'Once Upon a Time' Season 2, Episode 8: 'Into The Deep' Recap

Emma shows Aurora the photo of Henry, confirming that he is the one she saw in her dream. Snow admits that she has been to that room. It is there for victims of the sleeping curse. Snow realizes they have a way home now. Rumplestiltskin can tell them how to stop Cora, if they can communicate via Henry.

Aurora goes to sleep, and calls to Henry in the fiery room. Aurora tells him who she is and that they need his help.

Henry wakes, shouting to James and Regina, who wait beside him, that Emma and Snow are alive. Regina’s mother is trying to stop them.

Belle and Gold are getting lunch at Granny’s, despite Granny’s antagonism toward him. Regina comes in and tells him that she needs to talk. She tells him Cora is coming from their land and they need to stop her. Regina reminds him, “This time you have someone you care about. This time you have a weakness.”

In the woods, Mulan notices that Aurora’s arm is burned. She tells her that she should not return to the room—she promised the prince that she would protect Aurora. Aurora insists it is her turn to help.

James, Regina, and Gold set up Henry on a bed in Gold’s shop. Henry tells James he is ready to be a hero.

“Sometimes being one is knowing when not to run into the fire,” James reminds him.

Gold sits and begins to tell Henry a bedtime story that will teach him what to say to Aurora. He mentions a magic ink that he keeps in his jail cell.

As Snow, Emma, and Mulan wait over the sleeping Aurora, they hear something in the woods. Aurora, in the room, tries to listen to Henry tell her where to go to find the ink, but the gusts of fire make it too difficult to hear. Aurora hears someone calling her. In a moment, she disappears in a twister, waking. Their camp has been invaded; Emma and Snow are fighting off the men. One grabs the compass. Snow puts an arrow into him. Emma and Snow realize Mulan and Aurora have vanished.

The two have run off, but Mulan gets tackled. As she fights the man off and rises, Aurora is missing. Snow and Emma run into Mulan again, and she tells them what happened.

Henry wakes and tells them that he wasn’t able to deliver the message. His arm is covered in burns.

Cora has captured Aurora, although she wasn’t the target. Aurora tells her that her new companions are not going to come for her, but Cora insists they will. She wonders if Aurora wants to go to the other world to start over. She tells her that she can bring back her prince, as the wraiths, when eating a soul, simply transmit it to another world. Aurora resists. Cora sends a crow, who stops on Snow with a message—she will kill Aurora by sunset if they do not bring her the compass.

Emma and Mulan fight over the compass, but Snow reminds them she might be able to access the room. She needs to go into a deep enough sleep to get back there—using Mulan’s sleeping potion. Mulan knows where they can find more, if they hurry.

Gold heals Henry’s burn. He will need more time to recover before sending him back. James and Regina resist sending him back, but Gold insists Snow and Emma will be dead if they don’t. Regina reminds them Aurora won’t be there, but James realizes Snow can find a way back. James tells them to put him under a sleeping curse, despite Gold warning him he might not wake up. James insists Snow will kiss him and he will wake.

Aurora wakes to the sound of Captain Hook, setting her free, as revenge against Cora. Aurora questions it, but goes to run. He tells her to give Emma the message that their deal still stands. He still wants passage back to her realm.

As Emma and Snow move through the forest, Emma notices Snow seems nervous. She asks her about the room, and Emma reveals her guilt for sending Henry there for not believing him. Snow tells her about how Regina’s love was killed because of her, but reminds her they can’t get caught up in guilt. Emma insists Regina is the one to blame.

Regina is working on a sleeping curse at the moment, which Henry observes. Henry asks her if she has been doing magic, and she insists she hasn’t, other than when she had to kill Daniel. He says that at least she is helping people now. Henry wants to go back under, but Regina tells him neither she nor James will let him risk his safety. Henry worries James might not wake up.

“If there is one thing I know about your grandparents… they always find each other.”

Mulan has found the poppy they need to make the potion and grinds it. As Snow prepares to sleep, Emma takes her hand. Mulan blows the powder into her face.

Gold needs to send James to sleep the old-fashioned way, and has Regina poison the needle of a spinning wheel. Henry hugs him and tells him good luck. James insists it will be all right, and Henry gives him the necklace to help control the flame. James pricks his finger, and faints.

He goes under the curse, but he is not in the flaming room, since he has not been awoken from the curse yet. Instead he is in a room with all mirrors. He takes a torch and moves through, trying to navigate.

Snow, meanwhile, is in the room of flames, calling for Henry with increasing panic.

James uses the necklace, which is glowing. It grows brighter when he aims it a certain direction, burning him. He drops it, and as he goes it pick it up, realizes the floor is hot. The room of flames is below him. He uses the bottom of his torch to slam through the thin floor, falling into the flames. He looks around, and after a moment, he and Snow see each other. James tells her about the magic ink that will stun her and kept in his cell. Snow asks him how he is there, and realizes what he did. He tells her it was worth it. He leaps through the flames and moves to kiss her, but she has become transparent as she wakes. He tells her it’s okay, she will always find him.

“We always lose each other too, is that our fate?”

As Snow wakes, she vanishes.

Everyone stands over James, wondering why he is still asleep.

Snow wakes, Emma still holding her hand. Snow leaps up, panicking. She wants to go back to be with James. Emma realizes the compass—and Mulan—have vanished.

Cora goes to see Aurora, but finds the captain instead. She attacks Hook but he tells her she should thank him. He brought her a gift, in his satchel. She opens it, astonished.

As Mulan runs, Snow’s warning arrow stops her. They fight over the compass. Aurora interrupts them as Snow threatens to kill her. She explains that Hook let her free to show Emma that she should have trusted him, and that he cares for her—only it’s Cora, speaking through the heart, her gift from Hook. Cora, as Aurora, asks about the plan, and tells them to lead the way.