On Sunday’s episode of Once Upon A Time titled, “The Jolly Roger,” viewers were reintroduced to the character of Ariel as well as learned a bit about what happened in the year that no one in the town can seem to remember except for Captain Hook. Throughout the episode the story line mainly focuses on the two characters in the current time in Storybrooke as well as the lost year back in the Enchanted Forest.
The episode starts off back in the Enchanted Forest where viewers see Captain Hook back with his old crew of pirates, including the lovable Mr. Smee. However, they have lost the Jolly Roger and have now resorted to land piracy instead of on the sea in their ship. Everyone in the Enchanted Forest can see that Hook has changed since his trip to Neverland with Emma and it seems as if Hook’s heart has softened to love and kindness, something that is very un-pirate like.
At a random pub in the Enchanted Forest, the character Ariel is reintroduced when she ambushes Hook outside of the pub and demands he tell her where her long lost Prince Eric is, since she believes him to be his captor. Hook swears he has nothing to do with Eric’s disappearance and Ariel believes him and gives Hook a vital piece of information regarding who stole his Jolly Roger; the evil pirate Blackbeard. Hook then makes a vow to save his ship and Ariel tags along begging him to help her find Eric, to which he agrees.
Back in Storybrooke, Regina has agreed to start training Emma how to use her powers so that she can help her go up against the Wicked Witch, Zelena. Meanwhile, during the time Regina struggles to push Emma to use her powers to her potential, Mary Margaret and David are having struggles of their own as they are worried what Zelena could possibly want with their unborn baby.
The story jumps back to the Enchanted Forest where it shows Hook and Blackbeard battling to the death for the beloved Jolly Roger ship. Hook is about to prevail against Blackbeard in an epic sword fight when Blackbeard tells Hook and Ariel that he was Prince Eric’s captor all along and has left him on an island only he knows the location of. He gives Hook a deal; give up the Jolly Roger for the information on where Eric is or kill him and never find out where Eric is. Ariel begs Hook to choose love and helping her and give up the Jolly Roger, however Hook’s need to prove himself a pirate takes over his loving heart and he chooses to win back the Jolly Roger rather than help Ariel.
Ariel makes her appearance in Storybrooke as well looking for her Prince Eric again. She seeks the help of Hook yet again and also Belle who helps her try to locate Eric with a locator spell. The locator spell indicates that Eric has been lost to the sea in which Ariel is heartbroken. Hook feels guilty for choosing his ship over her in the Enchanted Forest and reveals to her what he did. In order to to make Hook pay for what he did, Ariel tells him he must swear to the woman he loves that he still believes in love and goodness. When he swears on Emma Swan’s name to Ariel, green smoke engulfs Hook’s lips and Ariel transforms into Zelena.
It was revealed that Ariel was Zelena in disguise the whole time in Storybrooke and the green smoke that appeared on Hook’s lips after he pledged his love to Emma was actually a curse. If Hook were to ever kiss Emma, she would then lose all of her powers which would be given up. Zelena threatens Hook that if he doesn’t kiss her, she will continuously torture all of Emma’s friends and family until he does.
Overall the episode ended on a bad note, and left the viewer with anxiety about what will happen to Emma and the awful position Hook is now left in.