'Once Upon a Time' Tweet-cap: Unfinished Business

Warning: This recap for the “Souls of the Departed” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.

One hundred episodes is a big sum for any TV show, and Once Upon a Time celebrates it with a fantastic episode that reminds us just how much has taken place and how far these characters have come.

Think back to the pilot: Regina was evil, Emma was a nonbeliever, and Mr. Gold was a master manipulator. Well, the last part hasn’t changed, but certainly the first two characters have. The flashbacks to Regina’s days as Evil Queen highlight the heroic turn she’s taken since being the ultimate villain.

Despite her mother’s pressure, despite not wanting to hurt her father, Regina wants to stay in the Underworld to help Emma and Snow, because they’re her friends. The Evil Queen of the flashbacks would never call anyone a friend, much less Snow White. And she certainly wouldn’t do anything that didn’t solely benefit herself. Sadly, it seems like it might take awhile for Emma to rescue Hook, but in the meantime, maybe she and Regina can help these souls complete their unfinished business. That is what heroes do.

Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode:

A Whole New World
Emma wakes up with a start, in her yellow Bug, and finds Neal in her backseat! Awww, Neal, we miss your face. Anyway, she’s not actually in the Underworld just yet — he’s kind of hijacked for a moment to deliver a warning. The Underworld is scary and weird. He’s not there because he has no unfinished business (yay, Neal is in a good place). But Emma might find that saving Hook will be even harder than she thought.

OK, sidetracking over, Emma and gang arrive in the Underworld, and it looks like a dystopian version of Storybrooke. The clock tower is in the middle of the street, the Blind Witch runs Granny’s diner, and Cruella de Vil’s car drives by in the distance. Regina realizes that a lot of these people are here because of them.

Flashback time! Regina, in full Evil Queen mode, is terrorizing some villagers in her mission to find Snow White. This time, Snow, Charming, and the dwarves get one over on her, but Regina decides to be “benevolent” and disappear, because it’s her birthday.

Her father, King Henry, pleads once again with her to give up on crushing Snow White’s heart. This quest for vengeance is tearing her apart, and it’s a sign that Cora’s influence still rules her. Regina just glares at him and tells him to STFU.

He decides to talk to his wife, who’s been banished to Wonderland, so he asks the Looking Glass to set up a Skype date. Cora thinks they should help Regina get Snow’s heart, but Henry shuts that down. He decides to meet with Snow to see if they can work something out. What he doesn’t know, though, is that Cora uses that link to push her way back into his world. Uh-oh.

Back in Under-brooke, things get even weirder when David randomly starts making out with Snow in Granny’s diner… but it turns out it’s not David, it’s his evil twin James. Oh, and that’s not all: a man from that village flashback scene shows up and tells Regina that someone wants to talk to her.

That someone is, of course, Cora. We’ve been dying for this confrontation since the whole Underworld trip started. At first, Cora and Regina hug, and Cora seems to express motherly concern about Regina’s safety. She wants Regina to take Henry and Robin and skedaddle. But what about Regina’s friends? Cora dismisses them, and then resorts to threats. If Regina doesn’t leave town, she’ll push King Henry into a painful hellfire.

Daddy issues
Meanwhile, Mr. Gold goes to his shop, where the chipped teacup is on prominent display. That and a short flashback remind us that Belle is back in the real Storybrooke, totally unaware that he’s become the Dark One again.

When he goes to retrieve something from his safe, Rumple discovers it’s missing, because it’s been taken by… Pan. Yes! Another meeting we wanted to see. And it does not disappoint. Pan gives him the vial, but in return, he wants to go back to the living. That would mean taking someone’s place, which Rumple refuses to consider. This is Pan, though, and you just know he’s going to figure out a way to do it, with our without Rumple’s help.

So, the vial contains a potion that, when poured on Hook’s grave, will conjured up his spirit. But when Emma does that, Hook appears bloodied and beaten, and can’t even hear her. So, they still don’t know where he is, but now know he’s in a bad state.

In the flashback, King Henry meets with Snow White, but it’s not actually King Henry… it’s Cora! And she steals Snow’s heart.

Cora presents it to her daughter as a birthday gift, and Regina gleefully calls up an image of Snow in the Looking Glass. She starts to crush the heart in her hand, and at first, Snow reacts in a way that seems like it’s working. It turns out that Jiminy Cricket had crawled down her shirt. The heart is a fake — King Henry switched it!

Regina is mad as hell at his betrayal. He tries to reason with her, once again blaming Cora for poisoning her mind. But she won’t listen. She shrinks him and puts him in the empty heart box. But when Regina casts a spell to banish her mother back to Wonderland, Cora grabs the box at the last minute, taking King Henry with her.

Savior Complex
Using the leftover potion, Regina calls up her father’s spirit and tearfully apologizes to him. He doesn’t blame her at all, and urges her not to leave the Underworld.

Regina runs to the fire pit and begs her mother not to hurt King Henry. Henry won’t yield and tells her to stay for her friends. Cora goes ahead and starts to push him into the fire, but something else happens — a doorway opens, filled with light. It’s Henry’s path to a better place. His unfinished business is now finished. All his life, Henry regretted not standing up to Cora for his daughter’s sake, and now he’s done it.

He meets his grandson for the first and last time. “Thank you, Grandpa, for believing in her like I do,” young Henry says, before old Henry walks into the light.

With that threat averted, Regina can stay to help Emma find Hook — or as Henry dubs it:

One thing that they’ve learned from King Henry is that anybody in town can be saved, as long as they resolve whatever issue is holding them there. “For a lot of them, we’re their unfinished business,” Regina notes. So, not only can they rescue Hook, they can do some good here.

As they walk away, the clock on the town bell tower ticks forward.

Cora enters the library, goes down the elevator, and through the tunnel to a grand room, where a man sits atop a throne, getting a pedicure. He is Hades, and he rules this world. Even Cora cowers in front of him, as he berates her for not doing her job — getting Regina to leave.

Every time that clock ticks, it means he’s lost another soul from his realm, and he is not someone who likes to lose. To punish Cora, he turns her back into a poor miller’s daughter, in dirty rags and with a cartful of flour to deliver.

Near tears, Cora departs, as Hades wears a devilish smile.

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.