"Wake Up Call" is the sixth episode of Season Seven of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Jerome Schwartz and Jane Espenson, and directed by Sharat Raju. It is the one hundred and thirty-ninth episode of the series overall, and premiered on November 10, 2017.
Synopsis
Feeling like a third wheel as Henry and Cinderella's relationship strengthens, Regina is surprised to find herself needed by Drizella, who is searching for magic. But when a brutal truth is revealed, it could lead Drizella down a dangerous path. In Hyperion Heights, Roni seeks Weaver's help in finding answers, and Tilly offers Rogers some intriguing advice concerning Eloise Gardener.[2]
Recap
As Henry and Cinderella take off into the forest, the two are met by thieves who want the motorcycle, but suddenly Regina appears and ready to help, only to have Henry telling her that he and Cinderella are handling them fine. Later on, Regina takes a stroll in the woods when she sees a hooded figure attacked by sentient vines. She saves her, only to discover that the hooded figure is Drizella, who is on a mission to steal magic. Regina starts training Drizella but after a series of failures, Drizella's talents finally come through when she rescues Regina from a falling tower by smashing the concrete in mid-air using magic.
Rumpelstiltskin appears suddenly, and catches up with Regina, telling him of the wonderful life with Belle. He reminds Regina that, just as the Regina's mother Cora was practically omniscient, so too must be Lady Tremaine. Heeding those words, Regina eavesdrops on Tremaine through a magic mirror and discovers that she plans to take Drizella's heart and place it in Anastasia after failing to get Henry's heart, leading Regina to suspect that Drizella plans to kill her mother. Drizella wants Regina to help her but Regina refuses, not wanting her to embrace darkness. When Prince Gregor shows up ready to kill Tremaine, Regina appears and attempts to intervene. It turns out that it was a double-cross set up by Drizella, to lure Gregor into a trap. Drizella uses magic to impale Gregor with black vines, and as a result her heart turns dark, successfully making her heart unsuitable for Tremaine's plan. She tells Regina she will cast a dark curse just like Regina had, to cause her mother pain, only this time, the curse will be unbreakable.
Later on, Regina and Henry spend time together to bond and patch over differences, with Regina saying to him that being his mother will always be her primary role.
At Roni's, the photo of Henry and Regina becomes the subject of speculation. Lucy runs into the bar to see the photo, and as she looks at it, she identifies Roni as Regina, Henry's mother. She vows to find a way to prove it. Roni contacts Weaver to get information about the adoption in return for a favor. Weaver comes through and gives Roni papers containing information, and Roni, by writing on a bar napkin, discovers that the handwritten signature at the bottom matches her own handwriting.
However, Ivy and the witch already have been planning to use Roni by way of the photo, utilizing the lavender flowers from the garden to create a potion (earlier on, Victoria is learning that the flower is giving her headaches). Ivy later visits Roni to have a talk about the photo and the adoption, but as they are about to have a drink, Ivy slips the potion made by the witch into Roni's drink, and as Roni drinks, she "wakes up" and her real memories of being Regina are returned. Drizella informs Regina that it was her tutelage that gave her the ability to cast the new curse, and therefore it will be difficult to break because if Henry and Jacinda experience true love's kiss everyone will be in jeopardy, reminding her of a special contingency that was put into the curse that would hurt Henry if she didn't comply. Regina cries in her bar, then goes to meet Henry at the park. When she asks him what he remembers about his mother, he reveals that he was born in prison to an unknown mother and grew up in the system (as these are his cursed memories). She yearns to tell him who she really is, but refrains from doing so.
In between the events, Jacinda is upset with Henry about Instagram photos from Halloween night that were schemingly posted by Ivy. But after being encouraged by Roni to pursue Jacinda, Henry shows up at the food truck with a large radio and convince Jacinda to forgive him, and to ask her out on a date, and offered to help her start the engine on the vehicle.
