Once Upon A Time: An Apple As Red As Blood

So! Now we know what Henry ate! Bravest kid ever!
This episode was good. Not great, but good.
I loved the bits in Fairytale Land, but I found the Storybrooke scenes a little flat. Until the end, of course. ;)

Let's start in Fairytale land, shall we?

Charming is saved from a beheading by the Evil Queen, when she turns the guillotine blade into water.
The King agrees to hand Charming over to her. She plans to use him to bring an end to Snow White.

And speaking of Snow, she and her friends--the dwarfs and Granny--are just beyond the walls of the King's castle, plotting a way to jailbreak Charming.
Snow mentions that they need air support, and Grumpy says he can call in a favour and get them some.
Red arrives from a scouting mission and she tells Snow that Charming is still alive, but the Queen is also in the castle.
They prepare for battle.

Meanwhile, Charming sits chained in a cell. Enter Regina, who tries to put the moves on him. (Old habits die hard, apparently.) 
Vague threats are made against Snow and Regina pulls an apple from a bag as she walks away.

Beyond the castle walls, Snow hears a wolf howl.
At that sign from Red, the battle begins.
In goes the air support--the fairies!
Snow and the dwarfs scale the castle walls and battle with the guards.
They fight well, but they're outnumbered.
Just when they're cornered with no hope of escape, the fairies come to the rescue and drop glitter bombs of fairy dust that knocks out the guards!

Snow finally makes in to the dungeon and sees Charming in his cell.
She opens the door and realizes that he's NOT in the cell. It's an illusion. The Queen has taken him to her palace and is using her magic to create a window of sorts. Snow and Charming can see each other and talk to each other, but not touch.
"But I'm rescuing you." (*sniffle*)
The illusion fades and up pops the Queen.
She offers a parlay. Snow accepts.

She meets with her friends and de-weaponizes herself. The dwarfs try to stop her, but she talks them into letting her go.

Snow and the Queen meet where it all began--The stables where Daniel died.
Regina brings Snow to the field where she saved the girl. There's a grave in the field, and Regina tells Snow exactly what happened to Daniel.

She takes an apple from a bag. Snow knows it's poisoned. The Queen explains that it won't kill her. It will "entomb her in her body with nothing but dreams formed of her own regrets".
But for the apple to work, Snow must agree to eat it. It must be eaten willingly.
She tells Snow that if she doesn't eat the apple, she will kill Charming.
Snow eats the apple.
In his cell, Charming feels Snow's pain and screams for her.

We watch the apple fall out of Snow's hand and roll down the hill--Where it drops through a portal and into Jefferson's hand in Storybrooke.

The dwarfs find Snow on the ground later. Red pronounces her dead after realizing that Snow isn't breathing.
"She sacrificed herself for true love."
"She sacrificed herself for all of us."

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In Storybrooke--in an obvious dream sequence--we see the townsfolk finally going after Regina.
Guilty conscience much, Queenie?

Regina wakes and immediately checks on Henry. Of course, Henry is with Emma being abducted.
Luckily, Regina doesn't notice that the bed is empty because he's stuffed pillows and junk under the blanket.

Speaking of Henry, did I mention he's being abducted?
Right, so he and Emma are in the car and Henry is pretty much begging Emma not to leave the town. She won't stop, so he grabs the wheel and almost makes them crash.
Henry is now in tears as he pleads with Emma not to make him go. He tells her the town needs her to save them from the curse. Her family needs her.

The next day, Regina checks her apple tree and finds the fruit rotting. Her tree is dying.
She goes to see Mr. Gold and tells him she thinks it's a sign that the curse is weakening...because of Emma.
Gold brings up Henry and wonders if the price of keeping the curse unbroken is Regina giving up her son.
Then, in a HUGE reveal, we learn that if Regina were to kill Emma, the curse would be broken. (Whoa! And now we know why she hasn't just had Emma killed!)
And apparently, Rumpelstiltskin designed it that way. (Hmmmm.)
Regina tells Gold to undo that bit of the curse and Gold refuses. She then realizes that he wants the curse to be broken and asks why. He tells her to mind her own beeswax.
Regina tries to strike a new deal and, again, Gold turns her down flat. (Poor Regina is being rejected left and right lately!)
"I'll give you anything."
"Oh. You no longer have anything I want, dearie." (Careful, Gold. Your Rumple is showing.)

