TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 4-13 - Unforgiven

I’m really surprised.  I expected that they wouldn’t tell us what Snow and Charming had done to our Queens of Darkness until mid-way through this run of episodes at the absolute earliest.  And yet they filled us in last night.  Of course, it also dropped some hints about Emma in there, so it is possible that was the reason we got it so early, but still.

So, shall we get the answer via the flashback?

Snow and Charming are returning from their honeymoon, with Charming asking if it was a bad sign that she wanted to come back so soon.  The reality was, Snow just wanted to get back to work.  However, they arrive to find that the palace guards are asleep.  All of them.  That’s because the Queens of Darkness are paying a visit.  They tell Snow and Charming about the dark curse that is coming and tell them that a tree of wisdom is the only place that might tell them how to defeat Regina and the curse.  The tree needs two heroes to ask it.  However, they insist on accompanying Snow and Charming.  And so the group of five sets off.

Along the way, Mal turns into a dragon to kill some guards, which causes Snow and Charming to sneak away from camp the next morning to ask the tree by themselves.  However, the tree refuses to answer, instead using a shock wave to throw them back.  At this point, the evil trio shows up and Mal figures out they didn’t get the answer because Snow is pregnant.  Since the child is the product of true love, there is great power for good or evil in her.  She could go either way.  Since they aren’t able to get the tree to answer them, everyone leaves.

However, a few nights later, Mal shows up in the middle of the night and wakes up Snow.  It is then that she reveals they have something in common.  Mal is also pregnant.

Moving to Storybrooke, we find  David and Mary Margaret are very upset about Cruella and Ursula being in town, and they are insisting that the duo be followed.  That’s why David and Emma spend the day shadowing the villains.  The duo head to Belle’s Pawn Shop (yes, she’s still running it), and steal a box of Mal’s, all the time distracting Belle with news of Gold.  Belle doesn’t really react to it, trying to appear unaffected by the news.  Later, the duo report on this to Gold, making it seem like Belle has moved on.

After they leave, Emma calls to ask about the visit.  Belle has noticed a box missing (how with all the stuff in the shop?), and David and Emma pull over Cruella’s car.  David searches it, and finds the box, removing the trinket inside.  However, he tells Emma that the duo are clean and they let them go on their way.

Emma downloads the video from Gold’s shop trying to figure out what is happening.  While she’s waiting for that to happen, Hook stops by for a visit, but downplays any history he might have with Ursula.  When Emma finds something on the videos (Ursula taking the box with her tentacles), she takes it to David, but David and Mary Margaret aren’t nearly as panicked as they once were.  In fact, they are going for a hike.

That hike is a ruse, however, and they are really sneaking into the cavern under the library to take Mal’s ashes and scatter them in the sea so Cruella and Ursula can’t use them to resurrect the villainess.  They find a nice pile of them (thanks to Gold), but before they can do anything, Ursula knocks them both out.  Yes, it was a trap.  That trinket?  It was just a ploy to get them to try to gather up Mal’s ashes (not that the duo doesn’t take it back).  They really need something stronger, the blood of those who betrayed her the most.  Cruella cuts Mary Margaret and David’s thumbs and drops the blood on the ashes.  Mal resurrects, first as a dragon and then in her human form.

Mary Margaret and David decide to come clean with Emma, however they walk in on Emma talking to Hook again.  Emma lets Hook know that, while she won’t tolerate being lied to, she also is not going to press him on his past with Ursula.  And she is going to start taking a cue from her parents and look for the best in everyone.  The speech causes them to chicken out on telling Emma the truth.

Meanwhile, Operation Mongoose took a step forward when Regina learned about August adding the Pinocchio story to the book.  Even though the boy (again) Pinocchio doesn’t have any of August’s memories, Regina asks him to look at the book in case he can help.  When he doesn’t remember anything, Regina starts to get very angry, upsetting Geppetto.

However, she later goes to apologize to Geppetto, and that’s enough to get Geppetto to relent.  He has saved August’s motorcycle, and he gives Regina the bike’s saddlebags.  Something in them gives Henry a clue where to look next, but we don’t know what it was yet.

Meanwhile, Gold goes to look in to his shop and sees Belle closing down for the night.  He gets a huge surprise, however, when he sees Will Scarlett in the shop as well.  They even kiss.  Belle really has moved on.

As the Queens of Darkness look down on the town, Mal take the trinket from the Pawn Shop and restores it to what it should be, a baby rattle.

But the final scene involves Mary Margaret and Regina meeting in secret at night.  Mary Margaret asks Regina to go undercover with the Queens of Darkness and try to find out what the plan really is.  She also spills the secret, making Regina promise to never reveal it first.  Mary Margaret and David went all out to make sure that Emma would come out on the side of light.  In the process, they cost Mal her baby.  We don’t have more details than that, but it is the big secret they are hiding.

So, who was Mal’s baby’s father?  And what exactly happened to that baby?  Is it dead or just separated from Mal?  Could Mal be trying to get her baby back or just to destroy Mary Margaret and David?

Didn’t Belle move on a little too quickly?  It’s just been six weeks since she kicked our husband out of town?  That will provide some great drama, but that’s the only reason I’m letting it slide.  Well, that, and it finally gives Will something to do.

So, this is my prediction of how the rest of the season is going to play out (fleshed out with a friend after watching last night’s episode).  Regina, who has been fighting so hard to be good, will start to slide to evil as a result of her under cover assignment.  However, when Emma goes off the deep end toward evil, it will not only straighten Regina out, but she will be the one to restore Emma to the path of light.

But no, I have no theory on who the author might be.

Sound reasonable?  Or do you think I’m way off base?  Hit me up in the comments with your own theory.