Tonight on ABC their fantastical series Once Upon A Time returns with an all new Sunday May 3, season 4 episode 21, called, “Mother” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, Emma [Jennifer Morrison] brings Lily [Agnes Bruckner] to town to meet Maleficent. [Kristin Bauer van Straten] Meanwhile, Gold’s [Robert Carlyle] health worsens; Isaac [Patrick Fischler] seeks a new means of obtaining magic ink; Regina [Lana Parrilla] and Robin [Sean Maguire] confront the problems Zelena’s [Rebecca Mader] pregnancy poses; and back in fairy-tale land, Cora [Barbara Hershey] asks Regina for forgiveness.
On the last episode, Emma’s potential for darkness was looming over everyone, but when Emma realized Maleficent’s daughter Lily was in fact her closest friend from her foster care days, she resolved to find Lily and reunite her with her mother. Regina joined forces with Emma and together they set out to track down Lily and to warn Robin about Zelena. However, neither of them was prepared for the harsh realities they encountered in the outside world. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Gold faced a crisis involving Belle. In a foster care flashback, things are looking up for young Emma with her new family until Lily’s appearance threatened to destabilize everything. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the ABC synopsis, “Emma returns to Storybrooke to reunite Lily with Maleficent while Regina and Robin struggle to cope with the implications of Zelena’s pregnancy. When Gold’s health takes a turn for the worse, Isaac looks to a new ally for help procuring the magic ink he needs to re-write history. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Cora returns from Wonderland to beg Regina’s forgiveness on the anniversary of Daniel’s murder. Cora vows to help her daughter find true love, but Regina remains suspicious of her mother’s intentions.”
Tonight’s season 4 episode 21 looks like it is going to be as magical as ever so make sure that you tune in to our live coverage of Once Upon A Time at 8:00 PM EST!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
#OnceUponATime begins back in the Enchanted Forest with evil queen Regina stopping her carriage to hassle some common folk at a wedding in a meadow. Regina says they’re on royal lands and have no permission to marry there. She yanks out the heart of the groom as her father cautions her to not overreact. She says she was going to spare him until her dad made her angry and she crushes the man’s heart to dust. His bride is overwrought. Regina tells them to use the church next time. She marches off.
Then Regina tells her dad to find his own way home and takes off in the carriage. She heads to Daniel’s grave and sees a single yellow rose on the tombstone. She shivers in anger and knows it’s her mother. Cora is there and tells her daughter it’s been too long. Now, in NYC, Robin sits having a drink with Regina at a bar. She’s stunned that he got who he thought was Marian pregnant. He says Zelena won’t keep wearing that glamour and says Roland will be crushed by the loss of his mother again.
Regina offers to make a forgetting potion to help him and Robin thanks her. Robin says he knew things didn’t feel right but didn’t know why. Regina says it’s all about her sister getting revenge and being sure she doesn’t get her happy ending. Robin says they can still have it but Regina reminds him about the baby and says her sister has a lifetime of complications cooking in her womb. She says that ties Robin to Zelena in a way they never will be. Regina calls herself an idiot.
Robin asks what do they do now. Emma and Lily are at Neal’s place and she says he’s gone thanks to Zelena. Emma comes at her and Zelena says the baby just kicked. Regina tells them all to pack up and says they’re all headed back to Storybrooke even her true love’s baby mama. Gold sits with Isaac at Granny’s when Killian comes over and shoves Isaac over in the booth. Killian calls Gold a toothless old dog since he can’t commit any more evil or his heart will stop.
He tells Gold that Emma didn’t kill anyone and Isaac says that’s bad news and says they need dark savior blood to make the ink. Gold coughs and looks bad. Isaac asks what Killian meant about his heart but Gold says there must be a loophole. He can’t walk so he magics them away. Emma and crew roll back into Storybrooke and her folks and Henry with Killian come to greet them with hugs. Maleficent is there and watches Emma hug Henry. She’s anxious.
Lily gets out of the car and Emma takes her over to Mal and introduces her to her mother. Mal smiles and is all teary. Back in the EF, Regina asks if Cora is there to salt the wound of killing her true love. Cora says she borrowed a rabbit to get out of Wonderland. She says she knows why Regina sent her away and says she’s grown and Cora is proud of her. She says she’s there to help her get the final thing she needs – love. Regina says she had that and her mother tore his heart out.
Cora says the stable boy was a mistake and says Regina deserves more than a loveless marriage. Cora says she met Tinkerbell and she told her about Regina’s true love. Cora says she’s there to help her. Now, Regina puts a magic dampening cuff on her sister and locks her into a barred room into the mental ward. Zelena says this baby means she’s part of Regina’s life forever. Regina asks what will make her feel safe at night once that baby is born.
