Once Upon A Time Recap S03E15: Quiet Minds

Bacon cooks up at Granny’s and the group discusses how Gold could still be around. Hook remembers that Neil was trying to get his family back in the Enchanted Forest. Regina wonders what the hell the witch was cooking up with Gold in her basement. Regina returns to the witch’s cabin to look for clues, and when she finds her she doesn’t plan to pull any punches.

Zelena tries to summon the dark one with his dagger, but he’s broken free and he knows too much. She sends a flying monkey to find him.

Gold is running through the forest.

Belle looks over the golden hay, unable to wrap her around the fact that Rumple is still alive. Emma knows that she knows his store best, and Charming points out that if he is back he will come for her. Hook offers to stay behind with her, because he’s good at research he says. Belle finds the offer odd, but Emma tells her that if the witch comes he will protect her, but Belle tells her that he tried to kill her twice. Hook is trying to make amends though, and Belle agrees. Charming suggests that Snow stay out of the woods too, that she needs her rest.

One year ago, Belle helped Neil to look for clues to bring Rumpelstiltskin back. She loved him, even the dark parts, and it took Neil a long time to see the good in him. Now he needs that darkness to get back to the ones he loves. He has a necklace that represents his life with Emma. Belle leads Neil to where they can find what they need in the library. She lights a candle, and it comes to life, Lumiere. Belle watches the candle warily.

Belle passes Hook books to research when she hears someone trying to get inside, its not Rumple like she hoped, but Neil, who collapses onto the floor.

Emma brings Henry some breakfast, and he questions her going back out. She sends him out with Leroy to fish, and he’s willing to go, but he doesn’t believe her. He knows that she’s not telling him something. He wants the truth, or he wants to go home. A phone call interrupts, and she tells him that something is up, but its complicated. For now he lets her go with a promise she’ll fill him in later.

Emma rushes to the hospital to see Neil, but he has not clue what is going on, he remembers Emma driving off, and then waking up in Storybrook. Hook asks if they’re going to tell him, and Charming breaks it to him that Gold is still alive. Emma finds an odd pyramid brand on his palm that was there when he woke up. Belle plans to research it. Neil asks for a moment alone with Emma. He’s happy to see her back and remembering her. He asks to see Henry, but she tells him that her memories are back, but Henry’s are not. He doesn’t know anything about his father, only that he abandoned him. Neil tells her that they have to get Henry’s memories back. Emma isn’t sure its best for him to remember since he was really happy in New York, but he’s Henry’s father, and he has to know the truth.

Belle cannot figure out how she has never seen Lumiere. He tells her that the castle is big, and that he can only come out when all of his candles are lit. He was cursed by Rumple, and he doesn’t exactly want to help resurrect him. Belle tells him that if they help resurrect Rumple then he will restore Lumiere back to his human form. Lumiere tells them where to find the hiding book which holds the key to the vault of the dark one. It is where the first dark one was formed. Belle asks for Lumiere to lead them to the hiding spot, and he will. Neil blows out the candles for now. Lumiere lights his candles one by one when the Wicked Witch comes. She’s the one pulling his strings.

Zelena comes when Snow calls. She’s anxious because she hasn’t felt the baby move for awhile. Zelena gives her some orange juice to try to get the baby to move more, telling her that she may be further along than she thought, or it may be the stress of looking for the Wicked Witch. Snow has been all couped up as the others search. Zelena tries to ensure her that she is working hard, creating a new person. Snow drinks up her juice, and feels the instant result. Zelena is not letting her have the baby without her.

Regina makes it back to the Witch’s cabin, but she isn’t alone. Robin shoots an arrow her way, and she catches it. He thought she was the wicked witch, and he thought her a flying monkey. They make each other’s acquaintance for the first time. She tells him the at Wicked Witch is long gone, and he tells her that she has a partner looking for clues, whether she wants one or not. She feels a case of déjà vu, and a searching they go.

Neil sits in his hospital room looking at his brand. Hook brings him some green jello. Emma put him on babysitting duty, and Neil thanks him for getting Emma to come back. Neil asks how it feels to be the hero after being the villain for so long. Hook asks how it feels to play the villain. So these two aren’t going to be bosom buddies anytime soon. Both are unfamiliar ground. Neil doesn’t think he’s the villain, but Hook is quick to point out that with the brand on his hand he likely used some pretty dark magic to bring his father back. Neil wants to head out to find his father to set things right for him and his son. Hook plans to stand in his way he tells him, and pulls him in for a hug. Neil may be a man, but underneath he is still the boy Hook took care of all those years ago. They got wrapped in nonsense over a woman, and Neil tells him that they don’t have to do this. Hook gives him a ten minute head start before he alerts the others, and Neil makes haste.

Belle cannot stop thinking of Rumple’s sacrifice she tells Neil in the Enchanted Forest, but Neil knows that he died to save them. He wasn’t sure that his father had that sort of selfless act in him. Belle tells him that he regretted what happened with Neil so much, and he would do anything to get back to him. That Neil understands, he would do anything to get back to Henry. Belle and Neil find what they were looking for.

Charming asks Emma how Neil is as they walk the forest. She tells him that it was hard, that Henry makes it difficult. He thinks that if they find Gold then he can bring back Henry’s memories, but realizes that Emma may not stay in Storybrook after they great the curse. A week ago she and Henry were eating fruit roll-ups and playing video games, and now she’s traipsing in the woods looking for the Dark One, hoping he can help her find the Wicked Witch. They hear Gold yelling, and they find him, but he’s clearly not okay. The voices are running rampant in his head, and he cannot concentrate. Charming wants to get him out of there, but the monkeys come. Gold runs for it, and Charming stays behind to deal with the monkeys.

