The Dark Swan

"The fight to control my darkness has just begun."

- Emma Swan

"The Dark Swan" is the first episode of Season Five of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Ron Underwood. It is the eighty-ninth episode of the series overall, and premiered on September 27, 2015. This episode is the fifth season premiere.

Synopsis
Immediately after becoming the Dark One, Emma disappears and the heroes must band together to save her, but first they have to find her, which will require the help of an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest, Emma struggles to resist her dark urges as she searches for Merlin in the hope that he can stop her transformation. Along the way to Camelot, she gets help from the plucky and brave warrior princess Merida, as well as King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

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 as Belle French
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Rebecca Mader as Zelena
 * Sean Maguire as Robin Hood
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Lee Arenberg as Leroy
 * Beverley Elliott as Granny
 * Liam Garrigan as King Arthur
 * Andrew Jenkins as Sir Percival
 * Elliot Knight as the Usher
 * Amy Manson as Merida
 * Keegan Connor Tracy as Mother Superior
 * Sinqua Walls as Lancelot
 * Timothy Webber as the Apprentice

Co-Starring

 * Raphael Alejandro as Roland
 * Michael Coleman as Happy
 * Faustino di Bauda as Walter
 * David-Paul Grove as Doc
 * Mckenna Grace as Young Emma
 * Gabe Khouth as Mr. Clark
 * Lee Majdoub as Sir Kay
 * Brent Stait as Peddler
 * Ingrid Torrance as Severe Nurse
 * Mig Macario (Press release only)
 * Jeffrey Kaiser (Press release only)

Uncredited

 * Unknown actor as Floyd
 * Unknown actor as Mop Patient
 * Unknown baby as Prince Neal

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features Granny's Diner in the woods.
 * Merlin was originally not set to appear in the season premiere.
 * According to Amy Manson, Merida's storyline on Once Upon a Time takes place ten years after Brave's movie events.
 * Henry mentions that Regina uses his birthday for all of her passwords, including the one for the entrance to the psychiatric ward. In "A Tale of Two Sisters", Regina types 815 as password for the psychiatric ward, meaning that Henry's birthday is August 15.
 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Land Without Magic flashbacks take place in 1989, a few years after the events of "The Stranger", and a few years before "Snow Drifts".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Operation Mongoose Part 2" and before "The Price".
 * The Enchanted Forest events take place after "Fall" and before "The Broken Kingdom".
 * The Camelot flashbacks take place immediately before the scene where King Arthur shows Excalibur to his subjects in "The Broken Kingdom", and before Lancelot's banishment in the same episode.
 * The present Camelot events take place years after Lancelot's banishment, and before "The Price".

Episode Connections

 * Emma became the Dark One in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * Regina refers to Hook as "guyliner", which she also did in "Family Business".
 * The Apprentice dies from the injuries he received in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * Gorgon the Invincible takes the form of a bandersnatch, a creature that previously appeared in the series spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
 * Zelena was locked away in the psychiatric ward in "Mother".
 * Henry broke the Magic Quill in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * The Darkness suggests that Emma gets a hobby to the pass the time, which she does in "The Broken Kingdom".
 * Hook makes a reference to Henry's "Wookie prisoner gag" from "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * Hook tells Zelena about how her sister sent him to rip out Cora's heart, an event which took place in "Queen of Hearts".
 * Zelena cast a protection spell on her heart, just like Regina did with Henry's heart in "Save Henry".
 * Zelena talks about when she was glamoured as Marian, a storyline which began in "There's No Place Like Home", and concluded in "Heart of Gold".
 * Zelena says that Robin Hood smells of forest. Regina said the same thing in "Witch Hunt".
 * Zelena tells Regina, "Hello sis, I see you've fixed the clock", a reference to their fight, which happened in "It's Not Easy Being Green".
 * Emma uses her powers to pull Merida to her, just like the previous Dark One, Mr. Gold, did with Roland in "Bleeding Through".
 * When Henry first meets Emma as the Dark One, he tells her, "Mom? What happened to you?" His father, Baelfire, asked his own father the same thing, when the latter had just became the Dark One in "Desperate Souls".
 * The reason why Emma embraced the role as the Dark One is revealed in "Birth".
 * How everyone returned to Storybrooke, and the reason why their memories are gone, is explained in "Broken Heart". The missing memories are returned in the same episode.
 * -| Cultural References=

Biblical

 * A cross pattée can be seen on Excalibur's blade.

