charming wants Emma to have one in a palace at least cos she's a princess.  Oh enough with the class defined roles already! Ha. They decide, well Emma decides they will have a wedding after the battle cos even if the wedding is about hope, it's best left until then and even if it's not, it will only be shortlived anyway.

Regina finds Zelena and they notice the fairy crystals which are what the Black Fairy has been mining.  Being interrupted by her and Gideon (Giles Matthey) she tricks Zelena into using her powers and turning all of the crystals black and thereby becoming part of dark magic.  She knew Zelena's powers were unstable and that's why she tricked her.  Regina's angry and tells her to go back to Oz cos she has to fix her mess now and tell the Charming's what she's done.  Zelena magics a tornado but she doesn't return.  She tells then to take her power and make it better with the use of the heart.  As the crystals turns back into light they have an idea to wake the Blue Fairy.  Said that minutes ago!!  Belle tells Rumples that they've lost time with their son but she won't let the Black Fairy make them lose anymore time with him.  As Emma uses the crystal on Blue.

As said, a bit of a stretch in getting Zelena to relinquish her powers as it's the right thing to do and to reverse the Black Fairy's magic in feeding off the crystals.  Of course she would be listening in on their plan and Gideon just came across as so weak as usual.  Even if she does have his heart.  He's not so determined anymore as he once was when he first arrived here.  Zelena getting to learn that magic isn't everything and to act before thinking has consequences, as does arrogance.  Can't believe Gideon could keep Regina down like that and she couldn't use her magic on him.  Only know she thought to cover the Blue Fairy with a blanket!  As Zelena and Regina landed on those sacks instead of the ground when they were expelled out of the mine.  No snow and then suddenly the land's covered with snow!  It's magic.  Wish we could get some magic snow here!  Ha.

The title of course being a line from the song Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz.  Suppose the bluebird's nest was shown at Oz, the egg that was rescued.  Did like Zelena's line about the last one who crossed her is peeling bananas with their feet!

Doctor Who 10.2 "Smile" Review

                                             
Getting topical with the ep this week as we find emojis are the future of the world, or the world in our future.  Couldn't help but notice some aspects had been covered before like the bones ground into bread...fe fi fo fum!"  Or a take on Soylent Green.  Turns out there's always a spaceship involved and the destruction of the human race.  Clearly the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is getting bored of guarding the vault, whilst we still ponder the age old question of 'what's in the vault?'  A bit of a Pandorica mystery me thinks.  As he takes Bill (Pearl Mackie) on a journey to the future (so only fitting at the end they end up not back in their own time, but the past - yeah so how'd that happen?)

Lots of other questions pondered yet again as to why the Doctor does this and is able to do this, interfere in other planets and people etc!  Since he tells Bill he's not a galactic policeman or anything of the nature, as she thinks she's sussed out what the words on the Policebox mean: "assistance immediately given."  She also thinks the seats should be nearer the control panel in the TARDIS which he says is a negotiation with the TARDIS when it comes to flying.  Nah then it'll be too Star Trek-y, we don't need to get comfortable in seats, he's not exactly in there long enough to need them.

Nardole (Matt Lucas) offers to make him a cuppa, but not for her, he's not going to be a slave to humans, but slave to an alien is fine!  Ha.  So the Doctor sees it as his chance to escape the monotony and go exploring and being back in time for tea, as in English tradition.  Ending up on the planet where the workers who live there have been erased since they didn't smile and the emoji badge gave them two tears.  Cos mother died and they needed to grieve but instead had to try and smile.  Well that didn't work.  As the swarm of nanabots, which comes out of the sky and after them.  Knew the storm was actually what the city was made from even before it broke away and chased them.

