ABC’s hit fantasy drama ONCE UPON A TIME returns tonight with a brand new episode called, “Second Star to the Right.” On tonight’s show Emma believes that Tamara had something to do with Regina’s disappearance, and a young Bae finds himself in old London and is taken in by the Darling Family – befriending their daughter Wendy. Did you watch the last episode? We did and we recapped it here for you!
On last week’s show with the aid of Hook, Regina attempts to put a plan in motion that will help transport herself and Henry back to Fairytale land. But her plan revolves around a fail-safe that was planted within the curse, which if triggered could wipe Storybrooke off the map – and kill all of its inhabitants; and Emma’s suspicions about Tamara grow. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, the Evil Queen asks Rumplestiltskin to transform her into an unrecognizable peasant in order to kill an unsuspecting Snow White, with the twisted aim of earning the love and respect of her subjects.
On tonight’s episode Emma, Mary Margaret and David go in search of Regina when they discover that she – along with some magic beans – have gone missing. But against Neal’s protests, Emma still believes that Tamara had something to do with Regina’s disappearance; and Mr. Gold contemplates telling Lacey the truth about his ability to conjure magic. Meanwhile, after Rumplestiltskin abandons his son and lets him travel alone through a portal, young Bae finds himself back in 19th century London and is taken in by the Darling family — befriending their daughter Wendy.
Tonight’s episode 21 is going to be exciting, and you won’t want to miss it. So be sure to tune in for our live coverage of the season 2 episode 20 of Once Upon A Time — tonight at 8PM EST! While you wait for our recap, hit the comments and let us know how your excited you are about Once Upon A Time being back! Check out a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page for Updates
In a blast from the past, we see Neal dropped through the magical portal after Rumple refuses to follow him to the non-magical realm. The scared young man cries out for his father and then is nearly run down by horses. He sees a sign for Kensington Gardens and hears the tolling of bells – he’s in Victorian England!
Young Neal digs scraps from bins to feed himself and six months have passed since he was dropped there. He scales a ladder left by a workman and sneaks into a fancy apartment where he finds fresh bread and stuffs his pockets. A large dog under the table barks at him and a young girl comes in armed with a bust to bean him.
She realizes he’s hungry and gives him the whole tray of bread as she asks his name. Baelfire seems so formal, so he tells her it’s Bey. She says it’s unusual and introduces herself – Wendy Darling (Peter Pan’s girlfriend, remember?) Neal wakes from his dream to find Tamara leaving for the gym.
He hears a noise and sees his father attacking Frankenstein/Whale while Lacey/Belle watches and enjoys. Neal chases Whale off after he gets his Dad to let him up and then he chews his Dad out for being a jerk to him. He tells him he hasn’t changed one bit and isn’t worth his time. Gold wants to know why he’s still there and he says he’s there for Henry and he should just stay the hell away from both of them.
Emma, Snow, Charming and Henry invade Regina’s office looking for the beans. They find the last of the plants cased in glass but no beans. Emma smells a rat because the alarm shows an override code was used. Snow says Gold is the only one powerful enough but Emma says it was Tamara – that Gold is busy with Lacey. Her parents think she’s picking on Tamara because she still has feelings for Neal.
Tamara shows Greg the beans she stole from Regina’s office and reassures him that she and Neal are done as soon as their plot unfolds. He gives her a huge jewel that Regina had and Tamara says she’s sending it back to the “home office” and then they’ll wait for orders.
Hook is guarding Regina and she tells him he can’t trust Tamara and Greg – that he has no idea who he’s working for. Greg comes to interrogate her about his Dad and asks Hook for help. He tells him he’s there to kill Gold and not torture her. He takes off and Greg goes to work on Regina. He powers up a machine and puts some electrodes on her wrists and temples and cranks up the machine. He asks her where his father is and she screams as the current hits!
