We begin this episode with a shot of modern-day Lucy being rushed into the Emergency Room fading into a flashback of Henry, introducing his newborn daughter Lucy to his friends back at the Enchanted Forest encampment (which, apparently, they’ve been living in for at least 9+ months – that’s gotta suck).

In strolls Drizella to deliver a prophecy:

Upon Lucy’s eighth birthday, “life as they know it” will end. Henry doesn’t seem to be worried – with the help of a drop of Rapunzel/Victoria’s blood, they’ve managed to entrap Drizella in a spell that turns her to stone. As the transformation takes effect, Drizella warns them that this isn’t going to change anything – the prophecy/curse will still come true.

Fly ahead now eight years to little Lucy’s birthday party (presided over by Queen Tiana, so I’m guessing Mama is taking a dirt nap), and of course they have Drizella’s statue right there in the courtyard as Lucy blows out her candles.

Really? Nobody thought “Oh, that’s right – there’s a prophecy/curse tied to Lucy’s eighth birthday, so let’s stuff that statue in a reinforced cell and celebrate this one a little more quietly and behind guarded doors.” No, of course they didn’t.

Lucy blows out the candles, the sky goes dark, and who pops in but Gothel, with a coven of witches. (Special note: I really, really don’t like Hook calling Gothel “love” – especially after she – oh I don’t know – raped him and abandoned his baby to die a lingering death from starvation).

Drizella awakens, which should be impossible but isn’t thanks to magical addendum number 67 that says even though you used blood magic it can be overturned in this episode by a group of witches who consider themselves “family.”

Back to Lucy again at the hospital, with Jacinda and Tiana hovering over her. Tiana suggests calling officer Rogers – perhaps he can piece together where Lucy was or what she was doing before she lost consciousness.

Victoria, on the other hand, is having a grand old time with wide-awake Anastasia. Rumple shows up and he’s decidedly salty that he helped wake Anastasia, particularly when it came at the price of hurting Lucy. He also believes that Anastasia is The Guardian, and her magic may be able to help his great-granddaughter.

Regina and Henry have made it to San Francisco, and Henry is unhappy when he realizes he missed Jacinda’s call. Regina bullies him into a pair of sweatpants and they somehow get an instant gym membership and take a spin class with none other than Zelena – who’s a hippie feel-good fitness freak named Kelly in this life. (Nice touch having her refer to the class as her “cycling monkeys”).

Back we go to Lucy’s abbreviated birthday party, where Lucy is sitting alone in the courtyard because a coven of witches just threatened her and what the hell, let’s leave her all alone. Henry and Ella show up to let her know that they’ve got a plan – a way around the curse that will keep them all safe. Then they send her off alone again so Ella can whine about whether or not they’re doing the right thing.

Over now with Regina to God-knows-which realm where her neice Robin is twenty-five and Zelena hasn’t aged a day. But, as Regina so astutely points out, we’re “not here to discuss timelines.”

It turns out Zelena is familiar with this particular group of witches, known as “The Coven of the Eight.” Their symbol is that bizarre circle of pitchforks that Tilly drew in her journal (and the tattoo on the Wildling guy), which also appears on a coin left on Zelena’s doorstep just the day before with a note that said “Valar Morghulis.”

Just kidding. Can we get Jaqen H’ghar on the show, though? Pretty please? I’d love to see Lucy training to be a faceless girl. But I digress. Zelena and Regina (and Robin, who, according to Zelena has got a case of young love – or at age 25, just “love”) agree to team up for a witch fight.

Meanwhile, Hook has found Rumple. For some odd reason, he’s reverted to his glittery, babbling crazy self. He gives Hook a white elephant figure, claiming that it can’t stop the curse, but it can preserve your most precious relationship. Hook thinks immediately of Alice and what a coincidence, there she is!

Hook asks her if she’s sure she wants to be working for Rumple and she replies that after all Rumple gave up for her, it’s the least she can do. She begs her papa to deliver a love letter to Robin, and is hopeful that their cursed memories might be better. Hook vows to make sure that nothing parts any of them.

Back in San Francisco, Henry finally heard from Jacinda and is determined to get back home to be with her and Lucy. Regina tells him to go – and she stays to work on Zelena.

We learn why Zelena/Kelly is less than thrilled to see Roni: she believes Roni was a bad influence and the reason her daughter decided not to go to college and is now at a foam party in Thailand. Regina asks her to grab a drink (hoping to slip her the remembering potion) and Zelena refuses at first but eventually gives in.

Once she drinks and wakes her up, Regina tells Zelena there’s no time to waste now that Gothel is on the loose and Lucy is down for the count. Zelena’s not finding it so easy leaving her cursed life due to a complication: she’s engaged to be married. She’s very happy with her guy and torn about leaving this life, but she agrees that they have to save their family.

On the streets of Hyperion Heights, officer Rogers is asking around about Lucy’s activities on the day of her illness. Tilly finds him to show him a piece of disturbing street art right on the side of the troll bridge – it’s the symbol of The Coven of the Eight, and it’s being scrubbed off even as they speak.

Rumple is busy performing a test on Anastasia to determine if she’s the guardian, and it appears that she’s passed with flying knives colors. He asks her to help Lucy by having her copy the words of a spell, thereby imbuing them with magic. Gothel shows up and Anastasia loses control, slamming the witch into a wall, along with her mother and Rumple as well. Drizella arrives in the aftermath and offers her sister a pair of magic-dampening flower bracelets. Anastasia takes them gratefully as she allows Drizella to lead her away.

