Once Upon A Time: Heart of Gold Recap

Synopsis of 4×18:  The Author is on the loose, Gold is making a deal with him. Emma is still sorting out her feelings after finding out what the Charmings did to secure her goodness, and we flashback to Robin, Marian and the Sherwood Forest. Oh, and our favorite bad girl makes a stunning reappearance.

Rating: ★★★★

To start, Emma is still dealing with the fact the Charmings decided to secure her good nature by condemning another person’s fate. Instead of dealing with it now, they bottle up those feelings and continue on the hunt for the Author. Little do they know that Gold has already found the Author and is making a deal with him. One magic quill for a bunch of happy endings.

Next we flash over to Regina, who is tied up. Gold has taken her hostage after finding out who she is really working for. Gold lets her know that he now has the Author, and that unless she cooperates, she will lose everything. She gives in and says that she’ll do what ever he wants, and he tells her to call Robin. After a little heming and hawing, she does.

Flashback to when Robin, Marian and Roland left Storybrooke to start a new life in the great non magical world. They arrive in New York (because this is apparently the best place for fairy tale people in this world), and are overwhelmed by the noise and people. Marian makes the rookie mistake of setting her purse on the ground. Naturally a thief snatches it up and runs off. Robin being the hero he is grabs a carriage horse and runs the guy down. He catches up to him, tackles him to the ground and gives him a little piece of thieving advice. A thief that steals from those in need has no honor.

Shortly afterwards, the Hood family are settling down in their new home, which just so happens to be Neal’s old apartment. Not long after arriving, Gold walks in, surprised to see them there. Robin and Gold have a few choice words at each other before Gold clutches his chest and drops to the ground. Robin swoops in and takes him to the hospital where they find out that Gold has had a heart attack. At the hospital, Gold tells Robin that this is no ordinary attack, but is from all the dark magic that has poisoned his heart. Gold asks Robin to break into the Wizard of Oak to steal a potion that will fix him and keep him from dying. With the promise of a deal, Robin sets off to retrieve the potion.

Flashback even farther to Sherwood forest, Robin is a barkeep in a quaint town. The Sheriff of Nottingham waltzes in and tells Robin that his taxes are over due, and that in two days, he will shut the whole place down and throw Robin in jail. Shortly after close, Rumple pops in and offers a fix to Robin’s monetary issues. If Robin will steal something for him, Rumple will fix everything. All Robin has to do is go to Oz, steal a potion that heals hearts emotionally and physically,  and bring it back to Rumple. Robin agrees to step back into his thieving ways, and sets off through a door to Oz.

Once landing in Oz, he finds the Knave there thanking him for saving him from a bit of trouble with a guard. The door through which Robin came just so happened to land upon, a’la Dorothy’s house, on the Witch of the East. Robin asks the Knave to help him, and he agrees, so long as he can have some potion for himself. They dress Robin up in the guards clothes, and he sets off for the palace while the Knave  guards the door. Robin makes it into the palace and finds the potion. Before he is able to escape, Zelena catches him and assumes he is there on Rumple’s behalf.

Now on the run for his life, Robin narrowly makes it out of the palace and back to the Knave. He tells him that the potino was not acquired because of the witch, and that he has to leave now. Knave tells him that he was going to use it to fix his broken heart, but it is fine seeing that Robin still has his life and all. They hug, and Robin leaves back to Sherwood forest.

Back in Sherwood Forest, Robin is alone in his bar when the Sheriff shows up. Sheriff is delighted to find that he gets to take Robin to jail, but the Merry Men have other things in mind. In a quick over turn of power, Robin takes the gold from the Sheriff and he and his men run the Sheriff and his crew out of town. Later, Robin and the Merry Men give the gold to the people of the town. Robin and Marian make the plans to go on as thieves, stealing from those who have too much, and giving to those who have to little. To celebrate their decision, Robin gives Marian the six leaved clover of Oz.

Returning to New York City, Robin rushes to the hospital to give Gold the potion. While there, Robin talks about how Marian just isn’t the same girl anymore, and spills some of his troubles to Gold. They eventually strike a deal that Gold will get the potion so long as he stays away from the apartment, and the Hood family. Robin hands over the potion, and leaves while Gold takes it. Gold swallows it down, and shortly realizes that it isn’t working. Marian enters the room suddenly and tells Gold that the potion he had naturally wouldn’t work, but would fix a cold if he had one. She had swapped the potion for a fake when Robin had taken it home after stealing it.

Marian then reveals herself to be Zelena. She had apparently never really died, her life force left her body just before he killed her and traveled back in time with Emma and Hook to the Enchanted Forest. Since that time, she has been pretending to be Marian via the use of the six leaved clover, after she had killed her. Zelena did all of this just to ruin Regina’s happy ending. Gold is aghast as she tells her story, and taken back when Zelena leans close to him and taps his chest. She says the hollow sound is a beautiful thing as Gold goes into cardiac arrest. She feigns desperation as he is revived.

A little later Zelena is toying with him as now he is hooked up to a breathing machine. She tells him her plan of making Robin fall for her, and steal him away from Regina for good. However, there is something that is keeping him away from her. Zelena tells Gold that she knows of the Author and that she knows Gold is looking for him. She says that she wants her happy ending to be written in, and that if Gold agrees to that, she’ll give him the potion and allow him to live. He agrees.

Flash forward to Storybrooke, Regina has the phone and is calling Robin’s number. Marian answers and transforms back into Zelena. Regina is taken aback as Zelena tells her all about her domestic bliss with Robin and how she is enjoying being Marian. Zelena tells Regina to let it all soak in, and that they will be seeing each other soon. Regina is pissed at Gold, who has known the entire time. Gold tells her that is how he knows Regina will do what ever he wants, as one call to Zelena and Robin is dead. She tells him that Zelena is the one who killed Neal, and while he is aware of that, it apparently no longer matters. Gold informs her that she will help him turn Emma’s heart dark. Regina tells him that she will not allow him to do to Emma what he did to her.