Hyperion Heights

"Lucy: You returned all the happy endings. And now my mom and all the others need you to do it again... The curse put most people in Hyperion Heights, but... Henry Mills: I hear that's an up-and-coming neighborhood. Doesn't really sound like a curse to me."

"Hyperion Heights" is the first episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. It is the one hundred and thirty-fourth episode of the series overall and premiered on October 6, 2017.

Synopsis
Henry leaves Storybrooke in search of his own story. Years later in another realm, he encounters a troubled Cinderella, changing the trajectory of his quest forever. When Cinderella's evil step-mother, Lady Tremaine, poses a threat, Henry discovers that following his heart will require him to make more difficult choices than he ever could have imagined. Years later, a young Lucy finds a disillusioned Henry at his home in Seattle, determined to make him remember his true self in order to defeat the curse afflicting the fairytale characters of "Hyperion Heights."

Starring

 * Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills/Roni
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Rogers
 * Andrew J. West as Henry Mills
 * Dania Ramirez as Cinderella/Jacinda Vidrio
 * Gabrielle Anwar as Lady Tremaine/Victoria Belfrey
 * Alison Fernandez as Lucy
 * Robert Carlyle as Weaver

Guest Starring

 * Mekia Cox as Tiana/Sabine
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Young Henry
 * Adelaide Kane as Drizella/Ivy Belfrey
 * Rose Reynolds as Alice/Tilly

Co-Starring

 * Bruce Blain as Desk Sergeant
 * Zena Daruwalla as Passerby
 * Julian Domingues as Cop
 * Jillian Fargey as Fairy Godmother
 * Liam Hall as Prince
 * Daniel Jeffrey as Carl
 * Darcy Laurie as Louie
 * Vladimir Ruzich as Suited Heavy

Trivia

 * -|Production Notes=

Title

 * The title card features the Seattle skyline.
 * The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Instagram account on June 28, 2017.
 * The table read for this episode took place on July 5, 2017.
 * The name "Hyperion" is a reference to Hollywood's Hyperion Avenue, where the two original Animation Buildings of the Disney company were located. They are mainly known for being the place where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was made. Eventually, in 1939/1940, these buildings were moved to the studio lot in Burbank, where they have been rebuilt and renamed the Shorts Building. The writing office of Once Upon a Time was relocated here shortly before production on Season Seven began.
 * Originally, Hyperion is the name of the Titan of the Sun and the Light in Greek Mythology.

Production Notes

 * The establishing shot of Storybrooke is stock footage from the shot of the dirigible soaring through the air far overhead in the Season Six premiere "The Savior".
 * As Jared S. Gilmore was too young to ride his motorcycle, some crew members had to push the vehicle.
 * The establishing shot of Seattle that is shown before the scene where Henry finds Lucy's note is reused in "Beauty", where the same shot appears before the scene with Jacinda, Henry and Ivy at Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack.
 * The computer-generated set for Lady Tremaine's home is recycled from the CGI model used for the Royal Manor in "The Stable Boy", "The Doctor" and "Sisters", the Summer Palace in "The New Neverland", and the Royal Castle dining hall in "A Bitter Draught". This can be seen from the identical design of the columns and the archways.
 * The computer-generated set used for the courtyard in the Prince's castle is recycled from the CGI model for the King's castle in "The Price of Gold" and "The Other Shoe", King Xavier's castle in "The Miller's Daughter", the Maritime Castle in "Ariel" and the Camelot Castle in Season Five. This can be seen from the archways and the railing on top of them, which have a very similar design.
 * The area around the courtyard stairs is recycled from the CGI model for the Camelot Castle in Season Five, and the King's Castle in "The Other Shoe". This can be seen from the almost identical design of the windows and the balustrades.
 * As he changed the accent of his character during the filming of "A Pirate's Life", Robert Carlyle had to re-record his lines as Weaver from this episode.
 * A sequence involving Lucy in the New Enchanted Forest was cut from the episode.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Storybrooke flashback takes place a few years after "The Final Battle Part 2", after "A Pirate's Life", and before "Secret Garden".
 * The Seattle events take place in October 2017, before "A Pirate's Life". The opening scenes with Henry at work take place before, or concurrently with, the scene with Lucy on the monorail "The Final Battle Part 2". The scene where Lucy knocks on his door is the same as the scene from "The Final Battle Part 2", but shown from Henry's perspective. The remaining scenes take place after this scene.
 * The New Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place several years after "One Little Tear". The events leading up to the royal ball, and the scenes at the Prince's Castle take place before Cinderella's meeting with Tiana in "The Garden of Forking Paths", and after "Beauty". The scenes after the ball take place after Cinderella's meeting with Tiana, and before "A Pirate's Life".

