‘Once Upon a Time’ season 3, episode 1 review: Who is Peter Pan? Meet Robbie Kay

You’ve waited for the “Once Upon a Time” premiere to be here for quite some time, and on this episode, we had a chance to finally get an answer to something many have pondered all summer: Just who is going to play Peter Pan? The producers did their best for the entirety of the summer in order to keep the casting a secret, and for a long time we didn’t quite understand just what the big secret was in the first place.

However, we now get why they kept the secret for so long that Robbie Kay, who was announced as nothing other than a mysterious Lost Boy over the summer, was actually playing the classic character (or in this case a villain). It was made to look for a while that he was actually on Henry’s side upon his arrival to Neverland, but minutes later, we learned that he was tricking him all along into believing that he was on his side.

The reason why Pan wanted Henry at Neverland, some sort of mumbo-jumbo about him having “the heart of the truest believer,” was actually the worst part of the episode. Why? It just did not make a whole lot of sense. However, his capture raises the stakes for him to be rescued even more than ever.

All aboard – We saw all of the main characters this week stumble their way through the high seas, getting attacked by mermaids and fighting constantly. However, the only thing that we really learned about these characters in the process is that they are open more to magic than ever. They also learned that Neverland is not really about them all conforming to a personality type; if they want to survive here, they have to figure out how to do it together.

As for Neal – While we saw nothing of Storybrooke at all this week, it did appear as though Neal finally found his connection to Emma and the others in Rumpelstiltskin’s old castle. This was a lovely little plot with some humor in it (including a good joke about the “Mulan” movie), and while he knows that Emma is alive, the bad news is that he knows she is in Neverland. Also bad news? That he does not know yet how Emma will know he is alive.

We want to close here with another fun little fact about Robbie Kay, who landed himself quite a big role here: He’s actually worked with a different sort of pirate before, having worked on “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

Overall, what did you think about the “Once Upon a Time” premiere? Be sure to share your thoughts below! Click here to check out a promo for next week.

Photo: ABC