The magic is back! When we last saw the residents of Storybrooke, Emma had saved Henry from the poison apple and broken Regina’s curse, but the formerly fairytale beings remained in our world despite regaining their memories. And while Rumpelstiltskin was reunited with his lost love Belle, he still enacted some sort of trick and brought a purple fog into town, proclaiming that magic was coming. After a summer of wondering where Once Upon a Time would go after the curse was broken, the hit show by those infuriating Lost writers returned with just as many questions as ever.
The episode opened with an unknown man in New York City receiving a carrier pigeon with a postcard from Storybrooke simply reading “broken.” Who’s this guy and how does he know about the curse? Who sent the pigeon? Is HE the missing Baelfire? Sadly the episode continued with no more insight into his identity.
What the episode did delve into were two tandem storylines: one in the “real” world and one in the fairytale world, one of them a flashback, the usual OUAT storytelling tool.
With the curse broken in Storybrooke, the residents were all reunited. Hugs all around! Until the awkward moment of Emma meeting Snow and Charming as her mom and dad. The awkward tension was lessened slightly by Henry calling the Prince “grandpa,” but Emma was in no mood to have a family heart-to-heart. Apparently magic was back in Storybrooke, but according to the Blue Fairy, things were a bit more complicated.
In the fairytale world, we see Prince Phillip wake the Sleeping Beauty, Aurora. But unlike in the original tale, he has a masked warrior with him, and the palace around the sleeping princess is decimated. He makes it clear to his companion that there is a lot that Aurora doesn’t know, things he doesn’t want to tell her right away. Something is amiss in fairytale world.
Not all is well for the Royal Family, either. Emma still carries a lot of resentment from being alone all her life, even if she had been abandoned for good reason. But Snow still wants them to be mother and daughter, even if they had been friends who had shared stories that aren’t so appropriate for parents and children. Cue the funniest line of the night, when Snow reveals to her husband that she had a one-night stand with Dr. Whale. “We were cursed, it’s neither here no there.” Though I don’t know what Charming is complaining for, he was married to another woman.
So what’s that crazy medallion all about? Back in the fairytale world, Phillip’s companion, and apparent war buddy, explains that the creature was a wraith. It marks its victims and sucks out their souls. And if that wasn’t big enough news, the companion then reveals herself to be… Mulan! That’s right, the legendary Chinese woman-warrior. No one is as shocked as Aurora. And as the trio is about to move on, we see that poor Phillip has been marked by the wraith.
In Storybrooke, the Royal Family visit Rumpel to call him out on betraying her in last season’s finale. But as he pointed out, she got her family back and everyone lived, so she has nothing to be upset about. At this point, there is a terrible noise from outside and a storm hits the town. It’s the wraith coming for Regina. Snow and Charming, with their typical nonchalant heroic attitude, grab their daughter and go off to save the day, but not before Rumpel reminds Emma that she still owes him. Belle walks in from the back room, having overheard everything. She calls out Rumpel for lying about his revenge, and then leaves him.
The hat isn’t working for Regina, who is still magic-less. That is, until Emma touches her arm. The portal opens and the wraith rushes the queen. Emma pushes her to safety but is sucked into the portal with the wraith. Snow jumps to follow her, not ready to lose her daughter again, but Charming isn’t fast enough to go as well and the portal closes. He is obviously pissed, but Regina has her magic back, and is only stopped from killing him when Henry arrives. When he finds out his biological mother and grandmother are gone, he swears to never see Regina again until she brings them back, choosing to leave with Charming instead. As the grandfather and grandson share a sad silence in Snow and Emma’s apartment, Charming says that he has faith they’re still alive, and that he will find them. This is what he does best. It sort of seems that he and Emma are always out trying to find someone.
Then there’s the big bombshell of the episode.
It turns out that while Aurora had been sleeping, Regina had cast her curse on the land. Their corner of the kingdom remained, but was ravished. Mulan and Phillip had been frozen, but the curse breaking set them free to find Aurora. The survivors had found a safe haven, but the land was still full of dangers.