Once Upon A Time S04E15 Recap: Poor Unfortunate Soul

We know Maleficent's backstory, and now it's time for Ursula. Hook and his men sail back to Neverland. He's bringing a ship full of cakes, in an effort to keep Pan happy until he can figure out how to destroy the Dark One. The sweet song of a siren lures the pirates towards the rocks. It nearly works, but Hook steers the ship away at the last moment.

The mermaid feels sorrow over nearly killing the ship full of people. Triton wanted her to kill the people, but she didn't feel that way. She wants to make people happy with her voice. That was the same thing that her mother wanted and she ended up dead. She doesn't think that all people are evil, but Triton isn't listening. He tells Ursula that he wants her back by high tide. So basically, Ursula is Ariel. How unoriginal.

Now. Ursula listens to opera out near the water. Cruella brings Ursula in to give a helping hand. Inside, August is still being questioned, and he still claims to know nothing. Ursula pulls a knife on him, but it does nothing to sway him. Regina has other ideas. He use to be made of wood, so she suggests that they light a fire under him. The light of the fire jogs his memory. Before the curse was broken he was in Hong Kong and there was someone else looking for the author, The Dragon. He died before he could get the answers that he wanted, but August did collect his research and bring it back with him to Storybrooke. Maleficent isn't so sure that she believes him, and neither does Gold, but he plans to go investigate himself. Cruella asks if they should go to step 2, and Regina wonders what they're still keeping from her. She stares into the fire.

Snow thinks that Pinocchio will be fine so long as he's with Regina. Emma isn't so sure. Regina may have convinced her that kidnapping him was a good idea, but she didn't have to go along with it, and thinks that if something happens to the kid then it'll be her fault. Something has happened. He got real old real fast. David's tracking comes up short. The rest of the tracks have been washed away. Snow thinks that they may not need the tracks as a cloud of black smoke comes straight towards them. It wraps around Snow, and enters her. Regina speaks through her, giving the heroes and update. Gold is back, as is August, and there's a bigger plan afoot. If the Dark One is back, then there is only one person who could track him.

Belle is shocked to hear that Gold has returned. Belle thinks its impossible. Emma wants the dagger, to hand it over. She tells them that Killian has the dagger, she gave it to him to hide. He hasn't seen the dagger since she used it to send the Alligator away. After the life times that he's spent searching for a way to get rid of the Dark One, he thinks that he would remember holding that sort of power in his hand. Emma realizes that it was Gold in the guise of Hook. Belle cannot believe that Gold has deceived her once again. Hook is angry. He thinks that they should have given him the chance to drive that dagger through Gold's heart. Emma reminds him that he would have been the next Dark One. Hook thinks that it would have been worth it. Emma wants to go after August, and Hook plans to right a wrong. He's going to find out Gold's plan by returning Ursula's happy ending, since he was the one that took it.

At the cabin, Regina pulls out her torn up page. She tells him that it appeared to someone really special, Robin Hood. The boy he became may not have remembered him, but he retained the boy's memories. Regina confirmed that Robin did find the page, but that the page depicts something that didn't happen, and she thinks he knows more than he's saying. Ursula jumps to her feet, putting all the queens on edge. She claims it was nothing, that she just needs to stretch her tentacles.

Hook blows on a conch as he waits for Ursula. Ursula wraps her tentacles around Hook. He's come to make a deal with her. The author isn't the only one that can give Ursula her happy ending, Hook can too. Hook knows that the Dark One is there for more than just the author, and if she reveals his plan, he will restore her happy ending.

Past. Ursula sings to a tavern full of men, Hook included. After her song, he approaches her. He recognizes her voice as the mermaid who nearly sank his ship, but ultimately let him go, and he owes her a drink for that. Sitting down, she admits that after she nearly brought doom upon his ship her father threatened her. She do his bidding or leave. She broke into his vault, and stole a bracelet to walk on land. She tells him that her father wasn't always prickly. He use to find joy in the sounds of her and her mother singing, until her mother was killed by pirates. After that her father used her voice as a weapon to bring men to their deaths. Her voice is all she has left. Hook sees that she has a rare gift, that her voice can soothe tortured souls. Hook tells her that his life has been consumed with one thought, just revenge. Her voice took away his pain for one moment, but he wonders why she's singing in the rat nest. She's saving for a trip, but he tells her that she doesn't need money for that. He'll take her. He tells her to meet him the next morning.

Now. Hook and Ursula look over the water. She asks where he buried her treasure. He didn't, its on the Jolly Roger. And his ship was left in the Enchanted Forest. Ursula can still open up portals, but she needs something from the Jolly Roger. Hook hands over a piece of the rigging. Ursula hasn't dipped a tentacle in the sea since she's been banished to this world, but she does so now. Hook doesn't think that her power worked, but it did. The Jolly Roger has just changed, its a ship in a bottle now.

Past. Hook gets nabbed leaving the tavern. He's brought onto his own ship to face Triton. Triton gives him a threat. He will not let Ursula near his ship. He shows Hook a seashell. The shell will take away her singing voice, and therefore the reason for her wanting to leave. Hook refuses. Ursula saved his ship. Triton offers Hook something that he's been looking for, a way to get rid of the Dark One. Triton tells Hook about magic squid ink, a single drop is powerful enough to paralyze any being, even Rumpelstiltskin. All he needs to do is steal her voice and show her how awful humans really can be.

