Good Form

"Good Form" is the fifth episode of Season Three of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Christine Boylan & Daniel T. Thomsen and directed by Jon Amiel. It is be the forty-ninth episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 27, 2013.

Synopsis
With the deadly Dreamshade coursing through David’s body and close to death, Hook takes him on one last journey to find a sextant that could help them decipher a map that would lead them off Neverland. Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tale Land that was, Killian Jones – aka Hook – and his brother, Captain Liam, sail off under orders of the King to find a powerful indigenous plant on an uncharted land that could help heal any injury.

Recap
The Lost Boys are dragging a man through the foliage, when they finally put him in a cage and then one says, "You know what to do."

Henry is sitting on a broken tree trunk and is seeing the Lost Boys partying, when somebody takes a stick and points it into his arm. Henry scowls and says, "Ow." From behind, a Lost Boy, Devin, is unimpressed by Henry as he wanted to see what the savior of magic looked like. He begins instigating Henry with a weapon, forcing him to move back and dodge hits. Henry shouts for him to stop, and attracts attention from everyone in the camp. Devin points at the stick underneath him, and tells Henry to pick it up. Henry is left little choice but to pick it up. Devin starts a battle, to which Henry weakly blocks his attacks. He proves to be much better and that causes the Lost Boys to laugh at Henry. Pan, who has been watching from nearby, states Henry's skill is not bad. Then, he walks over ask Henry to close his eyes and to imagine that he is actually holding a sword rather than a stick. Henry does as instructed and the brown twig in his hand turns into a silver sword; much to the Lost Boys' awe. Pan urges Henry onto another duel with Devin. This time, Henry proves himself more adept by managing to slash off Devin's stick and takes a swipe at his face. Devin is left with a bleeding cheek gash, which makes Henry shocked at his own actions as he quickly apologizes and drops the sword. Nonetheless, Pan states, "The best part about being a Lost Boy is you never say sorry", and puts the sword back in Henry's hand. The two turn to face the Lost Boys, and Pan raises Henry's sword arm in the air as everyone begins cheering for their savior.

With no way of using Neal's star map, Emma, Killian Jones, Regina, Mary Margaret and David linger in the cave looking for something of use. Spotting markings on a wall behind a bed, Emma begins to pull it away when Hook asks if she needs a hand. She perceives him to be joking, but Hook laughs and removes the bedding to reveal tally marks scribbled on the wall. Hook observes Neal must have counted the days he was trapped in Neverland. From looking at all the marks in total, Emma believes the last marking means Neal left the island, but comes to find reason that he actually lost hope and didn't see the merit in continuing to count. David reckons Pan wants Henry to begin losing hope, too. He tries to reassure Emma they will get her son back, but she knows Henry has no idea his family is coming. She proposes sending Henry a message to let him know, but Regina doesn't see a way around the situation since there are Lost Boys trying to constantly kill them. An idea strikes Mary Margaret that they can use it to their advantage, and she files out of the cave to show them as David and Regina follow out.

Emma begins leaving as well, but Hook stops her to give a heart-to-heart to admit he also knows how it feels to lose hope. Uncomfortable, Emma knows he's trying to bond with her, but it's not working so he should hold his breath. After she leaves, Hook, disappointed, turns out of the cave, but David comes back in to tell him Emma will never like him. Smirking, Hook asks why. David replies it's because he's nothing but a pirate.

In a flashback of the past, Lieutenant Killian Jones of the Jewel of the Realm is informing the ship crew that the king has some important job for them. Then he sees one of his sailors' shirt sticking out and puts it back in place. As he returns to speaking, Killian sees in the same sailors' jacket is a hidden bottle of rum. Taking it out, Killian announces doesn't want a sinking ship filled with drunk sailors as that is what rum will do to a whole crew. Suddenly, the captain, as well as Killian's brother, Liam Jones, comes to say it doesn't matter because the ship shan't sink. He tells everybody to go to their positions and takes Killian to the steering wheel of the ship. Once there, he admits the king's task for them is so huge that when the accomplish it, the name of Jones' brothers will rise to glory. Killian smiles at this news.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as 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 (Credit only)

Guest Starring

 * Parker Croft as Felix
 * Bernard Curry as Liam
 * Skyler Gisondo as Devin
 * Robbie Kay as Pan
 * Jordan Schartner as sailor

Production Notes

 * The title card features the Jolly Roger.
 * When Killian Jones is rallying his crew to take over the Jewel of the Realm and become pirates, he renames the ship Jolly Roger and says, "We'll sail under the crimson flag and give our enemies no quarter." "Jolly Roger" is the traditional name of the infamous pirate flag. During the Golden Age of Piracy, fighting under Jolly Roger, the black flag, meant that mercy would be given to all as long as they cooperated. Hoisting a red flag, on the other hand, signaled that "no quarter" would be given to any aboard if the ship's crew did not surrender without a fight; in other words, everyone aboard would be killed.

Event Chronology

 * The Enchanted Forest events take place before "The Crocodile".
 * The Neverland flashbacks occur after "Think Lovely Thoughts" and before "Second Star to the Right".
 * The present day Neverland events take place after "Nasty Habits" and before "Ariel".

Episode Connections

 * The origins of David's wound is shown in "Lost Girl".
 * The harbor where the Jewel of the Realm is docked, is the same harbor where the ship, now known as the Jolly Roger, is docked in "The Jolly Roger", "Snow Drifts" and "Fall" (although the buildings look slightly different in this episode and "Fall", since these scenes take place during the day).
 * Liam's sextant is seen again in "It's Not Easy Being Green".
 * The death of David's twin brother is shown in "The Shepherd".
 * Hook's life as a pirate is seen in "The Crocodile", "Snow Drifts" and "The Jolly Roger".

Lost

 * Regina offers Devin an Apollo bar.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of the Peter Pan story, focusing on how Hook and Peter Pan first met.
 * Also included are the Lost Boys from the same story.
 * Liam's directions to Neverland are "the second star to the right and straight on 'til morning"; quoting Peter's directions to Wendy in the story.

Popular Culture

 * Hook's line to Emma, "As you wish" 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.