Meanwhile, as Weaver checks out of the hospital, Rogers suspects Tilly and Weaver are holding something back after he talked to Tilly, who then told Rogers about Eloise, explaining in riddles that the information from the sketch book is somehow closer than he thought. However, someone else has already beaten Rogers to the punch; the suspect with the tattooed hand is found murdered at his home.
Deleted Scenes
A scene between Drizella and Regina, where Drizella makes a flower bloom with her magic, was cut from the final episode. However, the scene can still be seen in promotional photos.[3]
Cast[2]
Starring
Guest Starring |
Co-Starring
Uncredited
|
Note:
*: Only in archive footage
Trivia
Title
- The title card features Gothel's tower in good condition.[4]
- However, it never appear under this form in the episode, as the tower is nearly all but destroyed.
- The title of this episode was revealed by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on August 25, 2017.[5]
Production Notes
- PRESS RELEASE: Despite being promoted since "Greenbacks," the press release does not credit Mekia Cox as series regular.[2]
- CAST CONNECTIONS: Julian Haig, who plays Prince Gregor, is the brother of Georgina Haig, who plays Elsa in Season Four.
- The establishing shot of the Hyperion Heights Hospital[6] is stock footage of a New York City hospital from the website Getty Images.[7]
- The same footage was used for an establishing shot of the Metro-General Hospital in the Iron Fist episode "Dragon Plays with Fire."[8]
Event Chronology
- The Seattle events take place after "Greenbacks" and before "Eloise Gardener." (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
- The New Enchanted Forest flashbacks take place after "The Garden of Forking Paths" and before "Pretty in Blue" and "Sisterhood."
Episode Connections
- Jacinda and Sabine bought a food truck in "Greenbacks"
- Roni found the photo of Regina and Henry in "Greenbacks."
- Henry's lunchbox, which Regina bought for him when he was ten, is the same lunchbox he was carrying at school in "The Stranger"[9] and "Going Home."[10]
- It was revealed that Ivy was working with Eloise and retained her memories of her life as Drizella in "Greenbacks."
- Regina, Henry and Hook joined the resistance in "The Garden of Forking Paths."
- Ivy's pictures are from the evening where they had drinks together in "Beauty."
- Weaver was admitted to the hospital after being shot by Tilly in "Beauty."
- Roni says to Henry, "Don't slouch." This is the same thing that her serum counterpart said to Henry in "The Other Shoe" and "I'll Be Your Mirror."
- When Henry lists up things from the 80s that he likes, he mentions filmmaker John Hughes. Henry's love for John Hughes' movies were previously established in "I'll Be Your Mirror," where he and Violet watched the movie The Breakfast Club together, and were going to watch Sixteen Candles next.
- The way Regina coaxes Drizella into using her powers by making a wall fall down on her and putting her in a life-threatening situation is reminiscent of how she taught Emma in "The Jolly Roger," where she made a rope bridge collapse under the latter.
- The Evil Queen cast the Dark Curse in "Pilot."
- Lucy states that when Henry needed magic the most, the storybook showed up for him in Snow White's closet. The first time this happened was referred to in "Going Home" and "A Curious Thing." The second time it happened was shown on-screen in "A Curious Thing."
- Lucy also states that when some people touch the storybook, they remember everything about who they were. This is what happened to Emma in "A Land Without Magic," and to Henry in "A Curious Thing."
- The events of Mr. Gold and Belle's life together, which Gold describes to Regina, took place in "Beauty."
- Rogers discovered the symbol lead in the Eloise Gardener case in "Greenbacks."
- As Roni's memories start to flood back, clips from "The Thing You Love Most," "The Stable Boy," "Welcome to Storybrooke," "Save Henry," "The Final Battle Part 2" and "Hyperion Heights" appear.
- Who killed the Perp is revealed in "Eloise Gardener," where Ivy admits that she poisoned him.
Disney
- Henry references Lady and the Tramp when he mentions stray dogs in an alley behind a pizza place.
