The Heart of the Truest Believer

"The Heart of the Truest Believer" is the third season premiere of the American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, and the forty-fifth episode overall. It premiered on September 29, 2013.
This episode features the show's core characters journeying to Neverland in hopes of rescuing Henry (Jared S. Gilmore), who was captured by Greg (Ethan Embry) and Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green), before Peter Pan (Robbie Kay) can get his hands on him. While doing so, the characters must learn to co-operate during a dangerous storm. Meanwhile, Neal (Michael Raymond-James) tries to find a way out of the Enchanted Forest in order to save Emma (Jennifer Morrison) from the dangers that lie ahead for her.
==Plot==
===Opening Sequence===
Henry and the fugitive boy fly through a forest in Neverland.
===In the characters' pasts===
The episode opens eleven years prior, with Emma giving birth to Henry. As he is born, the lights in the hospital begin flickering and fading. The doctor tells Emma that she can change her mind about giving the baby up for adoption, but Emma replies that she isn't a mother.
===In Neverland===
Emma, Mary Margaret, David, Regina, Mr. Gold, and Hook arrive in Neverland via the portal from the magic bean. Gold admonishes Emma for not having enough belief, which is essential to have in a place like Neverland, and leaves the party to search for Henry on the island himself. Emma holds Mary Margaret and David accountable for what has happened, believing that she should never have broken the curse and simply left Storybrooke with Henry. Hook commiserates with her over the loss of Neal, but their mourning is interrupted by an attack on the Jolly Roger by mermaids. Mary Margaret and Emma catch one in a net, while Regina drives the others away with fire. The makeshift crew argues among themselves about what to do with the mermaid, who summons a storm with a conch shell. The storm continues to worsen, and Regina turns the mermaid into a wooden statue. Further arguing makes Mary Margaret finally release her years of rage against Regina and the two begin assaulting each other, prompting David to attempt to break it up and get drawn into a brawl with Hook. Emma realizes that their strife is causing the storm, echoing the mermaid's warning that they would kill themselves. In order to force them to co-operate, she dives overboard and is struck by a pulley that has fallen from the ship's rigging. The plan works as everyone puts aside their differences to help David get into the water to rescue her. The storm clears up and the Jolly Roger is able to approach the island. Despite Hook's earlier plan of making their way around the island and catching the Lost Boys by surprise, Emma elects to lead the crew on a direct assault route, declaring that they must believe in each other in order for them to succeed in Neverland.
Meanwhile, Henry is taken by Greg and Tamara through the jungle. Henry points out their unfounded trust in Peter Pan, a statement which begins to worry them when they discover the walkie-talkie they use to communicate with the Home Office is filled with sand. The Lost Boys soon find them, and reveal themselves to be the Home Office Greg and Tamara worked for, much to their displeasure. The leader of the Lost Boys, Felix, reveals that the plan was never to destroy magic, and that Greg and Tamara aren't meant to return to their world. The Shadow arrives and rips Greg's shadow from his body when he refuses to hand over Henry, and Tamara is shot with an arrow. Henry flees in the confusion, and is taken aside by a fellow runaway. The runaway reveals that he was a former Lost Boy, and stole pixie dust from Pan, hoping to escape from Neverland. However, he cannot make himself fly with it. Gold arrives at the scene of the skirmish, and finds Tamara still alive. She tells him that Henry ran, and that she and Greg had no idea that they were working for Pan. She also apologizes about Neal, but Gold crushes her heart. He and Felix then meet in a clearing, with Felix welcoming Gold but warning him that if he is in Neverland for Henry, that makes him Pan's enemy. Rumpelstiltskin remarks that nothing has changed, and scoffs at the idea of his survival, only wanting to take down as many Lost Boys as he can before he dies. Felix responds by leaving behind a doll of a boy, which reduces Rumpelstiltskin to tears.
Henry and the runaway attempt to find the Echo Caves, where the Lost Boys will not be able to track them, but come to a ravine. Henry takes the pixie dust, and has enough belief in its power to allow him to fly. The runaway reveals that he himself is Peter Pan, and that he has been seeking the heart of the truest believer, which resides in Henry. Pan then signals the Lost Boys, whom surround Henry.
===In the Enchanted Forest===
Neal wakes up in the same place where Aurora woke from her sleeping curse, being tended to by her, Prince Phillip, and Mulan. When Neal reveals that he knows Emma, Aurora tries to communicate with Henry through the Netherworld via the sleeping curse. When she is unsuccessful, Neal and Mulan set out for Rumpelstiltskin's castle, hoping to find something to lead them to Emma and Henry. When they arrive there, they meet Robing Hood, who has taken up residence in the castle, but allows them to search for what they seek to repay the life debt he owes Rumpelstiltskin. Finding his father's old staff, Neal manages to uncover a concealed cabinet full of magical objects, including a crystal ball that tells him that Emma is in Neverland.
