Labour of Love

In this one, we get to see Mary Margaret enlist the help of her old friend, demi-god Hercules (Jonathan Whitesell) to settle his unfinished business of killing Cerberus, the 12th and final labor he had failed to achieve before becoming a God in Olympus. After some motivation & persuading, they succeed with the help of none other than Meg, who Hook had freed from Hades' prison underground, ending with Hercules and Meg finally moving on to Mount Olympus. This all motivates Mary Margaret to become her old Snow White self, finally breaking out of her more naive & passive personality. Meanwhile, Henry reunites with Cruella, and she wants him to use the Author's quill which is it's own entity & has unfinished business) to bring her back to life, convincing him to do it so his mother won't be a murderer anymore. The flashbacks reveal the origins of Snow's archery & bandit skills, as Hercules had trained her as a pre-teen after bandits (paid by Regina) invade the kingdom & the subjects pressure her into solving the issue. At the end however, Hades reveals he wants the group to stay in the Underworld to punish them, by making it so that as one person moves on, another takes their place. This leaves Hook being forced to carve 3 names on 3 headstones as 3 characters have already moved on to a better place.
Given that Hades is the villain of this arc, it's no surprise that the characters from Hercules would pop up in this. But unlike the Disney version, this actually acknowledges that Hades is Herc's uncle and is actually a demi-god rather than a full god like in the film. Despite the prominence of Greek mythology in the arc however, Hercules himself and Meg only appear in this episode. I really feel that's a shame because they could have been much more interesting characters to know about, but we're only really given the basics with Hercules, but Whitesell does the best he can with the material given. And I really felt that the way Meg was characterized was a huge misstep because she had none of the sassy quirks which made her stand out from other Disney characters. Yes, she does help Herc & Snow with defeating Cerberus, but for the rest of the episode, all she does is act frightened as as damsel in distress. It just felt like she wasn't even the same character, she was that bland & uninteresting! Anyway, this was definitely more of a Snow White themed episode and I couldn't be more glad. After so long of her being wallflowerish and less active, it was a breath of fresh air seeing her be more assertive of herself up to the point that she didn't want to be called Mary Margaret anymore. The flashbacks can also apply to the character development as the writers have finally explained where Snow learned her archery skills. Seeing Bailee Madison return as Young Snow was such a delight as she still carried the same quirks and development as she had prior and made her more interesting. Her scenes with Jonathan Whitesell were also pretty heartwarming and it felt kinda funny seeing Snow have a little puppy love romance with Hercules given that we've always seen her with her True Love Charming. Oh yeah, and the Cruella subplot was funny thanks to Victoria Smurfit clearly having a ball returning, and it was interesting for her to use the fact Emma won't be a murderer if she's brought back to life, even if the exposition went against what the Apprentice said to Henry in the finale...
While the Hercules aspects fall flat for the most part thanks to a lack of screen time and Hades' convoluted plan, the character development from Snow all the more makes up for it. With very solid performances, questions being answered & Cruella returning, I'd say this is definitely worth checking out!

Eek!

Uh...who is she?

What the hell is that? (again, no pun intended)!

Pretty sweet seeing David motivating her to be more like her Bandit!Snow self!

Nice to see you again Young Snow!Wow!

Wow! Hercules looks...hot!

Didn't expect David to be the jealous type!

Well, that was quick!

Bit depressing the apartment is just waiting there for David & Mary Margaret to die!

Sweet seeing the two bonding!

Interesting set of medals!

Well, that explains how she learnt her archery skills!

Didn't expect the Blind Witch to help them find Herc!

Aww!

Smart idea, Robin!

Nice to see you again Cruella!

Haha! Love Regina calling Hercules 'Wonderboy!'

Poor Snow! At least she tried, bless her!

Wait, Regina's paying the bandits & wants the kingdom to turn against her?!

Haha! 'Who did you think was ruling this place? Your mommy?'

Haha! 'Oh, how I miss it! The music, the gin, the glamour...the gin.' Can't believe that Henry is considering her deal though...

Aww! 'You defeated me in a way I thought no one thought was possible! You made me your friend by never giving up on me.' Good on Regina for motivating her stepdaughter!

Pretty cool outfit!

Funny how casual he is while carrying such heavy objects!

What the?!

There's the Snow we love!

Aww!

Well, that was an anticlimactic way of defeating freaking Cerberus!

Woah, didn't think she'd find it THAT exhilarating!

'Megara. But my friends call me Meg.' Wait, she's MEG?! Where's the sass?! The spunk?! The snark?!

So she was also killed by Cerberus & they hardly knew each other despite being love interests in the movie...?

'You didn't know me in the Enchanted Forest, Emma, but I was someone who took risks even when she was afraid. I was someone who I guess, inspired people. An old enemy reminded me of that. I just don't want to ever run the risk of forgetting who I was again.' 'What are you saying, Mary Margaret?' 'What I'm saying is I don't want to be Mary Margaret anymore. I want to be Snow White again.' 'Well, it's about time!' Couldn't have said it better myself, Regina!

Nice recreation of Mount Olympus.

Why does he wants them to stay if they're causing trouble...? Curious over who Hook will pick to replace the souls that have moved on.