[Imzadi]

4x1: Best Laid PLans
March 29nd, 2015 @ 8:00 p.m. Eastern

Description: SNOW AND CHARMING MAKE A TRAGIC DECISION THAT WILL HAUNT THEM THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES, ON ABC’S “ONCE UPON A TIME”

Kristin Bauer van Straten (“True Blood”), Merrin Dungey (“Revenge”),Victoria Smurfit (“Dracula”) Guest Star

“Best Laid Plans” – Hook tells Emma that her fate is at stake in Gold’s plan while Regina leads the villains on a wild goose chase. Henry makes a breakthrough in his search to find the Author, but Mary Margaret and David need a moment to reconsider the best course of action. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Snow and Charming search for a way to ensure their child will grow-up to be a hero. When a travelling peddler directs them to visit a kindly old hermit, Snow and Charming are presented with a choice that could secure their child’s goodness, but at a price that will haunt them for years to come on “Once Upon a Time,” SUNDAY, MARCH 29 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Once Upon a Time” stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen/Regina, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan, Emilie de Ravin as Belle, Colin O’Donoghue as Hook, Jared S. Gilmore as Henry, Michael Socha as Will Scarlet and Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold.

Guest stars include Keegan Connor Tracy as Mother Superior, Eion Bailey as August, Merrin Dungey as Ursula, Victoria Smurfit as Cruella De Vil, Gabe Khouth as Sneezy, Abby Ross as Young Emma, Barclay Hope as Adoptive Father, Timothy Webber as the Apprentice, Patrick Fischler as Peddler, Michelle Choi-Lee as Adoption Agent and Kristin Bauer van Straten as Maleficent.

”Best Laid Plans” was written by Kalinda Vazquez and Jane Espenson and directed by Ron Underwood.


PROMO:



RULES:
+ Some of you may not like everything about the episode. Please try to be constructive when you are criticizing something.
+ Do not insult characters/actors. Please stay positive.
+ Respect each other's ships.
+ Enjoy!

[sherry02]

Really looking forward to tomorrow night's episode! I'm thinking we might get a big cliffhanger since there is a break coming.

[Maggie_R]

Holy cow... I am so shocked at all the twists from this episode I can't even begin to say anything coherent about it! I loved it, though, because I love surprises I don't see coming. And the promo for 417... AWESOME!!

[Imzadi]

cant find the ep anywhere and I got early to watch it before work

[wild sage growing]

Suz, I just PMed you.

[phoenix_shine]

ok... seriously... that was the most anticlimactic episode I've watched the entire season!!! Like... UGH!!! Too much time devoted in unnecessary stuff... And too much Emma being stupid! Sorry guys, but seriously??? After EVERYTHING August told her about the Author and the reason why the Sorcerer trapped him inside the book, she still freed him????????? Does this woman NEVER learn??????????

When I think that I waited 3 whole hours to find the episode (I guess now I can understand why noone uploaded it... seriously, wtf??)... I don't know about you guys, but it was sooooooo disappointing for me and really, some parts seemed so stupid. The Charmings really need to take life lessons from Regina!! Especially David and Emma! They are as thick as it gets!!

Now, on the important stuff: WHAT DOES GOLD HAVE THAT WILL MAKE REGINA DO HIS BIDDING?????????

[GrhmLz]

Chris, yeah, I was majorly confused why Emma still chose to release the author after August just finished recounting why he was trapped inside the book?

At least its one thing the town can not blame Regina for this time.

This episode mostly .... Confused me. With the author stuff. Just how long has this current author been altering stories and forcing them? Because, no offense, Lol, the Sorcerer and the Apprentice are a couple of idioits if this has been going on for some time and did not detect something was off WAY before this event????? C'mon. So much for the mighty and powerful Sorcerer then who was able to stunt every DO before Rumple.

I am assuming page 23 will come into this but now can it even be trusted if it came from the author, since we know he can not be trusted? What if giving Robin that page had nothing to do with hope, it was a tactic because the author was just looking to be freed? Regina has likely been manipulated or played since we have already been told the author can not write happy endings in this world, Emma is the Savior.

