Mother's Little Helper

"Gideon: I was under your thrall. I had no choice. Black Fairy: True. But part of you wanted to help me, now didn't it? Part of you always does. Gideon: Of course, mother. Black Fairy: Good. Because there is much to do."

"Mother's Little Helper" is the sixteenth episode of Season Six of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Paul Karp after a story by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, and directed by Billy Gierhart. It is the one hundredth and twenty-seventh episode of the series overall, and premiered on April 9, 2017.

Synopsis
Gold and Belle convince Emma to help Gideon, explaining that together they can stop the Black Fairy. Henry experiences a disorienting shift in his powers that forces Regina to seek counsel from the previous Author. Meanwhile, in Fairy Tale Land, Hook attempts to win the assistance of an old adversary by betting his most prized possession on a game of cards. And, in a flashback, the Black Fairy tortures young Gideon in hopes of molding him into the perfect apprentice.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills
 * Josh Dallas (Credit only)
 * Emilie de Ravin as Belle French
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Rebecca Mader (Credit only)
 * Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Patrick Fischler as the Author/Isaac
 * Giles Matthey as Gideon
 * Charles Mesure as Black Beard
 * Jaime Murray as the Black Fairy
 * Grayson Gabriel as Adult Roderick
 * Anton Starkman as Ten-year-old Gideon

Co-Starring

 * Peter Marcin as Chief
 * Mason McKenzie as Roderick
 * Ingrid Torrance as Severe Nurse
 * Mathew Bittroff as Lost Boy
 * Rohan Campbell as Male Miner
 * Eleanor Jane as Nurse
 * Nickolas Gregory Johnston as Child

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features the forest covered with spiderwebs.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on January 5, 2017.
 * Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are fans of the rock band The Rolling Stones. The episode name is a reference to the band's song of the same name.
 * For the opening scene where the Black Fairy is flying though the night, Jaime Murray was placed inside a room with at least fifty different cameras and photographed from every conceivable angle.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Dark Realm events take place after the Black Fairy kidnapped Gideon in "Changelings" and before Gideon's return to Storybrooke in "Wish You Were Here".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "A Wondrous Place".
 * Isaac asks for tickets to the musical Hamilton in New York City, which made its debut at The Public Theater in February 2015, and officially opened on Broadway in August 2015. However, according to Adam Horowitz, the musical hit Broadway about 18 months earlier in the series' universe than in real life, indicating that the episode takes place in the first half of 2014. This, however, is impossible: One of the previous episodes, "I'll Be Your Mirror", takes place in the autumn (Henry refers to the homecoming dance as "the fall formal", and this tradition usually takes place in late September or early October) - meaning that the story would have to take place during the second half of 2014.


 * The Enchanted Forest events take place after "A Wondrous Place".
 * The Neverland events take place after "Save Henry".

Episode Connections

 * The Black Fairy kidnapped Gideon in "Wish You Were Here".
 * When Regina is making a potion, one of the ingredients that she asks Henry to fetch for her is tongue of newt and emphasizes that she needs the tongue, not the eye. Eye of newt was one of the potion ingredients Henry found while looking through Regina's potion ingredients in "The Apprentice".
 * The Evil Queen cast a spell on the Storybrooke Town Line in "A Bitter Draught".
 * Mary Margaret and David were put under the Sleeping Curse in "Heartless" by the Evil Queen.
 * Gideon forced Hook to leave Storybrooke in "Page 23" and Emma discovered he did not abandon her in "A Wondrous Place".
 * Hook and Black Beard talk about the first time Hook traded the Jolly Roger for a magic bean from Black Beard, something that was previously alluded to in "There's No Place Like Home" and "Poor Unfortunate Soul".
 * Hook mentions how Black Beard lost the Jolly Roger in Arendelle, an event that was previously referred to in "Poor Unfortunate Soul".
 * Isaac was arrested in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * Isaac states that at the end of the storybook, the Savior fights the final battle. This event was previously alluded to by Rumplestiltskin in "Pilot", who said that Emma would find her parents, and then the final battle would begin.


 * -|Cultural References=

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features Captain Hook and the Lost Boys from the Peter Pan story.

Lost

 * When Gideon is inside the library, there is an exterior shot of the clock tower where the time is 8:15, two of the recurring Lost number.
 * When Gideon's sword starts to glow with magic, there is a wide shot of Storybrooke Main Street, where a pavement sign outside Marine Garage says 15, a reference to the third Lost'' number.

Popular Culture

 * Regina mentions she also freed Doctor Dolittle from his cage. It is the famous character from Hugh Lofting's classic children's' books who shuns human patients in favor of animals, with whom he can speak in their own languages.
 * This episode features Black Beard, the infamous English pirate who is the figure most often associated with the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, and has been featured heavily in works of fiction across a range of genres.
 * Isaac asks Regina for tickets to the musical Hamilton in New York City.
 * Emma calls the spider "Charlotte", a reference to E. B. White's children's novel Charlotte's Web, which tells the story of a pig and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte.
 * Emma mentions the Marvel superhero Spider Man when talking about the Great Spider from the Echoless Forest that Gideon and the Black Fairy summoned from the "Her Handsome Hero" book.
 * Isaac jokingly refers to Henry as "Shakespeare".


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * Henry's notes read:


 * Ingredients to break Sleeping Curse
 * 1) Tongue of newt Eye Tongue!!!
 * 2) Otter spleen
 * 3) Goat tears


 * When Henry opens the storybook, excerpts from Charles Kingsley's novel The Water-Babies and the Grimm fairy tales "Snow-White and Rose-Red" and "The Golden Bird" can be seen.

Set Dressing

 * The chandeliers hanging in the Black Fairy's chambers are the same ones used at the Wilmore Estate in "A Bitter Draught".
 * The number plate on the car that Isaac is given reads "WED 1901", a reference to Walter Elias Disney, who was born in 1901, and was a former in-universe Author.
 * The expiration date is December 2015.


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The Spanish Banks, a series of beaches in the city of Vancouver, double as the Neverland beach for this episode.