One Little Tear

"Lucy, it's time. Let your belief go."

- Victoria to Lucy

"One Little Tear" is the ninth episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Christopher Hollier & Adam Karp, and directed by Steve Pearlman. It is the one hundred and forty-second episode of the series overall, and premiered on December 8, 2017.

Synopsis
Victoria strikes a deal with Weaver in an attempt to free herself from jail and wake Anastasia, but the cost of saving one life could mean the loss of another. In a flashback, we learn Lady Tremaine's surprising connection to another classic fairytale when Mother Gothel offers to help her family. Meanwhile, Jacinda and Nick share an exchange that could alter her future with Henry.

Starring

 * Lana Parrilla (Credit only)
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Rogers
 * Andrew J. West (Credit only)
 * Dania Ramirez as Jacinda
 * Gabrielle Anwar as Victoria Belfrey
 * Alison Fernandez as Lucy
 * Mekia Cox as Sabine
 * Robert Carlyle as Weaver

Guest Starring

 * Emma Booth as Gothel/Eloise Gardener
 * Adelaide Kane as Ivy Belfrey
 * Meegan Warner as Rapunzel
 * Matty Finochio as Marcus
 * Cindy Luna as Cecelia
 * Nathan Parsons as Nick Branson
 * Yael Yurman as Tween Anastasia

Co-Starring

 * Anna Cathcart as Tween Drizella
 * Naiah Cummins as Uniformed Police
 * Lula Mae Melenchuk as Young Drizella
 * Alejandra Pérez as Teen Cinderella
 * Sophia Reid-Gantzert as Young Anastasia

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Title

 * The title card features Anastasia's floating lanterns.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 30, 2017.

Production Notes

 * Several mistakes were made on the press release:
 * Sophia Reid-Gantzert is misspelled as "Reid-Gant", instead of "Reid-Gantzert".
 * Lula Mae Melenchuk is misspelled as "Melench", instead of "Melenchuk".
 * Matty Finochio, who plays Marcus Tremaine, also played Tweedledee in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
 * Anna Cathcart, who plays Tween Drizella in this episode, played the role of Drizella's daughter, Dizzy Tremaine, in Descendants 2.
 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Seattle events take place after "Pretty in Blue".
 * The New Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place over seven years, before "Eloise Gardener".
 * The first flashback scene takes place while Anastasia and Drizella are still young girls. The rest of the flashback scenes take place six years later, until Drizella's birthday party. The last flashback scene, at the frozen lake, takes place one year after Cecelia left for New Wonderland.

Episode Connections

 * Victoria Belfrey was arrested in "Eloise Gardener".
 * Jacinda regained custody over Lucy, thanks to Nick's help, in "Pretty in Blue".
 * Roni and Henry decided to go on a road trip in "Pretty in Blue".
 * What happened to Cecilia after being poisoned was revealed in "Pretty in Blue".
 * Sabine and Jacinda bought a food truck in "Greenbacks" and started fixing it up in "Wake Up Call".
 * Rumplestiltskin began looking into finding the Guardian in "Beauty".
 * What happened to the Gothel after she was trapped in Gothel's Tower was shown in "Eloise Gardener".
 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Rapunzel and Mother Gothel from the Disney film Tangled are featured in this episode. The sky lanterns of Corona also appear.
 * The name of the food truck, Rollin' Bayou, is a reference to the song "Gonna Take You There" from The Princess and the Frog.

Cultural References

 * This episode is a rendition of the Rapunzel fairytale with Rapunzel and Dame Gothel. It is also a rendition of the Cinderella fairytale as Rapunzel is also the Wicked Stepmother from the fairytale, with Cinderella, the Evil Stepsisters and Cinderella's mother and father.
 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The outdoor scenes at the Tremaine Manor were filmed on Foxglove Farm, a 120-acre organic farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
 * Ironically, this location also doubles as the home of the first iteration of Lady Tremaine and her family in the Season One episode "The Price of Gold" and the Season Six episode "The Other Shoe".
 * The same building doubles as the exterior of the home of Edwin in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
 * The same farm doubles as the Storybrooke Pumpkin Farm for the episode "The Other Shoe". The scenes at the pumpkin farm were shot at the back of the building that doubles as the Tremaine Manor.
 * The house which doubles as the family's home was also used in the filming of the Timeless episode "Party at Castle Varlar", an episode which features Once Upon a Time starring cast member Sean Maguire, and the Beyond episode "Tempus Fugit", a show which stars Once Upon a Time actor Jonathan Whitesell. The house was also featured in the Supernatural episode "Everybody Hates Hitler", the Arrow episode "Bratva" and The Magicians episode "Have You Brought Me Little Cakes" . It also doubles as the Salvatore Boarding House in the Pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries and is heavily featured as Thistlehouse during Season Two of Riverdale.
 * The scene with Rogers and Sabine in front of the Rollin' Bayou were filmed on 615 Clarkson Street in New Westminster.
 * Cabo Drilling Corp in New Westminster doubles as the exterior of the Seattle Mausoleum.
 * An alley way connecting Clarkson and Columbia Street doubles as the area where Victoria shows Lucy the storybrook and where Rogers confronts Weaver (The sign for Sew Sweet Rose Bridal which is located opposite of the alley way on Columbia Street can be seen in the background of Rogers and Weaver's scene).
 * The dress shop Lucy passes on her way home was filmed at The Bridal Gallery in New Westminster (Note the identical decals in the windows).