Mother

"You didn't know our mother, Zelena, but I did. And yet we both suffered."

- Regina Mills

"Mother" is the twentieth episode of Season Four of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Jane Espenson, and directed by Ron Underwood. It is the eighty-seventh episode of the series overall, and premiered on May 3, 2015.

Synopsis
Emma returns to Storybrooke to reunite Lily with Maleficent while Regina and Robin Hood struggle to cope with the implications of Zelena's pregnancy. When Gold's health takes a turn for the worse, Isaac looks to a new ally for help procuring the magic ink he needs to re-write history. In a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Cora returns from Wonderland to beg Regina's forgiveness on the anniversary of Daniel's murder. Cora vows to help her daughter find true love, but Regina remains suspicious of her mother's intentions.

"Things Can Change"


Returning home from New York, Regina is welcomed by Henry, while David gets Zelena out of the yellow bug. Robin Hood is skeptical about Zelena's unability to use magic, but Regina assures him that the enchanted bracelet will keep her powerless. Near, Emma reunites with Hook, just as Maleficent informs that she is taking Lily to the diner. Before the two leave, Emma calls Lily aside and threatens to use magic against her if she ever does anything to David and Mary Margaret. Regina then sends Robin Hood to retrieve a forgetting potion from her office so that Roland's recollections of the fake Marian are erased. David preapres to take Zelena to the sheriff's station, but Regina decides to take her herself somewhere else. As they all part ways, Robin Hood once more remarks that things can still work out, to which Regina replies there are things about her that he doesn't know.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina Mills
 * Josh Dallas as David Nolan
 * Emilie de Ravin (Credit only)
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Michael Socha (Credit only)
 * Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Kristin Bauer van Straten as Maleficent
 * Agnes Bruckner as Lily
 * Beverley Elliott as Granny* (Press release only)
 * Patrick Fischler as Isaac
 * Barbara Hershey as Cora
 * Rebecca Mader as Zelena
 * Sean Maguire as Robin Hood
 * Tony Perez as Valet/Nobleman
 * Wil Traval as Sheriff of Nottingham

Co-Starring

 * Raphael Alejandro as Roland1 (Press release only)
 * Kylee Bush as Young Woman
 * Chad Cosgrove as Carriage Driver (Press release only)
 * Joe Dodds as Outrider #1 (Press release only)
 * Jim Finkbeiner as Outrider #2 (Press release only)
 * John Innes as Older Man
 * Ingrid Torrance as Severe Nurse
 * Jeremy Patrick Schuetze as Young Man

Uncredited

 * Unknown actor as Janitor
 * Unknown actor as Tony

Trivia
Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features Lily under her dragon form.
 * It is Edward Kitsis who got the idea for the title of this episode.
 * Emilie de Ravin was originally set to appear in the episode, but her scenes were cut. However, she is still present in an official promotional photo from this episode.
 * The original opening scene was supposed to be the one with Regina and Robin Hood at the bar, but the editing room decided it was much more exciting to begin with the Evil Queen.
 * Kylee Bush, who played the groom's bride, whose wedding the Evil Queen interrupted, is one of Michael Coleman's acting students.
 * The bar where Regina and Robin are at the beginning of the episode is supposed to be the same bar where Emma and Neal were in "Manhattan". However, the real bar was not available for the shooting, so another bar has been faked to look like the original bar.
 * Beverley Elliott's daughter Sally and her friend Freya were background performers during one of the diner scenes.
 * Originally, the scene where Emma and Regina are coming back with Zelena, Robin, Roland and Lily was set to happen at the town line, before being moved in front of Granny's Diner.
 * Originally, the scene between Regina and Isaac at the Heart Vault was set to happen in the backroom of Any Given Sundae.
 * A white swan flies across the horizon as Emma and Hook look out onto the bay.
 * -|Episode Connections=

Episode Chronology

 * The Enchanted Forest events take place after Snow White's banishment from the Royal Castle in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", after Robin Hood begins stealing from the rich and giving to the poor in "Heart of Gold", and before Maid Marian is cured of her ailment in "Lacey".
 * The Land Without Magic events take place after "Lily" and before "Operation Mongoose Part 1".

Episode Connections

 * Daniel's grave was first seen in "An Apple Red As Blood".
 * Daniel was killed in "The Stable Boy".
 * Cora was banished to Wonderland in "We Are Both".
 * Cora talks about how Tinker Bell helped Regina find her soulmate; something that was explored in "Quite a Common Fairy".
 * The Sheriff of Nottingham describes Maid Marian as "sickly". Marian's sickness was cured in "Lacey".
 * Infertility potions first appeared in "Lady of the Lake".
 * -|Cultural References=

Biblical

 * The Evil Queen tells her subjects that "next time there is a wedding, book the church".
 * Lily says that Snow White and Prince Charming sent her through the portal in her eggshell, "like baby Moses in his basket"; a reference to the Biblical story of the birth of Moses, from the Book of Exodus.

Disney

 * A small Bambi statue is in Mary Margaret's loft.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features the Evil Queen from the Snow White fairytale, the Miller's daughter from the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale, the Sheriff of Nottingham from the Robin Hood ballad, and Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story.

Popular Culture

 * This episode features Nurse Ratched from the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The man sweeping the floor at the psychiatric ward looks like Chief Bromden from the 1975 movie of the same name.
 * Lily angrily tells her mother that she "doesn't need grooming advice from Annie Hall". This is a reference to the 1977 romantic comedy of the same name, where the titular character wears an outfit similar to Maleficent.
 * Interestingly, the movie contains an animation scene in which Annie is portrayed as the evil queen in the "Snow White" fairytale.
 * According to Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, this film inspired them to write.
 * When Jane Espenson wrote the episode, she "went back and forth between Annie Hall and Marlene Dietrich. Kids love Marlene Dietrich references."


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * When Emma and the others arrive in Storybrooke, in the first shot of the scene, on the left side of the screen, there is a sign that says "Steveston Museum and Visitor Centre".


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The scene where Lily, as a dragon, attacks Mary Margaret and David, was filmed in the North 40 Park Reserve in Delta, British Columbia.