Once Upon a Time Recap: The Heartbreak Kid 

, we learned more about how Merlin originally got trapped inside the tree — as well as the lengths to which Emma went to get him out.

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IN CAMELOT…. | It turns out that “many years ago in Camelot,” Merlin faced off against a masked Dark One, accusing the Big Bad of destroying “the only woman I ever loved.” When Merlin goes to vanquish the Dark One yet can’t, the masked figure uses the lovelorn magician’s tear to cast a spell that traps him inside a tree.

The producers have said they won’t be introducing Morgan Le Fay, but could she have been that Dark One? Is that why Merlin couldn’t bring himself to kill her?

! Those better-versed in things Camelot note that Nimue — as in the title of Episode  7 — is a far more likely candidate. Carry on.

Emma lays witness to the long-ago event by way of a dreamcatcher. After saving Regina from handing the dagger over to the spelled Charmings, Emma reiterates her intention to free Merlin from the tree, even if it requires dark magic. Seeing that Merlin wept for a lost love, Regina deduces that a similar teardrop might undo the spell.

At first, the thought is to have Regina relive her own great loss — Cora’s plucking and crushing of Daniel’s heart — via her own dreamcatcher session. But once the ladies go to mix the potion with Regina’s tear, it peters out. (Regina, Emma surmises, has healed too much from that loss, by meeting Robin.) “Luckily,” Henry then shows up, his teenage heart freshly shattered by Violet, who in the middle of a dinner-and-an-iPhone movie at Granny’s gave the lad the “just friends” speech. (And just like that, my memories of Sonya choosing Doug as her prom date over me are dug up anew.

The silver lining? Gut-punched Henry’s tear is powerful enough to activate the counter-spell, and Merlin is freed. Arthur and his knights show up to talk some smack to the sorcerer, but Merlin scoffs in the royal’s general direction, expressing his “disappointment” in “the boy who would be king.”

Later, Merlin frees the Charmings from Guinevere’s spell. (“You’re… not an older white dude,” Charming pretty much remarks.) Hook then asks if the sorcerer can rid Emma of the Darkness, and he says he can —

Once Upon a Time: Hook’s Dad Is On the Way, Plus Merida/Mulan/Ruby Fun — And Maybe a ‘Rumbelle’ Baby?

IN STORYBROOKE…. | This one was a stretch, but… whatshisname’s vanishing from the jail cell is apparently cause for a town carnival. (Henry plants the idea in Snow’s dome, wanting to invite Violet. So, sure. OK.) Thing is, Violet’s horse, Nicodemus, has run away, so she’s in no mood for festivities. Henry thus makes it his plan to find the horse, with help from his super-powerful (if super-dark) mom.

Meanwhile, Belle notifies the others that Rumple vanished two episodes ago, and they of course suspect Emma. When Regina, Robin, Hook and Belle sneak into Emma’s house while Henry is out with his other mom, they find the sword in the stone in the basement, and note its similarity to the Dark One’s dagger. Hmmm….

Having been asked by Henry to prove that “the Mom I know is still in there” by resuming Operation Cobra, Emma look for Nicodemus (in the name of giving Violet her “happy ending”). Along the way, Emma learns that Henry used one of Neal’s moves — Yaz’s “Only You” — to pique the girl’s interest. When they find the horse at Peter Peter’s pumpkin stand (

), the animal is spooked by the Dark One, but Henry is able to win it over. Later, he gallops the horse into the carnival, delighting Violet and impressing her father. Violet rewards Henry with a kiss, making us wonder: Exactly

Regina uncovers that answer upon inspecting a dreamcatcher Hook found inside Emma’s house, one that

ostensibly has Henry’s memories yet shows a moment in the Camelot stables he was not present for

has Violet’s memories and shows a moment where Emma approached the lass, ripped her heart out and compelled her to break Henry’s heart!

