This week’s chapter in the story of Once Upon A Time begins with a flashback to a dusty, crumbling underground chamber lit by torches. We see an older man sweeping the floor in front of a large dais, the Sorcerer’s Box in a place of honor at the center. Suddenly the torches go out, and the man unsheathes a sword before calling for the Dark One to reveal himself. A cloaked figure approaches behind him and half-asks/half-says that he is not the Sorcerer. The old man reveals that he is the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (this episode’s first nod to Disney’s Fantasia) and says that the cloaked figure is not the first Dark One he has faced, and moves to strike the cloaked figure down with his sword. The Dark One vanishes, reappearing at the dais, and sends the Apprentice flying backwards before approaching the Sorcerer’s Box with the dagger. The Apprentice warns the Dark One that he doesn’t want to know what he will unleash if he opens the box. The Dark One reveals himself to be Zoso and waves the dagger over the box, but is blasted back by magic. The Apprentice reveals that the Sorcerer cast an enchantment upon the box that makes it impossible for anyone who has succumbed to the darkness in their heart to touch the box, and that every Dark One has tried to possess the box but none ever will. Zoso disappears.
At the pawn shop, Mr. Gold waves the dagger over the box and it transforms into the Sorcerer’s Hat, leading to the opening credits where we see a walking broomstick.
In Storybrooke, Emma and Henry arrive at Granny’s and Emma asks Henry if he’s okay with “this.” He says he’s not, but he wants her to be happy and gives her a little push. Inside the diner, Hook is playing darts and hits the bull’s eye. Emma approaches and Hook asks if the Snow Queen has appeared; Emma says there’s no sign of that “ice witch.” (Ice witch, White Witch of Narnia, whichever…) Hook turns to throw another dart and Emma says she’s here to ask him out; the dart hits the wall this time. He questions whether he’s the one who should be asking her out and Emma says he’s old-fashioned, highlighting his 300+ years of age. Hook accepts the date but wants to plan it himself, and after Emma objects that she knows how to plan a date, he tells her she knows how to chase a monster and he knows how to plan a night out. Emma warns him that she doesn’t “pillage and plunder” on the first date (Saviors are respectable, after all) and Hook replies that it’s because she hasn’t been out with him yet. Emma goes outside and finds a large puddle has appeared around her car. She looks around suspiciously before getting in her little yellow bug.
Meanwhile Mr. Gold enters his pawn shop to find Hook waiting for him on the counter, wanting to make a deal. Gold declines but Hook plays the “I’ll tell Belle the truth” card, so Gold acquiesces to his request and produces Hook’s severed hand in a jar. Hook wants him to reattach it but beforehand, Gold warns him (with the speech patterns of Enchanted Forest-era Rumple) that the hand belongs to the man Hook used to be: a cunning and selfish pirate, and there’s no telling what influence it could have on Hook. Throwing caution to the wind, Hook removes his metal appendage and Gold uses magic to reattach the missing phalanges.
Back at Casa de Charming, Snow and the Prince give Elsa the books containing the town census records from the first and second curse, hoping to find Anna. Elsa comments that Snow’s curses are very thorough and Snow says the first three books are only “A through E.” (For those who missed it: this is an Easter egg for show creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis.) Charming brings the rest of the books as Emma emerges wearing a sockhop-chic dress and hairstyle. Her outfit impresses her parents and, in an adorable showcase of motherly pride, Snow takes a Polaroid of Emma, leading the Savior to express a need for her own place. (It is notable that Emma wants a living space of her own at the same time that she’s finding her place in the world.) Emma offers to stay in for the night but Elsa tells her, essentially, to live her own life. A knock at the door signals Hook’s arrival (and David’s overprotectiveness), and Emma opens it to reveal Hook in modern day garb. He uses his restored hand to give her a rose, leading to an exchange where Emma questions whether to call him “Captain Hand.” She’s ready to go before David gives a “dad speech,” and Hook assures Charming that Emma is in good hands. Charming gruffly states that that’s exactly what worries him now that Hook has two hands, Emma replies she can take care of herself, and her dad takes one last chance to offer to drive. (Emma on her first date = hilarious Storybrooke prom experience.) Elsa begins looking for records of Anna.
