This article is about the episode from Once Upon a Time. For other episodes, see Homecoming.
- Henry: "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."
- ―Henry Mills and Rumplestiltskin
"Homecoming" is the penultimate episode of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It is the twenty-first episode of the seventh season and the one hundred and fifty-fourth episode of the series overall and it premiered on May 11, 2018. It was written by David H. Goodman and directed by Steve Pearlman.
Synopsis[]
As the residents of Hyperion Heights celebrate the breaking of the curse, Henry is visited by Wish Rumple, who has 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.
Plot[]
In the Characters' Pasts[]
In the early days of Henry Mills' adventures through the realms, he finds a princess in a cave and is about to kiss her, but a fire breathing dragon prevents him and a prince comes in and kisses the princess, awakening her from the slumber. Henry pretends to have been there for her when she wakes up, but is noticeably saddened by her dismissal that he could have anything with her. Henry is then greeted by Wish Realm Rumplestitskin who offers to help him find a princess and give him a castle, but Henry declines as he is well aware that deals always come with a price with the beast, and still wants to find his story on his own.
In Seattle[]
To celebrate the curse having ended, Henry, Ella, Lucy, Regina, Alice and Robin are having food and drinks at Roni's when Henry asks Regina if she has heard from Dr. Facilier, but she hasn't and goes to his apartment to see if he is up to something. When Regina arrives, she hears noises and discovers Mr. Gold tied up and powerless, therefore releasing him and removing the magic cuff. Gold informs Regina that his wish realm counterpart (who Regina released years earlier in "Wish You Were Here") killed Facilier, but they have no idea why he is here in the first place.
Hook is released from hospital and Alice calls him from afar so they can chat without her getting too close as his heart is still poisoned, but he does promise to find a cure so they can be together soon. At the Mills' apartment, Henry, Lucy and Ella are celebrating all the birthdays they missed during the curse, but Ella and Lucy suddenly disappear when they blow on the candles. Henry is then greeted by wish-realm Rumple, who offers him a deal to get the Dark One's Dagger, as he knows Gold wants to pass it onto someone else, while revealing he sent Ella and Lucy to the Wish Realm.
Rogers, Gold and Regina discuss this other Rumplestiltskin as he is considered far darker than Gold/Weaver ever was as the Dark One. Henry rushes in and tells them that Rumple took Ella and Lucy but they have no way to access the wish realm, until Wish-Killian finds his hook and believes that might help them as the wish realm is his home and it might be easier to access than expected.
Tiana is visited by Naveen as she is cooking, because she is stressed as she doesn't know who she is anymore now that the curse has broken. Naveen assures her that she can be both and they embrace. Later that night, Henry, Regina, Hook and Gold locate Alice's looking glass to travel to the wish realm, but it is cracked, meaning that the magic might not work. Gold informs Henry about how dangerous his alter-ego really is and that he won't be easy to face. The portal from the looking glass manages to work, and the heroes make their way to the wish realm.
In Roni's, Alice and Robin are on a date when Alice feels pain in her heart and realises that Hook and the others are in danger, but don't know why other than the fact that they need help in the wish realm. Alice and Robin decide to go to Tiana, but she tells them the Benyays don't have magic that will open a portal. Tiana gives a speech to the people of Seattle about helping Robin and Alice, asking if anyone has either a bean, silver slippers or even a hat that can be used as a portal. One of the citizens named Remmy, reveals he has a magical bean from years before the curse. Tiana offers Robin and Alice her food truck as transpertation as she declines going with them, as she and Naveen feel the need to stay with their people and support them in these hard times. Tiana and Naveen wish them luck as Alice and Robin decide to make one stop before reaching the wish realm; Storybrooke.