Hook and Ursula head to Gold's shop. He didn't come to see Belle, but her current suitor, the Knave of Hearts. He needs the thief's help. Belle isn't sure Hook is really who he says he is, after the last time she was deceived. Hook jokes that now she decides to question his identity. Ursula points out that if Hook were the Dark One then lover boy would be dead. Very true. Will isn't feeling very helpful though, and Hook points out that they're one the same side for once. The key to getting rid of the Dark One is on his ship, currently bottle bound. Will looks at the tiny vessel, making size jokes. Hook cautions him, but notes that he spent more time in Wonderland than anyone, so he may have something to undo the shrinkage. Something comes to mind.

Regina looks at her book page when she hears Robin calling to her. He's returned, and she's overjoyed. He tells her that it doesn't matter how he got there, only that he's there now. He kisses her, and she pulls away, knowing that someone is watching. That someone is her, in full on Evil Queen mode, throwing fireballs. Regina awakens. Maleficent offers something to help her sleep. Gold returns. He found nothing at the trailer, he didn't even look. The man is a born liar, and he knows that he wouldn't have cracked so easily. Instead he visited the fairies magic supply. The potion can temporarily reverse any spell that they've cast. They made him real, so Gold plans to undo it. He forces the potion down August's throat, and turns him back to wood.

Emma, Snow and David make it as far as they can drive towards Gold's cabin. They worry if Hook has turned Ursula yet. David wonders if Ursula has turned him, since he went a little to the darkside earlier. Emma points out that if Gold had done to her what he did to Hook, she would have wanted to skewered him too. Snow is worried that Emma is turning dark. She's not, but she understands where he was coming from. She was worried about the kid, but he would have held back a little. The same rules don't apply to August.

August turns back to a human. The reversal was really short, except that it wasn't. Gold tells them that it turned the lie detector back on. August tries to call his bluff, but Gold was telling the truth, as August's nose grows. He pulls the former puppet closer to the fire as he questions him further, asking if he told them everything he knows about the author. He definitely didn't. The more he lies, the closer his nose gets to the fire. He tells them that the sorcerer trapped the author behind a door. He calls out Regina, that she knows about the door. She says nothing, but August claims that he gave her a book with loose pages. Regina claims to know nothing, that she gave that stuff to Henry. Gold goes back to questioning, asking about the door's description. August remains vague. All he knows is that it is somewhere in Storybrooke. Gold tells him that it wasn't so hard. Since the Sorcerer did the trapping, they'll start the search at his mansion. Regina offers to guard August, but Gold appoints Cruella as guard dog. Regina is the only one of them that has seen a picture of the door, so she gets to help find it.

Hook holds his ship near the harbor, as Ursula prepares to drop some magic mushroom juice on it. Hook cautions a steady hand to prevent a giant squid from terrorizing Storybrooke. Ursula delivers a single drop on the ship as Hook tosses the bottle. The Jolly Roger is back!

Past. Ursula sings her sweet song. Hook clears the ship's deck. He contemplates the shell. The young Ursula hoped that he wouldn't mind her singing. He has something to show her. He shows her the shell. Ursula fears the shell, begging him not to use it. He doesn't plan to, but he does tell her that her father offered him Squid Ink if he took her voice. He knows that her voice is all she has left of her mother, and he would do anything to keep something of his beloved. Plus he's got that hot pirate honor thing going on, but he is still a pirate. She stole the bracelet from her father's vault, and he assumes that's where he keeps his squid ink. If she were to steal it for him, then they would both get what they want.

Hook walks the ship with glee, taking in everything, including the smells. He never thought that he would get to be in it again. He removes his hook, which doubles as a key to his vault. He pulls out the seashell. If he returns her voice, she has to reveal every detail of Gold's plan. He places the shell in her hand, and the voice comes out, but not back to her. It didn't work. She realizes that Hook was wrong. Villains can't get happy endings. She never should have believed him when he said that they could do it without the author. Ursula calls off their deal, but Hook can't have it end there. He grabs a pistol, pointing it at Ursula. She thinks he's selfish, and she uses her tentacles against him, knocking him out and throwing him into the sea. Hook gets saved though, but Ariel.

She throws him onshore, and he wakes up. After making sure that he's okay, she slaps him for throwing Blackbeard overboard before she could get Eric's location. She went through a lot to find him. Hook wonders why she's there, since she did find Eric and was living happily ever after. She was, until she got trapped in that bottle. She followed Blackbeard when he had the Jolly Roger, and he terrorized a lot of people, including Arendelle. Elsa trapped the boat and shrank it as punishment, and Ariel accidentally got swept up in magic. Ariel asks if it was the real Ursula, and why she threw him overboard. It was. He promised something that he apparently couldn't deliver, and now his faith in villains getting happy endings has been shaken. Ariel thinks that maybe its because villains always go about getting them the wrong way.

