Save Henry

"Now, let's go save Henry."

- Regina Mills

"Save Henry" is the ninth episode of Season Three of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Christine Boylan & Daniel T. Thomsen, and directed by Andy Goddard. It is the fifty-third episode of the series overall, and premiered on December 1, 2013.

Synopsis
While Henry's life hangs in the balance, the race is on to stop Pan from gaining full magical powers from the heart of the truest believer. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke of the past, Regina decides to fill a void in her life and, with Mr. Gold's help, sets out to adopt a baby.

Recap
Back in the Enchanted Forest, as the curse makes its way to the Royal Castle, the Evil Queen heads to Rumplestiltskin's cell to inform him that she cast the curse. He asks her how it felt, and she replied by saying it felt like victory. He follows up by asking how it felt to kill her father. She says it doesn't matter how it felt, but he reminds her that all the curse will accomplish is a void that cannot be filled.

In present day Neverland, Emma, Regina, and Neal try to wake up Henry, as Peter Pan lands back on Skull Rock. Emma asks what he did to Henry, but he professes that it was Henry himself who gave him his heart. Emma pulls out her sword and goes after him, but he quick disasters and grabs Pandora's Box, saying that if Rumplestiltskin didn't have the guts to hurt him, neither do the heroes. As Peter Pan leaves, Regina promises that she will save him.

Eleven years ago in Storybrooke, Regina is filling out paperwork when Archie comes into her house. He asks if everything is okay and Regina says "yes". Archie, however, knows she's lying and asks again. When Regina says she doesn't feel anything, Archie asks when she didn't feel nothing. She responds by saying she felt happy when Owen visited. He then tells her a child can provide meaning to one's life.

Regina immediately goes to Mr. Gold for help. She mentions that adoption agencies have a two year waiting list, but she thinks he can help. He agrees to help, but he warns her that she must put her child first, no matter what.

Back in Neverland, Regina casts a preservation spell on Henry to keep him alive, while they find Pan. Emma suggests to go where Pan lives, but Regina says the plan is idiotic. When Emma tells her to calm down, regina explains that her son is dying and no one knows how she feels, so she wants to find Henry without wasting time. Neal explains that Pan is too powerful, but Regina professes that if he can bleed, then they can take him out.

Emma, Regina, and Neal meet up with the group and everyone makes a plan to get the Lost Boys to tell them where Pan is. Regina suggests torture, but Emma thinks giving them want every kid wants, a mother, is the best way.

Back in Storybrooke eleven years ago, Mr. Gold tells Regina that an adoption agency is looking to give a baby boy a home, and Regina will be a able to adopt him.

When Regina travels to the adoption agency, the adoption agent tells her that her application is very good, and he brings the baby boy in. When she meets him, Regina names him Henry after her father.

In Neverland, Emma tries to persuade the Lost Boys into helping her find Pan. She tells them that if they help she will take them home. Everyone agrees to this expect Felix. Emma manages to get them to tell her that Pan is at his thinking tree.

Regina takes baby Henry to Granny's Diner, where he starts to cry. Granny comes up to Regina and tells her to tell him a bedtime story, but when she does, he spits on her. To this, Regina takes Henry to the hospital, where Dr. Whale gives him an exam. He assures her that there is nothing wrong with him, but if she wanted to make sure, she would have to find information on Henry's birthmother. Regina then asks Sidney to find the records illegally.

Emma and her allies make a plan to find Pan at his thinking tree and bring Henry his heart. Neal suggests that they should get the Lost Boys on the Jolly Roger and prepare it for flight, while Emma, Regina, and Mary Margaret get back Henry's heart.

Regina goes home and is trying to work when Henry starts crying again. She picks him up and cradles him in her arms and he stops crying. Sidney then calls and faxes Emma's information to her and she is shocked. Regina goes directly to Mr. Gold, asking him if Henry's birthmother is important. He doesn't know what she is talking about, but she get increasingly angry and decides to give Henry back.

Emma, Regina, and Mary Margret find Pan's thinking tree and Pandora's Box. As Mary Margret tries to grab it, she, Emma, and Regina are tied up to the tree. Pan comes out of the shadows and tells them that they will be reunited with Henry, but only in death.

Regina goes back to the agency to give Henry back, but she is sad it didn't work out. When the adoption agent goes to make final preparations for the new family, Regina changes her mind and decides to keep him.

Peter Pan explain that the tree Emma, Mary Margret, and Regina are tied to attacks the regret in one's souls. He tells them they will not escape because each of them has actions that they regret. He tells Emma that she regrets giving up Henry and Mary Margret regrets giving up Emma, but when he says Regina should regret casting the curse and murdering thousands, she says she doesn't because it got her a son. As soon as she says this the vines holding them to the tree break and Regina takes back Henry's heart and Pandora's Box.

Emma rushes back to the ship with Henry's heart, where Hook is putting the Lost Boys onboard. She puts Henry's heart back in his chest, and he wakes up after a few seconds. Hook suggests that Henry gets some rest in the Captain's quarters.

Regina invites Archie again and discusses her child with him. He thinks it is amazing that she found someone to love, but Regina is worried that Emma may come to take Henry back someday. Archie tells her to live in the present, but Regina is too scared that she won't be happy if she keeps dreading the future. She goes into her vault to make a forgetting potion so she can enjoy being with Henry.