In the Wish Realm[]
Upon arriving in the realm. the foursome are seperated as Henry and Regina find themselves in Rumplestiltskin's Castle while Hook and Gold find themselves outside of Rumple's old family hone. Henry and Regina find Peter Pan trapped along with other people, telling them that his son did this to him as he "never forgives or forgets". When Henry tells Pan that Rumple took his family, Pan informs him and Regina that things that enter the castle, never get released, especially if they are good things.
Outside of the wish realm version of his family home, Gold deduces that he and Hook are here because Gold never liked the home. He deduces that his evil counterpart cracked Alice's looking glass on purpose so that Gold, Hook, Regina and Henry would end up in specific, but seperate places in the realm. Gold remembers the home as a place where he failed to become a hero in the orgres war and wants to find his alternate self, if that is what he wants. Hook decides to take Gold to a hideout as the realm is his home and he knows of somewhere they can get help. In Hook's old hideout, he reveals that he almost gave up looking for Alice after she left the tower, and almost gave into the darkness if it wasn't for a good friend, revealed to be Ariel, who gives him and Gold some squid ink to imobilise the Dark One.
Back in the castle, Henry and Regina see Cruella De Vil, who threatens to kill them as she had made a deal with wish-Rumple, until she sees Henry and immediately starts to flirt with him, much to his dismay. Henry and Cruella face off until Regina traps her in the cage, demanding to know where Lucy and Ella are. Cruella reveals Henry's family are in the dungeon and he and Regina find them in a crystal ball, but are unable to free them. Rumplestiltskin suddenly appears as Lucy begs her father to set them free, but when Regina tries to magic them out, she is unsuccessful as only Rumple can set them free, because he was the one who put them in there, but he doesn't want to. Henry tells Rumple that he didn't bring him the dagger because it's not right for Henry to trade his grandfather's happy ending for his own, as Gold is trying to get to Belle. To make things worse, Rumplestitskin magically adds snow falling to the ball so that Ella and Lucy will freeze to death by midnight.
While Regina tries to free Lucy and Ella, she assures Henry they will free his wife and daughter, as Hook and Gold enter the dungeon, but Gold tells them this magic can not be undone like this and the only way to free them is to go after Rumplestiltskin himself. However, Henry does not agree and decides to give the dagger to the dark one if it means Ella and Lucy will be freed, but his grandfather tells him it's not an option, although Henry argues about Gold waning to cast a curse that could have reunited him with his own son. Disappointed in her son, Regina calls Henry out, saying he is better than this, but Henry stands by his statement and believes he deserves his happy ending rather than Gold. Using the item that Ariel gave him and Hook, Gold goes after Rumple while Regina goes with him to ensure he doesn't mislead them, while Hook and Henry search the libeary for a spell that could release Lucy and Ella before it's too late.
While Henry reads through the spells, Gold goes inside his old family home, where Rumplestiltskin greets him. Gold explains that he has spent ages trying to get rid of the darkness, but upon realising that his darker alter-ego wants the darkness, Gold considers Rumple a loophole. Rumple asks his "less-er half" why he decided to now hand over the dagger, so Gold tells him that he can never defeat himself and gives him the dagger and the darkness from it, in exchange for being free from the darkness and getting the ending Gold deserves. Gold almost kills Rumplestitskin, but Regina finds him, asking him what he is doing. Now freed from the squid ink, Rumple knocks Regina out and chokes Gold, reminding him of the phrophacy that the seer showed him many, many years ago: that Henry will be Gold's undoing. Rumple escapes as Henry continues to search until he believes he can save his family without giving him Rumple the dagger, to which Hook agrees to join him, until Henry knocks the alternate version of his father out, believing Hook wouldn't help.
In the woods, late at night, Henry is found by the wish realm version of The Apprentice, who threatens Henry. until he tells him he is here for the author's pen and not for a fight. The Apprentice informs Henry of the hardships that come with the pen, but Henry doesn't care as he knows about it, and the Apprentice does not want to give it to just anyone as there has not been an author in this realm for a very long time. Henry tells him that he is not from this realm and is the author in his world. The Apprentices senses that Henry is telling the truth through visions and realising what Henry has been through, the apprentice realises that he really is the author. The Apprentice says it is an honor to meet Henry and the pen suddenly appears in Henry's hand.
