Something Wicked this way comes…
One year later, Hook arrives to bring Emma back to Storybrooke. It takes some convincing, and a night in prison, to get Emma to drink a potion that will restore her memory.
Emma’s fiancé, as it turns out, is not the wonderful man she thought he was, but rather a flying monkey sent to keep an eye on the Savior. Heart broken yet again, Hook, Emma, and Henry go back to Storybrooke to find David and Mary Margaret who did not waste time getting pregnant in the Enchanted Forest. The entire town does not remember the last year and slowly people are disappearing. The cause of the destruction:
Hidden in plain sight as the midwife, Zelena, the Wicked Witch has a foot in the door in Storybrooke. Working her way through the town, she keeps an eye on Snow’s baby after first capturing David’s courage in the form of his sword. She is after a heart, but the mind she has already brought back with her…
In the year that was, Regina struggled to keep her heart from breaking after losing Henry. She tried ripping it out, concocting sleep potions, but it was her mission to fight Zelena (and perhaps a budding friendship with Robin Hood) that kept her going. Back in Storybrooke, Henry’s lack of memory proves to be even more heart breaking as he looks at her like a stranger.
In the lost year, Neal made it his mission to revive his father and find passage back to Emma, and arrives with the help of Lumiére.
It turns out that Zelena has a desire to bring Rumple back, but the dark magic to do so comes at a cost. Neal’s body is absorbed into Rumple’s and the two minds fight inside. When Neal does find his way back to Storybrooke, it is only due to a fleeting moment of freedom from his father’s control.
In order to stop Zelena, Neal sacrifices his life so that his father may live to save Henry, Emma, and the town. Neal dies a hero, a lesson that his father taught him. (Grab a tissue…)
With Neal gone, Hook takes Henry to teach him about the stars, and share stories that will help Henry cope with the loss of a father he does not remember and for Killian to bid farewell to a friend. The town, meanwhile, has to deal with the intruder Zelena.
While looking for clues to decode Zelena’s plan, Regina makes a shocking discovery on the forearm of Robin. The lion tattoo that is the mark of her true love.
Regina, knowing Zelena needs her heart, entrusts it to Robin. Belle begins to search the books, while the rest of the search party tries to discover what Zelena loves the most and sacrificed to cast the curse.
Emma is itching to end this battle and take Henry back to their old life in New York, saving him from the confusion Storybrooke is putting him through. But as Disney… ahem, Hook, reminds everyone, you must “Keep moving forward.”
There is quiet a lot to know about Zelena’s past to understand her plans for the future. As the half sister of Regina, Zelena was abandoned by Cora when she realized that Zelena would never give her the life of royalty she desired. Princess Eva (Snow’s mother) ruined Cora’s chances by revealing her pregnancy and therefore Zelena’s plan is to return to the past and kill Eva.
Thrown into a cyclone, Zelena fulfills the prophecy that she is the force from the West that can complete Glinda’s powerful circle. However, Zelena’s jealousy gets the best of her and when Dorothy drops in, it is clear that Zelena was never meant to fill the innocent space on the council. Nor was she good enough to help Rumple cast the curse.
One final problem stands in Zelena’s way, Emma’s powers. In order to remove them, Zelena tricks Hook into confessing his love for Emma and enchants his lips with a spell. When Rumple nearly drowns Hook, Emma revives him, but when her lips meet his, her powers are gone. It will take Henry to remember the past and Regina to change her powers from dark magic to light magic to save the town now.
The book helps Henry remember and the curse is broken, stripping Zelena of her magic. It turns out that the initial curse was cast by Snow when she ripped out Charming’s heart. Regina was able to save them by ripping Snow’s heart in half and placing a piece in each of them. When the town gets their memories back, one question still remains; Who told Hook to save Emma?
Everything seems okay now! Right? We had some fun meeting Blackbeard and Rapunzel along the way.
But Zelena’s magic extends from beyond the grave opening a portal that goes back in time to the moment that Emma’s parents are destined to meet.
In the past, Emma and Hook must be careful not to disrupt the timeline in any way or the future as they know it will cease to exist. They hit a few bumps on the road, including a run in with past Hook, nearly killing Snow, and saving Marian from certain death. Oh, they also went to a ball as Princess Leia and Prince Charles.
When all is said and done, the pair escape the threat of the still evil Regina and make their way back to Rumplestiltskin’s castle to build a passage back to Storybrooke. With Marian in tow, Emma realizes that what she misses most, is her life with her mother, her father, and her son. She misses her home, in Storybrooke.
With the future restored and Prince Neal named, the couples begin to pair off. David and Mary Margaret hold their son, Hook reveals to Emma that he traded his ship for her, Robin and Regina welcome an unexpected guest, and Belle and Rumple wed in the forest.
But down the road…
See you TONIGHT for the return of Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 1 “A Tale of Two Sisters” on ABC!
GIF credit: Brittany Lovely
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.