‘Once Upon A Time’ Recap: [SPOILER] Sacrifices His Life

Now that the gang knows Zelena's plan, and know that she's on the verge of retroactively killing all of them, they're going to need to enlist some help to defeat the Wicked Witch once and for all. Let the fairy tale battle begin! This season of Once Upon a Time is winding down, and Regina and company are still scrambling to find a way to defeat the Wicked Witch, Zelena. This time, yet another witch swings by to help in the fight of good versus evil -- and we really see how far the group is willing to go to defeat that green-skinned she-beast.

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Reading Time: 4 minutes
April 27, 2014 9:20PM EDT
Once Upon A Time David Dies
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC

Glinda The Good Helps Out

We start off with Belle breaking the news that Zelena controls Rumple. Since he’s a pretty crafty dude, and since Zelena is already gunning for them, this is bad news. As if things couldn’t get worse, the Wicked Witch herself flies in, freezes the Regina, David, and Mary Margaret, and then proceeds to touch her stomach and say some really creepy, baby-related stuff.

So clearly, Zelena needs to be stopped, infanticide is bad, et cetera. One part of the plan appears to be to raid Rumple’s castle, and extract some wisdom from the powerful magician.

With some amazing (and by amazing, I mean not amazing) CGI work, we’re taken into Rumpelstiltskin’s castle-turned-cage. He spews what seems to be a lot of nonsense at the group before telling them that they can stop Zelena with “light.” By that he means Glinda, of course, the Good Witch of the South!

Regina, David, and Mary Margaret find a door in the dark forest, but because only the lovely couple is pure of heart, they’re allowed through the portal. And that’s where they find Glinda, who tells them that Zelena has a pendant where all her magic resides — remove that, and they win. But only Emma, with her light magic, will be able to do the deed. And since Emma’s stuck in Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is forced to enact the dark curse to deliver that message.

David Gives Up His Life

She has to kill the one she loves most — David. The stud sacrifices himself for his unborn baby, and lets the Evil Queen kill him. It’s an amazingly touching moment, and though we’re sad to see Charming take his last breath, it was the only way.

But back in the Enchanted Forest, Zelena is getting the better of the good guys. After Charming gives his life up, Zelena rides in and reveals that she’s thrown a forgetting potion into the mix, noting how impossible it’ll be for the Queen and Snow to deliver that crucial message.

What now!?

Zelena Fights Regina & Emma For Henry

And in Storybrooke, Zelena’s pushing Hook to use those cursed lips of his to dissolve Emma’s ability to do magic. She gives Hook an ultimatum: Kiss Emma, or Henry gets killed.

Hook, that benevolent one-handed wonder, decides he’s not going to kiss Emma, and he’s going to get Henry out of Storybrooke and out of danger.

This is where the episode becomes a fight for Henry, because the other part of the group’s plan takes place in Storybrooke and involves getting Henry to believe in magic once again. They need the story book, because once Henry believes in happy endings again, he’ll believe in magic.

With Zelena breathing down Hook’s neck, hoping to make good on her ultimatum, Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret, and David arrive as his backup just as her minions are closing in. After taking them down, they finally get the little squirt to read the book and just like that, his memories return.

But just before Emma can break the curse, of course Zelena shows up to the party to stun Regina and steal Henry. As she strangles the life out of him, Emma enacts some seriously crazy, seriously light magic to free him from the Wicked Witch’s clutches. This is really where having two mothers comes in handy.

Regina, that second mother, then turns out to be the one who breaks the memory curse put on Mary Margaret and David. And so even though Regina and Mary Margaret weren’t able to deliver the message to Storybrooke, all is remembered!

Is David Dead After All?

“But how are you still here?” Emma aptly asks. I was wondering the same thing. Back in the Forest, we see that Mary demanded that Regina split her heart into two to breathe life back into David. It was risky move, but it was one that worked. Just when we thought we’d seen the last of David, the man lives!

But that’s not all. In Storybrooke, the episode ends just as Mary Margaret goes into labor. So the final act of this season has been set into play — with the baby on the way, Zelena will be looking to complete her time-traveling plan. We’ll just have to wait and see if the others can stop her.

What a thrilling, winding hour. And after Zelena spent the past episodes seriously effing s**t up and winning tiny battles, it actually feels like Regina, Mary and company have the upper hand for once.

— Andrew Gruttadaro

More ‘OUAT’ Recaps:

  1. ‘Once Upon A Time’ Recap: Zelena Casts A Shocking Kiss Curse On Hook
  2. ‘Once Upon A Time’ Recap: The Wicked Witch’s Past Is Revealed
  3. ‘Once Upon A Time’ Recap: Zelena Reveals Her Murderous Plan