"Our Decay" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of ABC's Once Upon a Time, and the one hundred and fourth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 3, 2016.
Plot[]
Opening Sequence[]
The Munchkins appears in the red-tinted forest.
In The Character's Past[]
In the Land of Oz, "many years ago", Zelena is celebrating her birthday on April 15 by herself while looking at a mirror of her mother Cora, who abandoned her as a baby. When her flying monkeys bring back the Scarecrow, she's ready to take his brain as part of her plans to create a time travel spell. Zelena needs the main ingredients for time travel spell: symbols of innocence (baby), love (Tin-Man's heart), courage (Cowardly Lion's courage), and wisdom (Scarecrow's brain). Unfortunately, those plans are ruined when The Scarecrow is saved by Dorothy, who has come back to Oz due to Zelena's takeover. Zelena looks down and notices Dorothy's silver slippers. Toto is out in Dorothy's doggie bag and he pulls the curtain onto Zelena. Scarecrow, Dorothy, and Toto run away from Zelena. Zelena later confronts the Munchkins in order to find out who told Dorothy that she was still alive, when all of a sudden Hades appears and makes a deal to become a ally by helping her create the time-travelling spell. A skeptical Zelena turns down the deal at first but changes her mind when Hades explains that he is looking for true love's first kiss, which will allow him to become human again. Later on, Hades brings Zelena to Dorothy's bicycle so they can track her and then find the Scarecrow, but before they begin the plan, the two are finding themselves attracted to each other. When they finally see Dorothy, Zelena takes The Scarecrow's brain but they leave Dorothy alive in order to make everyone in Oz believe she a failure. As Hades is about to reveal his true love for Zelena, she is led to believe that he is only manipulating her for his eventual revenge against Zeus, implying that anyone could not love her. A hurtful Zelena demands that Hades leave Oz.
In Storybrooke[]
At the covenant, Belle tends to baby Neal and Zelena's daughter, when she sees the Mother Superior, who checks in on the children but has her sights set on the girl. When the real Mother Superior shows up, Belle looks at the imposter and discovers its Zelena, who came back from Oz to take back her child, which leads to a fight moments before the portal opens. When Belle sees this, she takes the baby and jumps into and is followed afterwards by Zelena, are sent to the Underworld, where Zelena discovers that not only is Hades is responsible for the portal, her powers are useless in the realm and has injured her leg, slowing down her chance to stop a scared Belle.
In the Underworld[]
Inside the lair, Hades is furious that Gold is taking his time to create a portal to Storybrooke in order to transport Zelena's baby daughter to him, telling him that this plan will be the difference in whether or not his secrets are revealed to Belle he finishes it quickly. Meanwhile, Snow and David discover that they can use a special phone to contact their son Neal through the process of haunting. At the loft, Henry is still feeling less useful even as he shows them illustrated drawings that seems to come to him but can't explain it.
Later on, Zelena surprises Robin, Regina, Emma, Henry, David, and Snow and told them about the portal that brought her, Belle, and the baby to the Underworld. At the same time, Belle catches up and surprises Gold who then comes clean about still being the Dark One and his reacquired powers, as well as her pregnancy, but then he tells Belle that she will have to choose whether or not she wants to be with him and that he will never change. Robin, Regina, and Zelena catch up with Belle and return the baby to Zelena so she can feed her. However, Zelena was about deceive everyone by escaping with her daughter, only to have a change of heart and returning her baby, upon learning that her magic isn't powerful enough in the Underworld to protect the baby by herself, having suspected that Hades brought her to the Underworld so that he can use her daughter to enact a time-travel spell. Meanwhile at the loft, everyone starts to believe that Zelena, even without her powers, can help them, while Henry shows off more drawings, including the story of baby Neal hearing his parents, as Snow and David succeeded in getting the message to their son.
Outside in the street, Zelena later confronts Hades to tell him that she will never give him her baby. Hades later admits to having feelings for her, claims that he was simply trying to summon her daughter to keep it away from her enemies, and even going as far as creating a Storybrooke version of the Underworld in order to give Zelena the same type of kingdom as Regina's, only to have Zelena turn Hades down again, but he tells her that if she ever changes her mind, he'll be waiting for her in the Underworld, forever.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
- Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
- Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills
- Josh Dallas as David Nolan
- Emilie de Ravin as Belle French
- Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
- Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
- Rebecca Mader as Zelena
- Sean Maguire as Robin Hood
- Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold
Guest Starring[]
- Keegan Connor Tracy as Mother Superior
- Emma Caulfield as Blind Witch
- Teri Reeves as Dorothy Gale
- Greg Germann as Hades
- Paul Scheer as The Scarecrow
- Ray Boulay as Oz Guard
- Jeff Gulka as Boq
- Danny Lucas as Sad-Eyed Man
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first appearance of The Scarecrow and Toto in the series.
- This is the first episode of the arc to feature all main characters.