Regina then heads over to the school yard and leaves a white rabbit playing card on a little pink bike. (And we wonder...'wtf?!')


Over to Emma, who's entering Mary Margaret's place.
Mary is TICKED. She gives Emma all kinds of hell for leaving, and then even more hell for trying to abduct Henry. (Does anyone else find Mary hilarious when she's mad? Just me? Oh.)

Regina is back at her place and who walks in? Our old friend, Jefferson! (Ohhhh! THAT'S why she put the rabbit card on the bike!)
She wants him to use his hat to open the portal back to Fairytale Land. And she has just enough magic to do so.
She promises him a whole new life with his daughter in exchange.
He agrees.

Using every last ounce of her magic--including the ring she still has from her poor dead boyfriend, Daniel--Jefferson is able to open the portal just enough for him to reach in and take something from the other side.
She knows exactly what she wants.
The apple.

Meanwhile, Henry goes to see August to ask for help.
Sadly, August is in no condition to offer aid. Along with his legs, his arms have also now turned to wood.
He shows Henry, who FINALLY gets the first actual proof he's seen that the curse IS real. He realizes August is Pinocchio and asks why he's changing back to wood. August explains that he hasn't been a good boy.
He doesn't have much time left, and what little he does have he wants to spend with his father, Marco.
Henry despairs because everyone is giving up. It's up to him and him alone to make Emma believe.


Emma and Archie meet in the diner to talk about Henry.
Emma tries to get him to tell her that Henry is better off with her. Archie can't do that.
She realizes that it's time to make peace with Regina, for Henry's sake.

Back at Regina's, she's making a lovely apple turnover when Emma drops by to talk.
Emma tells Regina that she's leaving town, but she wants to be able to see and visit Henry.
Regina agrees and gives Emma a lovely parting gift....An apple turnover.

Regina goes back to see Mr. Gold and tells him she's used an old solution to get rid of Emma.
Gold guesses the sleeping curse and asks where she found it in Storybrooke.
"So you made magic FROM magic. Well I'm sure that I don't have to remind you that, ah...all magic comes with a price."
Regina rubs it in Gold's nose that he's still stuck in Storybrooke, and will be stuck forever.

Later at Mary's, Emma has called Henry over to tell him she's leaving Storybrooke.
The boy is distraught until he spies the turnover on the table. When he asks, Emma tells him Regina gave it to her.
To make Emma believe in the curse, he sacrifices himself. He tells her it's poison and to show her, he takes a bite of the turnover and collapses unconscious.

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So, like I said above, I LOVED the Fairytale Land story, but I found the Storybrooke side a bit weak.
It was wonderful to see Sebastian Stan back as Jefferson, of course, and the cliffhanger ending was great!

Again this week, we got many answers, but we also have many more questions!

Highlights:
-The battle within the castle walls. Who knew the dwarfs could fight so well?!
-Sebastian Stan!
-Lee Aranberg as Grumpy. He's just perfect, isn't he?
-The apple dropping through the portal into Jefferson's hand.
-Gold rejecting Regina's deal.
-August's wooden arm.
-The princess rescuing the prince for once!

Best Lines:
-"Keep the little knife between your tuffets."-Grumpy (I LOL'd!)
-"Ah, Red....You've got someone on your chin."-Grumpy
-"I miss Stealthy."-Grumpy (Aww.) :(
-Snow: "...but I'll understand if any of you want to turn back."
Everyone: "NO!"

-"Well I'm sure that I don't have to remind you that, um...all magic comes with a price."-Gold

What questions do we have after this episode?

-Why did Rumple design the curse so that the saviour couldn't be killed by Regina?

-Why does Gold want the curse broken?

-Where does Gold want to go? What is this 'trip' he's planning?

-What will happen to Henry?

-Will Emma believe now?

-How will Regina convince everyone that she didn't poison the turnover?

-Will the curse be broken?

-Will Regina honour her deal with Jefferson?
-Where was Jefferson?
-How did he get to Regina's without being seen?

-How will Gold get his revenge on Regina?

-How will August be saved?

-How are they going to end this season?!

And before I forget, the opening this week was Snow and the Dwarfs. ;)

Next week is season finale week! Here's the promo for 'A Land Without Magic'!

HOLY %&^^(%*^%(*^(&*!!!!!!!

What am I going to do all summer without this show?!? AHHHH!

See you back here--for the last time this season--next week, Oncers!