Summary of Once Upon a Time: A Broken Heart and a Hero (2023)

In Camelot, many years ago, there lived a man named Merlin. He sought out the darkness in revenge for destroying the only woman he'd ever loved.

And then he became a tree.

Okay, that's obviously not the whole story. ButOnce upon a timeTonight's Cold Open was a quick look at how Merlin got trapped in the first place after cornering the current Dark One (who looks more like one of Voldemort's Death Eaters in the silver mask) and trying to kill him. This obviously doesn't go down too well, and the Dark One decides to deal with Merlin once and for all: he uses his heartbreaking tear to turn him into a tree. (I hope at some point we get a full Merlin flashback of his time with the dark, because that story would interest me so much.)

Emma sees it all through a dreamcatcher who, thanks to dark magic, apparently also showed her the spell Arthur placed on her parents. Regina still doesn't know what's going on with the Charmings, but she's more than a little suspicious that they're both suddenly great at supporting Arthur and all of his ideas, to the point where they're killing the point. Just as Regina is about to hand over the dagger, Emma appears and freezes her parents with a spell, warning Regina of Arthur's plan to kill Merlin. Emma is still willing to risk using dark magic to free the wizard, though Regina is reluctant. "With all due respect, I'm not you," Emma snaps back. There. Upon learning that Merlin was trapped due to his grief over lost love, Regina realizes that they can save him: sometimes poison can be used to create an antidote. If only they could get another heartbreaking lost love's tear...

Henry and Violet, meanwhile, are in the stables, tying the knot over their horse and their dead parents, as is done. When Violet leaves Henry alone, he gets distracted by some swords and tries to be a hero. You know, like Arthur. (No one should want to be like Arthur.) Sir Morgan, Violet's father, finds him and basically realizes that he has no skill with a sword or a horse, and of course not because Henry is from the modern world and not Camelot. However, Henry is proud of who he is - a writer - and Sir Morgan is less than thrilled about that fact because he isjust a writer. (Thanks for the boost in career confidence,Once!)

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Back in Storybrooke, Regina and company try to figure out how the squire disappeared. Arthur is obviously not revealing the truth, and Guinevere points out that her people are worried and afraid of not returning home. They need something to lift their spirits – how about a dance, suggests Henry? Apparently, Snow is there at least until Belle shows up to alert her that Rumple is missing. (Hey, finally someone noticed!) Rumple is still with Emma, ​​who asks him to draw his sword. Rumple says he can't and tries to convince Emma of the former Dark One's reasoning, which he has no intention of listening to. She summons her secret weapon, also known as Merida, and uses her heart to control it to take Rumple into the woods to force him to "be brave" and make him the hero he needs to be, to wrest the sword from her. stone. I know what the show is trying to do with this, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm a little grumpy that we're going down this path with Merida when the point of her story (and more heroic stories) is that the bravery in a physical fight need not be defined by weapon or strength.

NEXT: A dream is a wish your heart makes (before it breaks)

Merida really, REALLY doesn't have Rumple's unwillingness to fight and his constant self-mockery about how he'll never be brave enough, especially since she has no interest in being in Storybrooke. She just wants to go home, save her family, and the sooner she takes care of that, the sooner she can get her heart back and move on with her life. She finds the storybook containing Rumple's story and then breaks into his stuff, stealing the chipped cup and using it to remind him what he needs to fight for. It's working, at least enough to get him to do some healthy sword swings, but as Merida notes, "We still have a long way to go before you're ready to take on Emma." Will the final showdown be So an Emma? /Rumple war in the first half of the season? Or will it be Emma against all of Storybrooke and Camelot? I'm still trying to figure out how this story is going to fit together, but we still have a few weeks to put it all together.

Regina, Hook, Belle and Robin try to break into Emma's house to see what she is hiding even though it is protected by a spell so that no one can enter (except Henry, and thanks to Belle's idea Regina summons her son's scarf). Inside). They find the sword below and realize that the dagger and sword are one, and Belle finds ropes on the ground, meaning Rumple was there. Before they can get anywhere, however, Regina receives a text message from Henry that Emma is returning, and the group flees - though not before Hook notices the dreamcatcher Emma was looking at earlier, which Regina realizes may be the key to unlocking the mysteries of his lost time in Camelot.