Then we get the whole exposition about the badges and smiling and the expressions changing, not so much wearing your heart on your sleeve, but wearing your expressions/feelings on a badge on your back.  As the emoji changes with your mood.  Two tears and you're out, it seems, or more likely taken out.  Also having a conversation about the magic haddock and the food, as to why Bill gets one piece of blue jelly on her plate and he gets too.  No it wasn't a sexist food thingy for the future but the Doctor tells her he's got two hearts.  And why not, why one heart he asks?  Algae being the future food source or so she thinks.  Er, did she just eat a piece of human?  And the Doctor saying he's not into fish when she says it smells fishy, but he was into custard and fish fingers, Doctor Eleven (Matt Smith)!

As they set about exploring and the emojis change, finally being chased by the robot with their 'revenge' face, the Doctor takes her back to the TARDIS and returns to blow up the city, cos the colony ship can't be (probably need some Colony Gin now! after this ep! Re The Apprentice!) left to arrive here and suffer this fate.  Of course we get the obligatory bit first, about discovering the garden and how the robots were sent on ahead and had to cultivate and prepare for them.  The twist being the ship was already here and the humans were in cryogenic status.  Then he finds out what happens to the 'skeleton' crew who were meant to get sent here ahead to control the robots.  Which he finds in the cupboard.  So why not burn their remains?  Peter looked good with that skull in his hand, hey I'm sensing a future Hamlet??!!  Of course she's not going to stay behind in the TARDIS.

He shows her the wall and how the swarm is part of the walls, chancing upon the ship as it has nuts and bolts which is what he likes.  That city reminded me of a ship.  (Which is actually the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia.)  The ship is reawakened as it senses the presence of humans and he leaves Bill there to read the map and guide him, naturally he doesn't need guidance, but he sees the humans bought everything with them, their little nick knacks.  Even the letterbox!  Bill figures out she can take a photo instead of standing around.  Then she meets the boy that the Doctor saw in the locket he found in the ground.  He wants his mother.  Bill also finding the room with the old woman and the history of what happened to the humans.  Doctor: "Grief! Grief as plague...the Vardies’ job was to maintain happiness, so they identified grief as the enemy of happiness and everyone who was experiencing grief as a problem… A grief tsunami."  They all carked it!
The Doctor realizing that he can't blow the ship up cos the humans are already in there and they all come back to life now.  Taking matters into their own hands with guns, what else, after he "lectures" them about what happened to their families.  The swarm surfaces since they shoot a robot and attacks them, where the Doctor gets the idea of resetting the robots.  Then negotiating on behalf of the humans with the Vardies and the humans.  Asking how much rent they want, cue pound signs!  Yeah that was so human greed induced!!

Oh and the magic haddock: apparently it was akin to Aladdin and the genie in the lamp. With the fisherman getting three wishes and wanting his son back from the war and a hundred pieces of gold. He got his son back, dead and the gold thanking him for his service.  The magic haddock not being able to reverse wishes.  Again the age old story of be careful what you wish for, even if you can't reverse them.  Obviously.  But the Doctor shows at the end how he could reverse them but turning the button on and off on the robot and making them forget their memories of everyone they killed.  That they have feelings, well he killed one then when he three it over the bridge!  So much for Bill asking if he's ever killed anyone, to which we didn't get a reply for obvious reasons!  The magic haddock reminded me of the WW Jacobs story/movie of The Monkey's Paw.  You can't undo a wish, it just gets worse.

Sharp viewers would've caught the David Bowie tribute from Ashes To Ashes as the Doctor tells the Emojibot; "I'm happy, hope you're happy too."  As well as references to Aberdeen and if there's a Scotland in space, well clearly there's everything in space! As well as letting us in on guarding the vault cos " a long time ago a thing happened.  As a result of the thing I made a promise.  As a result of the promise I have to stay on Earth guarding the vault."  But 'I have my moments of escape,' probably one reason why he took on Bill as a student.  The Doctor also warning her to stay away from his browser history, what's he been browsing some more Beethoven tracks?  ha.  (Clara's in the vault!  Well I can speculate!)

This one was just a typical story in a return to the 'older' style eps in some ways even though was typically topical with computers/Internet speak.

