Once Upon a Time Recap: “Into the Deep”

by Tracy Ladd:

Once Upon a Time Recap: “ Into the Deep”
Original Air Date (ABC): Sunday November 25, 2012
Season 2 Episode 8

It’s been two weeks since we’ve had a new episode of Once Upon a Time and we left off in a most dramatic fashion.  If you remember, the story mainly focused on Ruby/Red but ended with the revelation that Aurora was able to have contact with Henry while she was asleep since they both share the side effects of the sleeping curse.  I’d call it the Red Room of Pain, but that brings to mind a completely different series of books that I really don’t want to waste my typing skills on.  We’ll just call it the ROOM OF FIRE!!

The main theme this week is sleep.  There is so much sleeping going on that I found myself yawning almost constantly through the whole episode.  It’s also a bit fitting as far as the episode on the whole goes.  This episode is set fully in the present day as well with no flashbacks to speak of.  Since Aurora and Henry connect the bridge between Fairytale Land and Storybrooke, there was no room for flashbacks.  I normally split these recaps up between the different worlds, but this particular episode is going to make it a little difficult so bear with me.

Fairytale Land

Poor Hook.  He finally makes it down the beanstalk only to run into Cora at the bottom.  She wants the compass, but he has to fess up that Emma has it.  Hook is left trying to convince Cora that he’s on her side and didn’t betray her, but she’s not having any of it.  She tells him that instead of killing him, she’ll just leave him there when she heads to Storybrooke.  It’s kind of like parents threatening to leave you at home when the rest of the family goes to Disneyland because you’ve been an ass.  Anyway, Hook promises to get the compass but Cora has other plans.

Cora heads back to the village where she stole the hearts of the masses (literally) and pulls a heart from her chest o’ heart drawers.  After she blows on it (I’ll keep all vile comments to myself) it lights up and the dead begin to rise, looking like they’re taking a smoke break on the set of Thriller.  But I digress.  Cora sends the undead to do her bidding, and retrieve the compass from Emma and Co.

Meanwhile, picking up where we left off, Emma shows Aurora a picture of Henry and asks if that’s the boy from the dream, to which Aurora confirms that it is.  Emma tries to understand how it’s possible and Snow mentions that it’s because of the sleeping curse and admits that it’s not actually a dream, but more of a netherworld.  Aurora gets pissed that Snow lied, but Snow tells her she didn’t want to scare her with the truth.  Snow tells Emma that Henry can help because he can get Rumpelstiltskin to help.  Emma tells Aurora that she’s going back under to talk to Henry.  Aurora goes back to sleep and shows up again the ROOM OF FIRE!!!! and tells Henry that she’s with Emma and Snow and they need his help.  Henry asks what he needs to do.

Storybrooke

Henry wakes up and both Regina and David are there.  He tells them that it’s Aurora in the ROOM OF FIRE!!! with him and that she’s also with Snow and Emma.  He also relays the information that Cora is coming….which doesn’t make Regina very happy at all.  It’s time to call for backup.

Meanwhile, at Granny’s diner….Mr. Gold and Belle are finally getting those burgers she mentioned a few episodes ago.  Gold tells Belle to have it with ketchup, because you know, condiments are the bomb.  Regina walks in and Granny immediately plans for the worst.  Regina tells her that they will be civil, but Gold really doesn’t want anything to do with her.  Regina fills him in on what Henry told her, but Gold shrugs it off saying he’s stronger than Cora ever was.  Cocky as ever, he helps them anyway.

At his shop, Henry is planning on going back to sleep to tell Aurora that what they need to defeat Cora is ink that is in Gold’s cell where he was being held by Snow and Charming.  Henry goes back to the ROOM OF FIRE!!! and tries to relay the info to Aurora, but something’s happening up top and Aurora gets pulled out of the dream before he can tell her.  Henry wakes up to awful burns on his arm and neither Regina nor David will allow for him to go under again.

Fairytale Land

Mulan shakes Aurora awake and tells her that they have to run.  Their camp has been invaded by Cora’s Thriller zombies and they begin to attack.  Snow goes full bad ass and starts taking them out with her bow, but of course none of her arrows are head shots.  I’m not even sure that would really work, because I’m not sure if the typical zombie laws apply here.  Anyway, Emma and Snow fight them off but run after they realize that the undead just keep coming after them.  In the midst of the attack, Aurora is captured.  Mulan is pissed, because she’s sworn to protect her.

