The dwarves are digging in the mines and Leroy points out that they have to be more productive since Dopey is a tree. Emma appears and says that she's there for Happy's axe. She takes it and teleports away before they can do anything.
Camelot
Regina, Mary Margaret, Belle, and Emma go through Merlin's workshop trying to find the ingredients to restore the wizard. They insist that Emma not use her new dark magic, and Arthur comes in and asks if they've made progress. Mary Margaret suggests that they talk to Merlin and have him tell them out to get her out. Regina finds a reference to a toadstool, Crimson Crown, which allows communication across magical barriers. Arthur has heard of it and says that it grow sin the Forest of Eternal Night. He warns that it will be protected by magical forces, and David insists on questing to obtain it. Arthur goes after him and suggests that they quest together as brothers, and David accepts.
Now
Emma finds the book referring to the Crimson Crown, and a question mark written in her handwriting. The dwarves come in and tell them what happened, and Leroy asks David and Mary Margaret for help. He says that David needs to step up, be sheriff, and deal with his daughter, and warns that they won't take insults forever. David goes to his office and Mary Margaret wonders why Emma needs an axe. They're both furious that Emma won't talk to them, and David worries that they can't save her. He worries that nobody is following him and that it's his fault that Emma is the Dark One, and now he's paralyzed with indecision. Mary Margaret assures him that he's help their people, and that she's her hero. David considers and says that he has it, and ushers his wife out.
Arthur visits David and says that he's been unable to find Excalibur. However, he reports that their reliquary has been robbed. There was a magic bean in it that could take his people home, and David promises to get him back to Camelot.
At Emma's house, Emma prepares to hack the Stone apart with Happy's axe. Rumplestiltskin warns that nothing cuts through magic except a kiss, and chuckles as the axe shutters. The former Dark One hallucination says that they need a hero to pull Excalibur from the Stone... and the both know who it is.
Camelot
In the workshop, Robin assures Regina that she'll figure out a way to free Merlin. Once he leaves, Zelena rolls her eyes and Regina removes her spell of silence from her sister. She says that Zelena can't take the child from Robin, and Zelena insists that the child is her only chance to have someone who loves her. Regina tells her sister that she can't keep painting herself as a victim, and silences Zelena when she complains that Regina has everything. She reminds Zelena that she's the Evil Queen, and promises that she'll make sure the baby is fine and loved and safe... and the same won't hold for Zelena.
Arthur and David arm themselves and David glances over at Percival's chair. The king says that he'll find a man worthy to fill it, and points out the empty chair and says that it will remain empty. The chair is the Siege Perilous, reserved for the knight with the purest heart. It belonged to Lancelot, who betrayed him, and David talks about how Lancelot and Guinevere fell in love. He says that he and Mary Margaret met Lancelot and later learned that he died. A servant, Grif, comes in with the reliquary. Among them is the Unquenchable Flame, powered by the Burning Bush, and Arthur says that they will need it.
Now
Grif brings the Reliquary to Arthur and David. The servant suggests that Emma may have taken it, but Arthur points out the scratches where the lock was picked. David realizes what the thief will go after next and leaves.
At the diner, Hook finds Robin looking at a sonogram of his child. Robin says that it's painful for him and Regina, but he's still happy because it's his child. Hook concedes that it's not a simple situation, and describes the door he saw in Emma's house. Granny drops off an order for Hook, and it has a note from Emma asking to meet Hook on his ship.
On the Jolly Roger, Hook enters his cabin and finds Emma waiting for him. She apologizes for overreacting the last time they met, and suggests that they talk and have lunch like old times. Emma conjures a full meal and a white dress, and offers her hand. Hook takes it and Emma assures him that he can trust her.
Camelot
David and Arthur enter the Forest of Eternal Life and Arthur talks about how he was born a peasant. David sympathizes and talks about their wives, and Arthur admits that he was a difficult man to live with. He tells David that he's made a conscious decision to fix things, and they continue on. The two men arrive at a bridge leading across a march, and spot the Crimson Crown on the other side. David starts to go across and realizes that it won't take both of them. Arthur stays behind and David crosses over. He falls and then continues, unaware that the armor of dead knights are in the water.
Now
David and Arthur go to the pawnshop, and Belle says that she's missing one ingredient to heal Gold: an object that touched him before he came the Dark One. She confirms that no one has come in to pawn a magic bean, and David notices a goblet on the counter. Belle lets him take it but warns that it's not magical, and David says that it doesn't matter.
