Posted by Dustin on 03.31.2014 at 9:15 pm

Well now I know why they’ve been so secretive with the “Once” spoiler releases as of late . . . that episode was just heartbreaking.

We learned how Rumple came back into being. Back in Fairytale land, it was Neil and Belle who searched for how to bring “The Dark One” back. Little did they realize the Wicked Witch was totally behind them doing this, as she needed him back. We don’t know why she wanted him back just yet, but eventually learned. She needed his dagger, his totem.

Neil and Belle find Rumple’s secret vault, open it, and release Rumple’s spirit from it. However there is a cost. The witch appears and Rumple’s spirit can protect either Neil or the dagger (which is his power, his totem, the symbols the Witch is collecting). He chooses his son, and absorbs Neil into him in doing so. He becomes one with Neil’s flesh. The witch then has the dagger, and Neil and Rumple are one, sending him into insanity once again as he can’t control all the voices in his head.

In Storybrooke, everyone knows Rumple is back, but he is lost in the woods unknown to them. Then suddenly Neil shows up. Nobody knows yet that Neil and Rumple are one and the same. Emma eventually learns this at the end of this tragic episode. Emma finds that Neil and Rumple are now one, thanks to Neil opening Rumple’s vault in Fairytale land. Neither can exist independently, and Neil knows Rumple must live to defeat the witch. He begs her to separate them, and she uses her magic to do so. However in the end Neil cannot be saved. Okay, this is “Once,” he really could be saved I’m sure, but not if the story must go on and we need to resolve the Neil-Emma-Hook triangle somehow and have a way to make Rumple real again. With Rumple back in control, he tells Emma and Charming that Selena is their foe. They at least have the witch’s identity.

With Selena identified, Charming and Emma run to Snow/Mary Margaret to make sure she is okay. We STILL don’t know what she wants from Snow! But I think we actually do, as Snow started to become concerned she hasn’t felt her baby move. In the end we learn the dagger of Rumple, which the Witch needed, is his “brain.” It controls him. She has the brain of Rumple, and the courage of Charming. With her fixation on Snow’s baby, I’m guessing this is the heart she needs. The last of the three major totems. What is she after though? How will they twist the “Wizard of Oz” story?

Spoilers for the next episode below, with a bonus revealing screenshot (see my caption if you don’t get it!) . . . Also some SPOILER TALK here as a big reveal is revealed in these spoilers!

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ZELENA CHALLENGES REGINA TO A FIGHT TO THE DEATH AND REVEALS THEIR FAMILIAL CONNECTION, NEAL IS LAID TO REST AND IN THE LAND OF OZ IN THE PAST, A JEALOUS ZELENA ASKS THE WIZARD TO SEND HER TO FAIRYTALE LAND AFTER DISCOVERING THAT SHE HAS A SISTER, ON ABC’S “ONCE UPON A TIME”

Rebecca Mader (“Lost”) Guest Stars as Zelena

The Episode was Directed By Mario Van Peebles

“It’s Not Easy Being Green” – With Rumplestiltskin as her slave, Zelena challenges Regina to a fight to the death and shocks the Evil queen with the reveal of their familial connection, and the town lays Neal to rest. Meanwhile, back in the past in the land of Oz, a jealous Zelena asks the Wizard to send her to Fairy Tale Land after discovering that she has a sister, Regina, and that Rumplestiltskin is training her to become a powerful force to be reckoned with, on “Once Upon a Time,” SUNDAY, APRIL 6 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Guest starring are Keegan Connor Tracy as Blue Fairy/Mother Superior, Beverley Elliott as Granny, Rebecca Mader as Zelena, David-Paul Grove as Doc, Gabe Khouth as Sneezy/Mr. Clark, Christopher Gorham as Walsh, Sean Maguire as Robin Hood, Rose McIver as Tinker Bell, Adrian Hough as woodcutter and Maria Marlow as wife.

SPOILER TALK . . . . Okay it seems from this release that Rumple and the Wizard are two different people? There goes my theory they were one in the same! Then again, this release could be misleading on some part!