"Once Upon a Time" Recap: "Poor Unfortunate Soul"

Written by Shae

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

It’s long since been believed that villains never get their happy endings. They’re the ones who ruin things for everyone else, are bad, and above all, don’t deserve happily ever afters, right? I guess, what I really like about this season, is the fact that Once Upon a Time is trying to change that. After all, every villain doesn’t start out evil, and they all have a reason for doing what they’re doing. Above all, no villain really believes they are the villain, right? These, almost touching, backstories make us realize that maybe, things aren’t what we make them to be.

This week, we got to see how Ursula became the evil sea witch we know her to be. It turns out, she is the daughter of Poseidon; commanded by her father to lure ships to their death with her voice. Only, she refuses, and spares the ship, that might just be Hook’s. Ursula doesn’t want to kill people. She doesn’t hate humans, unlike her father who blames them for the death of his wife, her mother. Instead, she steals something from his vault and leaves. Now able to walk on land, she sings in taverns, trying to earn gold for a trip to where her mother used to love singing. The far off land is too far, for now. It’s here Killian meets her, thanks her for sparing his ship, and offers to take her where ever she wants. Before she can go, however, Poseidon appears on his ship, gives him a sea shell, and tells him to use it to steal Ursula’s voice. That way, she’ll have no reason to go, and she’ll return home. In exchange, Poseidon will give Hook the one thing on earth, besides the dagger, that can kill the Dark One.

But, Hook isn’t one to just do that. He shows the young mermaid the shell, and tells her who it is from. She, in turn, steals  the item from her father’s vault and gives it to Hook. Before they can leave, however, Poseidon shows up and destroys the item. Enraged, Killian does something he’ll regret, he uses the shell on Ursula, stealing her ability to sing. Distraught, she flees. When Poseidon comes to comfort her, he takes his trident and merges it with her tail, and she becomes the 8-legged villain we all know…

---

In the present, Regina watches as Gold gives August a potion, and finally learns that the Author was trapped in a door by the Sorcerer. She gets a small message out to Emma and the others, before having to keep up her ruse. Gold takes Regina and Maleficent to the Sorcerer’s mansion to find the door. It’s here Emma decides an escape plan is in order. Especially when they find out Gold impersonated Killian and tricked Belle into giving him the dagger. Ursula is offered a deal. Killian can give her the shell with her voice back, if she tells them Gold’s plan. But, Killian, nor Ursula, can get the shell to release her voice. It takes Poseidon to do that. And he shows up after Ursula knocks Killian out and throws him over board. Only because Ariel saves him and opens a portal to Poseidon.

The reunion is sweet, and actually works. Ursula gets what she’s wanted all this time, and then decides she wants to go home, now that she has her happy ending back. She tells Hook that Emma is Gold’s key. He wants to fill her heart with darkness…because if there is a savior, there can’t be happy endings for the villains…

Meanwhile, August is rescued and reveals that the drawing of the door is the actual prison the Author is held in…and Regina asks Emma to find Robin’s phone number…because, reasons. It seems the season is coming to a head and the only way this can end is with Emma resisting the Darkness and both our Author and Sorcerer are revealed. Is it just me, or is this feeling a bit Kingdom Heart-s-y to anyone else?

---