TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 3-20 - Kansas

They really had me going.  45 minutes into the episode, I was wondering how exactly they were going to stretch it out for another two hours, much less another 15 minutes.  Now, I'm wondering what exactly those final moments mean.

But let's back up to the beginning, shall we?  And maybe a flashback or two while we're at it.

The flashback was entirely in Oz and centered around the Zelena/Glinda relationship hinted at last week.  When we first arrive in Oz, Zelena is watching through a magic portal as Regina tries to master magic.  Then Glinda appears.  She actually thanks Zelena for showing the people of Oz what the Wizard truly was.  Then, she offers Zelena a chance at a new future.

That future would make Zelena the witch of the west, a position that has been open for a long time.  She, along with Glinda and two other witches, would be the ruling power of Oz.  Zelena's position would represent Innocence.  (We learned that Glinda in the south represents Love.  I bet the other two are Courage and Intelligence based on the four sided symbol that Zelena was creating to cast her spell in the present.)  Zelena points out that she is hardly innocent, as denoted by her green color.  Glinda says that innocence reclaimed is even more powerful than original innocence.

Then one of the other witches forces Glinda to share a secret.  Glinda is the keeper of a book that gives the history and prophecies of Oz.  It predicted a powerful witch coming on a tornado that would free Oz from a great evil.

And so, Zelena makes her choice to become one of these witches.  She looses her green coloring, and Glinda gives her the charm.  It will grow and enhance her powers, but if she takes if off, it will take all her power from her.

As Glinda is showing her the land to the west that she now rules, they see a tornado appear and deliver something.  Yep, it's Dorothy (who should have landed in the East, but I'm quibbling with a show that takes giant liberties with everything else).  Zelena immediately begins to suspect that she isn't the witch of the prophecy, and the way the other witches greet and treat Dorothy, it isn't long before she is turning green again.

Despite Glinda telling her that she can choose her own destiny, Zelena returns to her wicked ways.  She confronts Dorothy by the well.  When Zelena creates a fireball to throw at Dorothy, she tries to quench it with a bucket of water, which causes Zelena to melt.

Glinda is pleases, however Dorothy wants to go home, so they go to see the Wizard.  After all, now that Zelena has gone, he was been restored.  He's still pulling the man behind the curtain act, so we get the usual fire and smoke.  Dorothy makes her request to go home, and the Wizard says, "After what you've done to, er, for me, it's the least I can do."  That slip of the tongue confirmed what I already suspected.  The Wizard gives Dorothy the shoes, and she goes back to Kansas.  Glinda then goes to thank the Wizard, and he pulls back the curtain to reveal…

…it isn't the Wizard but Zelena.  When Glinda promises to continue fighting her and hoping to bring Dorothy back to defeat her, Zelena banishes Glinda to the Enchanted Forest, where she still was last week.

And that's the flashback.  Shall we move to the present?

We start by rushing Mary Margaret to the hospital.  While Emma and Regina put up a barrier spell (which I guess is why they don't go back to the apartment), Dr. Whale works on delivering the baby for David and Mary Margaret.

Meanwhile, Gold has been spinning, and Zelena comes in and takes the gold thread and turns it into a golden brain, representing what she needs from him.  She then makes him dig some weird circular symbol in the ground, placing the three things she's already collected on three of the sides (the golden brain, Charming's courageous sword, and Regina's heart).  That just leaves the spot for the baby.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, everyone is lined up and ready to do their best defending the latest baby.  Emma intends to go out and confront Zelena on her own, but David insists Hook go with her.  Emma doesn't trust Hook after learning about the curse on his lips (I guess he did tell her last week after all), but she is saddled with him as it is.

They head to Zelena's place to confront her, Emma again confirming along the way that she intends to go back to NYC once this is all over, much to Hook's dismay.  (Meanwhile, Henry is trying to find Emma an apartment in Storybrooke she can use.  He's planning on staying.)