Episode Connections

 * The slides featured in the beginning of the episode ("Once Upon a Time. There was a magical forest filled with fairy tale characters. One day a powerful curse trapped them in a city which had no magic. And each of them forgot who they really were. This is how it happened...") is similar to the ones shown at the beginning of "Pilot" ("Once Upon a Time. There was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know. Or think we know. One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen. Our World. This is how it happened...").
 * Who cast the new curse is revealed in "Wake Up Call".
 * Henry says that after he finished his storybook, he found hundreds of other storybooks in the Sorcerer's Mansion, like the stories he knew, but told differently. The first time Henry discovered other storybooks in the mansion was in "Heroes and Villains", where he found lots of blank books in a hidden room.
 * The scene where Lucy knocks on Henry's door is the same as the scene from "The Final Battle Part 2", but shown from Henry's perspective.
 * The reason why Drizella wanted to use magic so eagerly is explained in "Wake Up Call".
 * The first music that plays in the Prince's castle is the same music that plays in the King's Castle in "The Price of Gold". Also, the second music is played in the Camelot Castle in "The Price".
 * Henry has fake memories about losing his wife and daughter in a fire. In "True North", Emma lied to him about his father being a fireman and perishing while saving a family from a fire.
 * Jacinda says that Lucy wants to believe in fairytales because life is hard. This is similar to what Mary Margaret Blanchard says in "Pilot" and what Archie Hopper says about Henry in "The Thing You Love Most".
 * Roni's line about not having any regrets is a reference to Regina's speech to Peter Pan about not having any regrets in "Save Henry".
 * It is also a reference to lots of episodes of Season Six, where Regina suffers from what she did in the past and has regret about it.
 * How Alice knows Rumplestilstskin is revealed in "Beauty".
 * According to Jacinda's cursed memories, she had a fling with a guy, which resulted in Lucy. She is "reunited" with him in "Pretty in Blue".
 * Jacinda regains custody of Lucy in "Pretty in Blue".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * The words that Lady Tremaine says to use the Fairy Godmother's wand, "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo", come from the Cinderella film.

Lost

 * There is a Geronimo Jackson sticker on Henry's laptop. This was a fictional band on Lost.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of the Cinderella fairytale, with Cinderella, the Wicked Stepmother, and one of the Evil Stepsisters. The Prince and the Fairy Godmother also appear.
 * Alice from Alice in Wonderland also appears.
 * The label on the bottle tied to Alice's neck says "Drink me", a reference to the story from the book.
 * Henry jokingly asks Roni if her bar will turn into a pumpkin by midnight, a reference to the Cinderella fairytale.

Popular Culture

 * The song playing while Henry is at work in the beginning of the episode is "Fool for Love" by Lord Huron.
 * When Lucy makes a comment about Henry's modest success as a writer, Henry remarks that he didn't exactly write Harry Potter.
 * The scene where Victoria enters the Belfrey Towers is a homage to the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, in which Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly enters the Runway building in a similar way.
 * Glenn Close's Cruella DeVil has also a similar scene and entrance in the live-action film 101 Dalmatians.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * One of Henry's pick-up requests in Seattle is for a woman named Susan. The address, however, 4818 Kerege Avenue, is fictional.
 * Henry's keychain has the same design as his mother Emma's swan keychain. However, it is not the same prop, since the circular edge on the pendant that Emma wore as a necklace is much thinner than the edge around the pendant on Emma's and Henry's keychains (indicating that Emma removed the outer layer of the pendant when she fashioned it as a necklace).
 * The Fairy Godmother's wand is the same prop that was used for the original Fairy Godmother's wand in the Season One episode "The Price of Gold" and the Season Two episodes "Queen of Hearts" and "Lacey". While the handle remains the same, the rest of the wand (which used to be transparent) has been painted in a metallic color.
 * The flowers that Henry goes to put on his imaginary family's grave are the same as Cinderella's lucky flower, hyacinths.
 * The book blurb for Henry's novel, Once Upon a Time, is a slightly modified version of a synopsis for the show, which can be found on several online websites. The original synopsis reads thus:

''For Emma Swan, life has been anything but a happy ending. But when she's reunited with Henry - the son she gave up for adoption ten years ago - on the night of her 28th birth- day, everything changes. The now 10-year-old Henry is in desperate need of Emma's help because he believes from reading a book of fairytales that she's the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming - who sent her away from the Enchanted Forest to be protected from a curse that was enacted by the Evil Queen.'' ''Emma initially refuses to believe a word of Henry's story but soon finds that his hometown of Story- Brooke, Maine is more than it seems. Because it's in Story- brooke that all of the classic characters we know are frozen in time with no memories of their former selves – except for the Evil Queen, who is Storybrooke's mayor and Henry's adoptive mother Regina Mills.'' Now, as the epic "Final Battle" for the future of both worlds approaches, Emma will have to accept her destiny and uncover the mystery behind a place where fairytales are to be believed.