==Gallery==
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Production - Emma.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Concept Art - Mermaid.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - New Mother.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Looking Back.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Giving Up Baby.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Emma Crying.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Lost Boys.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Henry and the Fugitive.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Fugitive.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Mermaid Tails.png|Mermaids beneath the waves.
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Three Mermaids.png|The Mermaids underwater
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Mermaids Swimming.png|Two Mermaids
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Attacking Ship.jpg|Mermaids attacking the ship
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Captured.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Captive Mermaid.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Mermaid.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Gold Squeezing Heart.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Summoning Storm.png|Mermaid summoning a storm
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Angry Mermaid.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Heroes Vs. Mermaid.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - David and Mermaid.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Examining Conch.png|Examining the mermaid's conch-shell flute.
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Storm Arrives.png|Lightning flashes as the mermaid summons a tempest.
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Mermaid 2.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Wooden Mermaid.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Robin Hood.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Search for Henry.png
Once Upon a Time - 3x01 - The Heart of the Truest Believer - Lost Boys Surround Henry.png
==Trivia==
*At the start of the episode, Regina and Hook are talking about villians not getting happy endings and when Hook talks about him not getting a happy ending, the camera pans down to Emma. This foreshadows their relationship at the end of the season and the season 4 episode, where Hook tells Emma she is his happy ending.
**Regina would get her happy ending as The Good Queen in the series finale.
*This episode picks up straight after Henry's kidnapping in the last episode.
*Neal directly mentions Fa Mulan's film with the same name. He tells the Once variant that the real world think fairytale characters, like Mulan, are not real and that they made a movie on how people in the real world think Mulan would be like. This greatly confuses Mulan, who asks what a movie is.
*The way David saves Emma from drowning, by tying a rope around himself and jumping into the water, mirrors the scene where John Smith saves Thomas from drowning in Disney's Pocahontas.
*Emma recalls slaying a dragon, which is detailed in "A Land Without Magic".
*The Land Without Magic flashbacks take place on August 15, 2001.In "The Dark Swan," Henry mentions that Regina uses his birthday for all of her passwords, including the one for the entrance to the psychiatric ward. In "A Tale of Two Sisters," Regina types 815 as password for the psychiatric ward, meaning that Henry's birthday is August 15. In "The Stranger," August Booth states that he started turning into wood again at the same time that Henry's mother Emma decided to stay in "Storybrooke" in "Pilot." A title card in "Selfless, Brave and True" establishes that this event took place in October 2011 (https://onceuponatime.fandom.com/wiki/File:218BareLeg.png, https://onceuponatime.fandom.com/wiki/File:218Clock.png; note that Phuket's timezone, where August is in this scene, is twelve hours ahead of Maine's time zone, where Emma is at the same moment). In "Pilot," it is stated that Henry was ten years old when Emma came to Storybrooke. In addition, a title card in "There's No Place Like Home" confirms that Emma met Henry's father, Neal, in 2001 (https://onceuponatime.fandom.com/wiki/File:322Portland2001.png ). Note that according to "Pilot," Emma decided to stay in Storybrooke the day after she celebrated her twenty-eight birthday, meaning that she was born in October 1983; the date is confirmed by the newspaper that Regina reads on the first day of the Dark Curse in "Welcome to Storybrooke" (https://onceuponatime.fandom.com/wiki/File:217DailyMirror.png). However, in "The Price of Gold," Emma states to Ashley that she was eighteen at the time she gave birth to Henry; this may have been an oversight by the show creators, or Emma may have been rounding up her age for convenience (from 17 years and 10 months to 18 years).
*Robin Hood mentions Rumplestiltskin sparing his life, which occurred in "Lacey."
**Robin Hood references the events of that episode, where he was shown breaking into the Dark One's castle to find a wand to heal Marian. 
*Blood Magic is seen and used again in "Witch Hunt."
*This episode is a rendition of the Peter Pan story, focusing on the appearance of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, and the adventures in Neverland.
**Also included are the mermaids, Captain Hook and the shadow from the same story.
*David wonders if the creature attacking them is a kraken; a legendary sea monster of giant proportions with multiple appendages.
*The episode introduces Peter Pan, the main antagonist of the first half of the season. He is later revealed to be Henry's great-grandfather.
*Sean Maquire is introduced as the new actor for the role of Robin Hood, taking over from Tom Ellis, who played him in the episode "Lacey".
==Cultural References==
The opening scene in this episode featured a clock in the hospital stopping at 8:15, another reference to Lost. Also, a Disney-related fourth wall was broken in this episode when Neal mentioned to Mulan that they made a movie about her and told her, Aurora, and Phillip that the outside world considers them fairy tale characters.
==Production==
On July 2, 2013, Adam Horowitz revealed the title of the episode through Twitter. ABC released the first promo for the season on August 13.
Edward Kitsis stated that the first few episodes of the season would focus on Peter Pan and his intentions for Henry, "but like any good mystery, you won't know the whole picture until you watch the whole 11 episodes".
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Once Upon a Time episodes