Back in Camelot, Regina and Emma find Henry in the woods and find him practicing with a sword. For what reason? So of course Violet will find him worthy. The two mothers try to gently counsel their son, with Regina telling him to be himself - after all, that's why she fell in love with Daniel in the first place. Henry takes her advice and leaves Violet a message asking her to meet him at Granny's, where he sets the table nicely and impresses her with lemonade on their first date. Violet is happy and involved in it all until she realizes what Henry is trying to do - and, sorry, Henry. although you broughtHarold e Maudefor quite some time, Violet is just not that into you. Understandably, this breaks Henry's heart... and seems to underscore the fact that he's definitely not a hero.

By this time, Regina has realized that they can get the antidote from her and her memories of Daniel's death. She willingly allows herself to use the dreamcatcher to relive the worst moment of her life (which also confronts viewers and reminds them of how awful this all was when it happened). Emma gets her tears and also a new perspective on her old nemesis: Little did she know that Regina's life had been turned so terribly upside down, and her mother no less. It's safe to say that Emma now sees Regina in a new light, and it's about time.

There's just one problem with Regina's memory: it still hurts, but it's also been so long since Daniel, and now she has Robin, and she's pretty much healed, so her pain isn't bad enough. (Poor Regina: first she's not powerful enough as a Dark One, now even memories of her have softened.) They are interrupted by Henry, who tearfully admits he acted like himself and was rejected by his first love. As Regina comforts him, Emma sees an opportunity and uses Henry's tear, which works - although Arthur arrives with his knights to try to stop the spell, Regina defends herself with magic, and Emma develops enough dark power to save Merlin from the tree to save. . Alive! Merlin tells Emma that he has been waiting for her. (Sorry Arthur. You're just a disappointment.)

NEXT: Henry the Hero

Charming and the gang talk to Guinevere and Arthur and tell them what they found in Emma's basement. You will learn what we learned before: that the sword can erase all black magic forever, but in the wrong hands it can also destroy everything.Lichtalso magic. And it bothers everyone, but especially Snow and Charming, that no one can remember how Emma fell so far. Especially since they freed Merlin, who, in Camelot, met everyone in Storybrooke after Emma freed her parents from Arthur's spell. According to Merlin, he can free Emma from the darkness, although there's a caveat: Is her heart ready to be free? she's ready She needs to make the decision, just as Merlin does, and the fact that Emma seems hesitant to respond should show us how far she's fallen.

Violet feels like she can't make it to the party while her beloved horse is missing, so Henry, still trying to see the optimistic hope in his mother, tries to enlist Emma's help. Surprisingly, Emma goes along with Henry's quest and even seems a little softer when they get in the car together and ask about Henry's attraction to Violet. As far as the Dark Ones go, Emma is definitely a different breed than the Dark One, with traits more akin to Regina (manipulation and feigned kindness) than Rumple (downright evil and heartless). Violet's horse likes pumpkins, so Emma takes her to Peter Peter's pumpkin patch because Violet's horse loves pumpkins. And viola! Operation: Save Violet's Horse = Success! Henry becomes a hero in this tale, complete with a kiss, a swanky heroic appearance AND his father's approval.

But this isOnce, and not everything is what it seems. When Robin and Regina try to use the dreamcatcher from Emma's house to find out what happened to her in Camelot, we see a different memory: one that looks like Henry's. It's actually from Emma because she visited Violet at the stables right after she found the note about meeting Henry for dinner. Emma steals her heart and forces her to break Henry on the date, much to Regina's horror. As if that wasn't enough, Henry gets to hear the whole thing and his renewed perception of his reformed mother is put to rest. At least now we know why Emma grabbed that dreamcatcher and cried at the beginning of the episode. While this was a terrible ulterior motive that Regina rightly pointed out as very similar to how Cora would have acted, I firmly believe that Emma, ​​like Regina, genuinely cares about her son and wants the best for him, no matter what. how far has it gone. she is.

This makes their fight even more intense towards the end and one of the episode's strongest points. I always loved the dichotomy between Regina and Emma, ​​and I missed it so much when Regina started to lean more towards the good side. Despite their differences, the one universal thing that has always united the two characters is their love for Henry, and that's something that's reflected in their new roles. But Regina is wiser now - she was there on both ends. She was the one being manipulated and the one doing the manipulation. And she will no longer accept Emma's actions if it continues to hurt her son. (Seriously, poor Henry. Can't he reconcile with a mother who doesn't always get in trouble about something?)

Lost and Final Odds: