In present day fairly land, Cora is not happy with Hook –
he’s stolen her protection spell and not got her the compass. Hook tries
several tricks (even his pretty pretty face with the obligatory pirate
eye-liner) to try to convince her to keep him on side – but she dumps him, refusing
to take him with her to Storybrooke when she leaves. She has a different plan,
returning to the massacred sanctuary that Mulan, Lancelot and Phillip had, she
uses one of her many stolen hearts to raise the bodies as zombies.
Meanwhile, Emma, Aurora, Mulan and Snow are discussing
Aurora’s dream – and the fact she saw Henry. Snow, who was also under a
sleeping curse, tells them she thinks the room was real. They hatch an idea –
they can talk to Henry who can talk to Rumple to find them a way out.
Back to sleep Aurora and back to the fiery room with the
disco floor to talk to Henry, tell him Snow and Emma are fine and ask for his
help
Henry wakes up and tells Regina and Charming that Emma
and Snow are alive yay! And they need Rumple’s help to stop… Regina’s mother.
Much less yay.
Time to go see Rumple, who is having a burger date at
Grannies with Belle (Granny, like everyone else, hates him. I’d almost pity him
if he weren’t so utterly awesome). Regina comes in and tells Rumple they need
to talk – Granny tries to empty the diner fearing a black magic duel, but
Regina assures her it’s ok. Rumple snarks at Regina (“hey Belle, this is the
woman who locked you up for 28 years”) and makes it clear she’ll get nothing
from him. But Regina mentions Cora is coming – Rumple says he handled her
before – in the end – but Regina points out this time he has someone he cares
about that Cora can target.
In Fairyland, the gang look for a safe space for Aurora
to sleep and find Henry again – and Mulan notices Aurora’s arm is burned.
Realising it’s from the dream she tells Aurora not to risk her life for
strangers – but Aurora is determined to help.
In Storybrooke, Henry prepares to sleep in Rumple’s shop
(Regina bringing his blanket from home – I do like that we’re holding on to
Regina has Henry’s mother – the series has been awful in that regard) and
Regina and Rumple snark over whether Rumple is more powerful than Cora or not
(I love these two sniping at each other). Rumple gives Henry the way to capture
Cora – the same way that was used by Snow and Charming to capture him – using an
ink from the bottom of the ocean, accessible only by mermaids. Or him, he has a
private supply. Because he’s Rumplestiltskin, of course – and they’ll find that
in his gaol cell.
A great plan but the message in the fiery disco is
interrupted by Mulan waking Aurora early – their camp has been overrun by Cora’s
zombies. In the fighting, the group gets separated and Aurora is taken. In
Storybrooke, Henry wakes to tell them that he couldn’t get a message through –
and he also has burns.
Aurora is held captive by Cora who was apparently aiming
for someone else. She hopes that she can trade Aurora for the compass and
questions why Aurora is loyal to them. In exchange for her co-operation, Cora
offers to tell her how to get Phillip’s soul back from the wraith – but Aurora
isn’t having it, nor will she sell her loyalty.
But when Snow, Emma and Mulan receive Cora’s message,
Mulan is determined to give the compass in exchange for Aurora’s life. Snow
stops her and convinces them that she can go back to the netherworld and get
help from the Dark One (that would be Rumple) if they put her in a deep sleep
using Mulan’s sleeping powder – which means they have to go pick poppies to
make more of it (which are rare… poppies? Poppies? They’re unkillable!)
In Storybrooke, Rumple heals Henry’s arm and tells them
the wound was caused by Aurora being removed from the dream early. Charming and
Regina are against Henry going back if it can hurt them but Rumple says Cora
will kill Snow and Emma. Charming decides to go instead – Rumple will put him
under a sleeping curse and while under, he’ll meet Snow (who he is sure will
travel to the Netherworld because… well, because) and she’ll kiss him, curing
the curse. Simple!
Regina makes the curse, watched by Henry and he asks her
about magic and she reassures him that she hasn’t been using it. And that she
won’t let him come to harm and he’s sure Charming and Snow will succeed – because
they always find each other. It’s another parent moment, I love it.
Back in Fairyland, Hook rescues Aurora to spite Cora and
prove to Emma & co that they’re loyal and the deal still stands. While
looking for poppies Snow has to convince Emma not to blame herself for
everything since she’s angry that she didn’t believe Henry’s stories. Emma resolves to blame Regina instead.
Snow and Charming enter dream world – but they have to
find each other since Charming is currently under a curse, not returning after
recovering from one. Using the necklace Rumple gave Henry he manages to break
into the fiery disco. Charming quickly tells her about the ink to use on Cora.
But because it’s a Netherworld, they can’t touch – Snow can’t kiss Charming so
he can’t break the sleeping curse.
Snow wakes - and
starts to panic, the only way she can save Charming is to get back to
Storybrooke in the real world not just in dreams. But while they slept Mulan
left with the compass. Emma and Snow track Mulan down and Snow fires a warning
arrow to stop her running. Mulan goes for her sword, but Snow forces her to the
floor and holds an arrow point to her throat. Mulan won’t give in though and says
she’ll have to use the arrow. Before anyone can do anything, Aurora arrives,
freed by Hook, to tell them all to stop
Hook, meanwhile, has stayed with Cora who is unhappy with
him. But he has a present for her in his satchel – a present we don’t get to
see.
Aurora tells them how she escaped and that Hook cares for
Emma – but we see Cora saying the same words into a heart, it looks like she’s
manipulating Aurora like a puppet. It’s Aurora’s heart and Hook can now go get
the compass and Cora knows where they’re going to try and stop her
Can we not have Mulan become the protector of the
precious Aurora? It’s bad enough that she’s a woefully underused character.
Seriously, because Phillip asked her to look after Aurora she now becomes
president of the “We love Aurora” fanclub? The only think we know about this
character is that she loved and served Phillip and that love is now being transferred
into service for Aurora?
I take it with the mention of Phillip’s soul travelling
to a different realm that he’s likely to show up in Storybrooke.
Personally, I’d like to see Cora come through and face
Regina and Rumple working as a team – you know that would be several kinds of
awesome.
I do love how things are coming together - and Rumple and Regina are awesome.
