Crocodiles and Captains

Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time

               If you watched last Sunday's Once Upon a Time, "The Crocodile," you now know the beginnings of Captain Hook, at least according to OUAT.   In all of his swashbuckling  Irish, guy-liner glory, Hook inspired fandoms before he even appeared on the show. Played by Colin O'Donoghue, Hook's story was, as always, different from what I expected.  This time, that wasn't always for the better.  Good old Rumplestiltskin loses his wife to the Captain's charms.  Frankly, I hated that part of the story.  Rumple's wife abandons her child and deserts her husband for selfish love.  When Rumplestiltskin rips her heart out later, causing part the Captain's hatred of him, I wasn't that devastated.  The best and most surprising part of the origin tale followed that Rumple, with his slick skin and gleaming trickery, is the crocodile who plagues Captain Hook.  Hook loses his hand over a magic bean that serves as a portal to other worlds.  Rumple slices the Captain's hand clean off to get the bean, only to later discover the Captain tricked him (and went off to Neverland to plot his revenge against "The Crocodile").

               Once Upon a Time, this one time, I didn't love your intro of the Captain.  You redeemed yourself though, with a very interesting and twist filled ending (which promised interesting beginnings).  While I still have a Sheriff sized hole in my heart, I will gladly welcome the addition of the swaggering pirate whose evil/good mixture makes him as dynamic as all of Once's characters.  On a side note, the creators of the show (who just happen to be Lost writers, which explains A LOT) revealed that the Sheriff/Huntsman was originally going to be Sherlock Holmes and that other characters that are not strictly fairytale will appear in future episodes.  I had always assumed the Sheriff was initially supposed to be Robin Hood.  I like the surprise though, and the fact that the show is raiding the shelves of stories for more great characters.  That and the fact that the writers started raving about Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock, which made me love them even more.

                Back in Storybrooke, I enjoyed Rumple's alter ego Mr. Gold facing Belle with honesty, owning up to the notion that he collects magic (and power) to hide his fear.  As for Belle, the library scene, and the fact that she's becoming more complex and empowered  made me grateful that Emile de Raven is now a series regular.

              I am certainly excited for next week's episode, where we find out the fairy tale identity of Mr. Whale.  It looks as though he is not the Whale from Pinocchio at least at first, but will instead be Dr. Frankenstein.  I always assumed that Dr. Whale was a man in the fairytale world who did something terrible, causing him to be cursed and turned into a whale.  I doubt I can actually predict OUAT writers, but you've go to admit it's an interesting theory.  To see how wrong I am, tune in Sunday at 8:00 on abc.