Regina tucks Henry in bed and put a protection spell on his heart, so no one can take it ever again. Back on the second floor of the ship, Neal releases Mr. Gold from the Pandora's Box and they share a hug. Quickly, Mr. Gold realizes Henry is in trouble and gets to him just in time, as Pan is trying to rip his shadow out. Luckily, Mr. Gold is able to trap him in Pandora's Box, but Pan switches bodies with Henry, and he ends up trapped.

Regina, Emma, and Neal trap the shadow on the sail by launching it out of a cannon. The ship begins to fly and everyone plans to get back to Storybook soon. Everyone reunites with and thanks one another. Henry comes back to the top of the ship and talks to Felix. Felix is mad at him at first, but when he discovers he is not Henry, and in fact Pan, he begins to smile. Pan professes that since no one knows he switched bodies with Henry, he and Felix and defeat the heroes.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina Mills
 * Josh Dallas as David Nolan
 * Emilie de Ravin (Credit only)
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Michael Raymond-James as Neal Cassidy
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * David Anders as Dr. Whale
 * Beverley Elliott as Granny
 * Giancarlo Esposito as Sidney Glass (Voice)
 * Robbie Kay as Peter Pan
 * Raphael Sbarge as Archie Hopper
 * Julian D. Christopher as Adoption agent
 * Parker Croft as Felix
 * James Immekus as keychain
 * Matt Kane as glasses
 * Rose McIver as Tinker Bell
 * Freya Tingley as Wendy

Co-Starring

 * Jack Di Blasio as Lost Boy #2
 * Darien Provost as Lost Boy #1

Uncredited

 * Lee Arenberg as Grumpy*
 * Unknown baby as Henry Mills

Trivia
Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features Pan's shadow.
 * The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on October 18, 2013.
 * The establishing shot of Boston is stock footage from "The Stranger".
 * An establishing shot of Granny's Diner is stock footage from "The Thing You Love Most". It is also used for Underbrooke in "Ruby Slippers", but with a different color hue. In the latter, Storybrooke's clock tower has been digitally replaced by the Underbrooke Library's broken version.
 * According to Regina, the Boston adoption agency is called Boston Angels Adoption, and is located on Dartmouth Street.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Enchanted Forest events take place immediately after "The Thing You Love Most" and concurrently with "Pilot", "The Stranger" and "Queen of Hearts"".
 * The Neverland events occur after "Think Lovely Thoughts".
 * The Storybrooke events take three weeks after "The Heart of the Truest Believer" (according to "Pilot") and several years before "Firebird", and in the same year as the Snow Queen's arrival in Storybrooke in "Shattered Sight".

Episode Connections

 * Rumplestiltskin mentions that casting the Dark Curse has left a hole in Regina's heart, which Maleficent warned her about in "The Thing You Love Most".
 * Regina mentions her time with Owen Flynn in "Welcome to Storybrooke".
 * Regina's adoption of Henry was first described in "Pilot".
 * This episode reveals the story of how Mr. Gold "procured" Henry for Regina, which was previously alluded to in "The Thing You Love Most" and "Lacey".
 * Ruby's so-called "problems", which Granny is referring to, were explored in "Pilot", "Red-Handed" and "Welcome to Storybrooke".
 * This is not the only time Sidney uses his investigative skills to uncover hidden information for Regina; he also does this in "The Thing You Love Most" and "Desperate Souls".
 * Regina makes a reference to Emma being found as a baby in "The Stranger". This episode reveals Emma was found outside of Storybrooke.
 * Henry is released from Pandora's Box in "The New Neverland".
 * Henry's and Pan's bodies are switched back in "Going Home".


 * -|Cultural References=

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features Hook, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the shadow, Wendy Darling, John Darling and Michael Darling from the Peter Pan story as well as the Evil Queen from the Snow White fairy tale and Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale.

Disney

 * Regina mentions the game Space Paranoids from the movie Tron.

Pop Culture

 * The figurine set in Mr. Gold's pawnshop represents a famed king of the Qin Dynasty of Ancient China whose name, Qin Shi Huang, literally means "First Emperor of Qin". He is identifiable as the figurine wearing a headdress and clothing with a dragon pattern. Surrounding him are the Terracotta Army, which represent the life-size sculptures of the same name that were historically buried with him as funerary art. The kneeling style of the warriors are iconic poses of some of the actual sculptures.
 * The Adoption Agent mentions Sandals, a chain of all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean.
 * Issues of the magazines "Oh&S" (Occupational Healthy & Safety Magazine) and "Today's Parent" are sitting on a shelf at the hospital.
 * Hook's line to Emma, "As you wish, m'lady", is a reference to the movie The Princess Bride where Wesley the Dread Pirate Roberts says, "As you wish" to Princess Buttercup, which actually means "I love you". Colin O'Donoghue's portrayal is inspired by this character.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * Henry's bed cot in Neverland has an Emmie Spets pillowcase and an Emelina Knopp quilt cover from IKEA.

Set Dressing

 * The framed picture outside Regina's kitchen is "Rosa indica Fragrans - Rosier des Indes odorant", a watercolor picture by the famous Belgian nineteenth century painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté, from his work The Roses, published between 1817 and 1824. Rosa indica is a synonym for Rosa chinensis, more commonly known as China rose.
 * The same picture is in Regina's bedroom in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", and one of the rooms that Cora searches in "In the Name of the Brother".

Costume Notes

 * In the Storybrooke flashback, Regina wears a Fabrizio Riva Gold Milky Diamond Circle Pendant Necklace.