'Once Upon a Time' Season 2, Episode 18: 'Selfless, Brave and True' Recap

 Phuket: 2011. August wakes with a gasp. He wakes up his girlfriend, and shows her that his leg has turned to wood. She doesn’t see it. He realizes in horror he is turning into wood.

Charming prepares breakfast in bed for Snow, but Emma stops him and yells at him for coddling her. She tells him Snow is the only one who can help herself before she leaves.

Charming turns and sees Snow, packing a bag. She says she is going to the woods to think things through. He tells her they may have a bean crop soon, and everything will be in the past once they go home. Snow says it won’t erase what she did—she asks for time.

Henry hugs Neal, and gives him his storybook so Neal can tell him what it was really like. Emma goes to leave, but Neal stops her. He tells her Tamara went to get some of her stuff from the storage room and Hook was no longer there. Emma doesn’t seem that concerned.

Neal tells her that Tamara was getting her stuff because she was on her way to Storybrooke. Emma yells at him, and he says he didn’t think it through. He needs her. Emma tells him he should tell her the truth.

Neal wants them to get to know each other.

In the woods, Snow is listening to music and shooting arrows at a target. She stops, something catching her attention. She walks over and picks up her arrow, the point missing. She finds an old RV without wheels, and goes inside.

August comes out of the shadows, her arrow in his leg. He is entirely wooden.

August shows his wooden leg to the doctor, aghast that the doctor can’t see it. To prove it to him, he jams a knife in. The doctor calls for orderlies, and August runs.  A young boy pulls him into a closet. He says he can help. He works with a man who fixes problems others dismiss. He is called The Dragon.

Snow points out that the curse lifted. He says that he could move again, but he stayed wood. He says it is his own punishment. Snow tells him to come back, but he doesn’t want Emma or his father to see him like that. She mentions Neal, and he asks if Neal and Emma are back together. He says his problem is hoping… hoping things can work out.

Snow tells him he has to stop feeling sorry for himself and come back. He refuses. He tells her to leave and not tell anyone she saw him.

Emma, Henry, Tamara and Neal eat breakfast quietly. Henry asks how they met—Neal bashed into Tamara and spilled coffee on her. Henry and Emma have to go, but Henry leaves the book with his father. Tamara tells Neal Henry has his spirit. Neal tells Tamara he’s from a place called The Enchanted Forest. He shows her the book. He tells her it’s his history.

She slams the book closed and tells him to tell her what’s really going on. She blames the issue on Emma. She tells him to come find her when he’s ready to be honest about himself and his feelings.

The young man leads August up some stairs and makes him wait in a room, where others sit. A woman gets called into the room. Her phone falls out of her purse, and August stops her. She turns—it is Tamara.

Regina brings Greg pie at Granny’s to thank him for calling her about him. She tells him he seems oddly familiar.

Snow comes in the door, nearly running into Regina. Regina tells her to try the “blackened sole,” and walks out. Snow tells Marco and Emma that she found August but that he is all wood. They rush out to find the Blue Fairy to help. Tamara has overheard the conversation with a strange expression.

In Phuket, Tamara comes out of the room and sends in August after her. She wishes him luck.

He goes in, and is asked to sit before a man with a long beard, surrounded by candles. August shows him his normal leg—the man says the problem is with his other leg. He knows he is Pinocchio. He tells him he can help him—for a cost. He requests payment in the form of the string on the necklace around his neck. It was the string used to animate him. He also demands $10,000.

The Blue Fairy says August already came to her. She said he is what he is. He changed back because he did not remain brave and selfless and true, as were the stipulation for turning him into a real boy.

After seeing the mysterious man, August leaves. Tamara sees him and calls him over at a bar to buy him a drink. She buys with a huge envelope of money. He asks what brought her to him. She says cancer. He tells her has a skin condition. She gets a phone call, and goes to take it. August reluctantly steals her money and takes off.

There is a knock on August’s door. He says he wants to be left alone—but it is Tamara.

August returns to The Dragon, who shows him the cure and demands the money. August sees a picture of Tamara and her grandmother on the table and is seized by pain, which The Dragon notes. He tells him he can cure his condition but he has to cure himself. August gives him the money.

Tamara finds him in the market and tells him it’s hers. He runs from her, but his leg stops him, and he falls in pain. She takes the cure back, and tells him he deserves his fate.

Tamara makes fun of his RV. She tells him he owes her. He is surprised that he can see her as wood, but more surprised when she tells him to leave. She tells him not to worry about who she is, but how she is there. The Dragon cured her cancer, and she has some of the bottle remaining in NYC. She tells him to go and get it.

He realizes she is Neal’s fiancee, and asks if she and Neal are trying to take the magic from Storybrooke. She hands him her keys and tells him she is giving him his salvation.

Greg returns to his hotel room to find Regina. She recognized him as Owen. He tells her he is looking for his father. She is surprised—she says he left shortly after he did, and she never saw him again. He says he is not leaving without him, but she insists he is. She tells him people can just disappear.

As Emma, Snow, and Marco go into the woods, Marco tells Snow the truth. He built the wardrobe, and he sent his son through with Emma and lied about it. Snow hits him, but is shocked by her action. She says she forgives him—she would have done the same. They see the RV and go inside, but it is empty. August leaves Storybrooke.

The Dragon tells Tamara her photograph is on the table, and to take it. She says she needs answers. It turns out she is not sick; but she was searching for magic. Finding it has not been easy. She says she analyzed the cure, but it literally contains nothing. No element in this world.

She says she can’t risk anyone else finding him. She turns with a taser, saying it was nice to meet him. Red smoke comes off of him and he rises—“You haven’t met me. At least not the real me.”

She tasers him, however, and he drops.

As he drives, August hits a bump, and the picture of Tamara and her grandmother falls. He turns the car around and veers back. He goes to the station, calling for Emma. He calls her phone to warn her, but Tamara cuts the line before he can say against what. He says he went back to The Dragon and found him dead. Now he realizes she killed him.

He tells her he cares about the town, and he’s not going to let her harm anyone. She hits him with the electricity, and he falls.

The group goes back to the station as August stumbles outside. He drops, and Marco runs to him. August tries again to warn Emma, but he dies before he can get the words out.

Henry says they need the Blue Fairy. He was brave, truthful, and unselfish. If his actions were thus, she can bring him back. She waves her wand at him, and a little boy wakes up, a real boy. He and Marco hug, as Tamara comes up behind them. The Blue Fairy tells him to do better this time.

Emma tells him to think real hard and remember the important thing he was trying to warn them about, but he doesn’t remember. Everyone hugs (apparently forgetting the danger). Neal asks Tamara if she wants to head back to New York. She says she signed up for him.

Flashback to August and Neal in New York. August tells him he’s turning back to wood, which means Emma is back in town. He tells Neal he’ll send him a post card when the curse is broken.

Tamara has watched this scene in a small mirror. As August leaves, she goes over and deliberately bumps into Neal.

Emma tells Henry she is sorry for not telling the truth about his father. She asks not to be pushed away—and Henry forgives her.

Charming asks Snow to tell her what is going on, and Snow tells him he can’t get mad. She tells him she went to Regina’s house and confronted her—so she would kill her. She explains that her heart is blackening. She says she wants to think redemption is possible, but she saw what it did to August. He tells her they’ll find another way.

Greg gets a call, and asks where she’s been. Tamara is at the door—she tells him Neal is in the shower, so they only have a few minutes. They kiss.