Which ... Contradicts. Because this episode, they made it seem like the author was merely a recorder of events so he would not have given happy endings in FTL either. So last episode saying the author wrote the happy endings in FTL not this world is clashing with him merely being a recorder. He is not suppose to have that kind of power.

*sighs* And great! The whole Lily plot is going to be dedicated to Emma's potential for darkness. Gold is probably going to use this to either restore her potential for darkness once Lily is found or he will try to completely flip it the other way around all the good potential shifts to Lily while all the dark transfers to Emma. I knew this was climaxing into Emma's story again. I just hope the finale will stick to being more ensemble than last year.

Where is this all mighty powerful sorcerer through all this? We have the apprentice yet again with no sign of the sorcerer. Could he not intervene and stop this? How much of this light v. dark potential do we buy if the author was manipulating the story with this?

Lol - So, I guess no TLK was required to break the sleeping spell put over the town this time, eh? LOL.

So, we see how Cruella and Ursula got to our world. Not under the curse. Did not age but Lily DID!!! : Okay, moving on ....

I caught that comment by Gold about having something that would force Regina to do his bidding but it is probably not that big of a reveal. The revelations on this show tend to not be so revealing imo. Just like the Lily|Mal connection was made so obvious ... You did not even have to follow spoilers to suspect, the minute Emma mentioned her childhood friend Lily to Hook in passing was the show spelling it out ....

Gold is probably referring to info. he has about Robin Hood, Zelena, and the past. If it is something new or surprising about Regina, that we do not already know, than I will be shocked.

[phoenix_shine]

Emma has proven to me what I always thought of her, but didn't want to say out loud... until she admitted it too and has been proving it continuously for a year now:



Moving on! Cause y'all know where I'll go if I keep this going!

I always thought that the Author would just be an observer. It made sense. He watches the stories and writes down the greatest ones. This particular one though manipulated those stories too. Changed them because he wanted to make them more... "interesting"!? Whatever his problem is, I think that the fact that there are 2 pages 23 will come to play! August was very specific: there was never just one author, there were many. Which means that if this one manipulated Regina's story in order to make it more "interesting", then somewhere out there she will find what fate originally planned for her. And I believe that our page 23 comes from another Author's book! This one just wanted her to be the villain! But she was never meant to be! I admit, I'm fascinated by the possibilities this brings.

BUT.... ok guys, so Regina starts a quest to find the Author. Henry makes it their own operation so that she can have her happy ending. They are the ones who started this, yet in this episode it looked like the Charming lot and their pirate mascot didn't even care to wait for her to discuss about letting the Author out! Suddenly everything is all about Emma again! WTF is wrong with the writers?? WHAT????

This storyline about her darkness and her light is of no interest to me at all. I've watched way too many episodes wooing Emma about her ability to overcome darkness yada yada, that I just don't-care'at all!

As for Rumple... that crazy SOB (of course he knew Regina was playing them... ugh...) might be having Robin's heart! I'm telling you, it's a possibility! It is!

[GrhmLz]

That is why I vented last episode. Last episode turned the tides with what Gold's real agenda was about: Emma. All the plot points are tying into her story now: the author, Lily, Gold etc. I am telling you, watch Operation Mongoose turn into a mission about saving Emma from going dark! If that is what the finale focus is, I will be peeved!

I really do not think they will bring another past author into this. They mentioned more authors existed in passing but I think pg. 23 is going to tie back into this author, unfortunately, because he was the most current author. If he manipulated Regina's story, there was no other author to tell her story because that path never happened at all. Nothing to record. Unless the page was sent by another source, like from the apprentice in the hat, but it will not surprise me in the least if they are going angsty and depressing with the deceitful author's intent of pg. 23.

Watch, in the finale, they defeat the author, and someone like Lily is appointed the new one by Sorcerer|Apprentice to make amends for the terrible misdeed committed against her in the first place..

It is possible Gold took Robin's heart. But could that be done to Robin in a land without magic where hearts are not enchanted when removed????

[Lenka5]

I actually enjoyed the episode when I saw it but there really are too many holes and inconsistencies.... I am also very confused...

And the Queens of Darkness so far don't seem to be much that big villains.