Once Upon A Time 6.17 "Awake" Review

                                               
Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming (Josh Dallas) hate having to keep waking up and falling asleep for each other to be awake, as Regina (Lana Parilla) shows Emma (Jennifer Morrison) the book and what was said about Henry (Jared S Gilmore) last ep.  She thinks they should head to the library to check it out whilst she realizes she'll be the one facing the final battle alone; her tremors begin again.  Snow and Charming both want to be here for her final battle and help her but they know they need to defeat the curse to do this.

The Curse Before it was Broken  shows Mary Margaret heading for the hospital with a sunflower, obviously for David and she says hello to people along the way like Granny (Beverley Elliott) and Archie (Raphael Sbarge) who are all grouchy.  Before bumping into Regina.  Wrecking her flower. Snow then spots a pink flower growing by the side of the road and picks that for David instead, leaving it by his bedside and walking away, the pollen from the flower touches his hand and he wakes up.  Breaking the curse.  He recalls who he is and who Snow is and she finally remembers with the use of the flower too.  As they leave the hospital, Regina shows up asking where he is.  Snow agrees to meet with him at an abandoned cottage as she's got to put Regina off the scent, telling her she saw him head towards the woods.

Regina calls a search and thinks something's amiss with Snow and tests her by preparing to detonate the explosives in the mine.  Snow gets ready to stop her with a par of scissors as she thinks Snow is  a hero and would save everyone.  But the others show up and Archie comes out of the mine.  In the chaos Snow runs away and meets David.  They decide they must find Emma and the only one who can do this is Rumples (Robert Carlyle) (a la wig!  ha.)  David heads there and he claims he doesn't recall anything but hearing the name Emma he seems to be lifted from his bout of forgetfulness.  He says they can't get to Emma since she isn't 28 yet and won't become the Saviour if they interfere in her life.  He gives them a potion to make them forget until the time's right and they see Emma through a portal.

Snow agrees with Rumples, that they can't interfere cos it's not just about them and their family.  The others in the town also have families and hey can't be selfish, so they close the portal. Back in present Storybrooke  Regina tries to find a spell to break the sleeping curse and comes up with one by putting both their hearts into the potion with Zelena's (Rebecca Mader) help, however it only makes Snow weaker and she will be asleep by the end of the day.  David awakes and says that Snow found a cure to he curse but didn't realize it showing Regina the photo of the flower on her phone.  It's a pixie flower and blooms when there is severe evil in town, i.e. the Black Fairy (Jamie Murray).  Thus they search for one.

The Black Fairy surprises Rumples telling him he'll come back to the family when he's ready and she won't force him.  Gideon (Giles Matthey) saying that she's his mother and he won't come and join Belle (Emilie de Ravin) and Rumles.  Also telling Emma that she'll face the final battle with her, it's her destiny, but that won't be yet.  When she and Snow find the flowers in the woods, an abundance of them.  The Black Fairy gets Gideon to destroy them and they're too late.  Well if they hadn't stood around gabbing so much!  Just when all else seems lost they find a solitary flower and Regina makes a potion from it.  It should be enough to help them both beat the curse.

Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) is rescued by Tiger Lily (Sara Tomko) on Neverland and she takes him hostage.  He pleads he needs to get back to the woman he loves and she finds it funny, that a pirate should be in love.  He tells her he needs to help her and she says he has  a ship and needs to get the wand to the Saviour to help in her battle.  The wand forms part of a larger one.  When she realizes Emma and the Saviour are one and the same, she releases him.  The Lost Boys are even more violent now after losing Pan.  But she says there should be some of Pan's magic he can use to get back.  He manages to use the magic to make a shadow of himself, as he's about to fly off he's caught again, as is Tiger Lily.  She was the fairy who was meant to help with the Black Fairy but failed.  Hook tells her if he got a second chance then so can she.  As he gives the wand to his shadow and tells it to fly.  The shadow reaches Storybrooke as Snow is about to take the potion, but she stops.  The shadow has Hook's hook and gives her the wand, as well as touching her face.

