An Untold Story

"Groundsman: That's why this place has come to be known as the Land of Untold Stories. Hook: It's a tad ironic of a name, no? Given that this land is seemingly filled with stories."

"An Untold Story" is the twenty-third and final episode of Season Five of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, and directed by Dean White. It is the one-hundredth and eleventh episode of the series overall, and premiered on May 15, 2016.

This episode is the second part of the season five finale, and premiered immediately following "Only You".

Synopsis
With the possibility of magic being destroyed and the fate of Storybrooke hanging in the balance, it’s a race for Emma and Regina to track down Henry before Gold can find him first. Regina continues to struggle with her frustrations over her former evil-self and, elsewhere, Snow, David, Hook and Zelena are imprisoned and must contend with very two very disturbed individuals that may give Gold a run for his money.

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
 * Sean Maguire (Credit only)
 * Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Beverley Elliott (Press release only)
 * Hank Harris as the Groundsman
 * Tzi Ma as the Dragon
 * Sam Witwer as the Warden
 * Arnold Pinnock as the Orderly
 * Olivia Steele Falconer as Violet

Co-Starring

 * Shannon Hearn as Frontiersman
 * Nikolai Witschl as Server

Uncredited

 * Lana Parilla as Evil Queen (Serum)

Trivia
Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features the logo on a flying dirigible.
 * During the original airing, the two parts were separated by a different title card featuring no special background.
 * The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on March 15, 2016.
 * For Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, "an untold story means it hasn’t been finished yet. And it's been pushed pause on." They compare this situation to the one in the first season, saying it is "similar to when we met our characters in Storybrooke, they had untold stories, because many of them still had to find their happiness. The curse pushed pause."
 * The computer-generated imagery model used for the exterior of the Groundsman's house and the surrounding buildings, is recycled from the model created for the Darling House and the neighboring building in "Second Star to the Right". In the exterior shot in the Land of Untold Stories, the building in the middle and the one on the right, are almost identical to the London buildings.
 * The city view from the top of Neal's apartment building is the same as the view seen from the top of Emma's apartment building in "New York City Serenade", indicating that the two buildings are located in the same neighborhood.
 * Stock footage was used twice for the scene where Regina releases Storybrooke's magic from the Olympian Crystal:
 * When everyone returns to Storybrooke, there is a shot of the streets of Storybrooke. It is the exact same shot as the one seen just before Merida is about to look through Henry's storybook in "Dreamcatcher. The only difference is the time on the CGI clock tower.
 * When the magic is expelled from the crystal and spreads throughout Storybrooke, the shot overlooking the town with the wave of magic travelling towards the camera is the same shot from "A Land Without Magic" where Emma breaks the Dark Curse.
 * Edward Kitsis described the scene with Mary Margaret and Regina on the roof as "phenomenal" and one of his favorites.
 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Land Without Magic events take place after "Only You".
 * The Land of Untold Stories events take place after "Only You".

