Once Upon A Time Recap S3E22 (Finale): There’s No Place Like Home

The unlikely trio travel together. Snow tries to hide her face, she’s an outlaw. Charming asks about Snow’s necklace, stealing it. She has dark fairy dust inside it. She tells him that she’s saving it for someone, and he suspects it’s the Queen. He asks how she incurred her wrath. The Queen believes that Snow ruined her life, and she did. Snow stops the boys before the gates, she has to do something first, they’ll enter in at the evening.

Hook and Charming over a bondfire. Charming has doubts about marrying King Midas’ daughter. He always thought that he would marry for love, and now it seems to just be a business contract. He’s disillusioned about the whole love thing. Hook tells him that when he meets the right girl, his whole opinion will change, he knows that his has. He’s in love with “Leia,” bnut he’s unsure if she feels the same way, and her parents don’t like him either. Charming figures that their opinion will change adter they learn his risks he took to save her. He hopes that’s the case. A girl walks out of the woods, its Red, she’s come to help them at Snow’s request.

Emma toys with the engagement ring. She worries that she’s ruined everything, and that her parents already think she’s dead. If her parents never fall in love, she’ll never be born, a world with no savior. She notices something in the straw, it gives her an idea. She picks the lock and gets free. Marian urges her to hurry and leave, but Emma can’t leave her behind.

A wolf takes out the guards. Charming and Hook take the remaining ones, but Emma has ruined Hook’s dashing rescue. Worse of all, she’s freed Marian, who is suppose to die. Emma returns the ring to charming, and they set out together.

Regina toys with her red apple. If Marian survives what does that mean for Regina and Robin? Snow tries to sneak up on Regina, but she’s not scared of Snow or fairy dust. Snow tells her that’s its dark fairy dust, and Regina is intrigued. She doesn’t think that Snow has it in her, but Snow tosses the dust at her. Regina stops it instantly, and is ready to make Snow suffer. Snow tells her that it was a mistake, that she was a child. She wasn’t trying to cause her unhappiness. Regina doesn’t care, and orders Snow to die. Even if Snow dies, she tells her that the kingdom will never be hers.

Emma, and the others look for Snow. They spot her being drug out to die. They cannot stop her. Regina roasts Snow at the stake as Emma and the others watch. Emma cries by the fire outside. Hook tries to comfort her, telling her that he learned after his brother’s death that they have to live in the here and now. That doesn’t make sense to Emma. Emma shouldn’t be here with Snow’s death. Snow has to be alive, they just need to find her. Emma springs to her feet, and she swats at the bug that is flyi9ng around her. Charming stops her and Hook from squashing the bug. He tells her about Snow and her dark pixy dust, and that she could have used it at the right moment. The bug seems to be saying something, and none of them speak bug. Luckily the Blue fairy does. She arrives, and sees through Emma and Hook’s disguises, but allows them to keep their secrets. She breaks the dark magic, and all seems to be on the right path.

Red says her goodbye to Snow. Snow almost begrudgingly thanks Charming. It was the right thing to do. She offers to fill his canteen. The pair are slowly coming together. Hook and Emma ponder what to do with Marian. She isn’t supposed to be there, and her being alive poses a problem. They decide to take her with them back to the future, but she doesn’t trust them. They have to knock her out. Charming realizes that Snow stole the ring, and he sets off after her, which would be perfect, except before Snow used the dust to save Charming, but now she’s used it all up. History repeats itself, The trolls have Snow and Charming, Charming causes a disturbance so Snow can get away. Snow comes back for Charming, bluffing her way to his safety. Her bluff was enough, and Charming was impressed by her. Hook and Emma find that her parents did not need their help, and from there it all goes according to plan. The ring isn’t Snow’s style, and in that moment, Charming falls in love. Emma sheds a tear watching her parents fall in love. Hook notices that they’re heading away from each other, but she knows that’s how its suppose to happen, they stubbornly fought their feelings. Stubbornness runs in the family Hook notes. Emma checks the book, it’s restored.

Regina makes an example of the trolls that failed her. She squashes them beneath her boot, she will destroy her happiness no matter what.

Emma and Hook return to Rumple with the good news. He can’t open the portal, and he’s crafted a potion to forget so that he doesn’t change his past. The only one who can open the portal is one who went through it with the wand. He gives her the wand, and puts them into his vault where he puts things that he cannot handle. Hook knows that Emma can open the portal, that she has the magic, but she isn’t sure yet. He claims that she wants to live an unmagic life, but she doesn’t. Seeing Snow, and have her not recognize her was too much. Being close to her parents, and having them look at her like a total stranger, with so much distance was the worst. Henry wasn’t bringing her back to break a curse, he was bringing her home. Storybrook is her home. With that revelation the wand lights up, her magic is restored. She opens the portal, and Rumple stops her. He needs to know the future. She admits that he finds Neil, that he died to save all of them. Rumple thinks that he can save his son, but Emma begs him not to. Neil loved his father, and she loved him. She begs him to not make Neil’s sacrifice for nothing, and asks that he drink the potion. He drinks it, and Emma goes into the portal. Rumple forgets everything. She and Hook are home. She asks Hook to fill in Marian.

Emma goes to tell Snow and David that they aren’t leaving. They’re staying in Storybrook, and she finally calls David dad. Emma shows them the book, revealing that she’s Princess Leia. Her parents are both shocked and pleased. David announces the name of the baby. He names the baby Prince Neil, and it brings tears to many eyes. Emma heads outside to see Hook. She wonders if everything went back to normal. Hook muses that it did, because he doesn’t remember her kissing him in the past, or he would have come after her. She’s a hero. Emma muses that he’s a hero too. She asks him how he came after her, he outran the curse with the Jolly Roger, and bought a magic bean. He used his ship to save her, if that doesn’t scream true love nothing does. She kisses him.

Belle is escorted into the woods to marry Rumpelstiltskin. Jiminy officiates. Belle opens up with her vows. She thought she lost Rumple so many times, and has realized that she didn’t spend her life losing him, but finding him. Rumple never thought he would love, he was an enemy of love until her. She brought the walls down, brought her home. Emma and Hook remain kissing. Regina walks down the street with Robin and his son as Rumple continues his vows. Belle loves Rumple despite his flaws, finding the good in his darkness. Regina and Robin kiss in front of Granny’s before going in. Marian recognizes the Queen, freaking out. Emma calms her, and brings her over to meet Marian, still unaware who she is. Before they can meet, Robin sees Marian, and Regina’s world implodes. Emma didn’t consider the consequences, and Regina hopes she didn’t bring anything else back. Something else did come back through the portal. It’s bottle opens, and liquid pours over the symbol. From the liquid rises a girl of frost, its Elsa! Think she’ll want to build a snowman?