Snow says she must get Hook back since she deserves her happiness cos he should be by her side even if they can't.  Giving her the potion to locate Hook and through the portal she rescues him and Tiger Lily escapes.  He's not here for long he tells her but he proposes to her again saying he should have stuck around instead of running off.  She accepts and Snow falls asleep.

Regina thinks the rest of the town should share in their curse and perhaps they will make them come out of it, as Snow and Charming were selfless in not thinking of their family.  She takes a sip, as does Hook, Emma and Henry, before everyone else does the same.  Where was Belle.  Snow and Charming wake up, as do the towns people.  The Black Fairy says the same to Rumples about joining her when he's ready.  But he tells her he knows Gideon isn't loyal to her, she might have his heart and he will get it back, but he left a flower for Emma and she doesn't have his loyalty and he gets that from his mother.  Which infuriates her.  

So how long is this showdown going to take to get here cos we just seem to be getting endless flashbacks and some of them are even flashbacks of flashbacks!  Ha.  Wouldn't really have expected Charming to be so forgiving of what Hook did to his father even f it was a long time ago and he has changed.  Especially considering he was so determined to find out what happened to his father after getting the coin and being told he was murdered.  Well it was Hook, so that's okay then.  Anyone else he wouldn't have been so forgiving of since he was always so gung ho in doing the right thing, as well as in exacting revenge.  As he very readily picked up the sword in Rumple's shop to make him remember who he is during the days of the curse.

It was this easy to break the sleeping curse and yet Regina just seemed to struggle with it as much and the use of the pixie flower appearing was timely.  How come Snow didn't recall it before now if it can reunite true love.  How come Rumples always manages to 'lose' his dagger and someone always ends up with it so easily.

Doctor Who 10.1 "The Pilot" Review

                                            
A new series, a new companion.  As far as companions go most of them grow on you even if you don't like them at first.  As for Bill (Pearl Mackie) well not your usual companion material and yes we've seen it all before. Gullible, in trouble, had fun, wanna stay! So nothing different there, a side from her being gay, the rest is just old.  Which sin't really meant to be relevant at all.  This one won't really grow on me, sorry if it sounds harsh but as I said, she's not someone new or original and we haven't seen before.  Okay I'm very discerning when it comes to companions!  Same with the plot/story!  Stumbling onto the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) by attending, gate crashing his classes, which obviously have to be about time and space and TARDIS!  He's up to something again on Earth with that vault and probably using his teaching gig as a cover and perhaps even to keep an eye on Earth as usual and silly humans.  As well as wanting to get away from it all, so seems easier blending in doing something he loves: talking!  Ha.  Everyone saying that this episode was 'fresh' and it didn't seem that way to me, maybe I was in the minority, but it just didn't!  Still have to see what this new reboot will be like though with new cast etc coming next time.

Obviously all the clues were there and was he really grooming Bill as a companion?  Waiting for that moment Nardole (Matt Lucas) said waiting for her to realize it 's bigger on the inside than the outside, wish someone could say that about peoples' brains!  Ha.  SO maybe eating chips contributes to a higher power and purpose of not wanting to remain boring and stagnant in the same life.  Or perhaps seeing the TARDIS interior as a posh kitchen with metal!  Really?  Anyway this week's big bad wolf was the puddle, a puddle remaining from a spaceship, the scorch marks and requiring a pilot and passengers, so she looked at the puddle and the reflection, so why didn't so-called puddle take Bill and not Heather (Stephanie Hyam) would've been more interesting.
As for chips, a foodie reference from the Doctor on the planet that is on the other side of the universe but love's ties and bonds surpass even the time and space of endless galaxies in finding each other. Okay a silly reference from me about time and space but someone's gotta be silly!
Doctor: "Hardly anything's evil.  Most things are hungry.  Hungry can look a lot like evil from the wrong end of the cutlery.  Do you think your bacon sandwich loves you back?"  Not bloomin' likely, but not everyone's into bacon butties.  Sticking with the chips as a subtle harkback to Sherlock's newly acquired taste for chips a few series back!
Maybe we're too busy watching the 'penguin's arse"  ha.
Doctor: "ergonomics."
But the toilet next to the macaroon vending machine!!