Wendy brings food to Bey where she’s got him secreted in a wall. Her parents find her hiding him and he’s terrified they’ll send him to the workhouse. Wendy’s mother insists he can stay with them. Dad is shocked, but Bey/Neal is relieved.
Emma comes to see Neal and wants to search their room. She tells him she thinks Tamara is up to something. She finds evidence that Tamara has not been where she told Neal she was and tells him she’s probably been lying about other things and they need to verify her story.
Wendy wakes up Bey and tells him about the magic shadow that’s been lurking around the window. He tells her that magic is dangerous and she should never talk to the shadow or let it in. She scoffs him as a non-believer and he tells her he’s from another land and does believe but that magic destroyed his family. Bey makes her promise to avoid the shadow so it doesn’t cost her family and she agrees.
Snow and Charming come to see Gold who is boozing it up with Lacey. Charming reminds him he owes a favor and wants his help finding Regina. Gold asks Snow why she wants to help Regina and she says she owes her for what she did to Cora.
He pulls out a vial with one of Regina’s tears and then asks for one of Snow’s to go with it. She cries one into the vial and he makes the spell – an eyedrop that will let Snow see and feel what Regina is experiencing. Uh-oh – that doesn’t sound fun. Gold kicks them out and Lacey saunters back in. She’s excited to hear that he really can do magic. He tells her to have another drink.
Charming tries to talk Snow out of it but she insists that she feels terrible and dark and hopes that saving Regina will let some light back into her soul. Charming puts the drops in her eyes and she immediately begins to convulse in pain. She sees and feels the torture Greg is putting Regina through!
The bells toll as Wendy’s mum tucks Bey and Wendy in. The door opens and he sees Wendy at the open window talking about the shadow. She tells him it’s safe and they can go to Neverland where there’s no grown-ups. She takes the shadow’s hand and is pulled away as Bey begs her not to go.
Neal and Emma walk on the beach and he mocks her over-reaction. She admits that he did hurt her, but just then Tamara comes jogging up. Emma tells her that Regina is missing and Tamara feigns concern and offers to help. Tamara jogs away and Neal tells her he wanted to go to jail for him but August talked him out of it. He tells her he was too afraid to love her and that he never forgave himself. He tells her that he regrets leaving her every day and has since then. He says he’s sorry for everything and she echoes his sentiment.
Tamara tells Greg that Emma and Neal are off the scent. Greg cranks up the machine and shocks Regina again. He tells her she has no idea who she’s dealing with – Regina tells them they’re fools that steal magic. Greg tells her they are there to destroy it and Tamara says it’s unholy and has to be cleansed of it. Regina laughs and asks if they think that just the two of them can destroy magic. Greg tells her that there’s an army of them everywhere – fighting magic!
He tells her after he left Storybrooke without his dad talking of magic, the true believers found him and took him in. Greg tells her that Storybrooke isn’t the first place magic has crossed over. Tamara tells her they’ve cleansed other places and Storybrooke is next.
Snow tells Charming that Regina is trapped and being tortured. She’s frantic with pain and he asks her to concentrate on where she was. She tells him she was tied up and it was cold and smelled weird like sardines. She breaks down crying. Charming calls Emma with the info and tells her about the sardines. She tells him to meet her on the docks.
Emma tells Neal that she was right and that Tamara has Regina. He looks skeptical but follows her down the waterfront.
In the past, Bey wakes to Wendy returning in the morning. She asks how long was gone and he says just one night. She tells him it felt like longer and that there were fairies and magic. She tells him it was sad because the children wanted to go home but the shadow wouldn’t let them. Bey asks how she escaped and she says the shadow let her go because he only wants boys. Wendy tells him the shadow is coming back tonight for one of her brothers and he promises to protect her.
Lacey is fascinated by Gold’s magic and he produces a diamond necklace out of thin air. He tells her that people don’t like magic and she says he needs to hang around with other people. She asks him if he’s immortal and whether he can keep her young so they can be together forever. He tells her there’s a caveat. You can live forever, but can still be killed. He tells her there’s a prophecy that he can be killed. She tells him to find out who it is and kill them but he tells her it’s complicated.