When they get to Zelena's, she quickly orders Gold to throw Hook in a water trough.  Emma has to chose to save him or defeat Zelena.  Well, she chooses to give Hook mouth to mouth, which counts as a kiss.  All her magic is gone.

Zelena and Gold show up at the hospital.  The rest of the town is lined up to stop her, but they are no match.  She waves her hand, and they pass out.  Even Regina suffers the same fate.  She arrives just as Mary Margaret has given birth.  She and David have a new boy, but not for long.  Zelena shows up and kidnaps him.

Emma and Hook arrive back at the hospital and learn that has happened.  They, David, and Robin Hood are ready to go try to get the child back, but Regina doesn't want to go with them.  That is until everyone (mostly Henry, but a little help from Robin and Emma) convinces her that she has good in her.  After all, she did break the curse by kissing Henry, and that is light magic.  She just might have the magic they need to defeat Zelena.

However, the battle doesn't go well for them at first.  Zelena and Gold are making quick work of them, and the spell has already begun.  Then Regina taps into her good side, and is able to break free of the magic grasp Zelena is using on her.  She then rips the pennant from Zelena's neck, which breaks the spell and forces Zelena to drop the dagger.  David rushes to his son.  Robin gets Regina's heart and gives it to her.  The flying monkey that was attacking them turns back to Little John.  Gold was planning to kill Zelena, but he is stopped by Regina, who picks up the dagger.  She's a good guy now, and good guys don't kill people.  Besides, without magic, Zelena is harmless.  (I guess they altered the curse this time to give them magic in our world because they sure have used a lot of it, and I mean everyone.)

So we're now 15 minutes from the end of the episode and 2 hours 15 minutes from the end of the season.  What's left?

Actually, we get a lot of happy scenes.  David and Mary Margaret are reunited with their son, whom they still haven't named.  Emma is still planning to move back to NYC, so Hook isn't happy.  Also, she doesn't have her magic back, something that might have happened when Zelena lost her power.  Regina lectures Zelena about changing your destiny and finding your good side.  She tells Zelena to change or Regina will rip her heart out and crush it.  Also, she takes Zelena's magic pennant and sticks it in her vault.  The look on her face then and when she talks about crushing Zelena's heart make it appear that she hasn’t completely given up dark magic.  She has, however, given Gold's dagger to Belle, a way of making up for what she's done to Belle in the past.  Belle, for her part, offers it to Gold as a sign that she trusts him to do the right thing.  Gold is touched, and offers it back as well as proposing to Belle.

Or did he?

In reality, he used a little slight of hand and gave Belle a fake dagger.  He kept the real one for himself, and he now controls himself again.  He then shows up at the jail.  A frightened Zelena begs for her life, but he stabs her with it, avenging Bae/Neal.  She turns to stone and then breaks apart.  However, after Gold walks out, the pieces of stone turn to dust and float away.  The next thing we see is the pennant in the vault start to glow and some green oozes out of it.  Last but not least, a vortex opens over the design where Zelena was casting her spell earlier in the episode.

End of episode.

So, how did Zelena survive?  You'll notice we don't know how she survived the water/melting scene from the flashback.  I assumed that was her tricking Dorothy and Glinda and she didn't really die.  But might it have something to do with how she is being revived in Storybrooke?  Murder can't kill her, even without magic?

Is the spell working?  Or what it already in place, and that's what happened here?  This would have happened even if Gold hadn't killed Zelena?

We've got two hours left in the season, and we are in for a wild ride.  I have no clue where they are going to go with this.  Thoughts?  Theories?  Suggestions?  And any theories on where we might go next season?  They're supposed to tell us that with the final scene next week.

Speaking of next week, I'm going to be a good son and go visit my mom for Mother's Day.  I don't know when I will get these episodes watched, but my recap will probably be several days late.  I will put one up, but it might be much shorter when I get a chance to do so.  Just a word of warning when it doesn't appear as promptly as normal.

Until then, what do those last few moments mean?