Henry, meanwhile, has shown up at the hospital to comfort Jacinda, and she suggests that Henry read to her – maybe it’ll make a difference.

Back in time to Lucy’s birthday, and Henry takes Lucy to the oldest part of that realm – the original “Enchanted Forest” which is not our Enchanted Forest but theirs, I guess (damn, this is fun to keep track of) because it still has the intact enchanted tree that Geppetto made into a wardrobe in the realm we know. His old pal Tiger Lilly shows up bearing Geppetto’s axe, and Henry gets to work chopping it down so that they can make it into a magical portal. Once the curse hits, he and Lucy can hop in with the story book and help everyone get their memories back.

In the next scene, we’re transported back to the scene we saw at the end of season six, when the darkness turns evil before he can finish and Henry runs back to the hut in the woods to wake Lucy, commanding her to go and keep the book safe as he fights off the coven.

Lucy runs back to Tiana’s castle to warn the others that Henry has been taken by the Coven of the Eight. Regina and company heads out to kick some witchin’ ass only to find that Drizella has spiked her guns but good. She’s poisoned Henry, and the only way to save his life is for Regina to cast the curse and send him to a place without magic. Since Regina has previously crushed the heart of the thing she loves most, she’s the only one who can do this. Regina agrees but she vows that this is far from over.

In the forest, Rumple gives Alice his precious chipped cup, commanding her to give it to him on the other side, and it will release “Mr. Gold” from his mind, where he’s locked safely away. Robin arrives, having received Alice’s letter, and they share one last embrace before the curse hits.

Tiana is seen holding Lucy at the castle, and back with the witches, Ella whines (as always) that she won’t know how to find Lucy in the other realm – that Lucy is just a kid and she’ll be all alone. Hook sacrifices his precious white elephant, giving it to Ella so that she and Lucy’s relationship will be preserved on the other side.

Ahead now to the hospital, where Henry is reading the story of Emma waking him out of the sleeping curse to Lucy. He finally gets what it took for Emma to make that leap out of her disbelief, and in a moment of inspiration, he tells Lucy he believes her and gives her a kiss on the forehead – which has no effect.

He calls Regina to let her know that the kiss didn’t work, and Regina explains magical addendum number 68: True love’s kiss doesn’t work unless both people believe in true love. Lucy lost her belief, so that’s good and screwed. Regina and Zelena are faced with a horrible choice: break the curse to get their magic back and save Lucy (killing Henry in the process as the magical poison is still in his body), or leave Henry as he is and let Lucy die.

Drizella has now brought Anastasia to a secluded house where she intends to steal her sister’s magic. Gothel shows up to smugly inform Drizella that she’s been had – those magical cuffs work the other way, and Anastasia now has all of Drizella’s magic. She drains her dry, and Gothel tosses Drizella down a well, where she discovers she’s trapped with mumsy, who is less than thrilled to see her there.

Gothel pulls Anastasia into a circle of empty, propped up robes and tells her that soon they will find the women who are meant to wear them. The Coven of the Eight is in town, and will soon be ready to rock.

I’m giving this one four white elephants out of five.

Once again, a big info-dump (and the revealing news that Regina cast the curse) that finally gives us some insight, but I’m not so sure about this crappity coven idea.

My thoughts:

According to Adam and Eddy, these new witches will be recognizable names from “iconic fairytales or Disney lore,” which sounds like it might lead to an epic showdown of a season finale, but I’m not sure it’ll do much more than muddy things up getting there. We’ll have to see how it all shakes out.

Still waiting to see what Gothel’s plan is, here. Why go to a land without magic? Why set the playing field this way? What’s her endgame?

Who is Zelena’s fiancé? I’m betting on him being a cursed version of Dr. Facilier, who has to show up again sooner or later. There were some BTS pics of him in modern clothes all nice and cozy with Roni – so maybe that’s a wedge that’ll come into play between the sisters in the second half. Or perhaps he’s Naveen, and when he follows Zelena to Hyperion Heights, he’ll finally find Tiana. Then we can watch it all play out as he’s helplessly drawn to her just like David once was with Mary Margaret.

What did Rumple sacrifice for Alice? I want to know what that’s all about.

Is Anastasia really the guardian? She passed the test, but I think Rumple having her copy that spell is going to come back into play. Maybe he reads it to Lucy, and it transfers those powers to her?

How heart-tugging was Hook in this episode? First he has to talk to Alice with a tree between them, then he defends Regina’s choice to save Henry, knowing he’d do the same for his child. Then he gives up his only way to find Alice so that Ella can be with Lucy.

Will Victoria and Drizella have to team up to get out of the pit they’re in? Will they be able to set their issues aside to do so? Will there be a catfight with blood on the walls? I’m not sure which outcome I like most.

We have three months to wait for the second half, and in past seasons, that filled me with anything from mild impatience to serious angst. This year? Meh. I can wait. I’m more intrigued than I have been, but I’m not going to be counting down the days.

What do you think so far, now that we’re at mid-season? Does the wait to March 2nd seem endless to you? Or are you looking forward to binging something on Netflix for the next few months?