Murder Most Foul

"Now let's find out who murdered my father."

- David to Hook

"Murder Most Foul" is the twelfth episode of Season Six of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Jerome Schwartz & Jane Espenson, and directed by Morgan Beggs. It is the one hundredth and twenty-third episode of the series overall, and premiered on March 12, 2017.

Synopsis
Before Hook takes the next step in his relationship with Emma, he wants to make sure David sees him as more than just a pirate. So when David asks Hook to help him uncover the truth about his father’s death, Hook agrees. Meanwhile, Regina works to acclimate Robin to life in Storybrooke, but soon discovers he has a dark side that makes the task much more complicated than she anticipated.

Starring

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

Guest Starring

 * Eion Bailey as August Booth
 * David Cubitt as Robert
 * Alan Dale as King George/Albert Spencer
 * Sean Maguire as Robin of Locksley (Wish Realm)
 * Raphael Sbarge as Archie Hopper
 * Wil Traval as Keith

Co-Starring

 * Matt Ellis as Francisco
 * Luke Roessler as Young David/Young James
 * Tara Wilson as Ruth
 * Jakob Davies as Pinocchio (Voice)
 * Bart Anderson as Innkeeper
 * Brandyn Eddy as Beer Carny
 * King Lau as Ticket Carny

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features Pleasure Island's ferris wheel.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on November 1, 2016.
 * The episode's title is a phrase from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, where the Ghost of Prince Hamlet's father comments about his own death, saying "Murder most foul as in the best it is: But this most foul, strange and unnatural."
 * In the episode script, when Hook is trying to keep Emma from entering the garden shed, Emma says, "Hook. You forgot about something." In the actual episode, she says, "Hang on! You're forgetting something."


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Tougher Than the Rest" and before "Ill-Boding Patterns".
 * The Enchanted Forest events take place years before "White Out".

Episode Connections

 * This episode depicts how Ruth and Robert were forced to give up their son James, an event that was referred to in "The Shepherd".
 * Prince James' life with King George is further explored in "The Shepherd" and "Tiny".
 * Emma defeated Gideon in "Tougher Than the Rest".
 * Mary Margaret and David had the Sleeping Curse placed on them in "Heartless".
 * The Evil Queen gave David his father's coin in "A Bitter Draught".
 * Hook proposes to Emma in "Ill-Boding Patterns".
 * Regina brought Robin back from the Wish Realm in "Tougher Than the Rest".
 * Robin refers to Regina's alarm clock as a "demon box", similar to the way Aurora referred to a jukebox at the inn as a "devil's box" in "The Snow Queen".
 * Mary Margaret mentions how she once kissed David's twin brother, which happened in "Souls of the Departed".
 * This episode explores the events surrounding the death of David's father, an event first referred to in "The Shepherd", and further elaborated on in "White Out", "A Bitter Draught" and "The Other Shoe".
 * The garden shed where David finds Emma's spell book and potion ingredients, is the same shed where Emma kept the dreamcatchers in "Dreamcatcher", and where Hook hid the magic shears in "Dark Waters".
 * Rumplestiltskin says to himself, "Someday may we all be reunited with our sons", a reference to how he was separated from Baelfire in "The Return". Mr. Gold is reunited with his son in "Manhattan".
 * Pinocchio's fate is revealed in "The Stranger".
 * According to August, he ripped out a few pages from Henry's storybook. The book was in August's possession between "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" and "What Happened to Frederick".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Pleasure Island is the name of the amusement park in Disney's Pinocchio.
 * While he is on Pleasure Island, Prince James is wearing a similar outfit to the Prince's from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of "The Prince and the Pauper" story, with the Pauper, the Prince, and the King, and The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, with Prince Hamlet, King Hamlet/Ghost, Claudius, Francisco and Queen Gertude.
 * It is also a rendition of The Adventures of Pinocchio story with Pinocchio and Toyland/the Circus being introduced.
 * This episode features Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, Robin Hood from the ballad, Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairytale, and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story.
 * On Pleasure Island, statues of a griffin and a winged lion can be seen among the gargoyles that children throw bottles at. A griffin is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a lion, while the winged lion is a mythological creature that resembles a lion with bird-like wings.

Lost

 * The time on Robin's alarm clock is 8:15, two of the Lost numbers.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * The bulletin board that David puts together, is full of notes, including:
 * "Ringsgate"
 * "First or last stop [illegible word] whether entering or leaving"
 * "Everett [illegible last name]"
 * "The bea[obscured] made note of these scam attempts x2 times"
 * "The Tuffet"
 * "Jameson Irving"
 * "Hirco ceruus" (Latin for "goat stag")
 * "The Vale"
 * "His body saw [obscured word] of his [illegible word] bread"
 * "The Crooked Fox"
 * "The celebrations ended at dawn"
 * "He was there all afternoon"
 * "Edith Thorne"
 * "Taver [sic] the bend"
 * "East Riding"
 * One of the tavern signs that are pictured on the board, is the sign that was seen outside the tavern where Queen Regina found her soulmate in "Quite a Common Fairy", and the tavern Robin Hood brought her to in Isaac's storybook in "Operation Mongoose Part 1". The same sign was used on a village building when Snow White and her friends were "celebrating" the Evil Queen's birthday in "Souls of the Departed" and on the Wish Realm tavern where Regina found Robin of Locksley in "Tougher Than the Rest".
 * An excerpt from the fairy tale of "The Golden Bird" can be seen next to the illustration of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Henry's storybook.
 * On Pleasure Island, a statue of a griffin can be seen among the gargoyles that children throw bottles at. The same statue appeared on top of the Underworld grave that Hook, Emma and Mary Margaret were hiding behind in the in the Season Five episode "Her Handsome Hero".

Costume Notes
Camille Saroyan]] on the Bones episode "The Hope in the Horror".
 * Regina is wearing a Ted Baker Tarala dress in Rhubarb (no longer available).
 * A black version of the dress was worn by the character [[w:c:bones:Camille Saroyan|
 * Emma is wearing a Zara Check Coat.
 * While at the Mills House, Mary Margaret is wearing a Theory Damaris Silk Blouse in Pearl Pink. At the end of the episode, she is wearing a Theory Livilla Top in Pearl Pink.