Once Upon a Fangirl...: The Brothers Jones

In this episode, Hook enlists the help of his brother Liam to find the Underbrooke version of the book to discover Hades' story & if there's a way to defeat him (along with stupid bickering over how Liam thinks Emma isn't good for him). However, Hades blackmails him by telling him if he doesn't rip out the pages of his story from the book at the Sorcerer's mansion, he will reveal what his unfinished business really is to Hook. After a cliched misunderstanding, Hook realizes the truth as Captain Silver had overheard the conversation at the bar. With that, he & the other dead pirates decide to throw them into the pits of Hell, only for Liam to sacrifice himself, therefore completing his unfinished business and is allowed to go to a better place with the rest of the dead crew. The flashbacks reveal exactly what happened: Liam had taken over Captain Silver's ship (where he & Killian were cabin boys) & Hades offered him a deal for he & his brother to survive the hurricane so they can have better lives along with the Eye of the Storm in exchange for the crew dying, which he accepted. After they survive the hurricane, Liam & Killian come across the Royal Navy and after proving their bravery by showing them the sapphire, they them to be a part of Navy as part their crew. Oh yeah, and there's a subplot involving Cruella & Henry finding the quill which leads to David pretending to be James, where it's revealed that she & James are in a relationship (although she knows it's really David when seducing him) & that he resents his brother for being the one their mother kept.

Given that this is a Hook centric episode, I think you can immediately tell that I didn't really enjoy this one. Not only was the backstory uninteresting, but it felt like filler compared to the huge revelations in the last episode. It really doesn't help that Rumple doesn't even appear in this episode, nor is he ever mentioned & it only feels more bizarre because none of the group even questions where he is! Anyway, the plot just felt tiredsome & cliched, from the overprotective brother disapproving of Emma (even if he's actually right about her being selfish), Hook having self esteem issues which just result in him feeling sorry for himself & pointless bickering over not returning to Storybrooke and my least favourite, a third act misunderstanding over Liam lying to everyone. The flashbacks can also qualify as while they admittedly did a good job with adding more character to Liam, the irony surrounding Killian every single time he says his brother is a 'true hero' just made me feel like banging my head against a wall, it was that hilariously obvious he wasn't! And given that nothing happens to Emma & Hook in the long term, this just made me hate them even more because what qualifies for 'angst' never sticks for them & they never have any actual problems.

However, I will say that there were a few good things in this episode. Seeing Cruella & David's subplot was hilarious from start to finish, especially after the reveal that she knew he was pretending to be his twin brother the whole time. And the connection of that with Henry wanting to use the quill for the right reasons rather than abuse his power for Cruella's sake was a nice bit of character development for him given that he hasn't really done much to further the main story since he saved everyone from the AU in season 4. Keep in mind I only said a FEW good things.

Despite that funny subplot & admittedly good characterization of Liam, the rest of the episode just left me bored. With stupid cliches, annoying CaptainSwan & a filler plot, it's no doubt this will end up on my worst list by default (although it's definitely not the worst of the season, let me tell you that!)

Can't believe he's actually helping her!

Nice to see you again Apprentice...bit weird the rules work differently with resurrecting people down there.

Hook, stop wallowing in your self pity!

Nice to see you again, Liam!

Nice ponytail, Hook!

Of course their boss is a jerk. Surprised that he's letting them try to be part of the King's navy...at least Liam

Interesting exposition over the Underworld version of the book...not surprised though, that it's not in Snow's closet!

'Is this an overprotective brother talk where you want to make sure I'm good enough for Killian?' 'No. Because I already know you're not good enough.' 'What?' 'Killian blames himself for ending up here, but he told me what happened. Sounds to me what happened wasn't his fault; it's yours.' 'I think we both made mistakes.' 'Killian's been fighting darkness his entire life and you pushed him off the cliff.' 'I was trying to save his life.' 'Well, it was a bloody selfish thing to do. He had the chance to die a hero, to move on, and you took it from him.' Yeah, I agree with Liam on this! Emma has been selfish with Hook!

Why doesn't Henry just tell them about Cruella's plans...?

Yeah, that was stupid spending giving Silver all their silver for booze...

Haha! 'Wow. Even for the Underworld, it is dead in here!' And not so sure about that deal...

OK, didn't expect Cruella to be with James!

'He doesn't think I'm good enough for Hook.' 'To be honest, you're TOO good for Hook!' Couldn't have said it better myself, Regina! She can do better.

*Sighs* How I miss that mansion. Which begs the question, why did it belong to Merlin if he never went to Storybrooke?

So he's really risking the lives of his crew just for a gem?

Well, that was an easy way of taking over the ship!

Haha! 'Don't argue with your mother!' 'Bu-' 'Or your mother.'

Liam, what are you doing...?

HAHA! 'Does this act really work on him? Because frankly, I find that repulsive.' 'Oh, boo! Couldn't you have pretended to be Jimmy a little while longer?!' 'Wait, you mean all this time, you knew?!'

'Back during the first curse, I tore out my story out of Henry's book so he wouldn't know I was the Evil Queen.' Wait, I thought he did that to show Emma her story (which included pictures of Regina)!

Yeah, now's not really the right time to talk about who's in the right over Liam!

Haha! 'You're a demon!' 'Technically I'm a god, but everyone makes that mistake!'

Kind of a dick move letting the entire crew sans your brother die for you to have a better life!

Stop with the stupid bickering & declaring you're not returning to Storybroke when it's obvious you will!

'MY BROTHER, LIAM, IS A TRUE HERO! A BETTER MAN AND A BETTER SAILOR THAN I COULD EVER WISH TO BE! I WOULD GLADLY TRUST HIM WITH MY LIFE, AND IF HE SAYS THERE'S A CHANCE THAT WE CAN BE SAVED, THEN HE WILL SAVE US! BUT WE HAVE TO TRUST HIM!' Oh. The. Irony.