Zelena says Robin would never forgive her for murdering the mother of his child. Regina says Z is underestimating her. Regina magics the door closed while a nearby nurse watches. Gold tells Isaac to research blood magic. He goes into the back of the shop to look for something but his heart is bad. He pulls it out and sees there’s only the slightest bit of life left in it. He shoves it back into his chest as Regina shows up and says she wants Isaac then asks what’s wrong with Gold.
Regina says it’s finally happening and smiles. Gold says it’s dying and says that’s bad news for both of them. Regina says the Dark One can’t die like that and he says no, but Rumplestilskin can and says she won’t want to face the Dark One when there’s no one else at home. Regina just wants her happy ending and says she could care less about him. Gold has the quill and says they can work together to figure out way to find the ink. Regina says he looks terrible and takes the quill.
She says she’ll figure out the ink on her own. She takes Isaac’s hand, tells Gold – goodbye dearie – and magics them away. Back in the EF, Cora heads to a tavern and looks around. A man tries to flirt with her and she ask who he is – it’s the Sheriff of Nottingham. He orders drinks for them and she says she’s looking for a man with a tattoo of a lion on his arm. He says that’s Robin Hood and she asks for more info. He says the man is a blowhard and a thieving bastard who steals from the rich to give to the poor.
Cora says her daughter has her heart set on him and the Sheriff says Robin is married to some tart and Cora says wives can be taken care of. The Sheriff offers to help her find Robin for a price and she agrees to talk to him. Now, Regina gets the lowdown from Isaac on needing dark savior mojo to charge the ink he needs. He says he’d love to write a happy ending for the dark queen and says she always seems to get screwed over the most. He says if she protects him, he’ll work for her.
Regina shows him a page from a book that shows her and Robin kissing. She asks why the page exists. Isaac says he wrote that from an experimental project for a book he never got to write. She says it turned up in Robin’s things out of the blue one day. Isaac says that means something is looking out for her. He says he’s happy to write if she has the ink. Regina says it’s no problem. Mal tells Lily she’s so beautiful. Lily wants revenge on David and Mary. Mal says they don’t need to waste time on that.
Mal says they should only look forward but Lily doesn’t want to let them get away with it. Mal says they should just be happy in the future. Lily says Mal is a pushover and that’s how Snow and Charming got her away from a dragon. Mal says she did all she could then but just wants them to be together now as mother and daughter. Lily says she’s grown up and doesn’t need her. Mal begs her to stay and says if Lily leaves town, she can’t come back and that if she tries to leave, she’ll crumble to dust. Lily isn’t moved and says to send her a postcard. She walks out.
Mal goes to see Mary and David and says she’s not there to kill them but just wants her daughter. She tells them Lily is leaving. She asks for them to seal the borders to keep Lily inside. Mary says she has to get to the heart of what’s wrong and Mal says she doesn’t know her. David says that sounds like Emma when she first came. Mary says Emma didn’t want to open herself to her because she was afraid to let her down. Mal begs them to help now to make up for what they did. Mary agrees.
Mary and David set out. Regina finds Lily at the bus stop and says service is spotty. Lily tells her to shove off. Regina says that mouth doesn’t work here and tells her to listen up. She sits and tells Lily she’s got some talking to do. In the EF, Henry is shocked to see his wife Cora. She tells him to shove of so she can talk to Regina. She tells her daughter she found her man and he’s on the way. She magics Regina into a wedding dress and she’s moved by her mother’s efforts.
She thanks Cora for the dress and finding her man. It’s the Sheriff of Nottingham with a tattoo that looks like Robin’s! He kisses Regina’s hand and Cora leaves them to get acquainted. Regina and the Sheriff talk out under the stars. He says she’s come up in the world since she was consorting with a stable boy. He says she needs some manly arms to lift her up. He says he’ll be the strong one so she can be weak when she wants to be. She doesn’t like the word weak so he says feminine instead.
Regina grabs his arm and makes the tattoo on his arm come to life as a lion. It attacks him and he says her mother put the magic tattoo on him so they could get together and Regina could have a child. He says he doesn’t know why Cora wanted her to have a child. Regina asks Lily if she knows about Snow and Charming and what they did to her. Lily wants them dead and Regina says she has darkness in her. She says a lot of the darkness belongs to Emma.
She says it’s riled up savior darkness and that’s what she needs. Lily tells her to get lost. Regina grabs her arm and slices into it then dips the dagger into the ink. She tells Lily – welcome to Storybrooke – and magics herself away in a puff of purple. Mal, David and Mary go looking for Lily and instead find a dragon. Mal says it’s Lily. It flies off over the truck and Mary, David and her mother are all shocked to see it.
