Season 5, Episode 15:
The Brothers Jones
Hook and Emma must defeat Hades in order to return to Storybrooke with the others. A surprise visit from Hook's departed brother Liam just might provide the lead they were looking for...but also a dark secret from the past. Meanwhile, Hades redoubles his efforts to trap the heroes in the Underworld by playing them against one another, David has to face the sins of his own brother, and Cruella pulls Henry into her scheme to return to life.
Tropes
- Big Brother Instinct: Liam has this toward Killian to the point he will give up his freedom and a chance for the King's Navy to stay with him, make a deal with the god of the underworld himself to spare their lives, and is convinced Emma isn't good enough for his brother because in his view she is selfishly trying to keep Killian from forgiving himself and moving on just so he can stay with her.
- Big Brother Worship: Obviously, Killian in spades for Liam thanks to how Liam helped him out in the past. This turns out to be ironic, since not only did he perform selfish actions to save them and achieve their dreams all while still pretending to be a hero, but the very things Killian worshiped him for made him feel he could never be as a good a hero—and later, that he was only a villain who was not worth saving. This last point is made by Liam himself once he realizes and admits his failures.
- Broken Pedestal: Killian is shaken when he discovers how Liam has been working for Hades both in the past and the present and caused the deaths of their previous shipmates.
- The Bus Came Back: Liam, Hook's brother, returns. We also see the Apprentice return to warn Henry not to help Cruella.
- Chekhov's Gun: Hades notes to Liam that he can't go into the Sorcerer's mansion to take the pages from the book himself because it is guarded by Merlin's spells and "he and light magic don't mix". Considering one of the mortal party in the Underworld is the Savior and Regina has also proven capable of wielding it...*
- Couch Gag: The title card features the Jewel of the Realm.
- Dark Secret:
- Liam's is that he made a deal with Hades to sacrifice an entire ship in exchange for his and Killian's survival.
- Hades has one too - a romance with Zelena of all people, which he doesn't want anyone else to know about.
- Deal with the Devil: Long ago, Liam made one with Hades to ensure his and Killian's survival and entry into the Royal Navy, at the expense of the lives of everyone else on their ship. He also makes one in the present, to destroy the storybook pages in return for Hades not revealing to Hook about the previous deal.
- Dramatic Irony: In a flashback, Hook's slave-owner mocks the idea that he would be a good captain. Also, Liam's talk of a "noble life in the King's Navy" smacks of this, given the outcome of that.
- Everyone Hates Hades: Obliquely referenced and mocked (despite the fact that his actions make it still an appropriate view to hold in this universe) when Liam calls Hades a demon and Hades responds, "No, I'm a god, but everyone gets that wrong."
- Evil Twin: David openly calls James this.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Long John Silver happened to be coming down the stairs into Liam's bar for a drink, and overheard both Hades's deal with Liam and that the latter had traded him and his crew's lives for the Eye of the Storm and protection.
- Forgiveness: Explicitly stated by Regina to be what Hook's Unfinished Business is, not being able to forgive himself for having been so easily tempted by the Dark One's powers and thinking he is not worth saving. But in the end it turns out he actually needs to forgive his brother once the truth of his less-than-exemplary actions comes out, and forgiving himself only applies in thinking he does deserve to be saved and have a future, so that he will come back with Emma instead of passing on.
- Half-Truth: The Apprentice admits that his claim to Henry that The Quill can't be used to bring back the dead was one of these: It can't...in the living world, but the rules are more flexible in The Underworld.
- Hero Ball: Henry carries this until near the episode's end, since he is so desperate to be one rather than just the person in distress heroes rescue that he is willing to help Cruella, ignore the Apprentice's warning, and sneak away from the others in the Sorcerer's mansion to steal the quill.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After realizing that his deal with Hades is going to cost both him and Killian their souls, that pleading with the souls of the crew he betrayed to spare Killian isn't going to work, and that Hades is going to claim Killian anyway for not having taken his deal, Liam allows Hades to throw him in the fire in his brother's place...and when Killian catches him he states the only way to atone for what he did is to go willingly into the fire. Like Henry Sr., this of course is what purifies him and allows both him and the crewmen's souls to move on.
- History Repeats: Turns out Killian has mutinied more than once in his life as a sailor.
- Impersonating the Evil Twin: David pretends to be James to fool Cruella, as the two are lovers. Subverted as it turns out Cruella wasn't fooled for a second and just played along for fun.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Even Hook has to agree a bit with Liam's point on how Emma has put herself and her family in danger to rescue Killian (by turning him into a Dark One, which ultimately led to this whole Underworld situation) rather than letting him die a hero in Camelot.