While an eavesdropping Henry processes the shocker, Regina confronts Emma, asking what her endgame is with the memory wipe, kidnapping Gold and such. Emma insists, “It’s for the best, trust me,” to which Regina presents Exhibit A, the fact that Emma ripped out

‘s heart! Emma says she tried to make that up to Henry by helping with the horse, but Regina (probably correctly) speculates that Emma set the horse loose to begin with. “If I’m the one with the moral high ground, you’ve fallen quite a ways, Miss Swan,” Regina observes. Emma blurts out, “It was for a good reason” — to free Merlin. Regina is taken aback by this bombshell, then asks the million-dollar Q: If they were able to free Merlin back in Camelot, why is Emma still the Dark One?

Meanwhile, the Charmings and Hook clue in Arthur to their discovery in Emma’s cellar, and the king confirms that once reunited with its other half, the Dark One’s dagger, Excalibur can snuff out the Darkness…

Elsewhere in the episode: Doing Dark Emma’s bidding, Merida struggled to turn a cowardly, limping Rumple into any kind of a hero, until she retrieved something he’d find “worth fighting for” — Chip! Threatening to do more harm to the fragile li’l cup, Merida succeeded in mobilizing Rumple into sword-swinging action — though they have a long ways to go, she says, if he is to vanquish the Dark One!

What did you think of “Dreamcatcher” and the many Neal callbacks?

I don’t think the Dark One is Morgan, but, instead, Nimue. In the legends, she got Merlin to teach her magic and then locked him in a tree. Also, he loved her.

Oo, good one! And isn’t an upcoming episode called “Nimue”?

Ah yes, and “Nimue” is the title of Nov. 8 episode. Interesting!

Good theory I guess if that were true Merlin would’ve been talking to the darkness and not the prrson it was possessing.

Even if we’re tied to our knowledge of TV, let us all think back to the 1998 Merlin miniseries with Sam Neill and Isabella Rossellini as Merlin and Nimue. :P

I don’t know anything about Ninue, but when Merlin confronted the masked Dark One in many-years-ago Camelot I automatically assumed the Dark One *was* the woman he loved. That’s why he couldn’t destroy her/it. Good to know the Camelot mythology supports that theory. Possible set up for a similar confrontation between Emna and Hook? Or Emma and any of her loved ones?

Nice that they actually acknowledged Neal’s existence- was beginning to feel like the show had completely forgotten a character who was once the linchpin of much of the mythology. I really do miss his character.

It’s insane that Neal isn’t around for this storyline especially. I mean, to not only have him see his father not be the Dark One anymore but instead see his ex/mother of his child be the Dark One? And with Henry basically playing the role of his child self? That would be good, natural drama.

So, is there any chance of seeing a live-action version of Madam Mim from Sword in the Stone now that Once is doing Camelot?

It would be a wasted opportunity if they didn’t take it.

Fantastic episode from start to finish. The scene of Regina crying over Daniels death was breathtaking and further cemented that she and Emma share an understanding and bond like no other. Henry and Violet are adorable, I loved the nostalgic feel of the Emma and Henry scenes, and the Emma/Regina porch scene mirrored The Cricket Game beautifully.

Really enjoyed this episode much more than last weeks. Didn’t care for the Henry first date stuff, but I loved the moments between Emma and Regina and their interactions with Henry.

Anyone else find Henry’s movie choices quite odd for such a young boy? Harold and Maude?

I hope they eventually address the fact that Emma has met Merlin before as a child.

Yeah, “Harold & Maude” is a farrrrr bigger stretch than Yaz (which we now have an explanation for).

And we’re back to the character driven OUAT that we love. But I think Regina summed it up best for us all? If they freed Merlin,why is Emma dark? Did she actually enjoy her Cora mimicry that much so as to choose the power and the darkness over being freed? Is she truly in search of Excalibur to vanquish the light? LOVED the dark/light effects of the tree-freeing, but hate the fact she broke her own true love’s heart in order to do so. Was it that act that pushed her over the edge?

Interesting that Emma knew what to do to get a real heartbreak tear prior to her & Regina tried the spell to get Merlin out of the tree. I also think that they all somehow betrayed Emma in Camelot, she is upset with how they acted, wants to reunite the sword & dagger to snuff out the darkness, not the light. She’s embraced the dark for now to get stuff done and because she felt betrayed by whatever happened in Camelot, but also put everyone’s memories in those dream catchers. They all just assume she wants to stay evil, but I don’t think Emma does.

