We’re back with Pan and the Lost Boys. Pan tells them that Henry is willing to do whatever it takes on Skull Rock to bring magic back to Neverland. Henry is always causing trouble, right? Speaking of, everyone is still looking for Henry. Gold tells the others that Pandora’s Box will trap Pan if he opens the lid, but Neal has them all convinced that Gold came to Neverland to kill Henry. This family has some issues!
Neal tells Gold that he still doesn’t trust him, so Gold hands Pandora’s Box over to him. Gold also reveals that Pan destroyed his father, meaning Pan is probably the most angst-filled teenager ever. Can you imagine?
Emma tells Hook that they need to save David, but Hook says David is screwed. Luckily, Gold overhears and points out that he can save David in Storybrooke with a potion from his shop.
Our heroes find Pan’s camp, with Regina giving a not-so-warm welcome by knocking out the Lost Boys. They find Wendy in her cage, and she has a touching reunion with Neal, although she barely recognizes him.
Wendy explains that she came to Neverland to save Neal. She then lies to them all about Pan, but finally reveals that Pan is sick. The only thing that can cure Pan is taking Henry’s heart, which will make Pan immortal but kill Henry. We don’t like this trade off at all!
Pan and Henry reach Skull Rock, where Pan draws a line in the sand with a stick as a protection spell. Everyone else reaches the island as well, but only Gold can cross the line, since he doesn’t have a shadow. Luckily, Emma is able to help Regina channel her apparent love of astronomy by blocking out the moon’s light, which eliminates their shadows.
Pan takes Henry to an enormous hourglass, which he claims is counting down to the end of Neverland’s magic. Pan slips away for a moment, where we learn that Pan is actually Gold’s dad. Wait a second..what!?
Pan wants Gold to give him another chance so they can have a fresh start together, but Gold is not loving the idea. Gold now has Pandora’s Box, since Neal gave it back to him, so Gold tries to use it on Pan. But Pan has switched their boxes, and so he turns Gold into a red smoke, which is then sucked into the real Pandora’s Box. So, uh, Pandora’s Box is basically a fancy Dustbuster?
Pan heads back to Henry and convinces Henry to pull out his own heart. Just as Henry is about to give it to Pan, our heroes arrive and tell Henry that Pan is tricking him. But Henry is convinced he needs to save magic, and so he puts his heart into Pan’s body, which causes a spell to spread throughout the island. Henry is knocked out, while Pan floats above them all, looking even more evil than usual.
In tonight’s Fairytale Land flashback, we meet Gold’s scheming father, who cheats the townspeople out of money with card games. Gold’s father gives Gold a doll but then leaves him with a few elderly women while he goes off to find work. In the meantime, the ladies teach Gold to use a spinning wheel, and Gold is actually quite good at it.
The women give Gold a magic bean, which he shows to his father. His father says they can use it to go to a place he saw in his mind as a boy when he would think happy thoughts. They use the bean to create a portal, and it takes them to this magic land.
Gold’s dad was previously able to fly in Neverland when he was a kid, but he realizes he needs pixie dust to do so. So he and Gold find an extremely tall tree, which apparently has the pixie dust. Gold’s dad wants Gold to climb the tree with him, but Gold isn’t feeling that. Gold’s dad heads up the tree, but when he reaches the pixie dust, he runs into the only other inhabitant of the island: The super-creepy shadow guy. Gold’s dad returns to his son, only to let the shadow take him so he can become a little boy again. And when the shadow leaves with Gold, we see Gold’s dad turn in… Peter Pan.
Finally, the shadow takes Pan to the hourglass and explains that his youth only lasts for a finite amount of time. Pan is determined to find a way to stay young forever.