Homecoming

"Henry Mills: What happened? Where are my family? What did you do to them? Rumplestiltskin: Well, I sent them back to my home. In the Wish Realm."

"Homecoming" is the twenty-first episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by David H. Goodman, and directed by Steve Pearlman. It is the one hundred and fifty-fourth episode of the series overall, and premiered on May 11, 2018.

This episode is the first part of the season seven finale and the series finale.

Synopsis
As the residents of Hyperion Heights celebrate the breaking of the curse, Henry is visited by Wish Rumple, who's hatched an evil plan to use Ella and Lucy to keep Weaver from destroying the Dark One powers. In order to stop him, Henry, Roni, Weaver and Rogers must travel to the Wish Realm, home to versions of some of our most beloved and fearsome characters. In a flashback, a discouraged Young Henry is visited by Wish Rumple and offered a deal that could have tragic consequences.

"The Hopeful Ones"
A scene by the statue of Queen Snow and King David, where Roni is robbed by Wish Grumpy, Wish Blue Fairy and Wish Granny who have fallen on tough times. It was cut for time, because it was the only scene that could be cut without disrupting the whole flow. However, the scene can still be seen in promotional pictures.

Starring

 * Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen*/Regina Mills*/Roni/Evil Queen (Serum)*
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Rogers
 * Andrew J. West as Henry Mills
 * Dania Ramirez as Jacinda Vidrio
 * Alison Fernandez as Lucy
 * Mekia Cox as Sabine
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin*/Weaver/ Rumplestiltskin (Wish Realm)

Guest Starring

 * Jared S. Gilmore as Young Henry*/Sir Henry (Wish Realm)
 * Robbie A. Kay as Peter Pan (Wish Realm)
 * Jeff Pierre as Drew
 * Rose Reynolds as Tilly
 * Tiera Skovbye as Margot
 * Victoria Smurfit as Cruella De Vil (Wish Realm)
 * JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Ariel (Wish Realm)
 * Timothy Webber as the Apprentice*/Apprentice (Wish Realm)

Co-Starring

 * Sarah Grey as Princess
 * James Rittinger as Handsome Prince
 * Trevor Roberts as Remy

Uncredited

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard*
 * Rebecca Mader as Zelena*
 * Shannon Lucio as Seer*
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan*
 * Patrick Fischler as Isaac Heller*
 * Sean Maguire as Robin Hood*
 * Jason Burkart as Little John*
 * Michael Socha as Will Scarlet*

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Title

 * The title card features the "O" of "Once" formed by a portal.
 * It is also the second Season Seven title card to not feature the Seattle skyline. The two other are from "The Guardian" and "Leaving Storybrooke".
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on March 6, 2018.
 * The fifteenth episode of the first season of Lost shares its name with the title of this episode.

Production Notes

 * Adam Horowitz has stated that the Henry seen in the flashback with Rumplestiltskin was Sir Henry from the Wish Realm, and not Henry Mills.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The flashback where Sir Henry meets Rumplestiltskin takes place in an unidentified realm, sometime after "Tougher Than the Rest".
 * The Seattle events take place after "Is This Henry Mills?".
 * The Wish Realm events take place place after "Tougher Than the Rest" and before "Leaving Storybrooke".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Is This Henry Mills?" (due to the time travel revealed in the same episode; this is confirmed in "Leaving Storybrooke") and before "Leaving Storybrooke".