- The pizza place is also called Bella Notte, a popular song from the movie.
Lost
- Roni gives Weaver a bottle of MacCutcheon Scotch Whisky,[11] a fictional brand on Lost. Ivy pours herself and Roni a glass of the same drink.[12]
Fairytales and Folklore
- This episode features Cinderella, the wicked stepmother, and the evil stepsisters from the "Cinderella" fairytale and Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story.
- Rogers and Tilly play chess, a reference to the novel Through the Looking-Glass, where chess is one of the main themes.
Popular Culture
- When Roni takes out her baseball bat, Henry says, "Hey, hey, slow down there, Babe Ruth," a reference to the famous American baseball player whose career spanned over twenty years in the first half of the twentieth century.
- Henry also says, "Can we at least look into it before it's clobberin' time?" "It's clobberin' time" is the famous battle cry of the Marvel superhero the Thing from Fantastic Four.
- ♫ MUSIC: Like Henry says, the song he's playing on his stereo is "Save it For Later" by the British band The English Beat (known as The Beat outside North America).
- The scene where Henry is holding a boombox over his head while asking Jacinda out is a reference to the iconic scene where John Cusack holds a boombox above his head outside the home of his romantic interest in the 1989 comedy drama film Say Anything.
- When Henry lists up things from the 80s which he likes, he mentions filmmaker John Hughes, the English rock band New Order and the English singer and musician Adam Ant.
- Ivy refers to Roni's friends as Roni's little "Avengers" assembly, a reference to the comic book superheroes from Marvel, which is owned by Disney.
Props Notes
- REUSED PROPS: The chest which Drizella opens,[13] which contains the carnivorous plant, is the same prop that was used for the silver chest used by the Evil Queen to store Rocinante's heart in the Season One episode "The Thing You Love Most";[14] a chest which she later retains in the Mayor's office.[15]
- In the Season Five episode "Siege Perilous," an identical chest covered in rust was sitting on a shelf in Merlin's tower.[16] The rusty version can also be seen sitting on shelf in the Fish & Bird tavern in "Breadcrumbs."[17]
Costume Notes
- SECONDHAND CLOTHING: The dress and under dress which Drizella wears[18] were originally worn by Kristen Stewart in the 2012 fantasy film Snow White and the Huntsman.[19] Drizella wears the garments again in "The Eighth Witch"[20] and "Sisterhood."[21]
- USE IT AGAIN: The under dress is worn separately by Drizella in "Pretty in Blue."[22]
- SECONDHAND CLOTHING: The same dress was previously worn by Violet in the Season Five episodes "The Broken Kingdom"[23] and "Dreamcatcher."[24]
- BRAND INFO: Jacinda is wearing[25] a Free People Sunshine Thermal (note that the thermal has been altered for the show).[26] (The exact color is no longer available.)
- BRAND INFO: Roni is wearing[27] a Rick James 'Super Freak' T-shirt (note that the sleeves have been altered for the show).[28]
Filming Locations
- Upper Coquitlam River Park in Coquitlam doubles as the New Enchanted Forest for this episode.[29]
- The scenes with Henry, Jacinda and the food truck were filmed at the parking lot of the Red Apple Market on 4170 Hasting Street in Burnaby Heights.[30]
- The scene with Henry and Roni walking down the street in Seattle was filmed at the south side of the 700 block of Columbia Street in New Westminster.[31]
- 4244 Pender Street in Burnaby, British Columbia doubles as Sam Ochotta's house.[32]
- The scene with Henry and Roni on the bench at night was filmed in New Westminster's Hyack Square.[31]
International Titles
International Titles | ||
---|---|---|
Language | Title | Translation |
French | "Réveil Forcé" | "Wake Up Call" |
German | "Es begegnet sich die Wahrheit und die Lüge" | "When the Truth and the Lie meet each other" |
Italian | "Sveglia" | "Wake Up" |
Portuguese | "Toque de Despertar" | "Wake Up Call" |