- MacGuffin: The Eye of the Storm; it is only seen once when Hades offers it to Liam, and again after he and Killian make it to shore, but it's never revealed if it can actually do what is claimed, nor is it ever seen again. Which makes what Liam sacrificed for it even more damning, really.
- Magic A Is Magic A: While Hades has unlimited power in the Underworld, his magic is limited in the "Over World" - he can't personally kill anybody for starters.
- Mythology Gag: Liam tells Killian that he has "become a true hero in a way that I never could." "Become a true hero" was basically Hercules' goal throughout the film (and even had a musical number devoted to it).
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Killian dumping praise on his brother, who's clearly uncomfortable with it in light of everything he's done.
- Oh, Crap!: The expression of the pirates when Hades shows up when they're trying to deal with the Jones Brothers.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Liam gives one to Emma on how Killian died nobly but her own selfish desire has put his soul in danger.Emma: Were you this self-righteous when you were alive?Liam: When it comes to my brother, yes.
- Retcon:
- With the knowledge that Liam already knew the king had been sending men to find the Eye of the Storm, despite how deadly and fruitless such a quest had always been to so many sailors, his chronologically later (but previously aired) refusal to believe the king could have been sending them to find a deadly poison rather than a source of healing rings a bit hollow, if not seeming rather unbelievable. On the other hand, with Liam's own shady dealings to save his and his brother's lives and get into the navy, it may have been easier for him to rationalize the king's actions, especially if he could convince himself the search for the gem, while dangerous, was not as obviously wrong or immoral as one for a deadly poison to use against his enemies. (The implication, after all, is that the sapphire can control the weather, which while this could also be used very badly against one's enemies, it at least has the possibility of being used only for good, to protect the kingdom and its ships from bad weather; a poison has no such saving grace. Also, it's shown that at least one member of the royal navy did find it a foolish quest, while the captain of their ship wasn't a member of the navy, so he might have pretended that it wasn't actually an official order from the king.)
- Regina says she tore pages out of the storybook so that Henry wouldn't know she was the Evil Queen; but in the series premiere, Henry already knew she was the Evil Queen, while Regina did not yet know the storybook existed. It's possible she was referring to events prior to the series premiere and just pretending to Emma that she didn't know about Henry's book, but in that case when and how did Henry find out who she was? It's also possible she was only referring to certain pages with some of her darkest of deeds (so that he knew she was the Evil Queen, but not all she did during her tyrannical reign), but if so this is not clear from the dialogue.
- Secret Test of Character: The Apprentice tells Henry where the quill and ink can be found, and leaves it up to him to decide what to do with them (since helping him do so will resolve his Unfinished Business), although warning him again that using the quill to change things is wrong, all he is to do is "write the stories." Not only does Henry pass the test, despite wanting so badly to be a hero rather than the one heroes rescue (and who end up doing nothing), by realizing such a thing isn't heroic, he realizes the clue the Apprentice was actually giving him: that by writing the stories he can save the day, since the quill will let him recreate the missing pages so they can find the information they need.
- Snipe Hunt: To some extent the search for the "Eye of the Storm" is this, since even though it exists, no one has ever found it or returned alive if they did, so sending someone to do so (or deciding to go on your own) amounts to a pointless search.
- Take a Third Option: Henry, dealing with his guilt for not being able to save Emma or Hook and that he's always on the sidelines being rescued or doing nothing, thinks he either needs to do as Cruella asks with the quill or continue being useless. But it turns out the thing he thinks doesn't matter (the stories) provides him another, genuinely heroic way out—using those stories to rewrite the missing pages and tell them how to defeat Hades.
- Take My Hand!: Happens with Liam and Killian at the edge of the Fire and Brimstone Hell pit; Liam chooses to let go to atone.
- This Is Gonna Suck: David realizing Cruella thinks he's James and the two are lovers.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Henry's subplot with Cruella, the Apprentice, and the Author's quill turns out to intersect with the main plot twice. First, when the others learn from Liam that there is an Underworld Edition of the storybook, which might tell them Hades' weakness, Henry is able to both tell them where it likely is (the Underworld Sorcerer's Mansion) and how to get in—with the key which David's Evil Twin has at the sheriff's office. Then at the end of the episode, after the pages were destroyed and there seems no way to win, Henry realizes the heroic thing to do is use the quill, not to bring back Cruella to help Emma, but to write the stories as he's supposed to...because that will let him recreate the pages and give them the information they need.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hades visibly loses his composure when the way to Olympus opens for Liam:Hades: You will pay for this.
- Wham Shot: Hades looking at the page with him and Zelena together and noting "our secret is safe."
