Under the tutelage of Rumplestiltskin, Regina is learning the ways of dark magic. Her first assignment is taking and destroying the heart of an innocent unicorn. Yes, a unicorn.
But Regina’s heart is still soft; she can’t do it.
Rumplestiltskin is displeased. He needs Regina do become powerful in magic…powerful enough to one day give him what he desires—a land without magic.
Regina wants to learn magic but she will not become her mother. She will not take hearts and destroy them (figuratively and literally). Why then does she want magic, Rumplestiltskin queries? For what purpose will her magic have?
Regina immediately exclaims, to bring back her dead fiancé, Daniel.
Bring back the dead? Oh no. It can’t be done. Dead is dead. That is beyond Rumplestiltskin’s realm of magic.
Enter Jefferson. Ah, but there is one who is able, he shares. One who is known for bringing the dead to life.
Who is he, Regina wonders? Can Jefferson bring him to her? Of course, but for a price. A heart, an enchanted heart is all this wizard asks for.
Regina knows about her mother’s stash of hearts. She can’t take a heart herself, but she can give the wizard one that her mother has taken. Who’s heart? Even Regina does not know for her mother has taken so many.
The wizard agrees. For one heart he will give Regina’s fiancé life.
The wizard walks into a tent that has been set up. Daniel’s body lies peacefully. The wizard opens the box with the heart, and with a spark of lightning he pushes the heart into Daniel’s chest.
Did it work? How can Regina be sure that this man can hold up his end of the deal?
Jefferson says that the wizard’s powers are beyond magic. In the wizard’s world, he knows of things stronger than magic. What exactly, Jefferson does not know. Regina must simply trust.
However, when the wizard exits the tent, Daniel remains as still as the grave. It did not work.
So pleased is Rumplestiltskin that he later approaches Jefferson and the wizard. He is overjoyed that their ruse worked. By convincing Regina that the wizard could not bring Daniel back, the wizard had indeed created a monster out of Regina for Rumplestiltskin. Now she is mold-able for Rumplestiltskin’s benefit, that is.
With the deed done, the wizard prepares to be transported back to his world. He has some unfinished business. Creating a monster is too vile a term. Rather he is bringing back someone he lost as well. And this requires more than mere magic.
Rumplestiltskin disagrees. Nothing is more powerful than magic. Besides, it is only through a magical heart that this wizard can perform his task.
Jefferson takes the man back to his world where we see a scene straight from Frankenstein, for this is who the wizard truly is. With the heart he acquired during his time in Fairy Tale Land, Dr. Frankenstein, with electricity, brings to life his brother, the famously pieced together monster.
For it is not magic that has done this but science…
Archie’s only too happy to help, but when Dr. Whale interrupts their session, Archie can’t help but question Regina’s steadfastness. Can she truly quit using magic?
Later, Regina is driving home in the rain. Through the downpour she glimpses a familiar figure: her fiancé. But how can that be? He’s dead and preserved wholly in her mausoleum?
Dr. Whale will know; after all, he tried, unsuccessfully, to bring Daniel back once before. Down in the eerie hallways of the hospital, where Regina kept Belle, the lights flicker. Unperturbed, Regina calls out for Dr. Whale. It’s then that she spots the bloodied cloths and a severed arm on a cart. Jumping back, she shoves the cart aside and discovers Dr. Whale, minus his left arm, on the floor.
Demanding to know what he’s done, Regina gets Dr. Whale to confirm that he has indeed brought Daniel to life. Regina gets Dr. Whale some immediate hospital attention from upstairs.
Meanwhile, Prince Charming has taken Henry to the Storybrooke Stables to teach him all about knighthood. The first step is learning to take care of one’s valiant steed. Mucking out stalls, feeding it, and waiting until it tells Henry that it is ready for Henry to ride it.
Charming leaves Henry to check on the dwarves’ progress in the mines. Henry can stay and begin his care for the horse. Charming will be back soon.
Disappointed that he can’t ride the horse right away, Henry begins to brush the steed, frequently asking the horse if he has anything to tell Henry, aka, ride me.
Prince Charming, after receiving a call that Dr. Whale had been injured, enters the hospital and spots Regina. She confesses to him her knowledge about Dr. Whale and that he is truly a wizard. He can bring people to life with enchanted hearts, and he has brought her fiancé back from the dead.