Henry returns to Rumplestiltskin's Castle and absorbs the ink from Cruella's hair, regaining the ink for the book, and turning Cruella's hair completely white. As Henry is about to use the pen to set Ella and Lucy free, Rumplestiltskin suddenly appears and takes the pen from him, to which Henry realises that the Dark One was after the pen the whole time, not the dagger. Henry informs the Dark One that he can't use it because only the author - in this case, Henry - is able to use the pen. Sir Henry, Henry's wish realm counterpart, suddenly appears and reveals he is working with Rumplestitskin and will write whatever the dark one wants. Sir Henry introduces himself to his older, alternate counterpart, who is shocked to learn there actually is an alternate version of himself, as he always thought there was only one version of him. Wish Henry tells Henry that he is him, but there is one difference between them; his wishes never came true so made a deal with Rumplestitskin. Henry remembers the time when Rumple approached him in the early days of his adventures and realises the Dark One wasn't talking about him needing his help, but instead the wish realm version of him. Sir Henry reveals he tried and failed to get his happy ending the right way, but got desperate so came to the Dark One.
Regina, Hook and Gold soon enter the room and she is surprised to see two versions of her son, to which Sir Henry calls her out for killing his grandparents. Regina tries to assure the alternate version of her son that she didn't mean to do it, before she realises that Rumplestitskin is manipulating Henry into writing him a happy ending and using the prince's grief and anger to his advantage. Gold tells Sir Henry that he does not have to honor the deal he made with Rumplestitskin and offers to help him find his happy ending. Rumplestiltskin then threatens his alternate self, wanting to make sure Gold never sees Belle ever again. Henry tries to convince his alternate self that he shouldn't go down this path because he should know, as him, it's not the right thing to do. Rumple makes Sir Henry write that the power of the guardian is no more, which gives Rumple more endless life.
Henry, Gold and Hook are then teleported into the same crystal ball as Lucy and Ella, while Regina is left with Rumple and Sir Henry. Out of vengance and revenge for Regina killing Snow and David, and getting Emma to regain her memories, Sir Henry vows to take matters into his own hands, to get his end of the deal he made with Rumple.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Lana Parrilla as Roni
- Colin O'Donoghue as Rogers
- Andrew J. West as Henry Mills
- Dania Ramirez as Jacinda Vidrio
- Alison Fernandez as Lucy
- Mekia Cox as Tiana
- Robert Carlyle as Weaver/Rumplestiltskin
Guest Starring[]
- Jared S. Gilmore as Sir Henry
- Robbie Kay as Peter Pan
- Jeff Pierre as Drew
- Rose Reynolds as Tilly
- Tiera Skovbye as Margot
- Victoria Smurfit as Cruella De Vil
- JoAnna Garcia as Ariel
- Timothy Webber as the Apprentice
Co-Starring[]
- Sarah Grey as Princess
- James Rittinger as Handsome Prince
- Trevor Roberts as Remy
Trivia[]
- The Apprentice of the Wish Realm mentions "the timelines alone make the head spin [in confusion]." after basically watching the entirety of Once Upon a Time in Henry's memory. In fairness some flashback time periods seen this season don't make sense by the end; though it was mentioned by Eddie and Adam (the creators of the show) that time in the Magical Forest runs faster than in Our World and Enchanted Forest. This explains why Henry was a grown adult and Emma still in her mid-30s when she visited the realm.
- Wish Realm Rumplestiltskin says he prays on Desperate Souls, which was the name of the eighth episode of the first season, of the series.
- Sir Henry mentions the time Regina "killed" his grandparents, which was shown in "Wish You Were Here".
Gallery[]
External links[]
