Once Upon A Time – I’ll Be Your Mirror

By: Kelly Kearney

This Is Too Much Normal

In this week’s episode of “Once Upon a Time,” Snow (Ginny Goodwin) regrets wishing for things to go back to normal after the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) cursed the Charming’s shared heart. Their feud with Snow’s evil stepmother was volatile for many years and that’s not what Snow meant when she wished to get back to their normal lives. True to the show’s theme of hope, Snow and David (Josh Dallas) try to make the best out of their situation by leaving each other notes and gifts when the other is unconscious. Videos and love notes are sweet, but is it enough to keep these true love embers burning?

With the Charmings separated by her evil half’s curse, Regina feels guilty and wants to stop the Queen by putting her own life at risk, but Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is against that idea. Henry (Jared Gilmore) needs at least one parent so Emma insists his other mother remain safe. Regina might not be able to sacrifice herself, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a plan. Emma had zero luck finding The Dragon (Tzi Ma) to break the Charming’s curse and Regina wonders if they trap the Evil Queen in a magical mirror, will they even need him at all? All they need is someone to lure her in so Henry offers himself as bait. Emma immediately rejects that idea, but Henry needs some distraction from the school’s formal dance now that he thinks Violet (Olivia Steele Falconer) is avoiding him. A trap fit for a Queen is just what he needs to keep his mind off his love life. Eventfully, his mothers agree and the three set their plan in motion.

Team Moms Plan Backfires

At the Storybrooke beach, Henry summons the Queen only it backfires when she assumed they’d try this so she switches the enchanted mirror with a fake. When Regina tries to use it, the Queen laughs at them and pulls out the real mirror and traps them both then shatters it keeping them in a prism prison for good. Neither women have magic in this dismal land and even more disheartening, they can witness everything back home through Storybrooke’s mirrors. It’s torture to watch their loved ones knowing that no one’s even noticed they’re missing, especially now that the Evil Queen is pretending to be Regina.

At the Charming loft, the Queen tests her undercover work when she helps Henry dress for the formal dance. She lies to her son and says their mirror trick worked and Emma is in her way to NYC to track down the Dragon. When Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) questions why Emma would leave by herself, the Queen magics a voice message onto his phone from the savior. With all her bases covered she can steal Regina’s happy ending and Henry will be the key.

The Odd Couple

After years of Rumple’s (Robert Carlyle) lies, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) has had enough and wants a way out of Storybrooke and away from his clutches. The librarian goes to the unlikeliest person for help, Zelena (Rebecca Mader). Zelena has been known to open a few portals in her time and Belle wants the witch to help and her baby escape. Zelena reminds Belle that opening a portal requires the sorcerer’s wand and it’s currently in the hands of Rumple who’s not likely to give it up without a fight. Belle needs a thief and lucky for her Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz) is in town so she and Zelena ask him to steal it from the Dark One. At first, Aladdin sees this as a suicide a mission, but Zelena reminds him that if he hadn’t handed over the golden shears to Emma which fell into Rumple’s hands, they wouldn’t be in this mess. Feeling like he owes them, Aladdin agrees to steal the wand and minus a few hiccups is successful.

Over at Gold’s pawn shop, Rumple gets a visit from the Evil Queen who seems to be in the mood for a little role playing in the bedroom, but Rumple is too busy for her “give and take” games. The conversation shifts to why the Queen wanted her other half out of the way. She wants Henry to see what it’s like to choose the darkness and realize life isn’t so black and white. She asks Rumple for the Hammer of Hephaestus and he gives it to her, but reminds her of what Cora (Barbara Hershey) said about love being weakness. Desperately, the Evil Queen says that love isn’t always weakness, sometimes it’s a weapon and she plans to use that weapon on her son!

Henry Is Our Only Hope

The Queen might be brilliant at many things like curses and potions, but pretending to be her better half is not one of them. Henry isn’t buying this version of his mom and heads to her vault to look for clues as to where she stashed his real parents. Henry is on his own now thanks to the Queen’s ability to fool everyone and the fact she knocked Hook out the minute he got suspicious. The teen is onto her and now that Violet is helping him, there’s no stopping him from finding his mothers.

In the world behind the mirrors, Regina and Emma aren’t the only people the Evil Queen trapped. The Dragon’s there too and he’s not happy with Regina and her split from the Queen. He reminds her that separating the dark from the light leaves the force unbalanced. Much like them, he doesn’t have use of his magic there either, but he takes them to a project Sydney Glass (Giancarlo Esposito) was doing when the Queen trapped him in this land. He was building a magical portal from an endless pile of glass. The Dragon says the portal seems to be an impossibility, but maybe they can do it together and make it work. Regina and Emma start to repair the shattered mirror while in her vault the Queen is testing the limits of Henry’s loyalty.

The Queen’s plan comes to a head when she reveals a heart she has in her possession. Through the mirror Henry watches as the Dragon turns into his namesake and attacks his mothers with his flaming breath. Henry begs the Queen to stop, but she hands him the hammer of Hephaestus and tells him to smash the Dragon’s heart. Henry is torn because the threat ton his mothers is real, but the Dragon is an innocent and smashing his heart will surely darken Henry’s. With his mothers screaming for help and the Queen pressuring him to choose, Henry smashes the mirror instead of the hear, and forces his mothers through the mirror and back home. The Queen is livid and calls Henry weak, but Regina and Emma protect him long enough for Hook to pop out of nowhere and threaten the Queen with his hook. The Queen poofs herself away and the Swan-Mills family, along with Hook, are safe.

Thanks to Aladdin, Zelena has the sorcerer’s wand and tried to open the portal but Rumple figures it out and binds her and their baby to the town. Now Belle can’t leave and she threatens to find a way to free herself from his beast. Rumple reminds her that he steals children and to not threaten him. Zelena tries to stop him, but he puts a magical strangle hold on her which backfires when Rumple clutches his heart in pain. It seems that way back when Zelena saved Rumple in NYC from his darkened heart, she cursed him and now his heart belongs to her. This is not good news for Rumple and even worse for his future with Belle and their baby.

On The Same Team

Now that his parents are safe, Henry gets back to his date with Violet. The teens missed the school formal so Henry decorates Granny’s and the two have a romantic dance while his proud mothers watch on. Regina admits that she was always worried about how she would raise him and Emma interrupts by saying that it looks like they already did raise him because Henry is almost grown. That still doesn’t mean he’ll stop needing his mother and Emma reminds Regina that it’s up to her to keep him safe since Emma is fated to die. Regina has hope Emma will beat this but Emma wants Regina around just in case she can’t.

The episode closes with Rumple sulking over his son’s sonogram when the Evil Queen enters to commiserate her failed plan with her new partner. Rumple instantly grabs her and kisses her letting the Queen know they are on the same team. Like all things with Rumple, this too comes with a price. If she wants them to continue their romantic “give and take” he wants something in return – the Queen to kill her sister and his nemesis Zelena! Is Rumple playing the Evil Queen to get her to do his bidding? Will she kill her sister to stay in the Dark One’s good graces? All these questions and more will be answered on the next “Once Upon a Time.”