ONCE UPON A TIME finally returns tonight after a one month winter hiatus. The show returns with a new episode called “The Cricket Game” and on tonight’s show Emma thinks Regina may be innocent of murdering one of the town’s most beloved Fairytale characters, and Snow White and Prince Charming set about planning the Evil Queen’s public execution.
Last time we saw our favorite docufantasy drama Cora and Hook faced off with Mary Margaret and Emma in a race to secure the compass, which pointed its holder to the portal into Storybrooke. But back on the other side, Regina and Mr. Gold, desperate to keep Cora out, put a plan into action that would kill anyone entering the portal – placing Mary Margaret’s and Emma’s lives in danger as well. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, Captain Hook traveled to Wonderland and mets up with a vengeful Queen of Hearts. Did you see the last episode before the winter hiatus? We did and we recapped it here for you! Head over to catch up for tonight’s episode!
On tonight’s show Regina is accused of murdering one of the town’s most beloved fairytale characters — but only Emma senses that she may be innocent. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, after capturing the Evil Queen, Snow White and Prince Charming set about planning her public execution in order to rid the land of her murderous tyranny.
Tonight’s episode 10 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 10 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! Catch pics from tonight’s episode below! Don’t forget to come back at 8PM EST for our recap!
Recap begins now! Continue reading below . . . .
In the harbor of Storybrooke, Hook’s ship is anchored. He and Cora disembark. He thanks her for everything and says he has to go skin his crocodile (Mr. Gold). Cora stops him and says he may want to rethink his plans. Cora tells him magic is there and that means Rumple has his magic too.
One of the harbor staff comes to greet them and compliments their vessel. Cora makes the ship invisible and turns the harbormaster into a fish that Hook kicks into the water. They head into Storybrooke to see what’s what.
Charming and Snow are smooching in bed. She tells him 28 years is too long to wait for… Emma and Henry bust in and he wants to know why they’re still in bed. Awkward!
Flashback to Regina in full battle armor trying to find Snow while the rebellion fights against her. Snow runs through the woods and is set upon by Regina. Snow offers her parlay to negotiate her surrender. Regina says Snow’s death will do it. Regina is trapped by magic and Charming rides up and tells her that her reign of evil is over.
Back in the present, at Granny’s the town cheers Emma and Snow at a welcome back party. Charming says he and Mary Margaret say they’ll always find each other, he toasts that they won’t have to look so long. The party goes quiet when Regina comes in and everyone wants to know who invited her and Emma says she did. She says Regina is trying to change for Henry so she’s willing to give her a chance. She said if no one had given her a second chance, she wouldn’t be changed either.
The town folks actually eat Regina’s lasagna – guess they decided to trust her after all. But with no one acknowledging her presence, she leaves. Emma follows her out and tries to get her to stay. Regina asks if Henry could stay over some times. Emma says it’s not best for him. Regina tells her she doesn’t know anything about being a parent to her son. Emma gets angry and Regina apologizes for snapping at her. She begs Emma to accept her apology and she relents.
Emma reveals that Doc Hopper told her that Regina’s trying to change and trying not to use magic. Hook and Cora spy on the exchange between Regina and Emma. Hook asks Cora if Regina is broken and she says not yet.
Regina confronts Hopper about telling Emma about her treatment. He says he wouldn’t break doctor patient confidentiality. She disagrees. Red comes on them and asks what’s going on and Regina asks her to leave. Regina says he got his degree from a curse, not a university.
Flashback to the past and Hopper (as a cricket) tells the town folks that Regina will never change as they try to figure out what to do with Regina. They still have her magically bound, but have to decide a permanent arrangement. They discuss sending her somewhere else but decide that wouldn’t be fair to the town they send her to.
Charming says they must kill her because as long as she’s alive, the kingdom is at risk. Snow asks if he’s sure it’s what they have to do. He said they have no choice. She said there’s always a choice. She reminds him he took an arrow for Regina once when she tried to assassinate her. He said he did that to save her not Regina. He says if they don’t kill her now, there’s no telling what she’ll live to do.
Red sees Regina go into Hopper’s office. She asks him if they can talk. He’s got a Dalmatian (Pongo!!!) who barks at Regina. He tells her that change can be hard and she says she knows. She kills Hopper! But as she leaves, she dissolves in a cloud of magic and reveals that it was Cora, not Regina. Uh-oh!
At Granny’s diner, Henry and Emma eat and chat. He wants to know what it was like in the other world. She tells them about the ogres and he thinks they were awesome. He had to head to school and she wants to walk him. He argues that he can do it alone, but she insists.
On the street, Pongo runs up to them barking. Red runs out and says something is wrong. She listens to Pongo who barks and leads them to Hopper’s office. They find him on the floor dead. Emma asks who would do this and Red says she thinks she knows . . . .
Flashback to Regina imprisoned in the tower. It’s her father who says it’s all his fault for not protecting her more as a child. She tells him she can’t blame him, that she loves him most of all. He advises her to show regret for what she’s done and to show that she can change so they’ll spare her life.
In the present, Regina’s in interrogation and wants to know why she’s there. Charming accuses her of killing Hopper and tells her Ruby (Red) saw her go in. Regina is shocked that Archie’s dead. She said if she was going to kill him, she wouldn’t have been caught. Snow watches through the two way glass, upset.
Flashback to Regina being marched by soldiers to a stake where she’s tied up. Hopper flies up and tells her to meet her end with a clear conscience. He asks for her last words. Rumple looks on, disguised in a cloak. Regina says she’s being judged by her past – a past where she brought death and misery on people. She said when she looks back on all she’s done, she feels regret. Regret that she was not able to cause more pain, misery and death. She said above all she regrets that she was not able to kill Snow White.