Whose heart does Daniel have? Regina doesn’t know; she’s taken so many. (Sound familiar, Regina)? And yes all the hearts are in Storybrooke.
Charming is shocked, but Regina continues. She needs to confirm Daniel’s location with Whale. The only solution she has come up with is that Daniel must have gone to the last place they were together, much like Charming did when he awoke from his coma and went to the Troll Bridge.
Where were they together last? The stables…
Henry.
The two rush to the stables.
Henry, impatiently questioning his horse, is interrupted by a shadow. The horses spook as a large figure enters the stall. Daniel has his sights set on Henry, who, in defense, outstretches his hand.
Wrong move, Henry! Cora did the same thing when she took Daniel’s heart!
Daniel lunges and begins to choke Henry. But before any irreparable damage can be done, Charming and Regina swoop in. Locking the monster in the stall, Henry makes a run for it.
Regina fights Charming. She wants to talk to her fiancé. Maybe she can calm him. But she will not let Charming kill him, nor will she use magic on him.
Finally, Charming opens the door and Daniel immediately lunges at Regina, choking her. Regina, through strangled breaths, professes her love for Daniel.
The change is immediate. Daniel, “human” again, tells Regina that she must let him go. If she loves him, she must give him up and love another.
Heartbroken, but wanting to end his suffering, Regina uses magic on him to make him disappear. She visits Archie and confesses that she used magic.
Why? To use it again, of course.
No, the other reason. Oh, to get back to his world. He still has some unfinished business involving his brother.
While Mr. Gold can’t get Dr. Whale back to his world, he can cure him…for a price.
Dr. Whale knows what Mr. Gold is asking for and out of his mouth comes the words Mr. Gold desires: Magic is the most powerful.
Viola! Dr. Whale has his arm back, fully functional.
The morning is bright and clear, but death is in the air. The small band of women stumbles upon their safe haven; however, the haven is not so safe. Bodies litter the ground. An ogre attack? No, Mary Margaret exclaims, Cora! See the missing hearts, that’s Cora’s signature.
But under the rubble, there is a survivor. A man without a hand. He claims his hand was taken from an ogre attack and that he merely hid from Cora when she attacked this camp.
Emma, with her “ever-reliable” inner lie detector, doesn’t believe a word of his story. Her group supports her feelings and ties the survivor to a tree. With an earsplitting whistle, Emma essentially calls for an ogre. In minutes the beast will appear and he can eat the lying stranger for all she cares. That is unless he confesses the truth.
As the ground starts to shake, the stranger confesses that his name is Killian Jones, AKA Captain Hook. Emma rolls her eyes. Captain Hook, really? But she listens as he explains Cora’s plan to use the wardrobe’s enchantment to get to Storybrooke. However, she needs more magic, which is encased in a compass. Hook knows its location, not Cora, and he is willing to help these women find it before Cora. Just let him live!
Not so fast, Emma says. Why does Hook want to get to Storybrooke? He better answer truthfully if he wants to live.
Hook, eyeing the dagger aimed at his throat, replies, he wants to seek revenge on the one who took his hand, the crocodile Rumplestiltskin.
Emma needs not further explanation. She cuts Hook down and they all set off to retrieve the magical compass.
Where is it? Why up a beanstalk of course!
And it’s not the climb they must worry about but the giant that resides at the top!
1) What is so magical about the compass at the top of the beanstalk? How will it get them to Storybrooke?
2) Will Emma’s and Snow White’s strengths complement each other while in Fairy Tale Land? Or must Emma still completely rely on her mother?
3) When will Emma and Mary Margaret return to Storybrooke? Will Cora sneak back with them? What about Hook?
4) Can Hook be trusted?
5) What more havoc will Dr. Whale wreck upon Storybrooke?
6) Does Storybrooke really have hospital doctors that can be trusted with lives?
7) Can Regina truly change and quit using magic? Will she earn back Henry’s trust? Will Regina find another man to love?
8) What will happen to all of Regina’s hearts now that Charming knows about them?
9) Can Once Upon a Time truly meld the fairy tales we love with the likes of Frankenstein?
10) Who loved this episode? I know I did!
~ Taryn