Robin’s attempts to cultivate her magic bring her and Zelena to the Fairy Tale Realm. Meanwhile, in Hyperion Heights, Henry and Roni/Regina search for a cure to wake Lucy. Full recap of Once Upon a Time, “Secret Garden”. (First aired Friday, March 2 at 8pm ET|PT on ABC.)
Once Upon a Time returned from it’s hiatus with an episode that raises the stakes in the Fairy Tale Realm and Hyperion Heights. The last half of Season 7, now officially confirmed as the final season of the series, is underway!
“Secret Garden” opens in Storybrooke with an 18-year old Robin Hood Jr. exploring her magic and trying to develop a new spell. She (and her friends) are interrupted in Regina’s old vault when Zelena arrives. Zelena is not happy that Auntie Regina gave Robin a spellbook before leaving for the Fairy Tale Realm. Unfortunately, Robin becomes frustrated with her mother about holding her back. She accuses Zelena of being jealous because she no longer has magic. Zelena grounds Robin and takes her phone as punishment. Robin storms out of the vault with a vial of the potion she’s been working on. Oddly enough, the vial starts ringing, and when Robin drops it, a dark cloud of smoke emerges and sweeps her away. Where has she gone?
When Zelena realizes that Robin is missing, she travels to Tiana’s palace in the Fairy Tale Realm. She believes Mother Gothel has kidnapped Robin and blames Regina for peaking Robin’s interest in magic. The spell Robin was working on? A summoning spell to call forth Mother Nature, an ancient pseudonym for Gothel. Zelena leaves to find Gothel and Alt-Killian (ir Nook, New Hook, as Zelena calls him) asks to join the search. It’s because of Gothel that he can’t be with Alice and he wants revenge. Alt-Killian is able to find the hidden door to Gothel’s forest lair. They come upon Gothel in the middle of a seance with Madame Leota, maestro Medium (trapped in some sort of glass orb). Zelena demands to see Robin and things escalate when Madame Leota attacks Alt-Killian. Robin storms into the room and puts a stop to the argument. She demands to know what her mother is doing there. Robin then reveals that she went along willingly with Gothel. She chooses to stay with Gothel and tells Zelena to leave.
Alt-Killian chases after Zelena. She feels guilt about preventing Robin from finding herself. Maybe Gothel is better. But Alt-Killian convinces Zelena that Robin needs her mother’s love, something Gothel could never provide.
Back in the lair, Gothel begins a ritual by asking Robin to stand with a Sacred Orchid in the middle on an enclosed pentagram. Gothel brings out the Resurrection Amulet, which she plans to use to free Madame Leota and bring her to the realm of the living. Robin is excited until she realizes her life must be the sacrifice. Zelena and Alt-Killian intervene and she offers herself in exchange for Robin. Zelena begs Robin to leave, but she doesn’t. Instead, she grabs a bow and arrow and knocks the amulet out of Gothel’s hand. Alt-Killian is able to snatch the amulet, while Gothel and Leota escape.
Zelena gives the amulet to Robin (it has her magic inside) and promises to help cultivate Robin’s magic skills. However, Robin admits to feeling pressure to be good at magic (a la expectations of Blue Ivy because she’s Beyonce’s daughter). Robin’s real interest is in archery, like her father. So she gives her magic to her mother.
Meanwhile in Hyperion Heights, Lucy is still in a coma, while Jacinda and Henry and Jacinda wait by her bedside. Roni/Regina meets Henry at the hospital and encourages him to stay optimistic and believe that Lucy can get better. Kelly/Zelena is with Roni and observes the difficulty of their situation. It can’t be easy for Regina to pretend that Henry isn’t her son. At the same time, if they break the curse and bring magic back, Henry will die. If they don’t, Lucy will. Regina and Zelena agree that, together, Wicked and Evil, Sisters, they can save Henry and Lucy.
