'Once Upon a Time' Season 2, Episode 7: 'Child of the Moon' Recap

Dwarves in the mines quit their work, ready to head off for happy hour. Grumpy, however, won’t quit. He’s determined to keep mining for fairy dust. One big swing and he tumbles down into a chamber, surprising everyone.

James is called to the scene.

The chamber is full of diamonds. Magic has brought them back—the diamonds that will grind into fairy dust. By tomorrow, they will have enough magic to reach Snow and Emma.

At Granny’s, everyone drinks to the dwarves.

Billy, the tow truck man, approaches Red, telling her that in the other world, he was a mouse named Gus. He wants to buy her a drink after her shift. He knows Ruby… he wants to meet Red. Red tells him that tonight’s not good. Belle comes up to confirm that it’s girls’ night, saving her.

James finds Henry drinking coffee, still worried by his nightmares. James promises he will be right in the next room. Henry goes to switch his coffee for cocoa.

The king takes his seat, threatening James.

“It must be hard for you. Watching good win.”

“By the time I’m done with you, you’ll wish you’d killed me when you had the chance,” he warns, but James isn’t phased.

Red and Granny are making a cage out of the freezer. It’s the first full moon since the curse broke, and Red is worried about being able to control her wolf. She can’t find her hood to keep from changing, and she won’t take any chances.

Flashback to Snow and Ruby dashing through the night. Soldiers attack them, but the two escape. Snow sees her own “Wanted” poster on a tree, and angrily rips it down. The ladies hide in a ravine as the soldiers pass.

Red notices that her hood is torn, and it is a full moon night. She begs Snow to leave and find shelter, so Red can go hide. They arrange to meet again in the morning. Red questions why Snow is so kind to her, and Snow says she knows that’s not who she really is—they’re in it together now.

As Red runs off, a man hiding behind a tree observes her, and his eyes flash yellow.

In Storybrooke, as Granny enters to set Red free, she notices that Red is missing, and the cage has been destroyed.

Henry is dreaming, in a room of fire. He screams to the woman across the way, asking her who she is and where they are, but she remains hunched. He screams himself awake, surprised to see Regina sitting with him. James called her in, having to leave. Regina notices burns on Henry’s hand.

James and Granny find Ruby in the woods and tell her about the freezer. Red is in a panic that she hurt someone; she can’t remember anything, she wasn’t in control. James gets a phone call, and Red is worried, but it’s just a double park incident.

Flashback to Ruby waking up, pleased to see her cloak seems to have kept her from shifting. As she bends at the stream to get water, the man from the previous night steals her cloak and rushes off. She chases, and he threatens to burn it. They tussle, and he reveals to her that he is a wolf as well. Did no one teach her about herself?

She tells him her parents were killed in a hunting accident, she had no one.

The man, Quinn, tells her there is a way to control the wolf. Red follows him into the woods, where he goes into a small door hidden on the forest floor. Down below there is a small community of werewolves. He tells her Anita is expecting her, and a striking woman comes forward, her yellow eyes flashing.

“You have grown so much,” she says, surprising Red. “I’m your mother.”

In Storybrooke, they find Billy’s tow truck, but no Billy… Billy, unfortunately, is dead on the ground, and another collection of bodies is not far. Red screams that it was the wolf.

Regina calls in Mr. Gold, showing him the burn on Henry. Mr. Gold calls it a side effect. He tells them that a person under a sleeping spell has their soul travel to a netherworld. Even when the curse is broken, sometimes in sleep, the victims find their way back there. Regina wants something to keep him from going there. He gives Henry something to control his action while there—a necklace, so he can control his journey and thus his fear. Mr. Gold uncharacteristically doesn’t expect anything in return.

Red is still distraught. James refuses to make the same mistake that he did in not believing Mary Margaret, and won’t assume that Red has killed the men. Red asks to be locked up in the jail cell.

