One Little Tear

"Lucy, it's time. Let your belief go."

- Victoria to Lucy

"One Little Tear" is the ninth episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Christopher Hollier & Adam Karp, and directed by Steve Pearlman. It is the one hundred and forty-second episode of the series overall, and premiered on December 8, 2017.

Synopsis
Victoria strikes a deal with Weaver in an attempt to free herself from jail and wake Anastasia, but the cost of saving one life could mean the loss of another. In a flashback, we learn Lady Tremaine's surprising connection to another classic fairytale when Mother Gothel offers to help her family. Meanwhile, Jacinda and Nick share an exchange that could alter her future with Henry.

Starring

 * Lana Parrilla (Credit only)
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Rogers
 * Andrew J. West (Credit only)
 * Dania Ramirez as Jacinda Vidrio
 * Gabrielle Anwar as Victoria Belfrey
 * Alison Fernandez as Lucy
 * Mekia Cox as Sabine
 * Robert Carlyle as Weaver

Guest Starring

 * Emma Booth as Gothel/Eloise Gardener
 * Adelaide Kane as Ivy Belfrey
 * Meegan Warner as Rapunzel
 * Matty Finochio as Marcus
 * Cindy Luna as Cecelia
 * Nathan Parsons as Nick Branson
 * Yael Yurman as Tween Anastasia

Co-Starring

 * Anna Cathcart as Tween Drizella
 * Naiah Cummins as Uniformed Police
 * Lula Mae Melenchuk as Young Drizella
 * Alejandra Pérez as Teen Cinderella
 * Sophia Reid-Gantzert as Young Anastasia

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Title

 * The title card features Anastasia's floating lanterns.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 30, 2017.

Production Notes

 * Several mistakes were made on the press release:
 * Sophia Reid-Gantzert is misspelled as "Reid-Gant", instead of "Reid-Gantzert".
 * Lula Mae Melenchuk is misspelled as "Melench", instead of "Melenchuk".
 * Matty Finochio, who plays Marcus Tremaine, also played Tweedledee in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
 * Anna Cathcart, who plays Tween Drizella in this episode, played the role of Drizella's daughter, Dizzy Tremaine, in Descendants 2.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Seattle events take place after "Pretty in Blue" and before "The Eighth Witch".
 * The New Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place over the course of at least seven years, before "Eloise Gardener".
 * The first flashback scene takes place while Anastasia and Drizella are still young girls. The rest of the flashback scenes take place six years later, until Drizella's birthday party. The last flashback scene, at the frozen lake, takes place after the opening flashback with Anastasia and young Drizella in "Sisterhood", and at least one year after Cecelia left for New Wonderland.

Episode Connections

 * Victoria Belfrey was arrested in "Eloise Gardener".
 * Jacinda regained custody over Lucy, thanks to Nick's help, in "Pretty in Blue".
 * Roni and Henry decided to go on a road trip in "Pretty in Blue".
 * What happened to Cecelia after being poisoned was revealed in "Pretty in Blue".
 * Sabine and Jacinda bought a food truck in "Greenbacks" and started fixing it up in "Wake Up Call".
 * Mr. Gold began looking into finding the Guardian in "Beauty".
 * What happened to Gothel after she was trapped in Gothel's Tower was shown in "Eloise Gardener".
 * Lucy awakens from the coma in "Secret Garden".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * The lanterns which Anastasia sends up in hopes of being reunited with her mother are based on the lanterns from the Festival of the Lost Princess from the Disney film Tangled.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of the Rapunzel fairytale with Rapunzel and Dame Gothel. It is also a rendition of the Cinderella fairytale as Rapunzel is also the Wicked Stepmother from the fairytale, with Cinderella, the Evil Stepsisters and Cinderella's mother and father.
 * Lucy's ballet studio is called the Red Shoe Ballet, a reference to "The Red Shoes", a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, about a girl forced to dance continually in her red shoes.

Popular Culture

 * When Ivy tells Victoria that "Orange looks better on the women on that Netflix show", she is making a reference to the comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black.
 * Ivy mentions that her mother has "no money, no lawyer, no Chanel". Chanel is a famous French high fashion house.
 * Weaver shows Victoria a set of handcuffs and says that they're not exactly Tiffany's, a reference to the American luxury jewelry retailer.
 * Hook responds to Victoria's explanation of how she utilized her own determination to get what she wants in life by saying he "didn't ask for a TED talk." A TED talk is a type of conference where people share stories on-stage with the purpose of engaging their audience in a topic or idea.
 * Sabine describes Weaver's dagger as "something out of a Tim Burton movie", a reference to the American filmmaker known for his dark, gothic, eccentric and quirky horror and fantasy films. Among Burton's films is the 2010 adaptation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.


 * -|Set Notes=

Costume Notes

 * The dress Cinderella wore while attending the Prince's ball can be seen in a shop window as Lucy is walking home.
 * The dress Cecelia is wearing during Drizella's birthday celebration is the same as Cora's wedding dress in the Season Two episode "The Miller's Daughter" and Aurora's wedding dress in the Season Four episode "Enter the Dragon", but with different sleeves.


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The scenes in Gothel's Garden were filmed in Burnaby's Central Park.
 * The outdoor scenes at the Tremaine Manor were filmed on Foxglove Farm, a 120-acre organic farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.
 * Ironically, this location also doubles as the home of the first iteration of Lady Tremaine and her family in the Season One episode "The Price of Gold" and the Season Six episode "The Other Shoe".
 * The same building doubles as the exterior of the home of Edwin in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
 * The same farm doubles as the Storybrooke Pumpkin Farm for the episode "The Other Shoe". The scenes at the pumpkin farm were shot at the back of the building that doubles as the Tremaine Manor.
 * The house also doubles as he home of Isla, Seraphina and their house sisters in the Season Seven episode "Flower Child". A shed located on the farm was also used for the scene where Isla pours a bucket of mud onto Gothel.
 * The house which doubles as the family's home was also used in the filming of the Timeless episode "Party at Castle Varlar", an episode which features Once Upon a Time starring cast member Sean Maguire and guest star Chad Rook, and the Beyond episode "Tempus Fugit", a show which stars Once Upon a Time actors Jonathan Whitesell and Jeff Pierre. The house was also featured in the Supernatural episode "Everybody Hates Hitler", the Arrow episode "Bratva" and The Magicians episode "Have You Brought Me Little Cakes". It also doubles as the Salvatore Boarding House in the Pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries and is heavily featured as Thistlehouse during Season Two of Riverdale.
 * The scene with Rogers and Sabine in front of the Rollin' Bayou were filmed on 615 Clarkson Street in New Westminster.
 * Cabo Drilling Corp in New Westminster doubles as the exterior of the Seattle Mausoleum.
 * An alley way connecting Clarkson and Columbia Street in New Westminster doubles as the area where Victoria shows Lucy the storybook and where Rogers confronts Weaver (The sign for Sew Sweet Rose Bridal which is located opposite of the alley way on Columbia Street can be seen in the background of Rogers and Weaver's scene).
 * The dress shop Lucy passes on her way home was filmed at The Bridal Gallery in New Westminster (Note the identical decals in the windows).