Charming calls for the archers to take aim. Regina is blindfolded and Charming says fire. Snow stands and says stop and the blue fairy stops the arrows just short of killing her. Snow says it’s not the way and Charming orders her back to her cell. Regina is escorted back and she smirks at the crowd.
In the present, Emma insists that Regina didn’t do it. She said she was genuinely shocked when she heard Hopper was dead. Emma says she knows her and she believes her. She said back in their world she may have been the evil queen, but here she’s Regina and Emma is the sheriff. She insists they let her go and that they find out the truth.
Flashback to Snow and Charming arguing Regina’s fate. Snow says she’s known her for a long time and that she used to be good – that she even saved Snow’s life. Charming questions showing her mercy. Snow asks if he’s so sure that her soul is black – sure enough to kill. She reminds him they can’t come back from killing her. He tells her not killing her is something they also can’t come back from.
Snow walks in the courtyard and Rumple shows up. He says he came to see the execution. He says he was disappointed. She says the queen can change. Rumple wants to know how she plans to rehabilitate her. He tells her that he’ll give her a test that will reveal that she can change. She questions his motives and he refuses to reveal them. Snow makes the deal with Rumple.
In the now, Charming checks Regina’s file in Hopper’s office and finds it empty. Snow and Charming insist Regina killed her. Emma said the evidence is too compelling, that it looks like a frame up. Charming admits lots of people would be happy to see her accused, but Emma says there’s only one person on the list willing to kill. They go to confront Gold.
Belle defends Gold. He insists it wasn’t him. He said he can prove it – they need only ask the witness. They say no one was there and he says that’s not true. Gold brings in Pongo and Belle is pleased that he’s a dog person. Emma asks how the dog can talk. He says they can extract Pongo’s memories. They don’t trust him – Gold tells Emma that she has enough magic to do it. He holds out a dream catcher and rubs it down Pongo’s back. It glows with magic – he’s captured his memories.
Gold holds the dream catcher out to Emma and tells her to will it to show them what happened. She says she can’t and he insists she can. She tries harder and the image comes in to focus. The image shows Regina in the room with Hopper and then killing him. Snow is distraught. Emma drops the dream catcher and tells Charming that they were right.
Emma storms out and Snow and Charming try to stop her. They warn her that she has her powers back. She tells them she has powers now too, but her parents tell her she doesn’t even know how to use them. They remember that there’s fairy dust being mined that can thwart her powers.
Flashback to Snow visiting Regina in the dungeon. She dismisses the guard against Charming’s order. Regina wants to know why she stopped the execution and sent the guard away. She wants to know why Snow is there. Snow says she wasn’t always like this – that she used to be good. Regina tells her that person is gone. Snow says the good is still in her. Snow unlocks the cell and says she needs someone to let the good person out.
Snow says it’s her chance to start new and leave the evil behind in her cell. Regina walks out of the cell and attacks Snow. Regina says she can’t use magic, but she can use Snow’s blade against her. She stabs Snow. Snow shakes her head no and Regina looks down disappointed that she didn’t kill her. Snow said it was magic and that Rumple helped them develop a weapon. She can no longer use magic to hurt either Snow or Charming. They banish her. Snow tearfully tells her she hoped she would have passed the test. She tells her they’re even because now she’s saved her life. Snow promises that if Regina ever tries to hurt anyone in their kingdom again, she’ll kill her.
Present day – Emma comes to tell Regina that she saw her choke Hopper to death. Regina says Gold helped them – she says he’s the one behind it. They tell her that Emma used magic to find out, not Gold. Regina tells Emma that magic always comes with a price. Emma tells Regina that Henry is going to be heart broken when he finds out what she did. Regina wants to see Henry to tell him her side. They throw a ball of fairy dust at Regina and she catches it. She said she won’t fall for that again.
Emma tells her that they’ve won – that Henry will know now that she can’t change and never will. Regina disappears in a puff of purple magic smoke.
Emma, Charming and Snow wait at Henry’s but stop and discuss how best to break the news to him about Regina. Emma tells them she was bad for a long time and is worried she doesn’t now ow to be a good parent to Henry. Her parents encourage her and tell her they’ll all do it together. Henry gets off the bus and Emma comes to meet him. He tells her he doesn’t need to be met at the bus stop.
She tells him she has news for him and he needs to hear it from her first. They walk off arm in arm as Regina watches in tears from her car across the street. She breaks down sobbing.
Flashback to Regina staring at herself in the mirror. Rumple comes to see her and she tells him he’s no friend of hers. He says he came to raise her spirits. He tells her it’s Snow and Charming’s wedding day. He tells her he didn’t get an invitation either. Rumple tells her it’s their happy ending. She reminds him she can’t harm them in this land because of his magic. He reminds her of the key phrase “in this land” and tells her they just need to bring them to another land. She asks her Father to call her carriage – says she has a wedding to go to.
Back at the harbor, Cora tells Hook that Regina has lost everything. He tells her she’s the mom of the year. He asks about his revenge on Rumple and she tells him she left him a gift in the hold of the ship. She tells him it’s a who, not a what. They go on board and he sees Hopper all tied up and distinctly not dead. Hook asks who she killed in his place and she says she doesn’t know – she’s new in town – it was just some random person.
Cora tells Hook that Hopper knows all the secrets of the town and that he’ll chirp! What an evil twist!!
