Recap: Once Upon A Time, Episode 21–An Apple Red As Blood

EDIT: I originally wrote this recap as if “An Apple Red As Blood” was the final episode. My bad–I got ahead of myself. This recap has been fixed to reflect the actual placement of the episode in the season.
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The next-to-last episode of the season has come and gone, and what a better way to start the end of the season than by having Henry eat the poisoned apple turnover! That should make Emma believe, right?

So, we got to that point through Regina’s own frantic need to get rid of Emma. First, we need to talk about Fairy Tale Land. Regina, the Evil Queen, is intent on getting rid of Snow White. She makes a deal with King George to let the captive Prince Charming go in order for her to use him for her plot to get Snow White right where she wants her, which is back where the incident with Snow White started all of those years ago. Snow winds up being led to that fateful spot where her runaway horse was stopped by a young Regina. She is made to eat a poisonous apple that will put her in a sleep in which she is surrounded by her regrets. Even worse, the poison gives her the appearance of being dead.

Back in Storybrooke, She goes to Mr. Gold, asking for a new deal in order to kill Emma, but he was a no-go; Mr. Gold himself wants the curse to go away in order for him to be able to use magic again (and probably so he can find his son again). With no one to turn to (and her nightmare of the townspeople killing her after finding out she’s ruined their lives), she goes back to Jefferson to open a portal to get an object to kill Emma. Her deal with Jefferson is to give him and his daughter Grace a new start in this new land. Jefferson and Regina are able to get the hat to work only through Regina’s sacrifice of the only thing keeping her even remotely human–the engagement ring she had from her fiance who was killed by her mother. With the hat, Regina was able to get the apple she used to put Snow White in the magical sleep.

Regina chops up the apple and puts it into a turnover, and when Emma decides to leave Storybrooke and try to make a truce with Regina, she is offered the turnover. Emma takes it as a sign of goodwill, and Henry races over to try and talk sense into her one last time. However, it’s tough to get through to her–August has basically given up and he’s turning into wood faster every day. Henry finds the turnover and decides the only way to prove to Emma that the turnover is poisoned is for him to eat it himself.

What will happen next week? Perhaps Emma will finally realize everything she’s been told is true! We’ll see when “Once Upon a Time” comes back to finish the first amazing season next week!

(Photo credit: Jack Rowand/ABC)