We’re treated to another flashback, this time of Anna arriving at Rumple’s castle asking for help. She claims her name is Joan (hang in there!) and awkwardly asks Rumple if something is wrong with his skin; Rumple cuts her off and says names are his stock in trade and says her real name. He reveals that he knows she’s there to find out why her parents came to the Enchanted Forest, and that her parents visited him. She wants to know why, but he requires her to make a deal to find out. She tells Rumple she’ll do whatever it takes to help Elsa (he loves it when they say that) and gives her a small vial of liquid along with instructions to find a prickly, child-eating man at the foot of the Dark Mountains and put the liquid in his tea; he magicks a contract scroll to seal the deal.
Anna arrives at a cabin with the vial and and is greeted by the Apprentice. She asks to come in and he offers her tea and biscuits. He inquires why she has arrived and she says she needs help finding her sister. The tea kettle whistles and she goes to remove it from the fire, and is about to put the liquid in it but thinks again and dumps the vial.
In Storybrooke, Emma and Hook arrive at an Italian restaurant (complete with a couple eating spaghetti ala Lady and the Tramp). They are seated and Hook offers to buy her a drink, but Emma declines due to concern about the Snow Queen interrupting their time together and mentions the puddle around her car. Hook grabs her hands and looks towards the bar, where we see Will Scarlett. He goes to leave, bumping into the waiter which causes him to spill wine on Emma’s dress. Emma utters her signature line (“Really?”) and Hook grabs Will and tells him, with a most sinister tone of voice, to apologize to Emma. Emma tells him it’s okay and Will runs off. The Savior, taking time for herself for once, decides not to chase the fairy-tale thief and stays in the restaurant while Hook surveys his hand, clearly concerned that Gold’s words in the pawn shop are coming true. Emma tells him it’s okay and grabs his hand, and Hook says he doesn’t know what got into him. (It’s those phalanges, mate.)
We then join Regina and Henry in their search for anti-Snow Queen magic down in Regina’s vault, but Regina doesn’t have anything strong enough to counteract it. Henry asks if it’s because Robin Hood still loves Regina, and Regina wants to know how he knows that. He says he knows Robin’s kiss didn’t work on Marian because of his feelings for Regina, and wonders if that’s a good thing. Regina says in this case, Henry is too young to understand. (Make note of the fact that Regina is wearing a shirt in a shade of Elsa-dress blue. Perhaps Her Majesty needs to let things go?)
Hook and Emma arrive back at Casa de Charming and Emma invites him in for coffee with her parents, a newborn and a human icemaker before expressing again that she needs her own place. Hook declines and asks Emma out on another date; she accepts with a kiss and goes inside while he ponders what’s happening with his hand. Emma goes inside where she is greeted by her parents during a hilarious scene where Snow wants to know everything about the date (for the record, Charming doesn’t want to hear everything) and asks how the restaurant was, whether they went anywhere after and if there was a goodnight kiss (that’s one of the things Charming doesn’t want to know). Emma says (for the third time) that she needs her own place and goes upstairs; Snow says Emma seems happy, Charming thinks Hook might have really changed, and Emma lets them know that she can still hear them. (Storybrooke prom, I’m tellin’ ya!)
Hook encounters a drunk Will Scarlett trying to break into the library on his way home; Hook tells him to leave and Will refuses, so Hook goes piratey on him and punches him in the face a few times. The Captain looks at his hand in concern and tells Will he’s a dead man if he tells anyone about their encounter before acknowledging to himself that Gold was right about his hand.