At the camp, David holds up the goblet and claims that it's the Chalice of Vengeance. He says that it will tell them that when they drink from it, it will reveal who is the thief. Griff mounts a horse and rides off. David and Arthur drive after the squire, and David has Arthur take the wheel while he climbs in the truck bed and then lances Grif with a board.
Camelot
David reaches the toadstool and takes it, and goes back across the bridge. Enchanted knights emerge from the water and attack David, but there is nothing inside and they keep reassembling themselves and coming back. One of them trips David, knocking him into the water, and pulls him down. David manages to kick himself free and Arthur pulls him up to safety.
Now
Hook asks Emma what is behind the locked door, and realizes that something is wrong when she plays word games to avoid the question. Emma insists that she's better and sees things clearly, and she's not scared anyway. She says that she's an open book if Hook is willing to trust her, and points out that Gold and Belle loved each other. Hook doesn't believe it, and Emma reminds him that Gold was a coward until he became the Dark One. The pirate admits that he taunted and threatened Gold, and tells Emma that he's done humoring her. He asks why she brought him there, and figures that she needs something. Emma promises that all she needs is his trust, and Hook says that he liked the walls Emma had built up and breaking them down. She asks him if he loves her, and says that she will let him go if he doesn't. Hook says that he did love her, and Emma teleports away with Hook's cutlass.
Camelot
Once they reach shore, David realizes that he's lost the toadstool in the struggle. Arthur tells him that the seeking is what matters in a quest, but admits that he doesn't believe it. They both chuckle and David talks about how he once thought he'd change the world, and he wants to be remembered as more than the man who awoke a sleeping beauty. Arthur says that he feels the same and he's learned that it's the losses that require that they be brave... and never give up. As they leave, Arthur tells David that he has a place for a man like him.
Now
Back at the camp, Grif says that he never saw the bean. He explains that he and the others grew tired of how Arthur treated them, and he wanted to hurt him. However, Grif continues to insist that he never saw the bean. David talks to Arthur privately, and Arthur is sure that Grif is telling the truth. They spot the Crimson Crown in Grif's bag of stolen items, and David recognizes it. He shows it to Regina and Mary Margaret, and Regina realizes that it was on the page where she left the note she found. She figures they were using it to communicate with Merlin, and Mary Margaret tells David that he did it.
Camelot
Back at Camelot, the people applaud as Arthur knights David and appoints him to the Round Table. David assures the king that he is honored and tells him to take his place... at the Siege Perilous. David takes his seat and everyone applauds.
Neal cries and Mary Margaret takes him out. She sees someone in the shadows, and after a moment Lancelot steps out. He warns her that there is a terrible villain in Camelot, a villain other than Emma. Lancelot tells Mary Margaret that Arthur is the villain and Camelot is not what it seems.
Later, Arthur sits at the Round Table with the Reliquary. Guinevere comes in and Arthur reveals that he secretly took the Crimson Crown from David. He admits that he bust think of his kingdom first.
Now
Arthur approaches Grif in his cell. Grif says that he took the items as Arthur asked, and asks him to release him. The king says that they can't learn that there was never a bean, and the people of Storybrooke are responsible for tearing them away from their home. Grif wonders how they will get back without a bean, and Arthur says that they can't so they must rebuild Camelot in Storybrooke. He then asks Grif to drink a vial of poison so that their enemies can't force him to talk. Arthur offers Grif the chance to die in the service of Camelot, and Grif drinks the potion... for Camelot. He dies and dissolves into smoke.
At the diner, Hook finds Robin and says that he needs a thief to find out what is behind the door in Emma's house. Belle comes in and sees another flower off of the rose, and says that she has to get back to Gold. However, the blossom blooms and Belle realizes that Gold is waking up. When she goes back, she discovers that Gold is gone.
In Emma's cellar, Emma takes out Hook's cutlass that Rumplestiltskin touched when he was a man. Rumplestiltskin congratulates her, and Emma dissolves the cutlass.
Belle looks at the rose as it glows.
Gold wakes up and Emma tells him that his heart is a blank slate. Now she can make him into the last thing he ever thought he would be: a pure hero. Once she does, she has a job for Gold.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 12, 2015