The Doctor

"The Doctor" is the fifth episode of Season Two of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It is the twenty-seventh episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 28, 2012.

Synopsis
While Regina continues to try and stop using her magic in an attempt to win back Henry's affections, she begins seeing what she believes is a ghost from her past; and when Mary Margaret and Emma discover a lone survivor from an ogre massacre, Emma begins to question whether or not he's telling the truth. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Regina finds herself failing at learning the dark arts from a dark master because something from her past is preventing her from using her magic for evil.

Recap
Regina Mills in present-day Storybrooke, however, is on Archie's couch, soaking in his advice about her current situation with Henry. Dr. Whale interrupts and Regina finds she can’t finish the session. Her dead lover, whom she apparently has kept on ice (magically speaking) is on her mind; so much so that she looks out of her car window and believes she’s caught a glimpse of him. Rushing to her mausoleum where his body was stowed she discovers he’s gone.

In the past, Rumplestiltskin informs Regina that “dead is dead” and even he doesn’t have the power to bring back her beloved Daniel. Regina is heartbroken and ready to give up, but Jefferson, who had been in the room doing business with Rumplestiltskin, offers her the chance remedy that disappointment by offering the services a “wizard” who has the power to bring back the dead. She is only too eager to attempt to bring him back and gives Jefferson a Royal passport to roam the kingdom freely.

The Doctor, as he likes to be called, examines Daniel and states that his “condition is ideal” and that the chances for resurrecting her true love are fairly good. The Doctor insists he needs a strong enough heart to survive the procedure and believes that the Enchanted Forest has magic hearts that are strong enough for just this sort of operation. Regina, Dr. Frankenstein, and Jefferson make their way to Cora’s secret vault for a beating heart which will assist in the attempted resurrection of Daniel. Unfortunately for Regina the whole thing is a setup; meant to crush her love and bring out the evil Queen that Rumplestiltskin knows resides within her. The Doctor informs her that the operation was a failure and, as expected, Regina turns her anger inward and goes back to Rumplestiltskin, ready now to become his full-fledged apprentice.

Flashing to present Storybrooke, Dr. Whale’s office is trashed and his arm has been ripped from his body. Regina storms through the office and finds Dr.Whale under a mess of instruments and gurneys, demanding to know where Daniel is. Whale tells her that Daniel made this mess and has escaped. “He’s alive?” yells Regina. Dr. Whale emphatically states, “He’s a monster!”

In present Storybrooke, Henry is cleaning out the horse stables, trying to get to know his new horse in preparation for knighthood. Unfortunately, the monster/Daniel is going back to the last place he was before his death: the stables where Cora killed him. In a rampage, he grabs Henry and starts to choke him. Regina and David stop him from hurting Henry and Regina begs David not to kill Daniel.

Regina gets rejected when Daniel starts choking her. She whispers “I love you,” snapping him from his monster form for a bit. He is hurting from the heart transplant and wants to die. We hear him tell her to “Go and live.”

Regina is heartbroken for a second time and releases Daniel by using magic on him and allowing him to rest in death. No body is left. No magic can bring him back. She is left with only memories and an empty heart to move on from. Regina heads back to see Archie willingly to finish the counseling she’d abandoned.

This episode also sees Captain Hook back again, this time in the Enchanted Forest’s present. Emma, Mary Margaret, Princess Aurora and Mulan return to the safe haven only to discover the captain under a pile of dead refugees; all of whom have had their hearts ripped out by Cora.

Captain Hook insists he only survived because he played dead. Fortunately, Emma isn’t buying his story and ties him to tree to get him to talk. After a bit of coaxing, Captain Hook relents and in exchange for not being left behind with the ogres, offers to point the way to another possible portal back to Storybrooke. The only catch is that he gets to go through the portal with them when the time comes, suggesting that he’s more interested in his revenge on Rumplestiltskin than on who helps him get there. The final shot from the Enchanted Forest reveals a beanstalk stretching to the sky.

In the closing minutes of the episode, Dr.Whale stumps into Mr. Gold's shop, begging him to reattach his torn arm. In a twist of irony, magic does indeed do the job and Mr. Gold reattaches the limb.

One final, quick flashback shows Dr. Victor Frankenstein attempting to resurrect his dead brother on a dark and stormy night. The operation, it appears, is a success.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina Mills
 * Emilie de Ravin (Credit only)
 * Josh Dallas as David Nolan
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Meghan Ory (Credit only)
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * David Anders as Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale
 * Noah Bean as Daniel
 * Sarah Bolger as Princess Aurora
 * Jamie Chung as Mulan
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Captain Hook
 * Raphael Sbarge as Archie Hopper
 * Sebastian Stan as Mad Hatter

Co-Starring

 * Paula Giroday as Trish
 * Yurji Kis as Frankenstein's Assistant

Quotes
Dr. Whale: Send me back. Regina Mills: Excuse me? Dr. Whale: To my land. Send me back to my brother. Regina: Why don't you check the "Missing" board like everyone else? Dr. Whale: Your curse only brought the living. Regina: Well, then I'm sorry for your loss. But I'm afraid I can't send anyone anywhere.

Regina: I don't care about Whale or his brother. I brought who I wanted.

Rumplestiltskin: Take its heart. Queen Regina: Like what my mother did to... Rumplestiltskin: Oh, to your true love. Indeed. Then you already know how it's done.

Rumplestiltskin: Nothing is innocent.

Queen Regina: And I didn't sign up to kill unicorns.

Henry Mills: That's not riding. That's babysitting.

Queen Regina: I want true happiness. Rumplestiltskin: Then find it elsewhere, dearie.

Rumplestiltskin: I need to get to a land without magic. Mad Hatter: Why would anyone want that? Rumplestiltskin: My business.

Trivia

 * The opening title card features lightning. It is the first and so far only title card that is in black and white.
 * Oz, the Crystal Ball, and the Ruby Slippers were referenced in this episode.
 * This episode marks the second time a black unicorn has been seen in Fairytale Land. The first time was in "The Thing You Love Most" with Maleficent's unicorn.
 * When Victor first appears, he's wearing rose tinted spectacles. This is possibly an allusion to Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show, a musical spoof of Frankenstein which features a song called Rose Tint My World.
 * The woman who Rumplestiltskin mentors as a replacement for Regina greatly resembles Esmeralda from the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. However, it isn't her as her name is Trish.
 * The final scene is shot in black and white (except for selective color for the heart) as an homage to the 1930s Frankenstein films, specifically the 1931 film directed by James Whale (after whom "Dr. Whale" is named). This is one of the first times the Disney-produced series has paid homage to a non-Disney film (as the Whale films were produced by Universal Pictures).
 * The flashback scenes in this episode take place shortly after those of "We Are Both" and a few years before "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree", judging by Snow White's age.

The Doctor