 * The show version reads (differences are set in red ):

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 * The text page next to Emma's illustration is a retelling of the scene where Emma leaves the Underworld in the Season Five episode "Firebird". A few more words can be seen in the following episode, "A Pirate's Life". The excerpt reads:

[image begins]cemetery, [image begins]he distance, [image begins]ver was helped [image begins] getting out of [image begins] one ever did. Emma [image begins]eely resolve in her eyes and [image begins]her jacket. [image begins]cket, it was meant to be an [image begins] getting hurt by those I [image begins] "But now it's just a [image begins]tect those I love." [image begins] armor, it struck Emma for [image begins] truly come. And while [image begins]d gained a family. She [image begins]e. Because she was the [image begins] still needed saving. [image begins] portal. And with [image begins]ed the tears from [image begins] was. And with [image begins]ortal and disapp- [image begins]one, replaced [image begins]en.... tick. It

Set Dressing

 * One of the letters on Henry's desk is addressed to a [obscured] W. Walker in Willowdale, Ontario. The street name is Hollyberry Trail, which is indeed a street address in Willowdale.
 * A small painting of a ship is hanging on the wall in Henry's apartment. The same prop could also be seen behind the bar at Æsop's Tables in the Season Six episode "A Wondrous Place". The same painting, but with a different frame, can be seen in Emma's room at the inn in the Season One episode "The Thing You Love Most" and Graham and Regina's room in the Season One episode "The Price of Gold". and in Edwin's home in the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland episodes "Down the Rabbit Hole" and "Who's Alice".
 * The one below it previously appeared in the Storybrooke library in the Season Four episode "Smash the Mirror" and the Season Six episode "Changelings".
 * A large painting by the Los Angeles-based artist and street artist Augustine Kofie is hanging on the wall next to the reception desk at Belfrey Towers. Note that the show's version is cropped and the original version is bigger.
 * The couch seen in the Tremaine Manor is the same prop used in the Sorcerer's Mansion in the Season Six episode "Mother's Little Helper".
 * A framed picture in the entrance hall of Jacinda and Sabine's apartment previously appeared in David and Kathryn's living room back in the Season One episodes "The Shepherd" and "What Happened to Frederick".

Costume Notes

 * Regina is wearing a Roland Mouret Arreton wool midi skirt.
 * Ivy is wearing a BCBGMAXAZRIA Barrett Peplum Jacket.
 * Victoria is wearing a BOSS Jelisana Stretch Wool Suit Jacket over a Delasana Belted Stretch Wool Sheath Dress. The outfit is paired with AQUAZZURA Forever Marilyn pumps.
 * The doublet, west and undershirt worn by Henry at the royal ball are the same as the ones Prince Charming wore at his honeymoon in the Season Three episode "The New Neverland". Note that the shoulder pieces on Henry's west have been shortened.


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * By the end of the episode, the date of Roni's contract reads June 2018. However, Adam Horowitz and the show itself hinted that the story takes place in October 2017


 * -|Other Notes=

Filming Locations

 * The New Enchanted Forest scenes with Henry and Cinderella in the woods were filmed in Vancouver's Stanley Park.
 * Columbia Street in New Westminster doubles as Seattle for some of the street scenes in Hyperion Heights.
 * Royal Paws Pet Centre at 660 Columbia Street was redressed as Radcliffe Pet Day Spa for the episode. It can be seen when Jacinda is rushing to work in the morning.
 * The City Of New Westminster Downtown Parkade at 384 Columbia Street doubles as the Bainbridge Island Ferry.
 * Vancouver's Heatley Overpass doubles as Seattle's Aurora Bridge for the show. A copy of Seattle's Fremont Troll was recreated under the bridge.
 * The Lower Mainland Purpose Society in New Westminster doubles as the Hyperion Heights 42nd Precinct Police Station for exterior scenes.
 * This location also doubles as a building in National City in the Supergirl episode "Survivors" as well as the National City University in the Supergirl episode "Fort Rozz".
 * The scenes outside Roni's were filmed at 704 Clarkson Street in New Westminster.
 * This location also doubles as an apartment building in the Supergirl episode "Survivors" and as the Bistro Bodnarus in the Supergirl episode "Fort Rozz".
 * The Anivil Centre Office Tower at 11 Eighth Street in New Westminster doubles as the Belfrey Towers for exterior shots.
 * This location also doubles as Tannhauser Industries in The Flash episode "Monster".
 * Freshslice Pizza at 4140 East Hastings Street in Burnaby Heights doubles as Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack for Season Seven, for both exterior and interior scenes.
 * The scenes at the Community Gardens in Hyperion Heights were filmed in the dog park opposite New Westminster station. The station sign can be glimpsed in the background when Henry rounds the corner.
 * The scene with Alice in the alley was filmed at the back alley of South 4100 Block Hastings Street in Burnaby Heights.