'OUAT' Could Give Out Some Real Happy Endings

As much as I complain about Once Upon A Time, I do love this hot mess of a show from the bottom of my heart. It's why I call it out for its incessant nonsense — I know its potential and I hate seeing it sell itself (and its characters) short all the time for the sake of... well, I don't even know what they think they're accomplishing. Getting the teen fangirls on board by focusing more and more ~*super hot guys*~ instead of strong, badass women who don't need anyone to save them? I don't know, but the point is, I can rag on it all I want, but I'm still going to be parked in front of the TV on Sunday, March 6 and embark on this ill-conceived journey to the Underworld with the Storybrooke crew. And hey, we might just hand out some some happy endings!

Where am I getting all this, you may ask? Well, showrunner Eddy Kitsis, of course. He says that when we reunite with some old faces in the Underworld, "we have to wonder if we can’t help them find their happy endings even in the afterlife." Do we have to wonder that? I mean, really? Frankly, I don't know why the villains we're going to come face to face with again, as delightful to watch as they may be, even deserve a happy ending at all, especially when they were quite happy to die as villains and were never interested in redemption.

But let's play along, shall we? Here's what happy endings might seem like for the not-so-dearly departed:

Hook

I know the whole point of going to the Underworld is to bring Hook back to life, but if Once wants to retain any credibility at all, it won't break its own rules for the sake of furthering the Captain Swan 'ship (which needs to sink, stat) and death will remain irreversible — no offense to the seemingly lovely Colin O'Donoghue, of course. Perhaps his happy ending could be reuniting with Milah in the Underworld and finding peace with her death, since he's clearly never gotten over losing her. Perhaps it could be embracing his villain status and sailing the depths of the Underworld for all eternity. Killian's happy ending has to include accepting his wrongdoings and crossing over to the afterlife and finding peace with it all.

Neal

Poor Neal. He wasn't a villain at all, just a seriously tortured guy who made some really bad decisions in his life but really did mean well in the end, I think. He already made his final peace with his father before sacrificing his life for Storybrooke, but perhaps his happy ending could be having Emma's forgiveness for leaving her to be locked up in jail, give up her son, and be entirely alone — just as she had been her whole life before him. I think that was his only piece of unfinished business.

Peter Pan

Pan was actually Rumple's dad, and he sold out his own son because he couldn't deal with the fact that he was getting older and couldn't be a boy forever. Being that obsessed with youth is a serious mess, and trying to kill his own great-grandson to keep it just shows that he literally learned nothing in the however many decades he'd been living in Neverland. Perhaps his happy ending could be realizing that youth is fleeting and can't save you in the end, and truly apologizing to Rumple (which could give Rumple some much needed closure, as well).

Cora

Cora is, perhaps, the biggest villain of them all (or at least the most beloved, if that makes sense). She destroyed her daughter's life in an attempt to live vicariously, and while she did perhaps mean well in some weird way, her methods were... crude best, and downright abusive at worst. In order to find any peace at all, she'll need to make amends with Regina, to receive her forgiveness, and to repent for everything she did wrong. Is it likely? Not particularly, but it should be good to watch, anyway.

Images: ABC; Giphy