Regina and Robin search through the Witch’s cupboards, but find nothing so far. Robin has heard many stories about the great, and evil queen, but so far he doesn’t see it. Bold and audacious are much better descriptions. Regina admits that the evil part was an effective tool. Robin draws closer, within kissing distance, and pulls a bottle from the shelf. She tells him that it can give courage, strength and even be a love potion, its whiskey, but it isn’t usually so magical the next morning. He grabs a pair of tumblers. They survived a curse, woken up in a new realm, and forgotten a year of their lives, they deserve a drink. Regina remembered a time when Tink told her that she needed love, but Regina scoffed at the idea of a new soulmate, one with a lion tattoo. Regina runs out the door.

Emma looks for Gold, and Neil finds Emma. She admits his father is alive, and that he seems a little crazy, that when she asked him about the witch he wanted to tell her but he couldn’t. Neil joins the search party to Emma’s chagrin.

Lumiere is surprised to see that Neil and Belle found the clearing. Under the snow is the entryway to the vault, with the key hole under. He says that he spent two hundred years in Rumple’s library witnessing more dark magic and sorcery than any other living creatures, but Belle catches his lie. Rumple built the library for her barely 30 years ago. Lumiere admits that it was not Rumple, but the wicked witch who cursed him and wants Rumple back so she can control him with the dagger. Belle wants to leave, knowing that Rumple would never want to be a slave, but Neil only sees that he can come back, and knows that he can if there is a loop hole than Rumple can get through it. Belle worries what the wicked witch can do with the Dark One. Neil only wants an opportunity to get back to Henry and Emma. Belle warns that Gold made the same mistake before thinking he was doing the right thing when he forged the curse. Neil opens the vault anyways, and Neil gets branded. From the depth of goo, Gold rises.

Neil asks about Emma and Henry’s life in New York. They loved it, life was good. He asks if it was lonely. Henry had lots of friends, and she admits that she had someone too. Neil asks it was serious, and she tells him that he proposed and then he turned into a flying monkey. They both have a laugh over close calls with monstrous spouses. Neil tells her that he’s sorry it didn’t work out, he cares, and he just wants her to be happy even if it isn’t with him. Belle calls and tells her that the symbol on Neil’s hand is a key to the vault of the Dark One, she thinks he used it to resurrect Gold. She tells her that the vault will only restore the Dark One in exchange for another life. It’s a one for one trade, so if Neil used that key he should be dead. Neil falls down in pain, morphing into his father. In the forrest Neil fell down in pain as the dark one rose. Rumble saw his son dying when the wicked witch appears. Rumple accuses her of tricking him, tells her that she didn’t tell of the price. She thought that it would have been obvious. Gold sends Belle away, and he refuses to let Neil go. The Wickes witch tells her tthat he cannot hang onto both his son and the dagger. He lets go of the dagger, and Neil melds into him. His madness overtakes him, and the witch tells him to kill Belle. Lumiere binds the witch so that Belle can get away. Bell takes Lumiere and they run for it. Now, Emma thinks that Neil is still alive because Gold is inside of him. Neil hears Gold in his head, and she thinks that he meant Neil when he said that there was no room. Neil asks her to separate them, that she needs Gold more than him. He begs her to use her power to do it. She takes his hands and concentrates, pulling them apart. She’s surprised to see it work, and Gold is distraught over her separating them. Neil confesses that he asked her to do it so that he could tell them who the witch is. Gold tells them that it is Zelena. She wants what she doesn’t have. Emma asks if there is a way to save Neil, but he tells her that its too late. Emma needs him to survive so that Henry can remember him, but he tells her that he doesn’t need to remember him, only tell him that he was a good father. He makes her promise that she will be happy, and Gold cannot watch his son die. He wants to fix it, but Neil tells him that he cannot. Neil thanks him for showing him what it is to make a true sacrifice. It’s Neil’s turn to make the sacrifice now, and tells his father to let him go. They say their goodbye, and Neil dies in Emma’s arms.

Emma and Charming go crashing into his apartment, scaring Snow. They’re looking for Zelena, and Snow is freaked out. They kick in the door to the bathroom, but Zelena is gone. Emma calls Regina for a protection spell, and Charming tells Snow that Zelena is the wicked witch, that Neil brought Gold back, and he died.

Zelena laughs over the results of Neil’s folly. He may be gone, but he gave his life so that Gold could warn the savior, so it’s only a matter of time before she and the others come and kill her. With Neil gone she can control Gold like she wished. Gold tells her that with her identity in the open she’ll never get close to Snow’s baby. She tells him that it doesn’t matter now that she has him, and sends Gold back to his cage. He renters back into the darkness, a little less shiny than before.

Robin plays with his son, and Regina watches from the shadows.

Snow and Charming come to see Belle and Hook, in mourning.

Emma goes to see Henry. She asks him how fishing was, and her face betrays her. She tells him that he was right, that she hasn’t been honest about the case or trip. She tells him that someone was in trouble, and the person wasn’t a client, but his father. She tells him that she found his father, but that she was too late. He was a good man, and would have been a great father, that he was a hero. Henry wishes that he knew him, and she tells him that he did, which doesn’t make any sense with his memory gone. She tells him that she will find the person who did it though, they won’t get away.