"You're a believer, Henry. Even if you don't know it."#OnceUponATime returns Friday at 8|7c on ABC! pic.twitter.com/EanrasepAU
— Once Upon A Time (@OnceABC) February 26, 2018
While waiting Dr. Sage approaches Jacinda and Lucy’s faux-father Nick to do a blood test, in case Lucy needs a donor. Henry is there and volunteers to do the test too, just in case.
Eloise Gardner/Gothel is in hiding with Anastasia. When Anastasia expresses how much she wants to go home to her mother, Gothel reveals that she has Victoria imprisoned in a well. Gothel brings Victoria up and spills all of Victoria’s misdeeds–she poisoned Ella’s mother, murdered Anastasia’s father, tried to rip out Drizella’s heart, and put Lucy to sleep in order to wake Anastasia. Anastasia is so upset to see how monstrous her mother has been. She runs from the room, while Gothel assures Victoria that Anastasia has a better mother in her.
Next, Gothel visits Zelena in the hospital. Apparently, she believes they can work together to use Anastasia’s magic to wake Lucy without harming Henry. Obviously, there must be a catch… Gothel can’t be trusted! When Zelena tells Regina about Gothel’s proposal, it turns out that Gothel wants the Resurrection Amulet. Zelena agreed to the deal, but has no intention of giving the amulet to Gothel. If she and Regina can find the amulet, perhaps there’s a way to use it without paying the huge price of another’s life. Regina suggests that the amulet is at the bar… which is probably the reason Victoria wanted so badly to buy Roni’s bar. Zelena finds the amulet in the old Kelly & Roni’s bar sign in the basement (after she shatters the sign on the basement floor).
Elsewhere, Weaver/Rumple reveals to Rogers that Eloise Gardner is the leader of a dangerous cult. And now Eloise is trying to lure others into the cult, like with Anastasia. Rogers asserts Eloise’s innocence and sets out to prove Weaver wrong. Rogers meets Eloise at her new apartment. Since Victoria is missing, he’s concerned that she will come to harm Eloise. Eloise asks Rogers to walk her to her art therapy class. Unbeknownst to him, Anastasia is hiding in the closet. Gothel has promised her that she will guide her in using magic.
When Rogers returns to Weaver’s locker, he shares that he does believe that Eloise is hiding something. Weaver suggests that Eloise might be about to participate in a cult sacrificial ritual with a Sacred Orchid.
Victoria is able to break out of the well (using a well-thrown Louboutin to lower the rope). She asks that Drizella join her in saving Anastasia, but Drizella becomes angry. Why won’t Victoria look upon Drizella as deserving of love? Drizella then tells Victoria that, while she was locked away in that tower by Gothel, it was Drizella’s idea to light the lanterns that gave Victoria the hope she needed to escape and come back home. Not Anastasia. Victoria makes her way to Roni’s bar and takes the amulet from Regina and Zelena at gunpoint. Victoria plans to turn the amulet over to Gothel in exchange for waking Lucy. This is how Victoria will prove she’s not a monster, that she would do anything for her children.
Victoria meets Gothel and Anastasia at a Greenhouse. She gives Gothel the Resurrection Amulet and Anastasia is able to reanimate it with magic. But then Gothel reveals her plan–she will use the amulet to wake Lucy and Drizella will be the sacrifice. Victoria swears to Drizella that she didn’t know Gothel’s plan. Then she knocks Drizella out of the enclosed pentagram and Victoria sacrifices herself to wake Lucy. In her last moments, Victoria apologizes to Drizella for treating her so poorly. Weaver and Rogers find Drizella in the Greenhouse crying over a dead Victoria.
At the hospital, Lucy wakes up!
Dr. Sage also gets the blood test results that reveal Henry to be Lucy’s father, not Nick. But before she can share the news, Dr. Sage is poisoned! The perpetrator takes a lock of Dr. Sage’s hair and the test results.
Once Upon a Time airs Fridays at 8p/7c on ABC.