Back in the Enchanted Forest of the past, Anna arrives at Rumple’s castle and lies that she put the liquid into the Apprentice’s tea. Rumple lets her know that the Apprentice will live now that she’s completed her task, and reveals that the Apprentice drank poison the day before and Anna saved his life. Anna tells the truth about not using the antidote and Rumple uses his crystal ball to show Anna the Apprentice, who transforms into a mouse. (All he needs is red shorts and yellow shoes…)
Anna and Rumple arrive at the Apprentice’s cabin and Anna asks Rumple to change the Apprentice (hereafter known as Mickey) back into a human, but Rumple refuses because Mickey was guarding something he wants; Anna realizes Rumple poisoned poor Mickey. Rumple tells Anna that the spell around his desired object can only be broken by one who has faced their inner darkness, and now that Anna has done so, he can get what he wants. Anna tells him she never faced her inner darkness because she knew what she had to do as soon as she saw Mickey, and could never hurt someone to get what she wants because she’s a nice person. Rumple shows Anna their contract and tells her that she’ll be locked in his tower; Anna refutes that she needs to get back to Elsa, and Rumple tells her that Elsa will feel so guilty when Anna doesn’t return that she’ll become the monster everyone believes her to be. Anna grabs a sword and demands Rumple rip up their contract, but he refuses and tells her she must kill him in order to escape her fate. Anna puts the sword to his chest but cannot bring herself to commit murder and collapses in defeat. Rumple catches one of her tears on the dagger and says she considered killing him, so he has what he needs to break the spell on the box. Anna tells him that he’s a monster for using love as a weapon, to which Rumple replies “Love is a weapon… it’s just so few people know how to wield it,” as he opens the trapdoor to the chamber where Zoso tried to take the box. Approaching the dais, he uses the dagger to transform the box into the Sorcerer’s Hat.
Meanwhile in Maine, Mr. Gold is getting into his car when Hook jumps in and demands he remove the cursed hand. Rumple declines, Hook says he’ll tell Belle, but Rumple says he switched the daggers. Hook asks him to take his hand off, but Rumple says if he wants to get his hook back, he’ll help him… if Hook makes a deal. Hook says he’ll find another way to take his hand off, but Rumple says his magic put it on and only his magic can take it off. Hook stabs Rumple with the hook, and Rumple tells him he should have learned the first time he stabbed him: it never stings. Hook agrees to do whatever it takes to get his hand back and Gold (who loves it when they say that) tells him to meet at the docks in the morning.
The next day, Emma is driving through town when she hits a huge ice patch and spins out of control. (I’m sure the dual Storybrooke/ice wall weather report and radio song request from Mr. Rip Van Winkle didn’t help her keep her focus.) Emma sees the Snow Queen and wants to know why she’s following her; the Snow Queen walks away and Emma chases her, but the Snow Queen has disappeared. Sheriff Swan gets a call from Belle at the library: there’s a situation and she needs Emma’s help. (It seems a drunken Will wasn’t deterred by Hook’s punches and broke in anyway, falling asleep holding a book next to an empty bottle of whiskey.)
At the docks, Gold greets Hook and summons a broom to find an old friend and the broom, in another homage to Fantasia, starts walking away as Mark Isham’s score plays the theme from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
In the Enchanted Forest that was, Rumple emerges from the Magic Kingdom the Sorcerer’s Chamber. Anna asks him to reveal what her parents said to him and he tells her they were looking for a way to take Elsa’s magic permanently. Anna refuses to believe him but Rumple says they feared her more than loved her, and always wished she’d been born normal. He goes on to say that nothing can take that kind of magic away except the hat, stowed within the box, and that with it he will become unstoppable. Anna says that Mickey spent his life keeping the hat away from people like him before looking up; Rumple follows suit and sees the mouse above, who drops on him and bites his hand, leading Rumple to drop the dagger. Anna picks it up and orders him not to come closer. Rumple stops and Anna realizes the wavy knife controls him, so she asks him if he wants the hat to end the dagger’s control over him. He admits he wants to keep his power but not be controlled. Anna orders him to send her and the box home to Arendelle, as well as transforming Mickey back into a man. He obliges and erupts in anger.
Jumping back to Storybrooke, the broom leads Rumple and Hook to a red house whose owner is revealed to be Mickey! The dynamic duo enter and Rumple uses the dagger to open the box. Mickey is shocked to discover that Rumple has obtained the box and reiterates that every Dark One has tried but all have failed. (Time to update that motto!) Rumple tips the hat and poor Mickey is imprisoned within. (Oh boy!) Hook asks where he went and Rumple says he’s right where he needs him as a new star appears on the hat.
In Arendelle, Kristoff attempts to give Sven a carrot but is brutally rebuffed. Anna enters the stable and is reunited with her Ice Master and Deliverer, who proclaims his recent bathing habits and asks what’s on her mind. She tells him that her parents were trying to take Elsa’s power and is at a loss for words at what to tell Elsa.