This series for me I think will be a little tedious cos a great companion always makes it better, but alas, no!  The Daleks were a bit of a great addition, but poor Dalek, as said, was exterminated by Heather, the thing taken her over.  She was like a water wraith or something and again not like something we haven't seen before.  Maybe not in this show but obviously in others.  Of course she would follow her around after making that promise and yet she broke it though when she vanished into the puddle, so a bit lame in saying she made her promise to stay there, even if it was the last thing she mentioned in her conscious/subconscious.  Nardole: "That's the Doctor for you, never notices tears."  Oh but he did and of course he used to, but noticing the tears will just make him seem weak and where did tears get him anyway?  Losing River, Clara who isn't even a distant memory for him.  At least with River he remembers!

As for the mind erase, again seen before with Donna, and yes even with the Doctor when he forgets Clara.  Ahh Clara,  was a moment there which made you think if he stopped from doing the same to Bill cos she asked if he'd like it done to him, but then he wouldn't really recall that.  Cos it was done to him, but...as there was meant to be a photo of Clara on his desk but we got River and no Clara.  As well as his granddaughter, Susan Foreman (Carol Anne Ford) someone he 'promised' to visit, so maybe he needs to fulfil that promise for himself too.
The people fighting the Daleks were the Movellans from the story, Destiny of the Daleks (1979).
As for Bill being a 'person of colour' as the press described her, well, she's not the first companion to be as such, remember Martha was already this and it's not a big deal either.  People just like to make out that it is.

But really Heather appeared to be just cobbled together and 'the star in her eye' was perhaps just a talking point for Bill to notice her and immediately develop a crush on her, since the puddle didn't really seem to have any other agenda for being there, stranded, looking for a pilot or whatever.   Perhaps also a bit of a sci-fi reference with the star cos Bill was into that too.  Anyway am looking forward only to the Master(s) both of them and what more we have in store with the Doctor's storyline.
Some of the Doctor Who allusions in this ep:
The Doctor also has an abundance of sonic's now in that jar.  Plus behind that is the raven, a not too subtle reference to Clara and the raven from 9.10 Face the Raven.  There's also the busts of Shakespeare and Beethoven again from series 9 Before the Flood and the Bootstrap Paradox, using Beethoven to illustrate his point.  To the Doctor playing his Fifth in this ep.  Let's not forget Clara's little musical reference as Bill talks to him about wiping memories.  The blackboard is from Class. Then there's Nardole's explanation of the small box within a larger box and then having to make it, reference which was used by the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) in Robot's of Death.

Ghost Adventures 14.3 "Samaritan Cult House" Commentary

Looking back at the GA Route 666 post I wrote last year, (see link below) there were many things there that manifested at the Samaritan Cult House investigation and lockdown.  Such as the three figures Zak saw in the basement through his mind's eye.  At the Concordia cemetery, Billy saw three robed figures in the graveyard, with a sense of ominous purpose. 

Jay said here how this was on the pentagram they came up with back on Route 666 also.  Not to mention Billy sitting by the 666 to conduct the paranormal puck session at the Samaritan Cult House.

Remember the investigation at the De Soto Hotel and the fan being thrown in the basement falling, being pushed, the poltergeist activity.  The same as at the house here with the wooden board.

