‘Once Upon a Time’ Hero and Villain of the Week: Love Conquers All

Photo: ABC
Photo: ABC

Warning: This recap for the “Awake” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.

Sometimes, love is enough.

Through this season, Snow White and David have been kept apart by the Evil Queen’s sleeping curse. Regina has been working to fix it, but ultimately the curse to the curse is what it’s always been — love. As it is with the problem for Emma and Hook — he’s stranded so far away from her and it seems that they’ll be torn apart without any hope of reconciliation. But they love each other … and that is a magic that can’t be meddled with.

Love doesn’t fix everything on OUAT, but it does fix a lot of things.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode.

Hero of the Week: Everyone
Regina is still working to break the sleeping curse on Snow White and David, but it’s not easy. We see a flashback to Storybrooke, pre-Emma, when Snow tried to free David from his mental hospital days. It proves these two were and are always meant to be together. But to break this curse, Regina and Emma (with an assist from Zelena, of all people) realize they need pixie flower dust. And pixie flowers only grow in the presence of great evil.

The flashbacks reveal that Snow and David “woke up” from Regina’s curse and tried to find their daughter. But Rumplestiltskin told them if they did that, she would never grow up to be the Saviour. Pixie dust could reunite them later, but being a family now meant dire things. With heavy hearts, they choose to take a potion to make them forget — which is why they met the way they did in the show.

There is one pixie flower left, which Snow and David are about to use to break the sleeping curse, but Snow wants Emma to use it to reunite with Hook instead. She feels sure that Regina will find a way to break the curse without it. Emma does use it to open a portal to Neverland and free Hook (who has been kept alive with an assist from Tiger Lily). And Regina does find a way to break the curse … and it involves everyone in town.

She manages to spread the curse to everyone who cares for Snow and David. When they wake up, they find that everyone is asleep, but just for a minute. They all hug and kiss — David even forgives Hook. True love’s kiss can take many forms, apparently. And when everyone loves you, it can break even the worst of curses.

Villain of the Week: Black Fairy
Rumple’s mom likes to sow the seeds of anarchy. She shows up at Gold’s shop to try to talk him into the “family business.” “I practically invented dark magic,” she purrs.

Unfortunately for her, Belle exists — and she’s changed Rumple enough that he refuses. Interestingly, in the flashbacks, we see that Rumple prevents David and Snow from finding Emma not from malice, but from a desire to see that the Saviour breaks the old Storybrooke curse. He seems to actually care about the fact that they won’t be with their daughter.

In the present day, that makes a difference. Now he really knows what parents will do for their children. And when he confronts his own mother, the Black Fairy, he knows that that she’s stolen Gideon’s heart. And he’s ready to everything in his power to get it back for his son.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of OUAT for free on Yahoo View.

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