OUAT: One Wrong Turn

Last time on “OUAT:” We learned more about Ursula’s backstory—how her father made her use her beautiful singing voice to kill sailors as punishment for humans killing her mother. How Ursula rebelled and ran away, making friends with Hook. How Poseidon offered him a way to kill the Crocodile in exchange for his daughter’s voice, which he believed would take away her reason for running away. How Hook at first remained loyal to Ursula until Poseidon wronged him and so he wronged Ursula in retribution. How a bitter Ursula became the sea witch.

In the present, Hook tries to get Ursula her happy ending in order to get more information about Gold’s plan. Emma and her parents plot to rescue August, who reveals more information about the Author to the Queens of Darkness. Regina has a cryptic dream about Robin, leading her to ask Emma to track down her soul mate. A rescued August reveals that the Author is trapped in the book. Meanwhile, Ursula keeps her end of the bargain when her happy ending is restore. She tells Hook that Gold plans to turn Emma dark.

Are you keeping up?

Good.


We open in the Enchanted Forest. Charming and Snow trek through the forest until they find an unicorn. By touching its horn, they can have a glimpse into the future of their child—to see if s/he will be good or evil. Charming sees a young baby in a basket. He picks her up and cuddles her. It’s a bit heartbreaking to know that this is the most interaction he’ll ever have with baby Emma. Meanwhile, Snow sees teenage Emma, once again played by Abby Ross, wearing a pretty pink dress. She pulls out her mother’s heart and squeezes it, killing Snow. Releasing the horn, Charming declares their daughter good while Snow laments that she is evil.

(Good)

(Normal teenager?)

I think the unicorn isn’t very reliable. Charming believes their child will be good, so he sees Emma at her most innocent stage—a baby. Snow fears their child will be evil, so she sees Emma at her most likely time to go evil—as a teenager--and pulling out her mother’s heart.

In Storybrooke, Operation Mongoose has to take August to the convent. He’s experiencing some leftover problems from the potion Gold used on him. Blue and the other fairies tend to him. Regina, though, has to return to the Queens of Darkness. And they are expecting her to bring the page with the door on it. So Emma creates a copy for her but Regina fears they will see right through it. Regina takes a picture of the page instead, praying it will do since the villains don’t know the Author is trapped in the book. She then says goodbye to Henry, taking her time since she doesn’t know when she’ll see him again. Aww, sniff.

(Regal Believer feels)

When Emma and Henry return to the loft, Hook is there waiting. He reveals Gold’s plan, which unnerves the Charmings. Emma and Henry are pretty confident she won’t turn dark and that Gold’s plan won’t work. David and Mary Margaret whisper about their fears…despite the fact that Emma is standing right there. Snow really is bad at keeping secrets. She’s just lucky everyone else seems oblivious.

(Real subtle, guys)

In the Enchanted Forest, the Charmings return home, downcast. Snow is worried about their evil daughter. They come across a peddler whose wagon has gotten stuck in the mud off the road. Charming helps him right it and they share their brandy with him. He warns them not to keep going because Maleficent has turned into a dragon and laid an egg. She’s in full nesting mode and is destroying everything that approaches her nest. He advises the royal couple to take another road, which will lead them toward a cottage where a man will be able to help them. They thank him and let him keep their brandy.

(Remember this face)

Regina returns to the cottage and Cruella sasses that it took her so long, Cruella felt she aged. Regina shoots back that the villain looks it. She explains she was unable to get the page because the Savior was keeping close tabs on it. Everyone suspects Regina didn’t try hard enough but she reveals the picture. Cruella bemoans a lens flare obscuring the picture but Gold says that’s not just any lens flare. It’s magic. He realizes the Author is trapped in the book. They need to get the page.

Looks like Regina’s plan backfired. Oops.

(Regina trying not to reveal she's panicking on the inside)

Mary Margaret and David go for a walk. She believes they need to stop lying and tell Emma the truth. He believes they just need to destroy the page and prevent the Author from ever coming out. Jesus, Charming.

Meanwhile, at the loft, Hook is jealous of August. Emma assures him that August is only a friend, her first real one since Lily. She tells him he has nothing to worry about. Hook is the only leather-wearing man for Emma.

After walking the path in the Enchanted Forest, Snow and Charming comes across a small cabin in a clearing. The Apprentice is waiting outside for them. He invites them in for tea and a chat. The Charmings take him up on his offer.

(Welcome back!)

Inside, they talk to the Apprentice about their unicorn visions. The Apprentice pretty much confirms my theory that the unicorn is unreliable. He says that the baby Snow is carrying is a blank slate, like all babies are. She carries with her the potential for both good and evil. Charming and Snow saw both sides because both scenarios are possible.

He offers them a way to make sure their child is good. He says he can cast a spell that will transfer all the potential evil from Emma into another blank slate. Snow says they know where to get one—Maleficent’s egg. It’s just an egg after all, right?

(Be careful, you two)

Maleficent leads everyone from the cabin to Storybrooke. She stops and confronts Gold, saying she’s the most important part of his plan. And she wants him to keep up his end of their bargain. Gold says soon. So Maleficent puts everyone under a sleeping curse—we see Emma and Hook fall unconscious together on the couch.

Mary Margaret and David realize everyone else is asleep except them. Because they’ve both been under sleeping curses, so they must’ve been immune. However, Maleficent has put down most of the people in town before. Shouldn’t they be immune? Is it different? And is Aurora still awake? Does she even know Maleficent is in town? Did anyone think to tell her? David and Mary Margaret decide to use the opportunity to destroy the page with the door.

The villains watch Emma and Hook sleep and Cruella comments about how easy it would be to kill the Savior like this. Regina forbids it, saying  few they don’t need to rile the heroes up more. Everyone scours the apartment but the book is nowhere to be found. Gold says he knows that there are a few people who are immune to the sleeping curse…including a certain young man who has a strong connection to the book. Regina’s eyes go wide.

Cut to Henry, running across Storybrooke full steam toward the Sorcerer’s house, book in hand.

(Run, Henry, run!)

Ursula and Cruella guard Maleficent’s next, freezing cold. Cruella even makes a crack about turning two puppies into gloves. But she’s surprised when Ursula passes out on the floor. She’s next when Snow blows some dust in her face. That gives them the chance to sneak into Maleficent’s nest to steal her egg.
Dragon!Maleficent attacks them but they are undeterred. So she transforms back into human form. She decides once again to appeal to Snow’s maternal side. Because that went well last time. (And end sarcasm). She begs them to leave her child alone, saying she can’t lose it. Snow promises to return the egg before she and Charming bolt from the cave.

(Heroes or eggnappers?)

Henry hides in the Sorcerer’s house, under a desk in the secret room. When opens the book to the page with the door, he’s surprised when a light shines from under the door. It becomes a beam that’s focused on a desk drawer. He opens it and finds a brass key. As the door opens, Henry thinks he’s greeting his grandparents.

But it’s really Regina and she’s not alone—Cruella’s come with her. She threatens Henry, which activates Regina’s Mama Bear mode. Cruella backs down but tells Regina to make her son obey them. Regina demands that Henry turn over the page. When he resists, she uses his full name—Henry Daniel Mills. She named him after the two most important men in her life at that time. Excuse me while I go cry for a bit.

(Stern Mom Look)

Okay, I’m back. Anyway, Henry hands over the page and Regina leaves, taking Cruella with her.

The Charmings arrive and Henry reveals they just missed Regina and Cruella. He tells them that he gave his mother the fake page. They wonder if Regina knows that and Henry says he does. He says it was just a look she gave him and that’s how he knew to give her the fake page. He then shows them the key. David asks him to hand the key and real page over. Henry’s hesitant but does so because they’re his grandparents. And supposedly the good guys.

When Henry leaves, David goes to destroy the page. But Mary Margaret stops him. She doesn’t want to continue lying to Emma and then to lie to Henry. She also doesn’t want to destroy Regina’s one chance at happiness. Especially since Regina is keeping their secret and helping them by going undercover. She tells him it’s time to come clean. David agrees.

At Gold’s shop, Belle sleeps on the cot again. Did she just fall on it or…Oh, wait, Gold’s there. He probably put her on it. Gold sits by her bedside and tells her that he has a very good reason for doing everything he’s doing. That he hopes to tell her what it is soon and prays she forgives him. Because he still loves her. Yet this is still very creepy. Is Gold going to be the Beast and the Phantom of the Opera?

(Yeah, no. This is creepy)

Outside, Cruella and Regina met up with Maleficent and Gold. Regina hands over the page and Gold reveals it’s a fake. She tries to pretend that she was fooled but Gold isn’t buying her act anymore. Maleficent puts her under a sleeping curse and he tells the two remaining Queens it’s time to play hardball with Regina.

Back in the Enchanted Forest, Snow and Charming deliver the egg to the Apprentice. He casts the spell and all of Emma’s potential for evil transfers into the egg. A portal then opens, surprising the Charmings. The Apprentice explains that something with that much evil cannot remain in their land so he is exiling it somewhere else. As the portal pulls on the egg, it cracks a bit. A small arm is revealed and Snow realizes that Maleficent gave birth to a baby human, not a baby dragon. She and Charming try to save it but Ursula and Cruella interfere. They are pulled through the portal after the egg and the portal closes.

(Well, that's a bit extreme)

So that’s how Ursula and Cruella ended up in our world outside of the two curses.

Emma doesn’t take the news well. She’s pretty much in “What the hell, Hero?” mode and needs to get away from the loft. Mary Margaret tries to stop her, saying she’s Emma’s mother. Emma responds that she doesn’t care, reminding Mary Margaret of the vision she saw when she touched the unicorn. Emma leaves the loft.

(They may have broken Emma)

Hook tracks her down later, meeting her on the docks. He hugs Emma before telling her that August is awake. He says that they figured she’d rather hear it from him instead of her parents. Emma agrees and they go off to visit August in the convent.

August tells Emma more about the Author. He reveals that it’s not a name but a job. That there are many people who have held the title of Author, implying William Shakespeare may have been one and flat out saying Walt Disney was as well. The Author’s job was just to record what had happened. Nothing more. But the Author trapped in the book broke that rule. He started to manipulate the stories he was recording. So the Sorcerer and the Apprentice, who gave him the job of Author, put him in the book as punishment.
Hot damn, y’all. This means Page 23 might be the real one after all.

The Charmings try to convince Emma that maybe it’s not a good idea to let the Author out after all. But she thinks it’s the only way to get answers. And of course, she’s not inclined to agree with her parents. So she uses the key and frees the Author.

He pops out and when he straightens up, the Charmings are in for a surprise. It’s the peddler they met on the road during our flashbacks this episode. He thanks Emma for letting him out and then pulls out his brandy. The Charmings recognize it as the one they gave him. They also realize they were manipulated by him. He leaves the convent, escaping into Storybrooke.

Uh oh.

In the past, the Apprentice approaches the Author to scold him for forcing the Apprentice to send Maleficent’s child to another world. The Author says it had to be done because the child would’ve been a villain like her mother. The Apprentice says he’s misusing his powers so he traps the Author in the book.

The villains have brought a still unconscious Regina back to her vault. She lays on the floor and Maleficent wonders if she’ll help them. Gold says he has something that will have her doing their bidding once he reveals it to her. Oh no. I think he has Robin stashed somewhere. What about you?

(Poor Regina)

Maleficent doesn’t care about Gold’s blackmail. She wants information on her child. Gold uses Regina’s mirror to let them glimpse into the past. For the first time, Maleficent sees her beautiful baby girl. A woman says the adoption has gone through and asks the parents what they are going to name the baby. She hands it to the man we know as Lily’s father from the first half of the season. He tells her that the baby’s name is Lilith, or Lily for short.

Yes, Lily is Maleficent’s daughter. Most of you…are probably not surprised.

“Best Laid Plans” was an amazing episode. Lots of angst for the Charming family, Regina’s in danger, the Author has been revealed and we know who Maleficent’s daughter is. Good work, writers.

I’m looking forward to the next episode. Zelena returns and it should be Robin-centric. Time to learn a bit more about our favorite outlaw. And see if he’s Gold’s blackmail material.

I will also be resurrecting my use of Wicked songs for the episode recap title. Especially after seeing some of these promo stills. Like this one:

Anyone else getting Fiyero vibes?