While Killian gets some help to make his way back to Storybrooke (and Emma!), Emma tries to get over a broken heart. Get a sneak of tonight’s Once Upon a Time.

“Love can save even the darkest souls.”
Yes Oncers, this was the lesson of last week’s Once Upon a Time, and it hit particularly close to home for Regina and Killian.
“Page 23” began with a flashback to Fairy Tale Land. The Evil Queen was hunting Snow White and seemed to trap her in a small village. Before EQ could torture the villagers for information, Tinker Bell intervened. She reminded EQ that when she had a chance to fall in love with the man with the lion tattoo at the pub (Robin!), EQ refused to go inside. Tinker Bell encouraged EQ to still pursue the possibility of love.
The Evil Queen’s father, Henry, admonished her to our show mercy to her people, and eventually she does leave without hurting anyone, claiming to love her people.
Later, Henry approached EQ and promised to help her claim her happiness. He gave her one of Cora’s hidden spell books that held a map that would lead them to a powerful object that would help locate Snow White.
However, Henry had a different plan. He was really leading them to Cupid’s arrow, which would lead her to gaze upon the person she loved most, the man with the lion tattoo. But Regina felt betrayed and, instead, used he mother’s spell book to turn Cupid’s arrow into an object which would allow her to gaze upon the person she hated most. Presumably Snow White…
…but the arrow led her back to her castle and to her mirror, where she saw herself. (SADS!)
In present-day Storybrooke, EQ and Robin made an alliance to get out of Storybrooke. She would send him back to the Wish Realm in exchange for him stealing something for her…the enchanted shears that would allow the Evil Queen to separate herself from Regina. Then EQ would destroy her doppelganger.
Elsewhere, Emma shared the news other engagement (!!!!!!). Snow and Henry were happy; Regina was especially happy for Emma (a beautiful SnowQueen moment!). Emma and Killian had decided to hold off on planning the wedding until Gideon could be handled… but now EQ was on the loose too.
Later on, EQ also stole Henry’s author pen so he wouldn’t use it to “write out” her plan. Henry encouraged EQ by saying she wasn’t the worst parts of Regina, that she could still change and find happiness. EQ then gave a note to Henry to give to Regina and expressed that she did love him, no matter what.
What was the note? It was Page 23, the page with Regina’s supposed HEA with Robin… what did it mean? Regina deduced that EQ had Alt Robin and wanted a showdown. Despite pushback from Emma and Snow, Regina would meet EQ by herself and end things once and for all.
While they waited, Alt Robin tried to talk EQ out of killing Regina. Why couldn’t they both go back to the Wish Realm and have a new start? Maybe that was his purpose for being in Storybrooke, to save EQ. But she disagreed. When Regina came, as planned, EQ separated them with the shears. Then they fought and it looked like EQ would prevail. However, Regina was able to gain the upper hand. Yet, instead of killing EQ and crushing her heart, she chose love over hate. Regina took some of EQs darkness into her heart and gave EQ some of her love. And now they should and could love themselves. It was wonderful!
Regina would also help EQ find a place to make a new start. Zelena and Snow were suspect of EQs intentions, but EQ apologized for the pain she caused and told them what she knew about breaking the sleeping curse. With Henry’s authorial assistance, they wrote EQ a new story. And it took her to Alt Robin in the Wish Realm! This time when she saw Robin with his lion tattoo, sitting in the pub, she went right in. Robin was glad to see her and they shared an ale. Cheers to a fresh start! In the end, we got our OutlawQueen but in an unexpected way…
All the while, Killian was depressed about proposing to Emma without telling the truth about killing David’s father. He reached out to Captain Nemo, who was planning to set sail (with Liam) on the Nautilus. Nemo encouraged Killian to either tell the truth and ask for forgiveness or keep silent and learn to forgive himself.
Later, Killian was gazing on the moment when he killed David’s father in a dream catcher. Before he could toss it in the fireplace and burn his memories, Emma approached and saw everything. She was very upset with Killian, not for killing David’s father, but for hiding the truth. Why didn’t he believe that they could overcome this together and trust one another? Until Killian was ready to be a team, Emma broke the engagement and gave the ring back.
Killian was distraught and ended up going back to Nemo to request to join him on his voyage. He needed a chance to find himself. They would leave at nightfall.
Before Killian could leave that night, Snow found him to tell him that EQ had been redeemed and got her happy ending. “Love can save even the darkest souls.” This meant Killian could get his HEA too, right? Snow shared being happy about their engagement and told Killian to go home to Emma. But would he?
He did! Killian went on the Nautilus to tell Nemo that he was tired of running and would go home to work things out with Emma. But as they said goodbye, the Nautilus started to submerge! But Nemo hadn’t given the order… who did? It was Gideon! He had a plan and wanted Killian far from Storybrooke. (Nooooooooo!)
And now Emma was all alone thinking Killian had abandoned her. *WEEPING*
In tonight’s episode “A Wondrous Place” (written by Jane Espenson and Jerome Schwartz, directed by Steve Pearlman):
REGINA AND SNOW TEND TO EMMA’S BROKEN HEART WHILE HOOK SCRAMBLES TO FIND HIS WAY BACK TO STORYBROOKE, AND JASMINE TEAMS UP WITH ARIEL AS THE SEARCH FOR AGRABAH CONTINUES—When Hook finds himself trapped in another realm along with the Nautilus and her crew, he races to return to Emma before Gideon can execute the rest of his plan. In Storybrooke, Regina and Snow take Emma out to get her mind off Hook’s disappearance. And in a flashback to Agrabah, Jasmine befriends Ariel, and together they set out to locate Prince Eric as the threat from Jafar intensifies. (via ABC)
Watch these two clips from the upcoming show.
In the first, as expected Emma is hurting from Killian’s seeming betrayal. She gets a call to come break up a bar brawl at Aesop’s Tables; but when she arrives, there’s no fight. Snow and Regina used the ruse to get Emma to the bar so they can cheer her up. GIRL’S NIGHT! And in the second clip, we see the Nautilus is trapped in another realm by Gideon. But Hook is determined to return to Storybrooke to help Emma. Captain Nemo and his crew inform him that the only way back is with Kraken’s blood, which they don’t have. Hook insists they go hunt the beast immediately.
Girls' Night Out? Yes, please!
Posted by Once Upon a Time on Sunday, April 2, 2017
Gentlemen, let's go hunting. #OnceUponaTime pic.twitter.com/ek7oyItnFF
— Once Upon A Time (@OnceABC) March 30, 2017
Fake fight, real friends, and drunk Snow! And I love that Killian is willing to do anything to hunt down a Kraken… this is going to be awesome!
Take a look at 10 images from “A Wondrous Place”, and we see that JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Ariel), Karen David (Princess Jasmine), and Deniz Akdeniz (Aladdin) are all back!
Live tweet Once Upon a Time with me at 8pm ET on ABC over at @WeSoNerdy!