ONCE UPON A TIME Review: Don’t Mess With the Jones Brothers

Coming Down From the Pedestal

It’s a natural inclination to put our heroes on pedestals. They appear perfect, unable to fail. There’s just no way that they could be capable of doing any wrong. Unfortunately, by turning anyone into a hero, there will always come a day when that person will let you down.

Killian’s personal hero is Liam, and in his eyes his elder brother can do no wrong. There have only been two Once installments where Liam has actually appeared, one of them being this episode, but the impact of his character has helped create the Killian Jones we know and love.

He wanted to emulate that good form of Liam, living a life of honor and integrity. However just like the rest of us, Liam Jones is flawed. In an effort to ensure a better future, Liam made a deal with Hades and traded the souls of those aboard the cargo ship. In the Underworld instead of bonding with and getting to know Emma, Liam makes a quick judgement call on her character and deems her unfit to be with his younger brother. Yet Liam Jones’ greatest failure comes from making a deal with Hades again, motivated by preserving Killian’s heroic version of him.

Personal heroes are allowed to make mistakes; they’re human after all. What is more inspirational is how our hero goes forward in light of their mistakes. Do they own up to it, or do they act like it never happened? Liam Jones might still have been a hero to Killian if he were honest with him after making the deal with the Lord of the Underworld by owning up to the failure and choosing to do the right thing moving forward. Yet Liam chooses to keep Killian in the dark about his own darkness, and continues the façade of the perfect brother. Ultimately, this does more harm than good, leading to some strain between Emma and Killian.

Thankfully the truth is exposed to Killian, bringing Liam down from an inaccessible level to a human one while still preserving his hero status. When Liam and Killian are taken to the fiery pit, Liam selflessly sacrifices himself for his brother. He admits that he was wrong about his judgement of Emma. Liam Jones sees the error of his ways and actively chooses to make it right. Everything he did was for the sake of his younger brother but finally did right by him in making up for his mistakes. Liam Jones is still one of Killian’s heroes, with the same amount of love and respect, and helped ensure a future for Killian. By removing Liam from the podium, Killian brought the expectations for his brother and himself down to a more realistic level. This specific type of realignment brings closure to the brothers Jones as they say goodbye and part their separate ways.

 NEXT: A Hero Worthy to be Saved