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.
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