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" Once Upon a Time falls back to its standalone format this week. It barely touches on the current story arc, and aside from the last scene, present day Enchanted Forest doesn&amp;#039;t feature. There&amp;#039;s also no Emma or Mary Margaret or even Regina. Much of that, however, is made up for by the fact that we get a terrific new character in the form of Captain Hook. Played excellently by a charismatic Colin O&amp;#039;Donoghue, Killian Jones - as he&amp;#039;s known before losing his left hand - is both easy to get behind and fun to watch.  His backstory is a major part of Rumpelstiltskin&amp;#039;s flashbacks in &amp;#039;The Crocodile&amp;#039; - Rumpelstiltskin&amp;#039;s wife Milah has abruptly left him for a life with the captain and his band of pirates. Rumpelstiltskin is branded a coward when he backs out of a duel challenge and chooses not to fight for his wife. Rumpelstiltskin/Gold is usually a great character to watch, but his story here is pretty lacklustre. A combination of things contributes to this - in Storybrooke, the conflict between Gold and Belle was a little predictable (especially since they had problems of a similar sort just three episodes ago) and I found it hard to care about Milah. I don&amp;#039;t have anything particularly against the pairing of Gold and Belle, but I would like to see them happier for a longer period of time, if only to make their relationship feel more genuine. That said, even if you can see them a mile away, the problems they share (Is he a monster? Is he a coward?) do emphasise Gold&amp;#039;s efforts to change for her, adding more depth to his character. The manner in which Gold and Belle made up at the end was also sweet. It&amp;#039;s rare that Gold pours his heart out like that, admitting that he uses magic to hide his cowardice. Furthermore, we get the reason why he&amp;#039;s trying to get out of Storybrooke - to find his son Baelfire.  As for Milah, it was disappointing that she was pretty bland. The moment her character gets offed by the now-powerful Rumpelstiltskin lacked impact and struggled to be affecting (unlike the death of Charming&amp;#039;s mother last week), and we didn&amp;#039;t get an idea of what made her so special that two men were fighting for her. She was just a miserable woman who abandoned her husband and son in a flash. But the way Hook lost his hand was pretty cool. Turns out in this universe, it was Rumpelstiltskin who chopped it off to grab the magic bean. However, the captain did the good ol&amp;#039; switcheroo (the bean was in his other hand) and now with a hook for a hand, he uses it to open a portal to Neverland. Hook is actually in present day Enchanted Forest, and the last moment shows him and Cora scheming to get to Storybrooke. He&amp;#039;s still seething and looking for revenge against Rumpelstiltskin (&amp;quot;and I can skin myself a crocodile&amp;quot;) over the loss of Milah. Getting Cora and Hook to Storybrooke should prove to be fascinating - the two main antagonists in season one will have to watch out for enemies from their past. The inspired casting choice for Hook has me looking forward to his further appearances.  &amp;#039;The Crocodile&amp;#039; doesn&amp;#039;t get everything quite right, but it&amp;#039;s still entertaining and a significant improvement over large portions of last season. Even in the quieter moments, there was much to enjoy - from Ruby&amp;#039;s sense of smell to David taking on the mantle of acting sheriff and giving Gold relationship advice. Plus, we met Hook&amp;#039;s right-hand man Smee. It&amp;#039;s a good instalment and proves that the show is not dependent at all on the twisty nature that has much of season two so captivating so far.  What did you think of the episode? Leave your comments below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/once-upon-a-time/review/a432426/once-upon-a-time-the-crocodile-recap-captain-hooks-first-episode/>