Back in the EF, Cora comes to see Regina and asks how it went with her lover. Regina says he is and shows her a vision of him hanging upside down over flames in the dungeon. Cora magics him back to his home and says she doesn’t understand. Regina says she knows that’s not her soul mate. Cora says her soul mate is a married, moral sap and the man she found for her is much better. Regina says she knows she wasn’t interested in her happiness.
Isaac and Regina come to see Zelena and Regina says she wanted her to witness the moment she gets her happy ending. Zelena says she’s there to replace Regina. Her sister says they’ll see and Zelena asks what he’ll write. Regina says she gave it a lot of thought and decided on the perfect ending for her evil sis. Killian and Emma sit by the water and he says he knows her heart is uneasy. He gives her some rum and says he’s there to protect her heart. Emma says she’s not going dark.
Killian says he’s worried about her parents and asks if she’s willing to lose them. She drinks some more and Killian says they’ve done a lot of good and are ashamed of what they did. Emma says she would have liked them more if she had known they did wrong and then turned themselves around. Killian says they just want to make her happy and proud. In the woods, Mal, David and Mary are tracking Lily the dragon. They spot dragon Lily on the ground and Mal says she looks like her.
Mal goes towards her and Mary says to be careful. Mary runs to help but David tries to stop her as Lily starts to breathe fire. David says she’s out of control. Mary hits her head on a rock and Lily breathes fire to keep David and Mal from helping her then she takes off. David holds a bandage on Mary’s head as Killian and Emma show up. Emma heals her and Mary says she’s sorry for letting her down. Emma says this has to stop and Mary says she won’t ever stop trying to protect her.
Emma says she needs to stop punishing her parents for what they did. She says they’re heroes and they are still good people now and her parents. She smiles at Killian. Emma says they omitted the truth and that was human. She says trying to hurt them just made her miserable and tells her mom she misses her and tells both her parents she forgives them. Mary hugs Emma. Mal pursues Lily who is leaking fire and purple smoke. She turns back into human Lily and Mal comes to her and asks if she’s all right.
Lily says she’s not sure yet. Mal says she has something for her and holds out her baby rattle that she never got to give her. Mal says she knows she’s too grown up and doesn’t need her. Mal says she knows she’s not what Lily was hoping for. Lily says she thought she would be a scary dragon bitch and they’d go get revenge on those that did them wrong. She says Mal is just a real person and so open it kills her. Mal asks why. Lily says no relationships have ever worked out. She says she destroys everything.
Lily says the darkness they put in her is serious business. Mal says she doesn’t mind the dark and hugs her daughter. Mal asks her to stay for a week while she teaches her about being a scary dragon bitch. Lily agrees to one week. Zelena tells Regina she’s just mad because she’s having a child with Robin Hood. Regina says she’s mad that she tried to hurt Regina and will make sure she can never hurt anyone again. She says the author is going to write her out of the story forever.
Zelena says she’s bluffing and would never take Robin’s baby. Regina says no one will ever remember that she ever existed. Z is scared and asks if he can do that. Isaac says the pen is mightier than the everything. Zelena says this is like when Cora tossed her in a basket and sent her to Oz without blinking an eye. She says Regina is exactly like her. Regina thinks back to Cora telling her that she will never be happy and is about to lose her kingdom to Snow White.
Regina says she won’t produce a baby just for Cora to kill her and run the kingdom behind the baby. Regina made a potion and tells Cora she’ll never be a baby mill for her. Regina says love is weakness according to Cora. She tells Regina she was wrong and says they know she’s not going to drink the potion and Regina asks if she doesn’t think she’ll do this. Cora says it will only hurt herself. Regina says it will hurt her mother more and swigs the potion. She collapses then tells her mother to get out.
Cora tells her she loves her and wanted her to have a child for her own sake. She says if she had wanted Regina’s power, she could have taken it another way. Cora tells Regina the only person standing in the way of her happiness is herself. Now, Isaac asks Regina what she wants him to write. Regina says Cora was awful and tells Zelena they are their own worst enemies, not each other or Cora. Robin shows up and Regina says she’s not going to deny herself happiness anymore.
[2015-05-03, 9:02:18 PM] Rachel Rowan:
Z mocks her and says her happiness depends on a man. Regina tells Zelena that she won’t write anything and says her happy ending is being accepted and accepting into the world and says Robin is part of that. She tells Zelena they’ll just keep her locked up and she’ll have minimal visitation rights. This lack of action annoys the author and he writes himself away and into the presence of Gold. He has the ink and Gold tells him to go write.
Gold magics a book titled Heroes and Villains and says it’s time that villains finally win. Isaac smirks happily and starts writing. He writes – Once Upon a Time…
THE END!
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