TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 3-19 - A Curious Thing

Wow.  What an episode last night.  Several mysteries resolved and a few plot points wrapped up.  Not to mention some heart stopping moments along the way.

I just hope I remember to cover everything.

We will start in the Enchanted Forest of the missing year.  The first scene takes place as Snow and Charming are about to announce Snow's pregnancy to the rest of the kingdom.  Regina is trying to talk them out of it, saying it is too dangerous with Zelena on the loose.  Belle arrives and shares the news about Neal and Rumplestiltskin.  Aurora and Phillip are there as well, and they finally confess that Zelena has been blackmailing them into spying for her.  Which is when Zelena shows up and turns them both into flying monkeys.  Nope, never saw that coming.  She then confirms that Snow's baby is the one she needs and takes off again.

We then flash forward eight months as the new counsel of war is trying to determine what to do about Zelena.  Snow is almost ready to have the baby, and she doesn't want to lose it to Zelena.  The decision is made to go see Rumple.  Since he helped with the last threat (Regina), maybe he can help with Zelena.

The party to see him consists of Snow, Charming, Regina, Belle, and Robin Hood.  I must say that watching Regina and Robin bicker in the flash back was rather fun.  Anyway, they arrive to find an out-of-his-mind Rumple who is trying to deal with having two people in his head.  Belle is able to get through to him long enough to get a name that might help - Glinda.  Yes, from Oz.  She's been banished to Enchanted Forest, or at least the outskirts.

Rumple's weird directions turn out to actually be helpful, and the trio of Snow, Charming, and Regina find the location.  Unfortunately, Regina isn't pure of heart enough, so she has to stay behind.  Even more unfortunate, Glinda can't help them.  She and Zelena used to be friends, but Zelena's magic grew too dark.  It's also too powerful.  The amulet that she wears is what channels it.  If someone can break that, Zelena will be much weaker.  And the only way to do that is with good magic - the product of love.

Naturally, the trio immediately think of Emma since she is the product of true love, but there is no way to reach our land - no way but through the curse.  Regina can't cast it since it would require the sacrifice of someone she loves the most, and she wouldn't sacrifice Henry even if he were there.  Charming makes the suggestion - Snow should cast it, sacrificing his heart in the bargain.

Naturally, it takes some convincing to get Snow to go along with this, and eventually she does.  Regina pulls out Charming's heart, and the Snow holds it over the cauldron and crushes it.

Just then, Zelena flies in and adds her own touch to the brew, a forgetfulness potion that will cause everyone to forget the last year.  That will mean they won't know who Zelena is and they won't remember they need Emma to stop her.  It also means that Snow will be searching for Charming.

However, Snow comes up with plan of her own.  She has Regina rip out her heart and split it in half, giving half to her and half to Charming.  It works, and Charming is revived in time for the curse to come.

Meanwhile, Zelena goes and brews two memory restorer potions, one for her and one for Rumple.  Only, before Rumple drinks it, Neal comes out and sends it off to Hook so he can go find Emma.  Then Rumple comes out again before the curse strikes.

Meanwhile, in the present day Storybrooke, Zelena is putting the pressure on Hook to kiss Emma, thereby stealing Emma's magic.  If Hook doesn't kiss Emma soon, Zelena is going to start killing those Emma loves, starting with Henry.

Speaking of Henry, he catches Regina and Robin in the middle of kissing.  Henry's on his way to the dinner while the rest of the group holds a counsel of war.  They decide the best way to figure out how to defeat Zelena is the break the curse.  To do that, they start looking at ways it was broken before.  Emma has tried kissing Henry, and that hasn't worked.  So, they need to get him to believe in the truth first, which means finding that story book.  Last time that Henry needed it, it just appeared in Mary Margaret's closet, so that's where the group starts looking.  Mary Margaret finds it in a box that Emma had just looked in.  That leads to Emma confessing to her mother that she plans to leave when this is over since she still thinks their life in New York was better.  Could this uncertainty about Henry getting his memories back be why Emma couldn't find the book?

Meanwhile, Henry is tired of being lied to about what is happening, so he decides to run away.  Hook catches him trying to steal Emma's bug, and he suggests another way.  Smee is going to take him by boat back to NYC.  Just as Smee has almost spilled the beans about who everyone is, the flying monkey attack starts.  Hook kills two or three of them before he runs out of ammo in his gun.  Fortunately, Emma used the tracking app between her and Henry's phones to track him down, and the rest arrive in time to kill the remaining monkeys.  Naturally, Henry is a little freaked out by what he's just seen, but Emma offers him the book, explaining that all will make sense.  As soon as he touches it, Henry remembers everything.  (Anyone else love it when he turns to Regina and says, "Mom!")

However, guess who should appear but Zelena, ready to make good on her threat to kill Henry.  She starts choking him, but Emma is able to magically call some light which weakens Zelena to the point where she has to leave.

In the after math of that battle, Regina kisses Henry, and that's what breaks the curse this time.  Now everyone remembers the last year.  Robin Hood shows up and comments on how differently he and Regina are getting along in Storybrooke than they did in Enchanted Forest.  Henry is thrilled that his mom is dating Robin Hood.

And Emma, David, and Mary Margaret turn on Hook.  Now that they have their memories back, David and Mary Margaret know they didn't send Hook to get Emma for them.  And since Zelena implied that Hook was working for her, and Hook won't tell anyone (still) what that was about, they were giving him looks like they don't trust him.  Not that I can blame them.  I mean, we know better, but based on what they know, they have no reason to trust him.

The final scene takes place at the cemetery as Henry is saying goodbye to Neal.  Mary Margaret and David are there as well, and when Henry and Emma start walking back toward them, Mary Margaret goes into labor.  The baby is coming, which means that Zelena's plans are about to start in full force.

As I said, a lot happened.  Now, we just need to figure out where they will go forward from here, right?

How many flying monkeys does Zelena have?  And were any of those killed ones we know like Little John, Aurora, and Phillip?  Then again, it seems like she was talking to Walsh is Storybrooke, so may be they can regenerate?

If Emma can break the curse since she is the product of true love, does that mean that the baby can as well?  Does this make he or she perfect for the spell?  Or will the baby be Zelena's undoing and not Emma like everyone thinks now?  That would be interesting.

I loved that it was Regina's kiss that broke the spell this time.  In fact, with as happy as they are making her right now, I'm beginning to worry for her safety.  I hope nothing happens to her, but it wouldn't surprise me at this point.  Maybe a sacrifice like Gold made to end of the first half of the season?

I can't believe it was Snow who cast the curse.  But I am wondering if they had already tweaked it so that they wouldn't lose their memories or if Zelena's potion did that for them.  After all, when originally cast, it was only Regina and Gold who remembered who they were.  This time, everyone remembered who they were, just not the details of the last year.

Are they ever going to go back to the darkness growing in Mary Margaret's heart?  They seem to have dropped that, and I wish they would wrap that up at some point.  Last week and this week would have been good times to deal with it.  However, if that is the only dropped plot point (and it seems to be at the moment), I'm not complaining.

And I guess the book just magically appeared back before season 1.  I sure thought that August had something to do with that.

So what did you think of the episode?  Any theories of your own on what is coming next?

Next week we get to meet Dorothy and maybe find out a little about Glinda and Zelena's relationship.  That should be interesting.