Emma finally comes face to face with her childhood frenemy, Lily, and things pretty much go as you would expect from the fated “evil” daughter of Maleficent. This episode isn’t one of the best and some of it just feels cheap and contrived.

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

But, first, we take a trip to a dark cave… it’s the Sorcerer’s apprentice! We haven’t seen him in a while. What’s he up to? Well, he’s talking with his master, the sorcerer: a big, cloud of blue smoke? Huh? Where’s Walt? Basically, they talk about the whole baby switcheroo and how the author must be stopped, so the apprentice trapped him in the storybook and yeah. I’m just confused as to what I am seeing right now. What is this blue ball of smoke?!

Back in Storybrooke, Gold and the author attend Cruella’s funeral (oh, and Emma does too, glowering from about 20 feet away). Gold assures the author the villains will get their happy ending when the Savior fulfills her journey. How many times do we need to recap this? Well, about eight more time this episode.

Emma makes a speech to her parents, Henry, Hook, and Regina saying she is going to go after Gold. Maleficent shows up, telling Emma she wants her to find her daughter. Emma has a revelation: Mal’s daughter is her childhood frenemy, Lily. Durr.

We flashback to 1999, where we see the SAME EXACT STORY AGAIN. Young Emma is with a nice family. Young Lily shows up and ruins it all by lying and manipulating Emma. But this time, Emma is really DONE with her. Mm-k.

Back in the present, Emma and Regina agree to go on a road trip together. Emma to find Lily and Regina to stop Zelena. They are going to beat fate together. Yeehaw! Gold watches and is confident that this journey will complete his plan for Emma. But, he sees Will and Belle walking together and gets distracted.

He enlists Will’s help in order to steal back Belle’s heart, which is being guarded by Mal at Regina’s house. He doesn’t really ask for Will’s help more so than demand it. Later, Gold distracts Maleficent and Will easily steals the heart back. Together Will and Gold bring Belle back her heart. They share their love and care for her and Gold apologizes for all his terrible behavior. I hope Belle isn’t buying this. Have some backbone, woman!

Emma and Regina head out in Emma’s bug. Hook gives parting advice for Emma to resist the darkness, no matter how tempting. That’s nice. Emma finds a lead to Lily’s supposed last address. The place is a dump and the landlord seems to think Lily is dead. He begins insulting her and her lifestyle, causing Emma to basically choke-hold him. Regina, of all people, has to calm her down.

Later, as they drive, a wolf suddenly runs out in the road, causing Emma to swerve and get a flat tire. What the heck was that about? Who is that wolf? Emma heads to the coffee shop nearby, where she recognizes the star birthmark of the waitress, “Starla.” It’s Lily! That was incredibly easy.

Emma confronts Starla/Lily, thinking fate has led her here. Lily says she is all good, with a husband and a daughter and tells Emma to leave her alone. Lily chats with a little girl who got off a school bus, convincing her to pretend she is her daughter. Dang, girl. Con woman Lily. Emma sees through it though (but does nothing about it at that moment).

Instead, Emma and Regina break into Lily’s apartment, finding a Carrie Mathison crazed-wall of Emma, her family, and, basically, all of Storybrooke’s vast cast. Lily knows everything! As they are inside, Lily is breaking into Emma’s car. She drives off and a car chase ensues. She is determined not to let Lily destroy her family…again.

After a crazy Fast and Furious moment, Emma is able to stop Lily. They have words and Lily blames Emma and her parents for everything bad that has happened to her. Things get physical. Emma pulls a gun and Lily tells her to do it. Regina tries to coax Emma in to putting down the gun and stopping. Wow, the tables sure have turned! But, Regina is able to convince Emma not to shoot Lily. Phew.

Speaking of Emma’s parents though, they go to visit Mal and ask for forgiveness, but she wants them to leave and apologize to her daughter. If Mal can’t forgive them, why would Lily? Oh, Snow and Charming, you ignorant fools!

Regina, with Emma and Lily (they are “friends” now, until Lily mucks it up), hurry to NY as Regina learns Gold stole Belle’s heart back. They arrive at Robin’s apartment and Regina quickly reveals all to him. Robin, the buffoon, doesn’t understand.  Marian shows up, acting all innocent and it is very convincing, causing Regina to lose it, but then for no reason, she reveals herself as Zelena. However, stupid, duty bound Robin can’t leave her now. Why is that? Because she is pregnant! What? And how come Robin didn’t show any shock or anger at Zelena’s trickery? Wouldn’t he be mad? Is he that stupid? Ugh. Regina shouldn’t be with someone who is that honor-bound and dumb.

Oh, and we also learn via flashback that Lily learned everything she knows from the Sorcerer’s apprentice. He appeared to her shortly after Emma ended it for the last time back in 1999. We will see how that plays out…

This week, I wasn’t that impressed. There were bits and pieces of the episode that were okay, but everything felt too predictable and easy, like following a line. The Lily/Emma stuff is just so blah, especially that flashback that we have seen many a time over. Also, why would Belle ever go back to Gold? And why would Regina want to stay with a man like Robin, who wouldn’t bat an eye when he found out he had been tricked for years? UGH. I do like Zelena though. She’s having fun, at least.

What did you guys think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below.

Once Upon A Time airs on Sundays at 8/7c on ABC. Watch full episodes on ABC.Go.com, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video and On Demand (check with your local cable provider).