In the werewolf community, Red realizes her grandmother lied to her. Her mother tells her she stole her, thinking that the wolf is something to hide. But one just needs help embracing true nature. She can help Red, but she makes her start by taking of the cloak. Red hugs her mother.

James obliges, locking Red in the jail cell. The king comes in, demanding justice. He wants James to hand Red over to him and let the town decide her fate.

Flashback, as Red’s new pack races through the woods. Give into the wolf, Anita urges. Red is the wolf. When Red accepts that, she will be in control.

Red wakes the next morning. She remembers everything from the night before. She doesn’t have to be afraid anymore.

The king is stirring people up outside the jail, blaming David. They cut open the lock on the jail and go in to get Red, but the cell is empty.

James has taken her, hiding her in the library. James is determined to prove Red had nothing to do with the deaths.

Flashback again, Quinn waking suddenly. He hears hunters. He grabs the human entering by the throat. It is Snow. Red pleads for her, and at a word from her mother, Quinn releases her. She says she tracked the wolf prints and found her. She urges Red to come with her, but Red hesitates.

“I don’t have to be ashamed of who I am here. I found my home. I found my mother.”

They embrace. Unexpectedly, an arrow takes Quinn out. Soldiers have entered, tracking Snow, and everyone fights.

Quinn dies.

In Storybrooke, Red urges Belle to leave, but she says, if they chains will hold, she wants to stay. “Trust me, I’m sort of an expert when it comes to rehabilitation.”

Red chains Belle to a column. She goes out to meet the town—deserving to be killed.

James and Granny, using her strong sense of smell, are tracking something. They open the trunk of a car, finding Ruby’s hood, and proof that Billy was murdered. That someone wanted to pin it on Red. James smashes open the car window, finding that the car belongs to King George. They hear Red’s howl.

Quinn is dead. Snow apologizes, but Anita blames her. She has her tied up—they’ll feast on her to make up for the one lost. Anita tells Red she has to kill Snow. Red says she won’t, so Anita will.

“This is what it means to be a wolf.”

She transforms, ready to leap, but a black wolf knocks her aside. Anita returns to human form, impaled on a fireplace poker. Snow throws Red’s hood over the wolf, making Red return to human form. She weeps over Anita, apologizing, but Anita pushes her away for making the choice of Snow.

“No! I chose me.”

The Storybrooke mob is hunting Red by her howls. They find her, lurking in an alley. King George aims his gun, but Granny stops him with her crossbow. James fights to the front, telling the crowd that George is the one who killed Billy. Red growls, and the crowd reacts, but James insist she won’t hurt anyone. Taking the hood, he inches toward her, but she snarls at him.

He tries to appeal to her. The wolf, teeth bared, finally sits, seeming to recognize him suddenly. He tosses the cloak over her, bringing her back to human form.

King George has run off, knocking down Granny. James gets into the police car and takes off after him.

“You think you can hide from a wolf?” Red asks, coming upon George standing by a bonfire. But he wasn’t hiding, he was waiting. With relish, he tosses Jefferson’s hat onto the bonfire.

James takes his gun, aiming it at him, but at a word from Red, he stops. They all stare at the fire, where the portal is now destroyed.

Red has buried her mother. Snow hugs her. “I didn’t lose my family today. I protected it… my mother wanted me to choose between being a wolf and being a human. You are the only person who ever thought it would be okay to be both.”

Red and James are watching a sleeping Henry. James worries how he will tell him he will never see his mother and grandmother again. Red reassures him that he will find a way, and she will help. She asks him to call Granny and have Belle unchained. She leaves. She has regained control, and she wants to run.

Snow is sitting in the dark woods thinking when Emma runs up. They return to their camp, where Aurora is dreaming. She screams in the fire, horrified. She sees Henry, holding the necklace. He calms the fires, and tells her not to be scared.

She wakes suddenly, screaming. She tells Snow about the little boy, who said his name was Henry.