Past. Ursula delivers the squid ink. He couldn't have accomplished this without her help, and asks where she would like to go. Before she can answer her father arrives. Hook tells his men to stand down, that the King is there for him, but Ursula knows that he's there for her. She calls him out on what he asked of Hook. He was trying to take away the only thing she has left of her mother. He was trying to protect her. Triton turns his ire on Hook, he may have Ursula fooled, but he sees the pirate for what he is. He only cares about one thing, his vengeance. Triton causes the ink to disappear, and Hook tries to raise his sword against him, but Triton blocks him. Hook lashes out, he's not the only one consumed by vengeance. He uses the shell against Ursula, stealing her voice. Now Triton will never be able to crash another ship. He promised to never steal her voice and he lied. Ursula sees that not only is her father a tyrant, but Hook is no better. She thinks that if all humans are like him, then none of them deserve to hear her voice. She leaps into the sea. Triton asks for the shell in Hook's hand, but Hook refuses to give it back, threatening to smash it instead.

Cruella looks at August approvingly. She's glad that the spell was short-termed, since she finds his scruff appealing. Emma busts down the door. She's there for August. Cruella pulls a gun on her, and before she can use her magic, Snow knocks her out with a frying pan. The back doors are usually open. Emma is glad to see August back as himself, and he's impressed that she's been practicing her magic as she makes his bindings vanish. Before they can make a getaway Ursula returns. She gleefully tells them that Hook is shark bait before turning her tentacles on Snow. Emma raises her hands to unleash some fury, but Ursula has her tentacles wrapped around Snow's throat.

Past. Triton apologizes to his daughter. He thinks that he had no choice. Ursula points out that her voice was all that she had left of her mother, and because of him its gone. He wanted her to choose a side, and she's choosing herself. She grabs his trident, refusing to remain his precious little mermaid. He named her after the sea goddess of old, who was strong and powerful, and that's who she wants to be. She turns herself into a force to be reckoned with, one more powerful than him that should be feared.

Now. Ursula holds Snow, and Emma tries to talk her out of what she's doing. Ursula can't let them leave with August, he's the only one that has a lead on the author, and they need him for happy endings. Hook arrives, to tell her that her thinking is wrong. Ursula is surprised to find him still breathing. She's either bad at killing or he's good as surviving. He knows why she couldn't release her voice from the shell, only the one who enchanted the shell can release it. Hook has brought King Triton with him. She doesn't understand how he is there in the land. He tells her that a young mermaid brought him through the portal. He apologizes for trying to use her as a weapon. Her voice hurt him because it reminded him of her mother, and rather than appreciating that it was a part of her, he wanted to destroy it. He asks if he can return her voice, and hear it one last time. She accepts and he returns it. With her whole, he turns to leave her in peace, but that's not what she wants. She doesn't want her father to miss out on the last piece of her mother, and she's missed him. The others realize that Cruella has left, and they prepare to vacate before the others get back. Emma is proud that Hook gave Ursula her happy ending, but Hook realizes that he almost didn't. He nearly slipped back into his old ways, so bent on finding out the crocodile's plans. Whatever mistakes that he almost made with Ursula, he recovered. He's not the man he was. Hook points out that with all the talks of authors and the book, they've never talked about him losing his happy ending. Emma thinks that he's a hero now, but so is Regina, and she lost hers, so its only a matter of time before he loses his happy ending, with her. Emma sheds a tear as she kisses him. How did she not realize that she was his happy ending before this?

Regina marvels at their lack of findings. Gold knows if the author is in Storybrooke then they will find him eventually. Cruella comes crashing in. Gold sees that she's missing August. She tells them that the heroes have rescued him, they had a mole, Ursula. She traded them in for a reunion with Daddy. August may be gone, but they still have his information. He tells Regina to get the picture of the door, they may be able to find something in it that August missed.

Hook walks Ursula to the harbor. It's goodbye, but first, she needs to hold up her end of the bargain. She reveals Gold's plan, it involves Emma. The author can't just change things in this world. He didn't give everyone their happy endings in this world, Emma did. With the savior there, the author's hands are tied. So in order to free him to give the villains happy endings, Gold will have to destroy Emma. He will fill her heart with darkness forever.

Emma is back at the apartment. Regina is glad to see that August is okay. Emma admits that it was because of her message. Regina has another problem, she tells Emma about her dream where she, as the Evil Queen, wrecked her own happy reunion with Robin Hood. Emma thinks that she is afraid of the villain that she use to be, and could become again. Regina doesn't think its that simple. She thinks that the Queen was there to protect Robin. Emma use to track people for a living, and she asks if she could get her a way to contact Robin. Emma can certainly do that. August wakes up, and Henry calls Emma over. August isn't happy to see Regina, but Emma assure him that she's okay. Regina reveals to him that the only reason she's there is because Gold thinks that she's stealing the book page, but she needs help keeping her cover. They didn't find the door in the sorcerer's mansion. August reveals that its not there. Regina is shocked, he knows where the door was, since his nose didn't grow when Gold asked him about it. He didn't know where the door was at the time, since he didn't know where Henry had the book. The door is in the book. The author is trapped inside the book.