Aurora finds herself in the pit where Cora chains her up.  Cora tells her that she can direct Aurora to Phillip because when a wraith steals a soul, they just go to another realm….call it a soul sabbatical if you will.  Aurora doesn’t fall for it and tells Cora that she’s not going to help her find the others.  Way to grow some balls Aurora!  Cora sends a message to Snow through a crow….yep, you read that right.  The crow squawks and Snow translates it saying Cora will trade Aurora for the compass.  Mulan is game for that trade, but the other two aren’t and begin to devise a plan that will allow them to get Aurora back while still maintaining control of the compass.  They also have one other little problem in that Aurora was their link to Henry.  Snow tells Mulan and Emma that she’ll go back under, but will need the poppy-seed powder to do it.  Mulan finds the seeds and smashes them up then blows them in Snow’s face, knocking her out, while Emma watches holding Snow’s hand.

Storybrooke

Gold tells both Regina and David that Henry must go back, but David tells him that he’ll go instead.  This means that David now needs to be put under the sleeping curse, but the catch is, he will have to find the ROOM OF FIRE!!! because it’s only for people who have woken from the curse.  Everything has a catch.  Regina brews up the potion while Henry watches.  He asks if she’s used magic and she admits to only using it with Daniel and now while she’s making the potion but assures him that she’s trying to change.

Gold tells David that it’s not a good idea, but David is convinced that Snow will go under on her end.  If that happens, she’ll kiss him, break the sleeping curse and he’ll wake up right as rain.  Everything is set up and the spinning wheel’s needle tip is dipped in the potion.  Gold spins the wheel and David pricks his finger and immediately passes out.

David wakes inside a room full of mirrors and tries to find the ROOM OF FIRE!!!  The necklace that Henry used to protect him from the flames is now on David and works as a sort of compass, which directs him to the ROOM OF FIRE!!!  After breaking through the floor, he ends up where he’s supposed to be.

Fairytale Land

Snow finds herself with David in the ROOM OF FIRE!!! and he tells her it was too dangerous for Henry so he came instead.  They do the whole “you found me”, “I’ll always find you” bit and then Snow realizes just what David has done.  He tells her that she can wake him up, but when they try to kiss, they realize that they aren’t really there, just their apparitions.  Oops.  Snow is being pulled out of the dream, leaving David there to fend for himself.  Snow wakes up, which in turn wakes Emma up, and says that she needs to go back under.  They look for Mulan, but she’s not there, and neither is the compass.

Hook shows up in Aurora’s cell and breaks the chains that bind her.  She wants to know what the catch is, but Hook tells her that he’s helping and gives Aurora a message to pass on to Emma.  He tells her to tell Emma, the deal still stands.  He then sends Aurora on her way.

Emma and Snow finally catch up with Mulan and Emma gets the compass back.  Snow is about to open up a can of whoop ass on Mulan when Aurora happens to find them.  She tells them that Hook was the one who helped her escape and relays the message from him to Emma.  Aurora seems to have all the right words, but we see that it’s not actually her….it’s Cora controlling her….through the use of Aurora’s heart!  How she got it, we have no idea…but apparently Hook was the one who got it.  Hook tells Cora that it’s all part of the plan and makes nice with her again.  Now with control of the princess, they can use Aurora to get the compass and make their way to Storybrooke.

Random thoughts:

Mr. Gold, when talking about the ink in his former cell, made mention of needing a mermaid to help get the ink under normal circumstances, but luckily he had some in a jar.  How much longer until Ariel shows up then?

All I can see when I look at the ROOM OF FIRE!!! is the floor from the disco in Saturday Night Fever.

That whole crow talking scene was a bit much.  I felt like I was watching Lassie.  “What’s that girl? Tommy’s caught in Old Man Jackson’s well?”

Interesting that David is now in the same position that Snow was in when the series started.

I love Regina and the 180 she’s done.  She doesn’t need to be this season’s Big Evil, because Cora has that crown.  I wouldn’t discount bad ass Regina just yet though because I’m thinking there will be a showdown between mother and daughter.  And it better be epic!

Seriously, those plastics hearts look horrible.

I have to say that overall, I wasn’t super impressed with this one.  I don’t know if it was just because of all the sleeping, or if it just didn’t stand up as well as some others.  It’s too soon to take stock of the current season overall, but as of this moment, I feel like it’s slipping just a tad.  We’re approaching the halfway point of the season and I’m hoping that the back half leads to a strong finish.

DarkMedia contributor Tracy Ladd has been writing about film since her days on the her high school newspaper. Even though she took a decade or two off to explore other things, she’s back to doing what she loves. She also bakes, can knit a pretty nifty scarf and makes lightsaber sounds with her knitting needles. Or chopsticks. Especially with the lightsaber chopsticks.

You can find her on Facebook, on Twitter @ReelGoddess, and on her website The Reel Goddess.