Once Upon A Time SEASON 3 EPISODE 6 FULL LENGTH REACTION

Ariel- Another great reaction like always, Timothee! :) I am happy you enjoyed this episode too! I love meeting Ariel. Ariel is so cute and sweet. I also love that she's naïve and a little ditsy just like she is in Disney's, The Little Mermaid too. She's a great new character within Once Upon a Time. Plus... The actress chosen to play her is JoAnna Garcia Swisher, and she is perfect in the role of Ariel! And The Little Mermaid is another one of my all time favorite classic Disney movies along with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin too. So, I was so excited to see how they would be bringing its beloved characters and storylines into Once Upon a Time, and for me... They certainly didn't disappoint. :) I also like Prince Eric a lot too, played by actor, Gil McKinney. He plays the character from The Little Mermaid very well in my opinion, and his look is almost perfect. If you pay close attention to his face, I think they got the casting perfect. It's really his hair that isn't right. I wish it was black and a little longer, or shaggier. But aside from his looks, I think Eric is adorable with Ariel when they're together at the ball. And Eric in the Disney movie is a really good Prince and character that I really like a lot. Eric to me was always really handsome. Prince Eric is always charming and very kind, which I love. And I feel like Gil McKinney plays Eric here just like his Disney counterpart. Now... My absolute favorite scene within this episode, is most definitely between the heroes inside Echo Cave with them all revealing their secrets that no one wishes for the others to know. And they aren't so much dark, as they are so sad. Yet Pan hopes the revelations will lead to friction between them and ultimately their demise, and the truths most certainly have begun to do just that, even in ways not fully revealed just yet. And this is where the darkness comes in, which is exactly what Pan wants. I love it!!! I absolutely love Hook's sad revelation to Emma... That it's because of her he feels he can love again since Milah, and Emma has certainly changed him for the better. I absolutely love the idea of Hook with Emma, more so than Emma with Neal. The look in Hook's eyes is so sad, especially even more so later on when we see that he overhears Neal's conversation with Emma once they're all safely out of Echo Cave, as Neal tells Emma that he doesn't plan to stop trying to win her back. So tragic. In regards to Hook's and Emma's history together and why I feel they are better suited for one another... First, they meet for the first time in season two's episode, titled... The Doctor, when he pretends to be a blacksmith in a ruse that he and Cora conjure up to try to get close to the Princesses so he can learn for Cora all he can about them and Storybrooke. However, Emma senses right away that he's lying and binds him to a tree, which is when he introduces himself as Captain Hook. I really feel Hook and Emma have brilliant chemistry with one another from the get go. And their first meeting makes me think of a classic Hollywood meet-cute... An amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them, that has a Once Upon a Time twist to it in a way that I love. In the next episode, titled... Tallahassee, Hook and Emma climb the beanstalk together to face off against the giant to steal the compass and Emma leaves Hook cuffed inside the giants' castle. However, during their adventure, Hook and Emma come to know more about one another and that they have a lot in common as they reveal other truths about themselves, and they have some really beautiful moments, especially with their looks. Then, Hook and Emma just continue to interact off and on throughout season two even though Hook is still very much a villain. And finally in the finale for season two... And Straight on 'Til Morning, Emma is able to understand why Hook wants to leave Storybrooke when it's about to be destroyed by Regina's fail safe, as she tells Hook she understands that he would rather run away to keep everyone at a distance and be alone in order to avoid him getting hurt, which is just what she does too, giving them a commonality. And later, Hook comes back because it means a lot to him that Emma reminds him that he could become a part of something. That he no longer had to be alone like he's been for over two hundred years. So, for me... I completely understand Hook's feelings for Emma being as they are and him falling in love with her. Emma's given a lot to him and has changed him from being a villain, back into a hero and friend. The good man he used to be back when his brother was still alive and all those years ago before he allows his deep pain to turn him into someone he no longer recognized and whom he hates, when no one else has ever been able to. It means more to Hook than he's ever let on to anyone. And more and more, he's struggling to reveal this to her. Emma isn't as open to him, but given her past with men, especially with Neal, her inability to connect with any man is completely understandable. Yet I think she reveals more to Hook more easily than she is able to reveal to Neal or anyone else. And in regards to Neal's feelings for Emma and his revelation about never giving up on fighting for her, and Emma's revelation that she's always loved him, but hoped that he really was dead because she can't feel the pain he put her through all over again... Once again, I can't help but feel that their feelings for one another haven't really been all that well established, especially because of the whole Tamara fiasco and her being his fiancée. A part of Emma will always love Neal because Neal was her first love, and she did love him once. And she remembers being in love with him, and like it is for most people... Most first love's, or real loves don't ever go away. However, when they first saw one another in New York in season two's episode, titled... Manhattan, Emma is angry with Neal and she has every right to be after Neal allowed her to take the fall for the stolen watches, then abandoned her. I really love Emma's confession when she reveals her secret. However, on top of her being angry that Neal is still alive, I feel like Emma is really saying that she can't be with him ever again because he broke her heart one too many times, which is true. He may have hurt her for good reasons, but she didn't know this for eleven years and that's a long time to feel like she did because of Neal's choices. Poor Emma. She's really torn up with how she feels towards Neal. Yes... A part of her will always love him, but a part of her is really struggling to forgive him for abandoning her years ago despite his good intentions, enough for her to allow herself to rekindle their romance. She also still struggles with her parents abandoning her too, so it's understandable. I really hope all of this makes sense. In case I confused you about where I currently stand on who Emma ought to be with should she wind up with either of them... I