Disney

 * Young Emma watches The Sword in the Stone at the movie theater.
 * This episode introduces Merida from Brave. Also featured are the Will-o'-the-wisps and the Hill of Stones from the same movie.
 * Mother Superior gives Belle a rose in a jar, an iconic object from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features King Arthur, Lancelot, Percival, and Sir Kay from the Arthurian Legend, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, Robin Hood from the ballad and Rumplestiltskin from the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale.
 * One of the previous Dark Ones is called Gorgon the Invincible. The Gorgons were female creatures from Greek Mythology, who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, and anyone who gazed into their eyes would be turned to stone immediately. Medusa was one of the Gorgons.
 * King Arthur's coat of arms is a sea-wyvern, a legendary creature with a dragon's head and wings; a reptilian body; two legs; and a fish tail. It is the sea-dwelling variant of the creature known as a wyvern.

Lost

 * Young Emma steals an Apollo bar from the movie goer's pocket.

Popular Culture

 * Once Upon a Time co-creator Edward Kitsis is a noted fan of the band Grateful Dead. Percival's coat of arms (a lightning bolt against a red and blue background) is from the cover of the band's double live album Steal Your Face (1976).
 * Hook mentions Henry's "Wookie prisoner gag" from "Operation Mongoose Part 2"; a reference to the scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, where Han Solo and Luke Skywalker pretend Chewbacca is their prisoner in order to enter the Death Star's detention area.
 * The Severe Nurse's name is revealed to be "Nurse Ratched", from the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Janitor looks like Chief Bromden from the 1975 movie of the same name.
 * When "Regina" enters Mary Margaret's apartment, Robin is holding a copy of the children's picture book Goodnight Moon.
 * Zelena refers to Oz as the land "over the rainbow". This is the feature song by Judy Garland from the 1939 The Wizard of Oz film.
 * -|Props Notes=

Props Notes

 * The Apprentice's Wand prop was previously used as a wand on display in the pawnshop in Mr. Gold's dream in "Lacey", and one of the wands in Rumplestiltskin's castle in "The Heart of the Truest Believer" and "Quite a Common Fairy".

Costume Notes

 * In the Arthurian Legend, each Knight of the Round Table is often accompanied by a heraldic description of a coat of arms. Lancelot's coat of arms is traditionally depicted as an argent (silver) shield with three bends (a band running from the bearer's right side corner of the shield to the bearer's left side) gules (red). On the show, however, Lancelot's coat of arms is almost identical to that of Sir Bors, who is Lancelot's cousin in the legend. In Arthurian heraldry, Sir Bors' coat of arms is similar to Lancelot's, but is emblazoned with ermines (a pattern of black shapes representing the winter coat of a stoat).
 * Regina's necklace is an Alexis Bittar Gold Capped Crescent Pendant. This pendant is also worn by her in "The Price". It is the same brand as the necklace Cora is wearing in Season Two.
 * The armor Percival wears in present day Camelot is the same one Arthur wears when he kills King Fergus in "The Bear King" but with different shoulder pads.
 * When everyone returns to Storybrooke, Emma is wearing a hair ornament reminiscent of the wings of a swan.
 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The interior scenes at the State Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were filmed at the Dunbar Theatre in Vancouver.
 * The Hill of Stones scenes were filmed in Robert Burnaby Park in East Burnaby.
 * The diner scene in the Enchanted Forest, and the Camelot scene where Emma and her friends enter King Arthur's castle, were filmed in Burnaby's Central Park.