'Once Upon A Time' Recap: Regina's Powers Return -- Can She Be Trusted?

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Plus, Pinocchio’s back in Storybrooke! (Sort of.)

It looks like we’ll have to wait another week to find out WTF is going on with Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) in the enchanted forest. Once Upon A Time‘s Oct. 7 episode was mostly dedicated to telling more of Regina’s (Lana Parrilla) back story – specifically how Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) helped get Cora (Barbara Hershey) off her back.

Still pissed at her mother for literally ripping out the heart of the man she loved — Regina’s kind of a pro at grudge-holding — she summoned Rumpelstiltskin for a solution; and no, she didn’t even have to say his name three times like Beetlejuice. Rumples gifted her with a special “looking glass” (Alice in Wonderland, anyone?) along with the power to send Cora flying through it. (And how many of us wish we could have used that little trick in high school?)

So what strange, mystical land did Regina send her mother to? I’ll get to that later.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke…

The townsfolk learned that anyone who steps foot outside of Storybrooke instantly forgets who they really are — again — which one of the dwarves learned the hard way.

Back in town, Regina managed to retrieve Cora’s book of spells from Mr. Gold’s sexy little hands, thus regaining her full powers — and the collective fear of everyone in Storybrooke. Step two involved recreating her legendary entrance from the pilot, only this time, she got exactly what she wanted: Henry (Jared Gilmore)!

While Regina went on her little rampage, David (Josh Dallas) tracked down Jefferson — more Sebastian Stan, please! — to help him travel between the two worlds, but his efforts were less than successful. Apparently Jefferson is still as crazy as he is beautiful, so it wasn’t long before he bolted and disappeared. (As much as I want Sebastian to become a series regular, I want USA to bring back Political Animals even more.)

That’s when Regina unleashed her biggest surprise yet: She saw how unhappy Henry was, so she let him go live with David! She even gave a big speech about making up for past mistakes, then confirmed to David that the enchanted forest still exists — even if she has no clue how to get there. Looks like it’s quest time!

As for Snow & Emma…

The final minutes of this week’s episode revealed that Emma and Snow are now Mulan (Jamie Chung) and Aurora’s (Sarah Bolger) prisoners. They brought the mother-daughter duo back to their “refugee camp,” where they were thrown into a dungeon and met — dun, dun, dun — Cora!

But will she prove to be a friend or foe? Only time will tell…

What are your thoughts after this week’s episode? Do you really believe that Regina, and Cora, have turned over new leaves? And what was up with that quick shot of Pinocchio we saw? Drop me a comment with your best theories!

— Andy Swift

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I was very excited to see the return of Cora this episode; though evil she is a joy to watch. I have been trying to come up with theories as to whether or not she will help Snow and Emma. I think that someone who is pure evil would use them for her benefit, but it could also lead to their escape. I love this season so far, I am so glad I remembered to program my Hopper to record it last night. With so many of my favorite shows on Sunday, the 2,000 hours of recording space are going to good use with my late train ride home. Missing my weekly trip to Storybrooke, is not something that I want to do. It’s always exciting to see more of Regina’s origin, especially when it involves her mother. It helps to see that she wasn’t always evil and to understand what drove her to the dark side.

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I love Cora too, and I’m really glad they decided to use her moving forward (with Emma & Snow), rather than strictly using her to tell more of Regina’s back story.

Learn how to write Rumpelstilzchen

Um… Stop that at once.

I don’t think u need to edit anything. Sounds like Mira was talking about the 1st episode of this season..

The showrunners have packed more adventure and drama in the first two episodes than most shows do in an entire season. Rumple’s magic in Storybrooke backfires on him – he cannot leave and search for Baelfire. And Regina banishes her mother through the one portal that Snow and Emma fall through? Will Snow remember her? I did love Regina’s backstory and how she is addicted to magic (a la Willow on Buffy.) Let’s see how long it takes her to use it again. And will Cora travel to Storybrooke? Inquiring minds want to know.

That was last Weeks episode you are thinking of…

Belle’s not wandering around in the woods. Didn’t you see that Belle went back to Mr. Gold’s shop? There was an entire scene with those two. She saw him spinning, they had a rather touching moment over the chipped cup, and then she revealed that she has to stay because Rumplestiltskin still thinks he’s a monster (and she’s hoping to convince him otherwise).