By the way why can’t she just get Arthur to pull the sword out again? She knows he’s in Storybrooke of course.

I don’t think it would work since Arthur isn’t worthy of pulling excalibur any longer and Emma knows that

That’s my thought too…that Emma is working with Merlin to snuff the darkness out. Maybe there Is risk to her in doing so and they tried to stop her?

My theory is Emma pulled a Walter White. Deep down she enjoys being the darkone and whatever they do to remove the darkness backfires and gives her the gaga wannabe look.

That was SUCH a good episode! It finally felt like the old Once Upon A Time, the show I fell in love with! Anything focusing on Emma/Regina/Henry is usually much more interesting and emotional. The dreamcatcher scene with Emma and Regina broke my heart! And even the Rumple/Merida stuff was good, although very predictable. The actress who plays Merida is growing on me. All in all, a great episode. I wish we could get more episodes like this!

Amazing episode of OUAT, and great recap, Mr. Mitovich. Just wanted to point out a correction is needed. You wrote “Regina uncovers that answer upon inspecting a dreamcatcher she found inside Emma’s house…” Actually, Hook found the dreamcatcher. Regina was halfway out the front door when Killian stopped to see what was on the table and picked up the dreamcatcher. Just giving credit where credit is due. Thanks for all you do for us OUAT fans! :)

Just LOVED the Neal callbacks. I’m surprised he got such a spotlight this episode but it was great to see his memory honored this week. Wish they could resurrect him.

I’m getting tired of hearing Emma and Merida saying the Rumple needs to be “brave” every five minutes. Yes, we get the movie reference, can we please move now?

Liked seeing Cruella’s car for sale, a little reminder last season.

The Merida character (visiting OUAT from the movie Brave) might be appreciated by the husbands watching the show, since the husband laughed at her scene with Rumple, saying to me, “Hey, she’s just like you!” Thank you, writers, for capturing familiar dynamics.

Matt, I believe they realized that the dreamcatcher they found held Violet’s memories, which is why the memory of Emma ripping out her heart was there. I was confused as to why it was in the house instead of the shed outside (which is why everyone assumed it was Henry’s), but realized that was probably what Emma had gone into the shed for – to look at Violet’s memories so she could make it up to Henry.

Appreciated all the Neal mentions, but episodes like this one also high light what a mistake the writers made with killing him off.

Really enjoyed the episode though. Focus on the main characters and their relationships almost automatically makes for a good ep. Or at least a better one than last week’s. I appreciate the Camelot folks, but their role should always be to support, not take over whole eps at a time.

Nice small moment: Regina reliving Daniel’s death and realizing it’s no longer a tragic memory that consumes her because she managed to open her heart to love again with Robin.

In general I enjoyed this episode — good plot and character development — but a carnival?! Thank you for pointing out how ridiculous that was. “Emma is still the Dark One & is plotting something. A dude literally vanished from his cell. Let’s have a carnival!” So stupid and completely unnecessary. Henry & Violet’s Storybrooke relationship easily could have been explored in the exact same way without the town throwing a ridiculously inappropriate party. That irked me to no end!

Loved this ep – best of the season so far for me. I was interested all the way through with the storyline. I really appreciated the fact that it was focusing on core characters rather than the Camelot ones again, and we had some fantastic character-driven moments. The scene on the porch between Regina and Emma was amazing! Merlin seems interesting also, and the actor so far has impressed me. I’d much rather see more of him than the Arthur mess.

Is it possible that Emma’s master plan is to use the sword to bring back Neal. All the mention of him seems to be heavy foreshadowing.

This was definitely a very good episode, compared to last weeks. I Just hope that the end game will be finding out that Merlin has been guiding Emma all this time in the steps to vanquish the darkness and also was told by him that during this process you will be looked upon by your family and friends as turning dark. This will be the only way to save her and everyone, but the others cannot know or be involved in this process. Oh, I can only hope.

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