definitely prefer her to choose Hook. To me, Hook and Emma just have better chemistry with one another and even more in common than Emma has with Neal, in spite of Hook being a villain. Hook and Emma both have things about themselves they need to work on, but I love the bond being developed between Hook and Emma. It's really something special. Now, as for Hook revealing right away to Emma's parents that Neal is alive and in Neverland... I absolutely love it! And I am so proud of him! I am so happy he does so, because it puts him in a better light and shows that he's changed from being just the villain he was, and proves that Hook really is a man of honor, as he continues to prove that he isn't the same selfish pirate he first was, that especially David and the others still see him as. I'm happy Emma, Mary Margaret, and David are finally starting to come around to seeing Hook as more too. I also love Emma's, Mary Margaret's, and David's revelations too. Poor Mary Margaret and David. I really love how the truth about David being poisoned by the dreamshade and how Hook really saved him has come out at last. And Mary Margaret's confession about wanting another chance to have a baby because they missed out on seeing Emma growing up... It's so sad, heartbreaking, and yet so beautiful too. I understand her pain. Snow gave her daughter up to save her from the curse, or rather likely from her getting killed by Regina and her Black Knights. Because we know from previous episodes that she wanted to have baby Emma killed. Had Snow and David not put her into the wardrobe to save Emma, they would have lost her for good. But she also missed out on Emma growing up. So, of course I understand her pain. Was her delivery of her secret a bit harsh? Yes... Maybe. But I do understand. And sadly, Mary Margaret is very angry now with David for keeping his own secret from her. And I completely understand why she is. David should have told her the truth from the beginning, like Hook kept on urging him to do. Regarding Mary Margaret's secret being dark... It is a dark secret because she is ashamed for being upset by how Emma has come back into their lives, and because she is wanting to have another child without magical interference. Ashamed for wanting what Emma couldn't give her, and she's afraid that this truth would hurt Emma very deeply. And from the look on Emma's face the moment Mary Margaret tells her secret, you can see that Emma is upset by this revelation. Even if she doesn't allow her pain to show for long. Next... I love how Emma tells Mary Margaret in the beginning of the episode that she kissed Hook. It's not only a sweet mother/daughter moment shared between them, but I love that Emma is starting to think about Hook enough to want to share a moment she had with him with her mother. However, this moment was also more than that. It's just like I said in my comments after Good Form... Emma had kissed Hook in a sudden moment so she could avoid feeling anything about Neal's death and being so scared for Henry. She kissed him because she was feeling vulnerable and grateful to him, and she fell for his flirtations in a very spur of the moment, moment. However, now that Emma fears Neal might still be alive after all, she's worried about how Neal will react if he were to learn about this shared kiss between her and Hook, and that he's going to try to get back with her. She's also worried about what she still might feel for him too. She now has conflicted emotions and feelings towards both men, especially now that she also suspects Hook has feelings for her too, which is confirmed for her later on when Hook reveals his secret. I think that's really more the problem than anything else. She's also worried about Hook's feelings towards her and worries about how he will act now that Neal is alive again. She suspects he'll worry that Emma will choose to be with Neal over him and that he would leave once and for all, or go back to being a villain again if she's not careful with how she handles his feelings for her. I hope all of this makes sense as well. And in regards to Mary Margaret's extra positivity this season so far, until now, anyways... I feel it's because she's trying so hard to overcompensate because Emma is once again calling her Mary Margaret instead of Mom, and because Emma feels like an orphan and Mary Margaret is desperately trying to show Emma she isn't any longer. She's so desperate, that she's trying a little too hard to be so hopeful, positive, and the perfect mother she thinks Emma wants and needs. And this is a part of who Snow White/Mary Margaret is, which I love about her. Once again in the backstory... I love how Ariel does the right thing to save Snow from Regina, and in doing so, that Regina stole her voice so she couldn't tell Eric she loved him. So sad and so cruel on Regina's part. But I absolutely love this whole twist on Disney's, The Little Mermaid throughout the episode with Regina stealing Ariel's voice, and pretending to be Ursula to trick Ariel. I continue to love it when our characters take on multiple roles from other fairytales that aren't their own. But I also love that Ursula turns out to be real too, and in this revelation, it shows Ursula in the form of a statue. However, this isn't because Ursula is the statue, but because she reveals herself to Regina through the statue's form, as though her spirit possesses the statue. A part of this is also because the creators had yet to find an actress to play Ursula at this point in the show. So, they had to bring her into the show, in a way that doesn't reveal her true form. In an interview... Lana Parrilla mentions to the interviewer that her absolute favorite Disney villain has always been Ursula from The Little Mermaid, and so when she found out she would have the chance to play a version of Ursula, she was absolutely thrilled and so, so happy to be able to do so! I love this for her! :) I also really love how Ariel and Eric, and Eric's Maritime Kingdom all believe that Ursula is nothing more than a myth, or legend and that they pray to her and worship her because she's a Goddess of the seas. It's really brilliant and a beautiful twist on the story! And lastly... I love Regina teaming up with Rumple, and how Ariel has come into the present day storyline. And now... Ariel is about to head to Storybrooke to get something for Rumple and Regina. Oh... I also love how Regina reveals to Rumple that Belle from his mind was actually Pan's Shadow playing tricks on Rumple to mess with his head. Brilliant! It's kind of sad that Belle wasn't part of Rumple's mind like he believed, but I think it's very clever for her to be another of Pan's tricks used against Rumple. Rumple's scene with Pan is fantastic as well, like they always are. Overall... Ariel is such a fantastic episode from this season, and it is easily another of my favorite episodes from this Neverland arc. Ariel and Eric are adorable together. :) Thank you so much again, Tim!! Until next time... Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum