Back in the fairytale universe of long ago, Snow and Charming sought out an unicorn in order to see the future of their unborn child. Upon touching the horn, Charming saw Emma but as a baby. She brought him joy, whereas Snow saw something entirely different. This time, a teenaged Emma crushed her mother’s heart, literally.

Meanwhile in Storybrooke, August fell ill after assisting Emma, Regina, and Henry on their search of the author. However, there is another problem: Regina’s mission was to bring the page back to Gold and his crew, but now that they know that specific page is the door, they’re a bit reluctant to hand it over. Initially, Emma wanted to make a copy of the original, but with today’s technology, it’s easier to snap a photo. As soon as Emma got back home, Killian explains Gold’s intentions: to turn her into a villain. “You can’t un-savior the savior” is probably one of the best things Henry has said so far, by the way. She still insists that she’ll remain pure of heart, but her parents still remained fearful.

Regina’s insults continue to burn Cruella exclaiming that she looks decades old as she entered Gold’s cabin. I guess she filled up Ursula’s spot. Anyways, although she explained why she wasn’t able to get the page, he still doubts her until she shows them the picture she took earlier causing Gold to realize that the author is trapped inside the page.

Killian shows signs of jealousy towards the “wooden man-child” since they’re both close, but Emma reassures him that there’s nothing between them. Suddenly the couple knocks out due to Maleficent’s sleeping spell. Uh-oh.

Back in the days of old, Snow and Charming help out a peddler after their unicorn trip. He tells the royal pair that Maleficent has turned into the dragon we all know and maybe love (like the Disney live-action remake, for example) and laid an egg in a cave. He tells them to head east which is towards the Infinite Forest where they should meet an old, kind man who turns out to be the sorcerer. He tells them that both of their visions have a 50/50 chance of occurring since we, and their baby, are born as an blank slate. This isn’t enough for the couple, especially for Snow. So, he tells them that they must acquire a similar vessel in order to take away the potential darkness from their baby. Guess who, as in the vessel, that turns out to be.

For those who’ve been under a sleeping curse before, they become immune to it. That means people like David and Mary Margaret would be awake. Oh, yeah, did I mention Henry as well? Henry as in the owner of the storybook and the page? Henry as in the adoptive son of Regina? Then David comes up with this brilliant idea to burn the page. I think this rash decision is best summed up in the words of Winston Churchill after the Stresa Conference:

“When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong-these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Once again, they might ruin another person’s happiness, this time being Regina. They never learn, do they?

For those who have played Kingdom Hearts and/or the rest of the series, when that keyhole appeared from Henry’s page, maybe you half-expected Sora to magically appear and use his keyblade. Anyways, the glowing keyhole showed him the location of they key to unlocking the door just minutes before Regina, Cruella, and Maleficent showed up. It must be disheartening for Henry to see his mother appear to turn back to her former ways, but he hands her the page anyways. Well, more like the fake one. When David and Mary arrive, he explains what happened, like the key. Before Henry could unlock the contents of the page, David persuades Henry to hand him the key and head off, where ever that may be.

Back to Operation: Save Our Baby, Snow and Charming quickly got rid of Maleficent’s lackeys in order to steal the dragon egg. The thing with mothers is that you NEVER EVER mess with one even if it happens to be in dragon form. Snow manages to use the dragon egg as a means to turn Maleficent back into a not-very threatening form. The couple eventually take away the egg in the end, claiming that they’ll bring it back. Snow and Charming have become the monsters they didn’t want to be.

Gold must be feeling dem’ first-love blues still. He tries to explain his intentions to a sleeping Belle, even saying that ‘something else is changing’ before heading out to meet his new crew. There, Regina was finally exposed, and Maleficent knocked her out via magic. Looks like even more trouble is heading for Charming Lane.

The egg is deemed fit for the apprentice’s spell, but they forgot to read the itty bitty small print- the egg will be sent elsewhere, where it can’t hurt anyone. A massive portal opens up from the ground, threatening to swallow up the egg. To add more to their guilt, the egg begins to hatch, revealing a newborn’s hand. Unfortunately, it was sucked up, including Ursula and Cruella, who just happen to be there at the wrong time. Right place, but definitely wrong time. Speaking of which, if the two evil queens manage to return back into the ‘world’, could it be that the baby can, too?

“Burn it and worry about it later?” ARE YOU SERIOUS, DAVID? Burning the page will add more into your continuous pool of troubles, and potentially create distrust among a few friends. Also, the truth doesn’t stay hidden for long. Thankfully, his wife acts as his conscience because ‘heroes do what’s right, not what’s easy’. It  definitely wasn’t easy; the look on Emma’s face after hearing what they’ve committed is saddening.

Misery loves company, even in the form of harmless gifts from friends. Apparently, Cinderella sent Snow a unicorn mobile, and what a fantastic reminder, right? Also, Charming is a horrible conscience. He tries to justify their actions, but she’s having none of that. The only right thing he said was that they do have a shot at redemption- the road less travelled.

As for Gold’s crew, they bring Regina down to her vault where he believes that she’ll be of use to them later on. Later, Maleficent asks him to show her what happened to her child. The baby ended up being adopted and called Lily/Lilith. What a nice name. For those who may not understand why I said that, it’s because of what the name Lilith is associated with. Go on, Google it. I can wait.

Emma heads off to see her only friend, August. It was awkward since her parents were in the same room, too. Plot twist: there is more than one author, and they’re each catered to different people. According to August, the one sealed in Henry’s page is the last one tasked with great responsibility: to record the greatest stories of all time. However, the last one manipulated the stories instead of record; this mysterious author was the one who caused the sorcerer’s apprentice to use that spell on a child because it would “make a better story.” Additionally, he mentions the name Walt, a name familiar with the Disney universe. Emma unlocks the door, and the author is revealed to be the peddler Snow and Charming met a long time ago. He soon dashes off, disappearing before anyone could catch up to him.

Whew, that episode was pretty exciting. What did you think, Popwrappers?

Catch up with me next week for a recap of Once Upon A Time!

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