The not so charming secret is finally revealed.
It seems whatever secret the Charmings have been hiding has been eating away at the duo ever since Cruella and Ursula’s return to Storybrooke. Episode 2: “Unforgiven” kicks off with Snow having a nightmare about the three Queens of Darkness showing up to snatch baby Neal away from her home. After realizing it was only a dream, Mary Margaret seeks comfort from a restless David who admits that he thinks they should leave town. Oh boy, so both of our fearless heroes are clearly worried about the secret they’ve been keeping since before the curse warped everybody to Storybrooke. Luckily, what they’ve kept pretty close to the chest for so long is finally revealed at the very end of the episode. It all starts with a flashback featuring the recently wed pair.
After arriving home from their  honeymoon, the couple finds their guards–one of which is Sleepy the dwarf, by the way–knocked out at the entrance to the castle. Though she calls out to her evil step mother, it is actually Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula who show up to confront the Charmings. They’ve come bearing the news that the Evil Queen has snatched an incredibly lethal spell away from Maleficent that they don’t know how to stop. There is, however, a special tree that can help them figure out how. According to the trio, all they need to tap into the tree of wisdom–which can answer any question in the world–is “two of the most valiant heroes.” So, this is where the secret seemingly begins, a deal with the evil witches to stop the OTHER evil witch from carrying out her plan.
Meanwhile, Cruella and Ursula are busy making Regina look bad in front of Henry by bringing up her past. It’s hard to see this happen since she’s been struggling so hard to make amends with her loved ones and start fresh on her journey to her happy ending. After Regina pretty much throws the duo out, Cruella pulls out her phone (which of course sports a Dalmatian print) and they head over to Gold’s shop.
So, what could the pair want from the shop? Though they tell Belle they’re looking for a hood ornament for Cruella’s rather fabulous car, what they’ve really come for is a box hidden somewhere in the back room. While they distract Rumpelstiltskin’s ex love interest with questions about the dark one, Ursula stealthily extends her tentacle to the other room to swipe the mysterious box–which according to Rumple’s reaction has something to do with Maleficent’s resurrection.
Though they were supposed to have lunch together, David and Emma see Cruella and Ursula leave the shop and decide to pursue them in their cop car. After finally getting them to pull over, David inspects the car and finds the box they stole hidden away. Seeing what is inside, he decides to hide the truth by assuring everybody that the car is clean. So, obviously, the contents of the box have to do with whatever the Charmings are trying to keep from Emma.
Back in the enchanted forest, while Charming and Snow are failing to get a group of guards to let them pass over the bridge, Maleficent swoops in and burns them all to the Charmings’Â dismay. Furious, they sneak off to the tree in the middle of the night but are rejected by the magical object just as the trio catches up to them. According to Maleficent, this is because Snow is pregnant with a child (Emma) that has the potential for great evil. They really are running with this whole “Emma is evil” thing this half of the season.
In the modern day neck of the woods, Regina is desperately trying to get Pinocchio to remember something about the Author. Earlier in the episode, Regina discovered that the pages for the puppet boy’s story were a bit different than the rest. That is because August (Adult Pinocchio) added the pages to the book. Unfortunately, to Regina’s dismay, the boy can’t remember a thing.
After finding out about her pregnancy, Snow wakes up to a visit from Maleficent. While David is placed under a sleeping spell, the evil queen pleads with the princess to find a way to stop the curse because she too is pregnant. Snow, refuses to compromise her benevolent intentions to help Maleficent. It makes you wonder what exactly she ends up doing to her later on.
In the present, Mary Margaret and David go off in search of Maleficent’s ashes. They want to dump them in a lake so she can’t be resurrected. Unfortunately for them, Cruella, Rumple and Ursula show up and take them down. After cutting Snow and David’s hands to release blood of “those who most harmed,” a dragon form of Maleficent springs back to life before taking her full human form.
After seeing their worst nightmare realized, the couple vows to tell their daughter the truth about their past but fall short when they overhear her talking to Hook about how she was wrong about them lying to her earlier. Way to go, Emma. I thought your super power was lie detection. In the very last few minutes of the episode, Snow reaches out to Regina and confides in both her and the audience what she’s been hiding for so long. Apparently, she and David are the reason Maleficent lost her child. Though specifics haven’t been revealed yet, we’re sure it isn’t good.
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What did you think of this episode? Will Snow’s secret make Emma go down an evil path? Let us know in the comments below.