This episode follows the origins of Hook's (Colin O'Donoghue) early life as he and his brother, Captain Liam (Bernard Curry), sail off under orders of the King to find a powerful indigenous plant on an uncharted land that could help heal any injury.
The episode, written by Christine Boylan and Daniel T. Thomsen and first broadcast on October 27, 2013, received positive reviews from critics.
Liam takes one and cuts it on his arm to prove to Killian that it is not deadly, but collapses as the poison invades his body.
Pan appears, offering Killian a deal in exchange for saving Liam by showing him a spring that will heal him.
As the vessel flies to return to its port, Liam apologizes to Killian and believes that they were tricked by the king to use the dreamshade to fuel a deadly war.
After Liam's burial at sea, Killian, who is now Captain, is furious over what he sees as cowardly and immoral methods used by his own kingdom.
He rallies the crew to join him in defying the King by burning the Pegasus' feathers and taking over the vessel, becoming pirates, and vowing never to sail to "that land" again.
He tells Henry that Neverland runs on imagination and belief and so if he closes his eyes and believes he’s holding a real sword, the stick will indeed become one.
However, the marks stop abruptly and Emma thinks this is because he lost hope, as she did when she was in the foster system.
David later finds a military insignia on the ground, which Hook discovers came from his brother's satchel, but lies to him that Liam lost in a duel with Pan.
He then spots a rock above them called Dead Man’s Peak, where he claims they could find a sextant that could help them to use Neal’s star chart to navigate off the island.
Regina decides that the only way to send Henry a message is to take out Devin's heart and control him as the messenger.
The team are reunited and David tells them that Hook saved his life from a Lost Boy's poisoned arrow.
Emma and Hook finally engaged in The Smooch That Broke the Internet, generating enough electricity to power an entire CGI castle.
Hell, even hot enough to make me a lot less grumpy about an episode that indulged in one of TV's most annoying habits: A plot centered on one character not telling another character crucial information, for absolutely no reason beyond artificially ratcheting up dramatic tension.
Go figure.."[4] Amy Scales of Entertainment Outlook gave it 4.5 stars: "Once Upon a Time fans were given a great treat with the story of how Killian Jones became a pirate and with another stellar performance by Robbie Kay as the manipulative Peter Pan.
Club gave the episode a B rating, saying that "Colin O’Donoghue does a commendable job of showing the procession from Killian Jones to Captain (almost) Hook: Betrayed by his king to retrieve a poison that kills his brother instead of a life-altering medicine, the rule-following Killian quickly transforms from a naval man into a rules-avoiding pirate.