The mystery of what happened in Camelot to turn Emma fully dark continues in this week’s episode of Once Upon A Time.  Progress is made with freeing Merlin from the tree, and some characters encounter a setback in their relationship.

*****SPOILERS BELOW*****

The biggest mystery of 5A is going to be what happened to Emma.  She seems to be the most upset with Regina and her parents, so if I had to guess – I think something happened between them to push Emma fully into darkness.  Emma’s relationship with Henry continues to be strained now that she is the Dark One, but it seems like both of them are willing to put that aside this episode to help Henry with his crush Violet (who lost her horse).

Back in Camelot, Emma thinks she has found a way to free Merlin from the tree and recruits Regina to help.  Apparently, using a dreamcatcher, Emma found out that she can use a tear of a first love heartbreak to release him.  There was a lot of talk this episode about first loves, from Neal to Daniel, and Henry with Violet.  Emma was allowed by Regina to see the darkest part of her past – when Cora crushed Daniel’s heart.  Emma seemed genuinely upset after seeing what happened, but at this point I’m still not sure what is manipulative Dark One or the real Emma.

ONCE UPON A TIME - "Dreamcatcher" - In Camelot, as Mary Margaret and David attempt to retrieve the Dark One dagger, Emma uses a dreamcatcher to look into the past to see how Merlin was transformed into a tree. Together, Emma and Regina figure out the critical ingredient they must acquire to free Merlin, but it's a race against Arthur, who does not want Merlin released. Meanwhile, with encouragement from his moms, Henry musters up the courage to ask Violet on a date. Back in Storybrooke, the heroes break into Emma's house hoping to locate Gold, but what they find will give them a glimpse of Emma's end game. Far from prying eyes, Merida sets about the mission Emma has tasked her with and begins molding Gold into the hero they need to draw Excalibur, on "Once Upon a Time," SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Jack Rowand) AMY MANSON, ROBERT CARLYLEIn present Storybrooke, Merida is having a rough go at making Rumple brave.  He isn’t cooperating with her attempts to get him to sword fight, so she goes and does some research to find out what might get him moving.  Obviously, she finds out about Belle and steals the chipped teacup which has been a recurring symbol of their love throughout the show.  With the teacup and his love for Belle shoved in his face, this gets Rumple headed in the right direction.  I still have serious doubts that he is going to be the “hero” Emma needs to get the sword out of the stone though, it seems too random.

After Regina and crew break into Emma’s home to see what she’s up to, they find the dreamcatcher that Emma was messing around with in Camelot.  It turns out Emma pulled a Cora and had Violet break Henry’s heart so she could take the tear from him.  Henry unfortunately sees all this in the dreamcatcher as Regina and Robin are looking at it; so needless to say Regina and Henry are both unhappy with Emma right now.

tumblr_nws7qr2D0b1rt41q9o1_500Moms fight of the year starts when Emma comes to see Henry shortly after the dreamcatcher incident and Regina lets loose on her.  Regina and Emma share their usual lack of personal space and Emma snaps at Regina not to call her Ms. Swan, because they’ve been through too much?? Swan Queen tension was in full force on this porch scene! But anyways, this episode was full of parallels and I thought pretty great.  Emma and Regina won’t stay mad at each other forever, so I’m curious to see how they’ll get past this.

What did you think of the episode?  Comment below!

Facebook Comments