'Once Upon a Time' Spoilers, Plot Recap: Evil Queen Helps Maleficent Rediscover Dragon Powers
"Enter the Dragon" was the title of the latest episode of "Once Upon A Time" which aired at 8/7c on Sunday on ABC. It saw Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten) collaborating with Regina Mills aka the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) both in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrooke.
First, a bit of Maleficent and the Evil Queen's history in the Enchanted Forest was focused on. The Evil Queen went to visit Maleficent with Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle) in tow with the intent to learn more magic from Maleficent. However, she found out that Maleficent had lost her power and could not transform anymore into a dragon to burn King Stefan (Sebastian Roché) to exact vengeance on Princess Aurora (Sarah Bolger). This led the Evil Queen to suggest to Maleficent to suck in the fire from a magical burning bush to rediscover the dragon within her.
Although the Evil Queen's plan didn't work initially and they were captured, she helped Maleficent rediscover her dragon powers. She then took revenge on her enemies and cast a sleeping spell on Aurora.
This scenes showing Maleficent and the Evil Queen were interspersed with happenings in Storybrooke as Regina infiltrated the camp of Maleficent, Ursula (Merrin Dungey) and Cruella (Victoria Smurfit) following the suggestion of Emma (Jennifer Morrison).
After the evil quartet had their share of drinking and destruction, they revealed to Regina that they were also in search of the author of the book, and they needed her to kidnap Pinocchio (Jakob Davies) for them.
Elsewhere, Rumpelstiltskin disguised as Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) tricked Belle (Emilie de Ravin) into digging up his dagger and handing it to him. He also used the disguise to find out what Belle really felt for Will Scarlet (Michael Socha) and him.
Attention then switched to Regina who disregarded Emma's instruction and handed over Pinocchio to Maleficent, Ursula and Cruella, as she believed that she could handle the situation. The trio then revealed that they were onto Regina from the beginning and in cohort with Rumpelstiltskin who then arrived on the scene and proceeded to turn Pinocchio into the adult August (Eion Bailey) in order to learn the author's identity from him.