[Imzadi]

thank you LC

I have to agree. the episode was.. in most parts.. uneccessary.

once again we saw more plotholes than not. I mean how was snow supposed to go through that damn Glinda door when she did THAT in her past? seriously. thats just as bad as what she did to Regina. I mean becuase of her and them Regina lost daniel and Mal lost her CHILD. I mean seriously Snow? and you are supposed to be the good one? grrr

well seems I was right about rumple and Regina. he suspected her but still thinks he can get her on the dark path if he only threatens her enough (with Robin I guess)

is Jmos make up weird in the latest epi8sodes? she looks sick and pale and has red eyes... seriously.. she looks bad.

oh and yes Emma is an idiot. she never learns but well .. at least we got someone to blame

Regina was superp as always. loved her scenes and I loved the scene from the sneak (since I didnt see it before)

wish for a lot more interactuion between Mal and Regina tho

[Lenka5]

Actually I think what they did to Mal is alot of worse than what Snow did to Regina...

She was a child when Regina told her her secret and while it was wrong to not keep it, she told it Cora with a good intention...didn't want anyone to get hurt, quite the opposite she wanted Regina to have her mom...

With Maleficent they were both adults and knew what they were doing.

But I am glad they are not afraid to show the good guys in bad light too.. Nobody on this show is just black or white.. But considering what Snow has done in her life it's strange how self-righteous she sometimes can be.

I also wish there was more scenes between Regina and Maleficent... And overall I think they could use to new villains better.... so far I don't understand why they are called Queens of darkness...

And I hope they have some good explanation why the hell Lilly grew up and Ursula and Cruella are still the same after 30 years...

[Imzadi]

true. its actually worse. but snow was grownup when seh made Regina kill cora too.

hahah i know right? when they fell into the portal i thought "ah thats how they got to our world.. and then i was like "wait.. how did they not age" lol. plotholes in thsi episode were almsot unbearable

[GrhmLz]

The intentions with young Snow were more innocent and selfless while the intentions behind using Maleficent and her child were darker and much more selfish. I think what made it worse was that there was no guarantee Emma would go that dark. The apprentice explained that either vision, Snow or Charming's, was a possible path in the future.

I still think the end result with Daniel was worse, though. He actually lost his life in a brutal way whereas Lily being separated from her mother was sad and tragic, she at least appears to have been raised by people who wanted and loved her. Even if she did not feel like she fit in. And Mal and Lily will be reunited so something 'good' will eventually come out of it. Daniel's tragedy is permanent.

If the whole purpose of Lily's arc is to show how dark she became on behalf of Emma .... Ugh.

I said it already on the ouat episode discussion thread but the title QoD does not hold much water. The writing opted to go for quick sympathetic sob stories for villains who can get their happy endings back in the present regardless of redemption or if they are still villains or not. Meanwhile, Rumple and Regina have to work at redemption otherwise risk losing their happy endings. It is convoluted and makes little sense.

I too wanted more Mal and Regina but it was basically a quick stand alone episode for them while everything with Mal and her situation has been reduced to Snowing and Emma. My excitement about her return has wanned considerably.

I think Cruella is the only one who really has kept somewhat of a creepy villainous vibe or edge to her. That will probably change by her centric, though, unless they plan to kill her out of the three.

[phoenix_shine]

The bad thing that they have taken a perfectly good story (aka Operation Mongoose) and turned it into a Charming family drama. Whatever scenes we are going to get with Maleficent from now on will be with Snowing, where Regina will be Emma's cheerleader... How they manage to take HER story and make into another Emma one is beyond me....

Heather, about the authors. I don't think we are ever going to see another one (unless a new one is appointed soon etc) but I do believe that page 23 belongs to another book and another Author. This one is definitely not the one who created it. This one is the Author who only wrote Henry's book, a book where Regina is the Evil Queen and nothing more only because that made her story more interesting to him. However, if her story was not meant to be like this but he made it into it, then there's another story to be told about how her life was supposed to be without this creep's wicked ways getting in the middle. That's what I think will happen.

Suddenly I'm looking forward to the Apprentice's return. This Author is all kinds of creepy and irritating!