Even though "Once Upon a Time" Season 7 premiered last week, it wasn't until the second episode that we finally got some answers. And while its name, "A Pirate's Life" gave us a clear notion that Captain Hook will be at the center of attention, it was the fate of Jennifer Morrison's Emma Swan that loomed over this episode. But there was much more going on, so without further ado, let's jump right in and explore everything that happened in "Once Upon a Time" Season 7 Episode 2: "A Pirate's Life."
The magic bottle saves the day
The episode began with Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and young Henry (Jared Gilmore) practicing sword fighting aboard a ship.
Even though it was a tie, Hook was eventually able to disarm Henry. Then, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) arrived and expressed concern about her son leaving home which seemed quite inevitable at this point. That's why Hook gave Henry a magic bottle just in case that he needs to summon his family.
It wasn't long until the bottle proved itself to be very useful as we next saw adult Henry (Andrew J. West) running from Lady Tremaine (Gabrielle Anwar) and the guards. He summoned Emma, Hook, and Regina, but that didn't stop him from being caught. And since he wasn't going to say anything about Cinderella, Lady Tremaine put her daughter Drizella (Adelaide Kane) in charge of Henry and told her to kill him if he refuses to speak.
Then, just as we were about to see that the daughter is just as cruel as the mother, Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and Regina (Lana Parrilla) arrived to save the day. Then, after a touching reunion, Henry asked about his other mom, and why she wasn't there despite the fact that he summoned her.
Hook jumped in and said how Emma is in Storybrook, fighting dragons.
This clever lie, as we soon realized it to be, satisfied Henry, but it also left the fans wondering about Emma's fate.
The story of two Hooks
Then, Henry gave Cinderella's slipper to Regina for her to put a location spell on it, but the magic didn't seem to work in this realm. Luckily for them, Hook somehow noticed that the slipper smells of the sea, so he went off to the port to check it out.
But instead of Cinderella, he found a drunken Hook from the Wish Realm - an alternative reality where Regina never cast the curse which brought everyone to Storybrooke.
Apparently, after learning that Emma fell in love with the real Hook, Wish Hook decided he wanted that life for himself. And that's why he knocked the real Hook out and asked from Lady Tremaine to made him look like his younger self so that he can pose as Emma's true love.
Emma's fate revealed
Next, a younger-looking Wish Hook told Henry a lie about Cinderella's whereabouts which left Henry heartbroken. It was then when Emma arrived and told her son that she stayed behind because of the pregnancy. That fact made Wish Hook change his mind, so he went to find the real Hook.
Back at the port, the two Hooks fought each other and Wish Hook ended up being mortally wounded. But after revealing that the only thing he wanted to do is to find his daughter, the real Hook called for Emma, hoping that the love she bears for him would be enough to save his doppelganger. Emma then asked Wish Hook to believe in her which ended up being just enough for him to be cured.
In the end, after saying goodbye to Henry, Emma got back to Storybrook through the portal with Hook, to enjoy her happy beginning. But Regina and Wish Hook decided to stay behind to help Henry.
Over to Hyperion Heights
After finding out that Victoria Belfry aka Lady Tramaine (Gabrielle Anwar) deliberately raised the ticket price for her daughter's ballet recital, Jacinda aka Cinderella (Dania Ramirez) started to look for part-time jobs.
Luckily, she ended up finding a catering job at the recital, thanks to Henry.
At the same time, Victoria Belfrie assigned detectives Rogers aka Hook and Weaver aka Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) to get rid of Henry. So at the recital, Weaver told Rogers to put Victoria's bracelet into Henry's pocket to frame him. But we later found out, that Rogers put the keys of Henry's apartment into his pocket, instead, because he didn't want to frame an innocent man. Rogers then found Henry at Roni's bar and told him about the missing girl and how he has a feeling that someone is preventing him from finding her. And after realizing that Victoria Belfry is the cause of all their trouble Rogers, Henry, and Roni aka Regina agreed to work together to take Victoria down.
