Lady of the Lake

Template:Episode2 Lady of the Lake is the third episode of Season Two of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It is the twenty-fifth episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 14, 2012.

Synopsis

Emma Swan and Mary Margaret Blanchard, with the aid of Mulan, Princess Aurora and brave knight Lancelot, attempt to find a portal that will bring them back to Storybrooke. But a dark force threatens their safe return. And Henry Mills tries to talk Jefferson into reuniting with his daughter. Meanwhile, back in the Fairytale Land that was, on the eve of meeting Prince Charming's mother, King George poisons Snow White, and the only antidote lies within the waters of the Lady of the Lake.

Recap

In the Enchanted Forest

At a camp site in the hours before they prepare to hide out from King George and seek refuge at his mother's home, Snow White, Prince Charming and Red Riding Hood all split up after an enemy approached them. The enemy turns out to be Sir Lancelot, who then captures Snow and brings her back to face King George. At the palace, the King tells Snow that James failed him because he wanted him to be the son that he always longed to have and now wants James to feel his pain. That is when the king tells Snow that the water that he offered her was actually a curse to prevent her from ever having children. Moments later, and after being dropped out of a carriage, Snow hears someone on horseback, so she takes a stick and knock Sir Lancelot off. However, it turns out that Lancelot wants to help Snow reach James and his mother Ruth before King George's men get to them. By the time they reach the farm, Snow and Lancelot discover that they are too late, as James had to already fend off the King's men, only to see one of them aim a poison arrow at Ruth. After she is hit, she gives Snow a medallion she got from a gypsy that will predict the baby's sex of her baby, even though Snow is upset because of what the King did to her. Ruth then tells her the water of Lake Nostic is their only chance to break the curse for both women.

As the group arrived to Lake Nostic, they discover that the lake is now dry. That is when Charming realized that after having killied the Siren to free Frederick resulted in the water to disappear. But Lancelot believes that there has to be some water left in the area, and he finds it in a very wet snail, but only one person can drink it. Snow reluctantly turns down the offer, so James gives it to Ruth, but it does not work. Knowing it is too late to look for another way to save her, Ruth makes one request, and that's to see James and Snow marry. Snow then asks Lancelot to honor that request, and Snow and James are married before Ruth passes away. Charming then gives Snow the medallion, which all of a sudden starts moving. It turns out that Lancelot put the water in Snow's chalice and that Ruth never took a drink of it, which broke the King's curse. Charming vows that they will take the kingdom, this time as a family.

[edit]In Storybrooke

As David attempts to find a way to use the hat to bring back Mary Margaret and Emma, Henry insists on helping, but David, who says that he'll find magic (and hopefully Jefferson), wants Henry to concetrate on going to school while he takes care of this situation. But Henry, as usuual, does the opposite and goes to see Jefferson anyway. When Henry sees Jefferson at a park bench, he asks for help but Jefferson say no to that request but not before telling Henry about Regina's vault at the cemetery. Henry knows that his daughter Grace/Paige has been looking for him, but Jefferson is afraid to face her because she will be mad for abandoning her. Henry thinks that Jefferson should go see her anyway. After that conversation, Henry calls Regina at her Mayor's office (she was asked to vacate the premises) to ask her to meet at Granny's Diner, not knowing it was a distraction to sneak into the office to get the keys so he can sneak into the cemetery.

Henry later arrives at the tomb at succeeds in sneaking into the secret chamber where Regina kept the hearts stored. When he hears one of the boxes beating, Henry opens it and sees a snake crawl out. Luckily, David showed up to stop his grandson from going any further, as he was tipped off by Regina about the missing keys and being stood up at the diner. David tells Henry that they will find a way to get Emma and Mary Margaret back together. Later that day, Jefferson is finally reunited with his daughter Grace and watching this from a distance is an excited Henry, who is joined by David, who buys a pair of swords to teach Henry how to defend themeselves. However, they are also watched from a distance by King George/Albert Spencer.

[edit]In the Fairytale World

Inside the pit, Emma comes face to face with Cora who wants to talk to her. Emma learns that Cora is Regina's mother, who explains to Emma that she lost her powers the moment Regina turned on her. At that same time, Snow White/Mary Margaret, who just woke up and sees the two talking, stops the conversation and tries to tell Emma that Cora can not be trusted because is just as evil as Regina. Emma, however, believes Cora might be telling the truth. Emma and Mary Margaret are later released from the pit and meets Sir Lancelot, who come out of the hut and tells Snow/Mary Margaret that he would never have locked her away if he knew it was her. Meanwhile, Mulan warns Princess Aurora who hid a dagger inside her dress, to be careful after she sees Lancelot embracing Snow. Hours later, after Lancelot brings food to Emma and Mary Margaret, Lancelot tells Snow/Mary Margaret about what happened when the curse was broken. She wants Lancelot to help her find a portal but Lancelot tells her that the ogres are out there and it would be dangerous to venture outside the island. This gives Snow/Mary Margaret the idea as to where to find one without Cora finding out. So Snow/Mary Margaret begs Lancelot to let her go, on the condition that she brings Mulan, who arrives with weapons for the trip, and gives Emma's gun back to her. Later that night at a camping site and just as Mulan and Snow search for water, the confrontation between the women starts to escalate when Mary Margaret is jumped by Aurora, which is broken up by Emma and her gun. Unfortunately, the gunshots also woke up one of the ogres, who then catches Emma and pins her to ground, only to be shot in the eye by Snow/Mary Margaret's arrow.

At the former palace of Snow White and Prince Charming, the four ladies arrive, where they proceed to the wardrobe room and finds the tree there. But just as they were about to make it work, Lancelot shows up at the last minute, claiming to help get Snow and Emma back to Charming and Henry. That's when Snow drew out her sword and exposed Lancelot as Cora, who was planning to use the portal to get to Regina. Cora then transformed back into her original form and admitted that she killed Lancelot a while back and was waiting for an opportunity to join her daughter and adopted grandson. Cora then unleashes her power on both Snow and Emma, but thanks to Emma setting the tree on fire, Mulan uses the fire that Cora was going to use to aim at Emma to instead aim at Cora, who disappears with a warning to get even. At this point, and now that they were all fooled by Cora, Mulan asks Snow to be the leader, while Emma tells her mother that she had to burn the tree so Cora would not get to Henry but realizes how Snow wanted to protect her, saying she is not used to people putting her first, but Snow/Mary Margaret tells Emma to get use to it. After the women left the room, Cora reappeared with a potion bottle that contains the contents of the portal's magic, which shows off a glow that reveals that it still works.