AUGUST?! Oh my God! I can't believe I wasn't spoiled for this. I genuinely had no idea that we were going to get August back. I'm freaking out. So happy. So, so happy. Gah. Okay... I should calm down and start with a plot summary.
In the Enchanted Forest, we see Regina in her younger days, still being trained by Rumplestiltskin. She is impatient, wanting her revenge on Snow to come faster. She's fed up with Rumple's method of teaching, and wants a new instructor. She's heard all about Maleficent, and she goes to meet her, thinking she can learn more from her. Maleficent has lost her powers, though. She was defeated by Brier Rose, Aurora's mother. She can no longer turn into a dragon, and she is totally demoralized.
Regina helps Maleficent to get her magic back by going to a tree that has been burning since Maleficent set it on fire years ago. With her powers returned to her, Maleficent pays a visit to Aurora, putting a sleeping curse on her in order to punish the family in revenge. Regina returns to Rumple, saying that she understands now the need to be patient. She can get her revenge on Snow without killing her - she can do so much more damage by cursing her instead.
In Storybrooke, Emma is horrified to learn that Regina is going undercover as the Evil Queen to figure out what Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella are up to. The villainesses test Regina's evil-ness, bringing her out for a night of debauchery and mayhem. The first night, Regina doesn't get much information out of them, but she is starting to gain their trust. Emma says she'll follow Regina and have her back as she continues to hang around with the bad guys.
Maleficent fetches Regina for a little mission, and Regina discovers that they are after the Author, just like she is. They want to reverse everything that happened in the book, giving the villains happy endings and destroying the happiness of the heroes. Maleficent wants Regina's help to steal something that will help them with their task. The thing to be stolen? Pinocchio. Regina succeeds in knocking out Pinocchio and Marco, but then Emma turns up. Regina promises that she has the situation under control, and Emma reluctantly agrees to let her keep up with the charade. However, Regina purposefully drops her phone, preventing Emma from tracking her signal.
While this is going on, Hook approaches Belle and suggests moving the Dagger somewhere safe. If the villainesses get their hands on it, they might bring Rumple back and use him for their evil plans. Belle agrees to hand the knife over to Hook, who will hide it somewhere safe. They go out in the middle of nowhere, where Belle had buried the knife. She hesitates just before handing it over, suddenly worried that maybe Rumple is already back in Storybrooke. Hook suggests that Belle command the Dark One to appear in front of her. If he's really in Storybrooke, he'll have to. Belle does so, but when Rumple doesn't appear, she relaxes and hands the dagger over to Hook.
Back in Gold's shop, Hook asks Belle how things are going with Will. Belle says that she's not over Rumple, but that things are simple with Will. He makes her smile. Later, we see that Hook is really not Hook - he's Rumple in disguise. (Shocker.)
Regina is brought to Rumple's cabin, where she meets up with the three Queens of Darkness, and is then shocked to discover that Rumple is there as well. Rumple, reunited with the dagger, is able to use his magic to bring Pinocchio back to his former self. August is back.
August. Is. Back. I'm so excited, I can't even handle it. However, before we get to that, we should go through the few little problems I had with this episode.
First of all, it was so annoyingly obvious that Hook was Rumple the whole time. That whole section made Belle seem like a total moron. How could she not have suspected something weird was going on? It made me think Belle was totally incompetent.
Secondly, I think the back story with Maleficent and Regina had a lot of good stuff in it, but one thing stood out as being a little strange... they were implying that Regina learned her lesson about a "fate worse than death" from seeing Maleficent get her revenge on Brier Rose by going after Aurora. But... Regina's sleeping curse on Snow was totally ineffective, and she was woken up by Charming in no time. I just didn't quite understand what they were implying. What did Regina learn from Maleficent?
Other than that, though, this episode kicked some ass. I didn't even mind the sad lack of Emma/Hook.
August is back! Beyond just excited screeching about this news, I'm also excited for what this means with the whole Author plot. Who is the mysterious Author, and does August really know something? How is Emma going to react to having August back in her life? How is Marco going to react?
Despite Belle's stupidity, I'm happy that she's happy with Will. I'm sure Rumple will find a way to screw it up soon enough, but for now, things are good. I hope we can see more of their relationship; it's refreshing to have another couple on the show that aren't instant True Loves or anything, but are more... normal. And potentially more happy.
Speaking of True Love, I'm getting really excited to see how all of this lying and corruption is going to change Mary Margaret and David. The two of them have so much banked on the fact that they're the heroes. This season seems to be about challenging that.
The biggest draw of this episode for me was all of the Regina and Emma stuff. I'm sure the Swan Queen fans are particularly thrilled, and who could blame them? We got so much material! Emma was clearly extremely worried about Regina, going so far as to follow her around to watch her back. She was treating Regina like a member of her family, which I guess she is. The friendship between these two women is all the more amazing because of how unlikely it really is.
Regina is toeing such a fascinating line between her old life and her new. I believe that she's firmly on the side of good, because she wouldn't want to hurt Henry. But, at the same time, these villains are after the same thing she's always wanted - a happy ending. And after all of her fruitless efforts to find the answers while being a good guy, she's finally taking strides forward by teaming up with the baddies. I'm excited to see how far she goes with this. It's a really interesting dilemma for her character.
That's where I'll end for now. I can't wait for next week! This show is killing me.
8/10
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