The episode opens with Merlin in pre-tree form, hunting down the Dark One in order to get revenge for the death of his loved one. However, Merlin is too good and pure of heart, and he drops the Dark One’s dagger on the ground, having lost the will to attack. Unfortunately for him, the Dark One (one of Rumple’s predecessors) decides that Merlin is too much of threat. When Merlin sheds a tear of pure heartbreak, the Dark One uses that tear to cast the spell that turns Merlin into a tree. For story purposes, Merlin can’t be killed so turning him into a tree was the Dark One’s best bet.
We then learn that Emma is watching this scene unravel through one of her dreamcatchers. Meanwhile, Snow and Charming, who are still under Arthur’s spell, demand that Regina give them the Dark One’s dagger. Emma intervenes, using magic to freeze them, revealing to Regina that she’s been using the dreamcatchers to see into other memories too. Emma knows about Arthur’s spell and tells Regina the Merlin story. Regina reasons that if a tear of pure heartbreak trapped Merlin, one could also free him. Regina asks Emma to use another dreamcatcher to draw out her memory of Daniel, her first love. The tear isn’t powerful enough, and when they gather all the ingredients at the tree, the spell doesn’t work.
Coincidentally, Henry enters, on the verge of tears from his encounter with Violet. When he finally breaks, Emma takes one of his tears, and puts it in with all the other spell ingredients. Cue Arthur and the Knights, who try to stop Emma. Luckily, Emma has already cast the spell and Merlin is set free. Arthur threatens to attack, but everyone knows that Excalibur isn’t whole, so he leaves, showering threats on everyone. Now I guess we’ll have to wait to find out why Merlin hasn’t shown up in Storybrooke yet.
Henry begins the episode in Violet’s stables. After an encounter with Violet’s father, Henry is convinced that he needs to be good at sword fighting in order to win his girl. While he’s pretending to fight in the forest alone, he comes across Regina and Emma who convince him that being one’s self is always the best bet. Henry rushes to create a candlelit dinner at Granny’s for Violet, but she rejects him. He runs off to meet his mothers at Merlin’s tree, giving them exactly what they need to complete the spell.
Luckily, there is a Storybrooke counterpart to this tale. Henry invites Violet to the town’s block-party, but her horse is missing and she’s worried sick. Henry recruits Emma to help him find Nico the horse, and Henry rides it over to the block party where Violet awaits. Her father commends him on his bravery and humility, and the two are left alone to discover the fun block party, which looks a lot more like a carnival.
Regina gains control of a dreamcatcher that contains Violet’s memories from the missing weeks in Camelot, and they discover that Emma ripped Violet’s heart out and commanded her to break Henry’s heart. While Regina and Robin are watching the memories play out on the dreamcatcher, they’re unaware that Henry is watching from behind. Looks like Emma’s plan to deceive everyone failed there. It’s to be determined if Henry will ever forgive his mother.
Emma’s other plan seems to be backfiring just as badly. Merida is trying desperately to make Rumple into the hero everyone needs him to be, but without magic, Rumple is only a coward with a limp. Merida then breaks into Rumple’s old pawnshop to pick up Chip, everyone’s favorite chipped cup from the Disney movie “Beauty and the Beast.” Obviously, the cup holds some significance to Rumple because he starts to fight back against Merida. Eventually, he’ll probably get unrealistically good at sword fighting and become Storybrooke’s “hero” so that Emma can use him to pull Excalibur from the stone.
The Review:
What I liked about the episode is the dynamic between Emma and Regina. Emma is exactly where Regina was when the show first started. But I also think that Emma is smarter, so she knows not to make the same mistake twice. I also liked that we finally got to see Merlin because that means we are getting one step closer to finding out what happened to Emma. What I didn't like about the episode was the absence of Zelena. I really want to know what's going on with her and that unborn baby.
Final Score: 10/10 Power Ups
