Many Years Ago
This week opens with a young Arthur telling a young Gwen that the magician trapped in the tree told him he would be King of Camelot. But the village boys laugh at him and say Camelot will have no king, especially not an orphan who cleans the stables.
Then we flash to when Arthur pulled out the broken sword from the stone. But we know it’s missing the tip which is driving Arthur into an unhealthy obsession of searching for the Dark One’s dagger so he can complete the sword and fix his broken kingdom. Arthur spends over a thousand days translating scrolls trying to find the dagger. Gwen comes to him and begs him to come and dance with her as it’s her birthday. She feels sad until Lancelot shows up.
Gwen sneaks out to find the dagger herself using the magic gauntlet that leads you to a person’s true weakness. Lancelot joins her and the gauntlet leads them to the vault of the Dark One which produces a black demon thingy before showing a set of spiral stairs. They go down and the black thingy takes Lancelot so Gwen stabs it with a torch and scares it off. Gwen is relieved that Lance is okay and they share a kiss before she apologizes.
They step through the vault door into a jungle, where the dagger sits inside a tree. Rumple shows up and says he is delighted to learn that they have found the weakness–finding the gauntlet. Rumple offers magical sand that will fix any broken thing, including Excalibur. This would give Gwen her husband back so she accepts even after Lance begs her not to.
Camelot Now
Emma is in her room when she hears her dagger calling to her. She tries use her magic to attack Rumple, but she almost takes Hook out instead, leading her to confess to him that she hears Rumple whispering in her head.
Snow tells them Lancelot is back and warns them not to trust Arthur. Charming doesn’t believe her. Snow and Charming have a nasty fight where Snow accuses Charming of wanting to feel like a hero again.
Charming tells Arthur that he knows where the dagger is because the Dark One is his daughter. He opens the case to show Arthur, but it’s empty.
Snow and Lancelet are in the same vault-jungle with the dagger. Snow is shocked to realize this is the setting for the vision she had of young Emma crushing her heart. She and Lance debate who will put the dagger back into the tree, when Arthur shows up.
The thing is, five years ago, Arthur saw the goodbye between Gwen and Lancelet and approached Gwen about it. She says she was gonna use magic sand on Excalibur, but seeing how far gone Arthur is, she decides she doesn’t want this anymore. She tells him its the dagger or his marriage and Camelot. Arthur throws magic dust on Guinevere. She apologizes for not being supportive enough. Then Arthur throws sand over his kingdom and builds the Camelot we saw at the beginning of the series.
Arthur forces Snow to hand over the dagger which she does. He calls Emma, hoping to make her fix the sword so he can free Merlin, kill Merlin and snuff the darkness out and be the Greatest King. But Emma doesn’t appear because the dagger’s not real. Charming shows up and Arthur realizes it was a trap.
The fight was real, but they pulled together to protect their daughter. They go back to Granny’s to decide what to do with Arthur when Gwen shows up with Arthur’s knights. Lancelet says her name, but she goes to Arthur. Lancelet figures out that Arthur used magic on her. Gwen throws Lance into the dungeon. And then she uses magic to brainwash Snow and Charming into being on their side.
Lancelot is in jail when a voice calls out to him. It’s Merida. She says anyone that is an enemy of Arthur is a friend of hers.
Emma
Emma this week spent her time with Hook. They go with Henry who takes them to a stable and admits he knows of the stable because he has been spending time with Violet. Henry goes to ride horses with Violet when Hook tells Emma maybe horse riding can help solve her Rumple problem.
Hook tells her to approach the horse, but the horse doesn’t like her. He gets on the horse and tells Emma to put faith into him. They ride and Emma no longer sees Rumple.
Storybrooke
Emma is dealing with Rumple. He says he can’t be the hero she wants, but Emma disagrees. Emma takes the heart out of Merida and tells her to pick up her bow. She wants Merida to train Rumple to be brave.