In the pawn shop, Rumple takes Hook’s hand back and returns his metal appendage. Hook proclaims their deal complete but Rumple disagrees. After Hook says he’ll tell Belle if not released, Rumple produces a video tape with security footage from the Mickey’s house and uses magic to change its contents to show Hook in a villainous light. He also reveals that the severed hand is not cursed, Hook simply bought into the idea that it was, and warns him he will lose Emma if he tells Belle the truth. Pouring more salt on the wound, he proclaims that Hook is now indebted to him for as long as Hook lives. Hook pipes up that he’s willing to take Rumple down with him, but Rumple knows him better than he knows himself and tells him they’re going to have some fun.
Sheriff Savior Swan arrives at her station and confronts an imprisoned Will Scarlett, asking why he broke into the library. After he brushes her off with sarcasm, charm and hip bone, she pulls out a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and a ripped-out page displaying a drawing of the Red Queen. Will surveys it in silence as she asks if it means anything to him, and while he denies it, a tear runs noticeably out of his eye. She questions how his face got pummeled just as Hook enters, but Will keeps it secret and claims memory loss (an all-too-common affliction in these parts). Emma unveils her intention to keep him locked up for crashing her date and asks Hook where his hand went, but Hook stays mum. Charming, poring over the town census with Elsa at the desk, interrupts with news to discuss: the Snow Queen’s Storybrooke persona Sarah Fisher is not in the records, meaning she came to Storybrooke on her own without assistance of a curse. Emma wonders how and what the Snow Queen wants from her.
As this plays out, Regina takes a figurative page out of Belle’s book as she looks through her tomes of magical darkness. Henry arrives to check on her progress on unfreezing Marian (hint: there isn’t any) and switches the subject to Operation Mongoose. He mentions how Rumple married Belle and must have figured out how to change the story, so he’ll find out how on Regina’s behalf: it’s undercover time! He goes to Rumple’s shop and asks for a job, playing the dead dad card (bad form, mate) and Rumple agrees. He warns Henry to stay out of the back and not to touch anything before proclaiming Henry his apprentice and handing him the disenchanted broom to sweep. He begins his task while the musical theme from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia swells.
Bookend Notes:
- A pleasure seeing Wormtongue Brad Dourif reprise his role as Zoso in the Sorcerer’s Chamber. Also: was anyone else looking for Hidden Mickeys down there, or was it just me?
- Emma’s first date around her parents was equally hilarious and heartbreaking. Snow and Charming had the perfect parental response to her night out with Hook and it brought a lot of laughs, but as Charming points out, they never got to send her to a royal ball in the Enchanted Forest, and her date with Hook is a sad acknowledgment of the experiences they missed as a family. On a positive note, they’re still able to give her adolescent experiences akin to season two’s scene where she walked in on them in bed.
- The Snow Queen and Emma have an as-yet-undefined history, and while the mystery is building towards a reveal, it seems like Snow Queen is Emma’s first foster mom. Whether that’s true or whether they were friends as children, it seems like Snow Queen was playing hide-and-seek with Emma, not messing with her in a malicious way. Perhaps they played when they were younger?
- The broom! The hat! The music! The Apprentice! The mouse! YES!
- Rumple’s reveal that he wants to keep his magic but not be controlled by the dagger shows that he truly has good intentions at heart, despite his lies to Belle and use of the dagger. He’s trying to get rid of the Dark One powers for good, living up to the promise he made at Neal’s grave in the season premiere. Don’t be fooled: Rumple is on the side of good here.
- Another Rumple note: the piece of fabric in his suit pocket is red, as is Mickey’s house. Red symbolizes power, and its use here denotes the power within both of them. (Also, Mickey Mouse wears red shorts, Mickey the Apprentice’s house is red… see where I’m going here?)
- Will and the Red Queen. What happened?! Is Anastasia alive?! We need answers here!
- Henry as the Apprentice is perfection. I’m rather relieved it worked out this way as it proves one of my theories right! (Here and somewhat correctly here.)(Images belong to ABC Studios)
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