Let's not forget Jay losing his temper in the Route 666 investigation too and how we've never seen that before. Jay seems to be a 'target' or being targeted since then on.  As well as after he performed the non-Satanic ritual at Goatman Bridge.  Jay also bought up the pentagram passing through Oklahoma reference.  When Darren was using the Ouija board and the letter 'J' came up I immediately thought it would spell out Jay, but that wasn't to happen until later.  Also I tweeted Jay when the ep was being aired in the US and asked his most memorable moment.  Of course that wasn't being insensitive of me, not having seen the ep until the next day!  I just felt I had to tweet that and ask for some reason.  As I later tweeted and told Jay.  It really becomes very personal when family is named and almost used by negative forces as a means of instilling fear and control.  The more it attempts to reel in others unconnected to the paranormal.

The dowsing cards in the basement, as if the figures Zak saw were leading him there, the cards referring to Jay with his initials, once again unknown entities having it all neatly packaged up for themselves, all of this seemed a foreboding in many ways, even before the lockdown began.

As for the barcode suppose many will steer away from those self checkouts at the supermarket when it says, 'suspicious item in bagging area.'  Just a little joke to break the monotony. But then many could say the same about the vampires on the phone reference too, preached by cult leader, Linda Greene, you know I didn't even want to say her name, forget about the 'Zozo' demon being mentioned!  (As I also wonder why I write this during 'devil's hour'?!)  I mean come on do vampires even need phones for communication or other purposes?  Flying is much easier.  Zak not mentioning this vampire aspect on the show.
As Zak asked, "how could a woman think she could dispel negativity when she was the epitome of it?..."  That being the crux of the question, the same way she could control the masses in the Cult itself being one possible answer.  And why people signed up to join to begin with.  It wasn't about logic or reality.

As well as Zak thinking he could get Darren to use the occult and her evil to conjure up evil in her own dimension.  Which however, sadly backfired on Jay.  Seems Greene was still reaching out and doling out her control from the other side, not wanting to let go of her evil ways even after death.

This GA ep was also trending in the UK on the Sunday morning, again at devil's hour and the ep wasn't even aired here.

Anyway just a few allusions to be mentioned in relation to the Route 666 ep.

Linda Greene was married five times and her fifth husband was Allen Ross, she killed him and her friend, Julia Williams helped bury his body.  She was charged with accessory after the fact.  Linda's fourth husband Denis Greene reported what she had done to the police, she maintained he killed Allen.  Apparently two psychics were involved,both said he was alive in Dallas somewhere and the other one said he'd been hit on his head with something and suffered some form of trauma.  He had been shot twice in the head.  The police found his DB where Denis said it would be.  Greene believed she was 'Christ' and that she gave her soul to save others!  She died in 2002 at the age of 50, from liver failure which people put down to her excessive drinking.  Not to mention how many people will now steer clear of soy milk, phones, barcodes, videos, even!  Seriously how can anyone be duped by such nonsense?!

As for the building being a jail, the Black Jail built in 1892, housed some famous inmates such as the Dalton Gang and Bill Doolan.  There indeed was a prisoner named James Phillips who died of heart failure after he was due to be hanged in 1907.  The jail also had no insulation thus explaining the prevalence of black mould, in the Summer, the prisoners suffered from dehydration and in Winter from flu and respiratory diseases.

Link for the Route 666 ep.

http://mila255.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/ghost-adventures-route-666-halloween.html

Once Upon A Time 6.16 "Mother's Little Helper" Review

                                               
Emma (Jennifer Morrison)gets fooled by Gideon (Giles Matthey) so what's new, as he says she must help him, but she doesn't demand Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) to be returned first before she helps him out in the other realm against the Black Fairy (Jamie Murray).  Noooo that'd be too easy.  Instead she goes along with him even though he tried to kill her and then she also tells Rumples (Robert Carlyle) and Belle (Emilie de Ravin) about what he's done, but they don't do much of anything, except for Belle pleading with Emma not to kill him cos he's a good boy, he's just been led dark by his grandmother, whom he has to call mother!  Ugh.  Then we have more flashbacks of how he became a coward when he didn't help his friend, Roderick after he was dragged off by her into the 'mines for you laddie!'  ha.  That's why she needs child labour, to mine the magic dust for her.  I mean you've heard of pixie dust but this was a little over the top.

