‘Once Upon a Time’ Hero and Villain of the Week: My Three Moms
Warning: This recap for the “I’ll Be Your Mirror” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.
Poor Henry. The kid had to deal with being torn between two moms in the early seasons of Once Upon a Time. Now there’s a third mom in the picture, and worse, she’s the Evil Queen.
In her weird, messed-up way, the Evil Queen believes she loves Henry. But really, he’s just another piece in her game of power. The Evil Queen wants a new beginning, and luring Henry to her side is the catalyst she needs. She wants to control him and use him, but that’s not what true love is.
This week’s journey into the Land of Mirrors shows Henry just who he is — he’s the goodhearted, brave son of two goodhearted, brave women. And the Evil Queen is not one of them.
Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode…
Hero of the Week: Henry
Snow White and Charming’s sleeping curse is utterly tragic. At first, they try to stay positive and make it work — alternating days and nights, making each other pancakes, writing cute notes. But after a while, it wears on them. They just miss each other.
Regina feels guilty and wants to do something about the situation, so she comes up with a plan: Trap the Evil Queen inside a mirror! But to do that, they need to lure her to a meeting — which means using Henry as bait.
Unfortunately, the plan goes awry, and instead of Regina and Emma trapping the EQ in the mirror, she traps them! They are stuck in a land of one-way mirrors, with no way out. Or maybe there is: The Dragon shows up! He was banished there by the EQ and has found a possible backdoor.
Back in Storybrooke, nobody realizes Regina and Emma are gone, because the Evil Queen disguises herself as the former and tells the heroes that the latter has gone to NYC to look for the Dragon. Hook doesn’t buy it, but the EQ knocks him out.
Meanwhile, Henry is nervously preparing for his first school dance. He’s worried that Violet doesn’t like him anymore, because she skipped out on their last couple of John Hughes movie nights (adorable). The EQ, pretending to be Regina, gives him a pep talk. But she starts talking about how Violet is a commoner and Henry is a prince and how he should act royal, which totally sets off alarm bells for Henry. He realizes she’s the the Evil Queen and that his moms are trapped in the Mirror Land.
He goes to the crypt to try to contact them, but the EQ appears. She shows him a view into Mirror Land, then uses the Dragon’s heart (which she had taken) to turn him into an actual dragon! The Dragon starts hurling fire at Regina and Emma, and the EQ tells a horrified Henry he can save them by using a magical hammer to crush the Dragon’s heart.
Henry refuses to follow her direction, so he uses the hammer to smash the mirror instead. That, combined with the dragon’s fire, turns the mirror into a two-way portal — and brings Regina and Emma back to Storybrooke. The EQ has been defeated … for now.
Later, as a way of making up the dance to Violet, Henry decorates Granny’s with balloons. They share a romantic dance, and she confides that she’s been acting weird because she’s not sure of her place in school — is she a jock, a princess, a nerd? Henry laughs. Maybe they shouldn’t have started John Hughes movies nights with The Breakfast Club. He assures her that she doesn’t need a label, and they keep dancing as his two real moms discreetly watch from afar with smiles on their faces.
Villain of the Week: Rumplestiltskin
Belle is determined to save her child from Rumplestiltskin’s grasp, so she pleads with Zelena to help her. Zelena agrees, but she’ll need the Sorcerer’s wand to take them far from Storybrooke.
Belle asks Aladdin to steal it from Gold’s Shop, reminding him that he used to be a Saviour and that he is the one who brought the dumb Shears of Destiny to Storybrooke. Aladdin sneaks into the shop and manages to steal the wand (as well as a certain lamp, though the genie isn’t inside it).
But just as Zelena is about to use the wand, Rumple appears in a cloud of smoke and takes it back. He then slaps a cuff on Belle that will allow him to track her anywhere she goes. She’s super angry and declares she’ll find a way to run away from him.
He then tries to choke Zelena, but it causes him to collapse. She reminds him that she saved his heart, and when she did, she made it so he can’t hurt her.
Well, what Rumple wants, he usually gets. So he meets with the Evil Queen. How far is she willing to go for her new beginning? He kisses her, and she is delighted that they are on the same team. He says he needs one thing from her first — she needs to kill Zelena.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of OUAT for free on Yahoo View.