Neal and Emma sneak into the old sardine factory. She has her gun drawn but Neal doubts Tamara is involved. They run into Charming and Snow and scare each other. They spread out to explore all the other levels. Tamara comes to alert Greg that they have been found and have to go. He tells her he’s not going until he founds out where his father is. She leaves, telling him to meet her at the rendezvous. He gets ready to crank the machine up to the max when Regina confesses.
She tells him she killed his father the moment he ran away. He doesn’t believe her and she says she buried him at their campsite. She tells him to go ahead and kill her and he shocks her at the maximum setting as she screams!!
Mrs. Darling tucks in the children and as soon as she’s gone, Bey says there’s work to do. He and Wendy set to work securing the nursery and he tells her he’s not going to let the shadow get anyone. He sends them off to bed when the lights all flicker out and the window lock begins to rattle. Bey orders them all into the crawlspace as the shadow comes in. Michael, the youngest, is targeted by the shadow, but Bey says he’ll go as long as the shadow promises never to return. He thanks Wendy for making him part of the family as the shadow takes him away out the window and into the night sky.
The shadow pulls him along through the sky, narrowly missing chimneys, rooftops and balconies. They fly past Big Ben and up into the dark clouds of the night toward the stars.
Greg continues to shock Regina and tells her it’s the end of her. He tells her she’s never going to hurt anyone ever again. Charming comes in shooting and Greg runs away. Snow tells him they can’t leave Regina or she’ll die so they don’t pursue Greg. Charming calls Emma and tells her Greg is headed their way. He tells Neal that it wasn’t Tamara but speaks too soon because she knocks out Emma and holds a gun on Neal.
She tells him magic must be eradicated and admitted she’s been lying to him all along. She tells him it was just a job and he asks if she ever loved him. She tells him “no.” Neal says he can’t let her leave and she shoots him. She comes closer for a fatal shot and tells him she’s sorry. But then Emma comes to and lays a serious butt kicking on Tamara. It’s an epic girl fight that Emma’s winning until Tamara throws a glass shard that opens a portal. Neal pulls her away but then they fall and Neal is dangling in the precipice. He tells her that she has to let him go that Henry can’t lose them both. She tells him she needs him and loves him. He tells her he loves her too, but then he’s gone through the swirling green portal. The portal closes and Emma is devastated and sobbing. Hmm… No happily ever after for them I guess…
In the woods, Greg is digging, searching for his father’s body when he strikes something hard in the ground. He screams no as he finds scraps of clothing.
The Blue Fairy (aka the Blue Nun) waves her magic blue wand over Regina. She tells Charming and Snow she’ll recover her magic now that they’ve removed the magic-snuffing cuff. Emma comes in and has to tell them that Neal is gone – that Tamara killed him.
Bey is dangled from the shadow’s clutches when he lights a match and burns it. It drops him and he plummets into the water. The shadow abandons the search as a ship approaches and fishes him out of the water. He coughs up the se water and is introduced to Captain Hook – the man who saved him!
Her dad comforts Emma and tells her he’s sorry. She asks how she can ever tell Henry. Charming doesn’t know. Snow tends to Regina as she wakes. She wakes and remembers they saved her. Charming tells her that they’re family no matter what. She asks where Tamara and Greg are and they say they got away. She says “they still have it” and they ask what.
Tamara finds Greg in the woods and tells him she’s sorry about his dad. She tells him the home office figured out what the large stone is just as Regina is telling Snow and Charming that it’s the failsafe trigger to destroy Storybrooke that she was going to use it and take Henry away.
They are horrified, but she reminds them that they were going to abandon her there when they went. She tells them there’s a more urgent issue – that she doesn’t have the trigger. Tamara tells Greg the home office wants them to blow Storybrooke off the planet!
THE END!