Episode Connections

 * Jekyll was forced by Poole in "Only You" to revert into Hyde.
 * David, Hook, Mary Margaret and Zelena were transported to the Land of Untold Stories in taken prisoner by Mr. Hyde in "Only You".
 * David mentions Jekyll promised to fix the broken wand that can take them home, which took place in "Only You".
 * Hook says that he just went from hell and back, referring to events in "Swan Song" and "Last Rites".
 * Henry and Violet arrived in "New York City" and were followed by Mr. Gold, Regina and Emma in "Only You".
 * Granny's special lasagna is also referred to in "Child of the Moon", "Tiny", "Lacey", "The New Neverland", "It's Not Easy Being Green" and "Dreamcatcher".
 * Regina references Robin Hood's death, which happened in "Last Rites".
 * The purple flower Jekyll mixes into his own serum batch was first seen in "Only You".
 * Mr. Gold obtained a piece of the Olympian Crystal in "Last Rites".
 * Pandora's Box fell through a portal to another realm during "Only You".
 * Mr. Gold doesn't believe Regina losing Robin to death is enough to push her over the edge "anymore". This references the first time Regina lost a man she loved in "The Stable Boy", and how she became dark as a result of the loss.
 * Henry discovered the Holy Grail and its purpose for absorbing magic in "Only You".
 * Regina worries Storybrooke has ceased to exist after Henry absorbs the crystal into the Holy Grail. Her fears are because Mr. Gold lied about Storybrooke not surviving without magic, which he told her in "Only You". However, Mr. Gold confirms that Storybrooke is fine as it survived 28 years without magic. Magic was brought to Storybrooke in "A Land Without Magic".
 * Henry talks about when he and Emma lived together in New York City, which was shown in "Going Home" and "New York City Serenade".
 * The Dragon met Tamara and August in "Selfless, Brave and True". His apparent "death" in the same episode at Tamara's hands is also mentioned by both himself and Mr. Gold.
 * Henry talks about when Hook showed up in New York to bring him and Emma back to Storybrooke, where they were reunited with their family, referring to events in "Going Home" and "New York City Serenade".
 * When the Dragon says, "There is magic everywhere if you are willing to see it", Emma recalls August once told her the same phrase. This event occurred in "A Land Without Magic".
 * Mary Margaret's habit of drinking hot cocoa and cinnamon was first noted in "The Thing You Love Most".
 * Mary Margaret says that she kind of helped bring the Evil Queen into the world, referring to events in "The Stable Boy".
 * The Evil Queen drifts away in a cloud of dust, and then reappears somewhere else, just like Zelena did in "Heart of Gold".
 * Henry apologizes to Violet for making her and her father miss their trip back to Camelot. This is in reference to the portal trip that some Camelot residents took in "Only You" in order to return home.
 * Hook asks Emma if she still feels guilty about his return, which refers to events in "Last Rites".
 * Emma talks about all the things she and Hook have been through; "Darkness, Hades, separated by realms", referring to events that began in "Operation Mongoose Part 2", "Swan Song" and "Only You" respectively.
 * When magic is released from the Olympian Crystal, the view of Storybrooke is the same view glimpsed from Jefferson's house in the morning in "Hat Trick", and when Emma awoke Henry with true love's kiss in "A Land Without Magic".
 * Emma points out her habit for declaring her love for Hook when they were facing battle or one of them was facing certain death. This was seen in "Operation Mongoose Part 2", "Nimue", "Broken Heart" and "Swan Song".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * In the opening shot of the scene everyone returns to Storybrooke, an advertisement for computers with the Encom logo from Tron can be seen on the street.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, the Evil Queen from the Snow White fairytale, the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz story, Hank's daughter from the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and Mr. Poole from the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story.
 * As Jekyll and the others are walking through the marketplace, as Mary Margaret asks, "Forced to flee from what?", the Three Musketeers touch their swords together on the left hand side of the screen.
 * Violet's father, Sir Morgan, is revealed to be Hank Morgan from Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Pop Culture

 * The server listens to "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield on his headphones, while on his way to Mr. Gold's hotel room.
 * As Violet and Henry are walking through New York in the beginning of the episode, a Metro New York vending machine and a USA Today vending machine can be seen on the street.
 * As Hook leads the other into the alley in the marketplace, they walk past a Frontiersman dressed like Davy Crockett.


 * -|Props Notes=

Props Notes

 * Among the symbols etched into the table in Mr. Gold's hotel suite are:
 * Elder Futhark runes.
 * Pentagrams. The pentagram has historically been used by occult faiths and magicians, and is today used as a a symbol for Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism.
 * Alchemical signs for the elements fire (upward-pointing triangle), water (downward-pointing triangle), earth (downward-pointing triangle, bisected by a horizontal line), and spirit, also known as aether (circle).
 * According to the "do not disturb" sign, the hotel that Mr. Gold is staying at is called Hotel D'or, which is French for "Gold Hotel".
 * The big syringe that Mr. Hyde uses to inject himself with separation serum is the same prop that was used for Dr. Lydgate's syringe in the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episode "Down the Rabbit Hole", and Jafar's syringe in "Bad Blood".
 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The Vancouver Art Gallery doubles as the New York Public Library for this episode.
 * The Dragon's herbal shop was doubled by "Guo Hua Enterprise", a herbal shop located at 512 Main St, Vancouver. The location can be deduced from the episode, which shows the shops across the street from the Dragon's shop, as "Golden Garden Vietnamese Cuisine" and a pharmacy with a blue paravent.

Goofs

 * While a wishing fountain is present in front of the show's version of the New York Public Library's Midtown Manhattan building, the real-life library location does not have one.