'Once Upon a Time' Recap: Sibling Rivalry
Warning: This recap for the “Sisters” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.
Brothers and sisters are the worst, amirite?
That’s certainly the case on Once Upon a Time. Look, it’s no coincidence that so many of the characters are only children — Henry, Snow White, Belle, Emma (except for Baby Neal, but that hardly counts). And the characters who do have siblings? Well, talk about D-R-A-M-A. We’ve seen how difficult those relationships can be in the case of Hook, David, and Regina.
The latter two are the focus of this week’s episode, as their siblings reared their pretty (but morally ugly) heads. Spoiled and selfish James tries to abscond with Robin Hood’s daughter, while Zelena entertains the very enticing proposition from Hades to make chaos with him. In the end, both sibling rivalries come to a conclusion — one in a rather tragic way. But when it comes to the denizens of Storybrooke (and the Underworld version), family matters are never solved easily.
Hero of the Week: Regina
Hades is still wooing Zelena hard-core, and she’s still trying to fend him off… but her protective wall against him is eroding. Regina, who’s been spying on her sister, tries to warn her, but Zelena is understandably offended and refuses to listen. Regina knows she has to find a way to get through to Zelena, so she goes to DEFCON 1 and enlists the help of Cora after saving her mother from her punishment doing the work of a miller’s daughter.
In flashbacks, we see that Regina and Zelena have met before, many years ago. When Regina was just a child, she fell ill after using her mother’s wand, and only blood magic could save her. That meant bringing in Zelena. Cora hid their relationship to each other until Zelena was able to open the wand box as well, which meant she was related to them. Cora admitted Zelena was her daughter, but when Regina begged for them to bring her into the family, Cora refused. “You can only depend on yourself,” she tells Regina, as guards drag a sobbing Zelena away. Cora uses a forgetfulness spell to erase the memories from both of them.
In the present-day Underworld, Cora shares those memories with her daughters, who are at each other’s throats. They realize how much they once loved each other, and this allows Cora to move on to the “Better Place.” With these new memories intact, Regina also softens toward Zelena, giving her blessing to find love with Hades. Maybe she can change him after all.
Unfortunately, as Zelena goes to meet him, she’s confronted by Rumplestiltskin, who is unhappy that she helped put Belle into a sleeping curse. And he means to get his revenge, with the help of a relative — his father, Peter Pan.
Villain of the Week: James
With Snow White on her way back to Storybrooke, David is doing the grocery shopping now in the Underworld, and on his way back from the store, he’s accosted by his twin brother, James.
James kidnaps him and puts him the town cell, then poses as his brother to Emma. She doesn’t seem to notice the weird little lapses (he doesn’t recall his anniversary to Snow), and they leave to take the groceries to Robin Hood and his baby in the forest. There, James reveals his true identity and purpose — he’s in cahoots with Cruella, who wants to give the baby to Hades in exchange for her freedom back to the living world. But when James and Cruella threaten to push Emma and David into the River of Lost Souls, Robin and Hook show up to save the day.
Still, they can’t stop a confrontation between the two brothers. James and David grapple, until finally David pushes James into the river. He feels enormously guilty, but Emma consoles him. Some people aren’t meant to move on to a better place. Some people can’t be changed, even by love.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