Episode Connections

 * The Dark Curse was broken in "Is This Henry Mills?".
 * Mr. Samdi was killed by the Wish Realm counterpart of Rumplestiltskin in "Is This Henry Mills?".
 * Rogers was hospitalized after getting too close to Tilly in "Is This Henry Mills?".
 * Sabine rescued Drew in "Is This Henry Mills?".
 * Henry became the Author in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
 * Henry mentions the time Emma wished on a cupcake to not be alone, an event in "Pilot".
 * Rumpelstiltskin became a coward in "Manhattan".
 * The Seer told Rumplestiltskin that Henry would be his undoing in "Manhattan".
 * Regina killed the Wish Realm counterpart of Snow White and David and rescued Emma in "Wish You Were Here".
 * How the ink for the Author's Pen got in Cruella De Vil's hair is explained in "Sympathy for the De Vil".
 * As the Apprentice tests Henry, clips from "Operation Mongoose Part 2", "The Brothers Jones", "Ruby Slippers", "Page 23", "Mother's Little Helper", "The Final Battle Part 1" and "The Final Battle Part 2" appear.
 * The Wish Realm counterpart of Rumplestiltskin references the titles of two episodes depicting Rumplestiltskin's backstory.
 * He tells a young Henry "some scars go more than skin deep", a reference to the Season One episode "Skin Deep".
 * After kidnapping Jacinda and Lucy, he tells Henry "I prey on desperate souls, remember?", a reference to the Season One episode "Desperate Souls".
 * Wish Rumplestiltskin calls Henry the Truest Believer, a title he was first acknowledged by in "The Heart of the Truest Believer".
 * The opening sequence of Wish Henry riding his horse through an unknown forest to a sleeping princess mirrors the opening sequence of "Pilot" where Prince Charming rides his horse to Snow White who is also under a Sleeping Curse.


 * -|Cultural References=

Biblical

 * The Cross of Saint Peter (an inverted Latin cross) is pictured in a book sitting on the bench where the snow globe is sitting in Wish Rumplestiltskin's castle. The Cross of Saint Peter was traditionally used as a Christian symbol, but in recent times, it has also been used as an anti-Christian symbol.
 * When Henry is doing research in Wish Rumplestiltskin's castle, an open book on the table contains verse 19 – 21 from the Job 36 in the Bible. Note that some of the words are obscured on-screen; the following is the excerpt in its entirety:

'' 19 Will he esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength. 20 Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place. 21 Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction. ''


 * A book that he opens as he continues doing research contains verse 1 – 3 from the Isaiah 47 (there is additional text underneath, presumably additional verses, but they are too blurred to read). Some of the words are illegible due to a fold in the page; the following is the excerpt in its entirety:

'' 1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 2Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. ''


 * Next to verse 1 – 3, verse 12 – 14 can be seen. Some of the text is obscured by Henry; the following is the excerpt in its entirety:

'' 12 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. ''

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairytale, the Little Mermaid from The Little Mermaid fairytale, Cruella de Vil from the The Hundred and One Dalmatians story, the Apprentice from The Sorcerer's Apprentice story, and Peter Pan from the Peter Pan story.

Popular Culture

 * A travel photo from Belle and Mr. Gold's travel book shows them posing in front of the Triumphal Arch of the Star in Paris, while another photo shows them in front of Stonehenge.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * A Polaroid from Belle and Mr. Gold's travel book shows them posing in front of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post in Arendelle.
 * A regular version of this photo appears on a shelf in Belle and Gold's house in the Edge of Realms in "Beauty".
 * The table which Wish Rumplestiltskin places the snow globe (where Jacinda and Lucy are trapped) onto in the Wish Realm version of the Dark Castle is a modified version of the rack, a well-known medieval instrument of torture. This rack has spiked rollers designed to slice into the skin and muscles of the victim's back, an "improvement" made by the French.
 * The same torture device was sitting in the Underbrooke Sheriff's Department in the Season Five episode "The Brothers Jones". The black cage in the great hall, where Cruella is trapped, is another re-used prop from the episode, where it was sitting in the corner of the sheriff's station.
 * The cage and the rack could also be seen in Dream World version of the original Dark Castle in the Season Six premiere "The Savior".
 * Two hanging cages can be seen in Wish Rumplestiltskin's basement. The hanging cage was a medieval torture device in which the victim was either displayed and later freed from, or locked inside and left to die.
 * The same props were sitting on the floor in the Black Fairy's chambers in the Season Six episode "Mother's Little Helper".
 * One of the cages also appeared in the Underbrooke Sheriff's Department in the Season Five episode "The Brothers Jones" and the Dream World version of the Dark Castle in the Season Six premiere "The Savior".
 * When Henry is doing research in Wish Rumplestiltskin's castle, he puts down his quill on top of a piece of paper, which is full of notes:

EᛋPE – Possible code? M – cross reference in Journal sollic, tadin, tinac, da, rt sagg, tas  check Volume 7 of mber book  = seen this before

ᛣ


 * "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet" are the opening words of Lorem ipsum, a filler text commonly used as mock-content when testing a given page layout or font.
 * Three of the strange symbols are symbols for alchemical processes: Fire of reverberation, purification 1 (slightly modified for the show) and composition 2.

