Welcome back Oncers to another recap of the series ‘Once Upon a Time!’ If you recall, in the last episode, Rumple was about to leave Storybrooke to look for his son, but Hook interrupted the tearful goodbye between the Dark One and his love, Belle. Karma being a biotch and all, just as Hook extracted his revenge on Rumple by causing Belle to lose her memory, he gets hit by a car. This episode picks up right after the accident.

The residents of Storybrooke are concerned that the car came in from beyond the borders of town and are worried that outsiders will soon know about them and magic. They take the injured car driver to the hospital where we see Dr. Whale reminisce about his life when he was known as Victor Frankenstein! Yes, the same Frankenstein who made the monster.

Flashback time…

See, Victor had been performing scientific experiments which were being funded by his father. When Papa Frankenstein decided to cut him off, Rumple offers him a deal. Show him how he brings the dead back to life and Victor can have all the gold. But as he was digging up a body in a graveyard to use, his younger brother came to find him. A guard shoots at them thinking the two men were grave robbers and fatally injures Gerhardt. Victor tries to revive him in his lab but fails and burns his brother’s heart in the process. Rumple then comes in and offers to introduce Victor to someone who can get him a heart… Regina!

The surgery and the new heart worked and Gerhardt is alive (it’s alive!) but he’s not quite the same. But when Victor presents him to their father, he calls the result a monstrosity and begins to berate and attack Victor. Gerhardt grabs their father in an attempt to defend Victor, begins to pummel him killing the patriarch.

Gerhardt begins to become aware of what he has become. He wants Victor to kill him but instead, his brother locks him up determined to bring him back to the way he was….

Back in Storybrooke, Belle is still in shock and as she lay sleeping. Rumple comes in and kisses her on the lips. After all, if it worked for Snow and Prince Charming and if the love they have is a true love, right? Belle wakes up and screams hysterically as Rumple is a complete stranger to her. Sorry Rumple, the true love kiss thing doesn’t work in the real world.

Meanwhile, everyone is worried that whatever kept the world from stumbling into Storybrooke is gone and since the outsider may have seen Rumple use magic, the town may not be a secret any longer. They consider letting the driver die but David will not have blood on his hands and he tells Dr. Whale to prep Greg (the driver) for surgery.

Back at the pawn shop, Rumple is visited by Cora who offers him a deal. Help her find Regina and she’ll help him find Baelfyre. She offers him a magical globe which has the ability to locate anyone they wish. Rumple agrees to the deal and they seal it with a kiss. Ew!!! This probably explains why Cora has such anger toward Rumple – a woman scorned and all – the classic student falling for the teacher. Still, ew!

While Ruby, Leroy, Mary Margaret and Emma wait for the outcome of Greg’s surgery, his phone continues to ring. They contemplate what to do. Do they answer the phone and let the person know about Greg? Do they wait? If they don’t answer it, will the person activate the GPS to locate Greg’s phone and find out the location of Storybrooke? All this has Mary Margaret on edge but not as much as the fact that Dr. Whale was not in the surgery room as everyone thought. Apparently he took off.

Ruby was able to sniff out Dr. Whale’s whereabouts and finds him just as he tries to commit suicide. But the wolf is quick and Ruby saves him just in time. Victor tells Ruby how he wanted to have his name be synonymous to life but it is now associated with a monster. It bothers him that whenever he tries to save a life, someone dies. The thought is too much. Ruby convinces him to return to the hospital and perform the surgery.

The surgery is a success and Greg lives. Emma goes in to question him. He tells her that he didn’t see anything as he was texting while driving and when he looked up, it was too late to avoid the person in front of him. Everyone is relieved.

Cora was able to find Regina. She tells her daughter that she understands why she tried to kill her and that she forgives and still loves her. Cora said that after seeing Regina cry over her coffin, her feelings for her daughter changed. But Regina is still angry that Cora framed her for the cricket’s (I mean, Archie’s) death and won’t accept Cora’s attempts for a mother-daughter relationship. She does, however, tell her mother that the least she can do is let Henry and everyone else know that she didn’t commit murder. Ah, but the Queen mother is able to get into Regina’s head and as they drive off, she offers to help Regina get back the one thing she desires most: Henry. Regina is desperate and a mother-daughter bond is formed. (This totally sucks for the town!)

Rumple is still trying to get Belle to remember by giving her the teacup that started their relationship. He charmed it hoping that if she gazed into it, she would remember who she was and their love. But talk of castles and magic freaks her out and she throws the teacup against the wall shattering it and Rumple’s heart into little pieces.

The Charming family head home where Henry is curious where they were all night. They tell him about Dr. Whale being Dr. Frankenstein and he tells them that the story of Frankenstein is not in the book and is not a fairy tale so the curse must have affected other lands. Who knows who else could be living in Storybrooke!

After using the globe, Rumple now has an idea where Baelfyre is. He visits Emma and tells her that he’s there to collect the favor she owes to him and requests that she go with him to find his son. Oh, and if anything happens to Belle while he’s gone, he’ll kill them all. That’s comforting.

Back in the hospital, it looks like Greg was not completely honest with Emma and calls his wife saying she won’t believe what he saw…!

If you haven’t guessed it by now, this episode is a turning point for the series. With the inclusion of the ‘Frankenstein’ story, it opens the door for the writers to introduce other tales of fiction. Cinematically, the use of black and white film for the flashback to Frankenstein’s story was a great homage to the black and white films of the past as well as in interesting way to show how he’s from another “land.” The colorization of Rumple when he visits Victor was a nice allegory on how magic and fantasy bring color into an otherwise sterile scientific life.

The series has now gone from a predominantly fantasy show to one that seems to now will have elements of other literary influences. This addition adds another layer to the Storybrooke world. Not only could you include elements of sci-fi, but also characters from Shakespeare, Mark Twain and dare we even think… comic books?

What do you think about the addition of new “lands” in the series? Let me know what you thought of last night’s episode and what literary characters you’d like to see in  the coming episodes in the comments below!