Of course Gideon is a coward, he still is in many ways since he was forced to grow up without his mother, but also in a land where time works differently, probably why the Black Fairy hasn't aged! She finds her key is missing and tasks Gideon with finding out who stole it.  Of course this leads him to find Roderick again whom he thought was dead.  Apologizing to him for not helping, well it's too little too late and he asks Gideon to help them in their fight against the Black Fairy.  Gideon wanting to destroy her (in another use of Regina's fave word by another character!)  He tells Gideon about her orb which will help them.  He finds the orb, but she finds them and she turns Roderick into a bug and squashes him like the bug that he was in her eyes!  Spoiling her boot in the process.  Then she takes Gideon's heart, a la Regina and this is why he's so dark.

Back in Storybrooke, Gideon takes Emma to the sorcerer's house and she falls for it without caution or a second thought just cos he gives her the sword back as a gesture of trust and here he lets her do the spell but she conjures the giant spider through the portal, which begins weaving its web and if that wasn't enough starts firing web pellets at them too.  She is pushed into the web by him (well we've all seen Lord of the Rings etc by now) and is helpless.  She does manage to break her hands free, but not for long as she's caught out by the web of deceit.  Which is what all these was to begin with anyway. No the spider wasn't Charlotte either, or she could've defeated it easily!  Ha.  As she loses consciousness, Gideon uses the sword to create a portal, but Rumples turns up with his powers and his dagger and saves Emma from the spider, as well as shrinking it to size, whereupon Emma squishes it.  Just when Gideon thinks nothing else could go wrong, in walks the Black Fairy who was able to squeeze through the portal and get here!  Well bully for Rumples!

Elsewhere Hook turns up at the tavern in a bid to get home and offers jewels from Agrabah to Blackbeard (Charles Mesure) who isn't buying the tiny gems!  They play cards and he gambles the Jolly Roger if he wins and Blackbeard will give him a magic bean.  Of course Blackbeard cheats after Hook's exposition about having to get back to the woman that he loves, the same woman, however he can't.  Blackbeard cheats and sees hook tricked him since the ship is back at Storybrooke.  So they jump through the portal together and end up in Neverland.  See Hook can't go back and will always end up somewhere else in a cheesy version of The Time Tunnel!  Ha.  They're chased by the Lost Boys who have gotten even rougher without Pan around and Blackbeard steals the boat after knocking Hook out, see as useless as Emma at times.

Regina (Lana Parilla) tries to break the sleeping curse but it's tougher than it looks, whereas all the other ones were easy to remove.  She asks Henry (Jared S Gilmore) to get some ingredients from Emma's shed, like tongue of newt and not eye and as Henry writes them down he ends up in a trance writing down symbols instead.  She takes him to the author, Issac (Patrick Fischler) who will only spill once he gets a sports car and a free trip to New York, one way.  He doesn't get a sports car, but a car and he tells her Henry will become like this so she should leave here too.  He tells her the answer's in the book and Henry sees it's the final chapter but he doesn't tell him the ending.  Just that Emma will fight the biggest battle and the outcome won't be good for anyone.

Just can't get into these episodes which just seem tagged on stories adding things onto what we already know, I mean Gideon told us about Roderick and not saving him, so this ep we had to see it visually.  Emma as the Saviour always too trusting and she doesn't tell anyone where she's going or what she's doing, when we know she'll always end up needing help.  Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) was being very un-Snow-like agreeing that it's okay for Emma to kill Gideon if he comes after her a third time.  Well this time she'll be facing the Black Fairy.  Clearly Rumples is not prepared for unexpected arrival and dearie you're 'dearie' needs more practice!!  Haven't quite mastered it like Rumples.  Also with Hook ending back up with the Lost Boys, do they still really need guidance and don't they want to get back to their homes.