Set Dressing

 * Two small paintings hanging on the wall in Mr. Samdi's office also appeared over the fireplace in Regina's study in the Season Four episode "The Snow Queen" and by the bed in Mr. Gold's hotel suite in the Season Five episode "Only You".
 * Two dalmatian-spotted cushions are sitting on a piece of furniture in the great hall of the Wish Realm version of the Dark Castle.
 * Two modified versions of Garland of flowers around a cartouche with Jesus and St. John the Baptist as children, a 1630s painting by Flemish painter Daniel Seghers and the Dutch Flemish Baroque painter Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, are hanging on either side of the exit of the great hall in the Wish Realm version of the Dark Castle. The painting has been edited for the show; the most noticeable differences are the two children in the middle, who have been replaced with a different motif, and a large skull which has been added to the bottom.
 * The same paintings appear in the Dream World version of the original Dark Castle in the Season Six premiere "The Savior".
 * When Henry is doing research in the Wish Realm version of the Dark Castle, an illustration in one of the books shows the Sigillum Dei, a late Middle Ages magical diagram.
 * The same illustration appears in Cora's spell book in the Season Two episode "We Are Both".
 * When Henry sits down to use the Author's pen in Wish Rumplestiltskin's castle, a book on the table (seen upside-down) contains pages 3652 and 3653 of The decisions of the Court of Session: from its first institution to the present time: digested under proper heads, in the form of a dictionary, Volume 5 by William Maxwell Morison and the Court of Session (the supreme civil court of Scotland), published in 1802.

Costume Notes

 * Wish Cruella's earrings were previously worn by Snow White in Isaac's alternate reality in the Season Four episode "Operation Mongoose Part 1".


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * Wish Rumplestiltskin implies that he and his other version heard the prophecy about the boy being their undoing on the same day they met the Seer. That is not true, at least for Original Rumplestiltskin, who didn't get that prophecy until years after his first encounter with the Seer.
 * When a portal opens in front of Henry, Weaver, Rogers and Roni, a shadow appears in front of them, when it should've appeared behind them, because of the light of the portal.


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * 500 Alexander Street in Vancouver doubles as the exterior of Rogers home.
 * The scenes in Wish Rumplestiltskin's great hall were filmed on a green-screen set at The Bridge Studios.
 * The scenes in Wish Rumplestiltskin's basement were filmed on a television set built at The Bridge Studios.
 * The basement set previously doubled as the Royal Castle's wine cellar in the Season Six episode "A Bitter Draught". This can easily be seen from the identical chandelier, the shape of the walls and the door.
 * A redressed version of the basement also doubles as Dr. Jekyll's laboratory in Mr. Hyde's Hospital in the Season Five episode "Only You".
 * Moreover, the hospital scenes with the cage in "Only You" were shot on the same set as the scenes in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory. The cage was removable, and the set was redressed as the laboratory. Some of the walls were removed, and windows put in.
 * The scenes by the Wish Realm version of Rumplestiltskin's Farm was filmed in Vancouver's Everett Crowley Park.
 * A deleted scene with Roni and the Wish Realm versions of Grumpy, Granny and the Blue Fairy by the statue of Queen Snow and King David was filmed in the same location.
 * The scenes in Hook's Hideout were filmed on a green-screen set at The Bridge Studios. The rocks Rogers and Weaver were standing on were real, as were the rock Wish Ariel was sitting on. The rest of the surroundings were added digitally in post-production.