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“Once Upon a Time” recap (5.7): The Darkest One

Previously on Once Upon A Time, a masked Dark One turned Merlin into a tree, Emma became the Dark Swan and set out to restore Excalibur with her imaginary Dark One friend, and Merlin tells Team Charming an important name: Nimue.

In present-day Storybrooke, Emma has Excalibur and the Dark One Dagger in her possession, which makes RumpleVoice a happy hallucination. He tells her that it’s more than power, it’s history, and that Excalibur will finally fulfill its destiny. Yes, we’re still talking about a sword.

Let’s go back to the very beginning. 1000 years before “The Age of Arthur” (whatever that means on this show), Merlin and his buddy trek along a desert, literally dying of thirst. Just when they need it most, a chalice appears. Merlin’s friend doesn’t think this is weird so he dives for it, only to turn to dust. Merlin takes a knee, asks the gods for permission, and picks up the cup. When he doesn’t immediately explode, he happily drinks from the cup. He touches the ground and the sand turns to grass and he realizes that the chalice gave him magic.

In Camelot, Emma is dreamweaving while everyone else makes plans inside. Merlin says they need something magical to join the blades but he thinks he knows what. Hook is mad he’s not more helpful than he is, and since Merlin is a better man than me, he doesn’t point out that Hook’s latest attempts to “help” involved a useless horseback ride. Merlin tells them all that what Emma needs from them above all is patience and love. And also Excalibur, which is still in Arthur’s possession.

Flashback to about 500 years after the chalice incident, I think, where Merlin is set up like Jesus in a leper community, healing them using his magic. His apprentice says there’s only one woman left, so Merlin sends him off to make sure the brooms aren’t reenacting Fantasia and goes to see what the woman wants.

What she wants is revenge for her village. It was destroyed by an angry man, and all that’s left is her and a handful of seeds from the middlemist flower. He plants them for her, and makes them bloom immediately. He can’t see her future, for some reason, but he hopes she’ll come back again soon. Her name, she tells him, is Nimue.

Camelot Merlin tells Team Charming that they need something called The Spark and instead of just nudging Emma and Regina closer together, he goes outside to Crafting Hour with Emma Swan to invite the Dark Savior on this quest with him. She asks him why he looks like the sky is falling, and he warns her that they’ll have to take on the first Dark One, and it won’t be as easy as saving someone’s soul from Nanda Parbat. Emma asks if they’ll win, and Merlin says he sees two options. One where they win, and one where Emma succumbs to the darkness. So basically they’re not all going to turn into butterflies and fly away is all he knows for sure. It’s up to her to fight the darkness or everything is doomed, basically.

Flashback to a time a little later than the last time we flashed back, and Merlin and Nimue are together now. Merlin confesses that he wants to propose but he can’t because he’s immortal thanks to the Holy Grail. Nimue asks him what IS the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, but he shrugs and says the cup has been in their house this whole time. Nimue is ready to drink from the cup too so they can be immortal, together for literally ever, but he says it will ruin what they have. But he says they can turn the cup into a sword and carve out his immortality like a tumor. Nimue thinks that’s the most random plan in the history of plans, but she’s in.

He weaves a ring out of a flower vine and slips it over her finger, turning it to gold.

Nearby, a figure in a gold mask lurks and leers.

In closer-to-the-present-day Camelot, Team Charming is trying to think of a plan to get Excalibur from Arthur when they are distracted by the sound of Zelena rolling her eyes and huffing at their stupidity. To end the annoying sighs, Regina allows her sister to speak.

Zelena says that while she was being a silent handmaiden, she found a secret passage that will help. Regina asks why she would help them, and she says if she shows them the way in, they have to take her magic-blocking cuff off. Regina agrees, and Zelena leads them to a tunnel. She hadn’t used it herself because of the big gate and being powerless herself, but Regina poofs it away easily. Snow is told to guard the entrance and Zelena while the rest of the Team runs inside.

In the castle, Guenevere watches as Arthur maniacally makes a potion. He demonstrates the power of the potion: It melts whatever it touches. Except for things with spells on it, like the ladle he’s using, and also apparently wooden tables. He gives the potion to his guards and tells them to Viserys any traitor they see while he goes to protect the sword.

Meanwhile, Emma and Merlin traipse about the forest. Emma tells Merlin she’s worried that not hearing RumpleVoice anymore is a bad thing, because she hurt her son and fears the darkness is winning.

Merlin says there’s hope for her yet though, and they’re almost there.

Years earlier, Merlin and Nimue pass over that very spot. It was Nimue’s village before it was destroyed. Merlin is worried she has survivors’ guilt, but she doesn’t, she just has the rage of a vengeance demon. She wishes she had powers like his so she could fix things and save anyone from ever feeling like she does ever again.

But Merlin says they’ve made their choice. They come across a pile of cups and realize the man who destroyed the village was searching for the Holy Grail. Merlin has Nimue check on the Grail while he uses magic to make sure they’re still safe, and as she caresses it fondly, Merlin announces that a man with a mask is coming and they have to run. Nimue asks why the most magical man in the world is running from a random human but Merlin explains that magical murder would turn him dark.

Merlin leads Nimue to an eternal flame hanging out in the forest. Merlin uses this fire to turn the Holy Grail from a chalice to a sword. Excalibur.

Nimue turns around and the masked bad guy shows up and grabs her. She fights back, despite Merlin’s protests, insisting that she’s strong enough. But she gets hella stabbed, and falls down to die in Merlin’s arms.

Camelot Merlin brings Emma to the same spot of the eternal flame, but there’s nothing there. The first Dark One, the one who took Nimue away from Merlin, also took the flame. That first Dark One still has an ember of the flame, and in it is The Spark they need. Merlin gives Emma the Dark One Dagger and Emma is surprised he has it. She didn’t think Regina would give it up so easily; and she’s right, Merlin took it without permission.

Merlin has Emma call on the first Dark One, and when she does, a figure in a familiar gold mask appears. Emma says, “You can see him?” but Merlin corrects her. It’s not a “him” beneath that mask.

It’s Nimue.

Flashback to Merlin yelling at the guy who stabbed Nimue only to find himself face to face with his fiance herself, very not dead, and holding the bad guy’s heart in her hand. She drank from the Grail when he asked her to check on it, and only pretended to die to show him that this was the right choice. He begs her not to kill the man whose heart she holds, begs her not to go dark. But she didn’t just do this to be with him for all eternity. She did this so men like him wouldn’t get away with things like destroying an entire village and stabbing an unarmed girl in the woods. She crushes the man’s heart to dust, and immediately turns scaley and sparkly.

She picks up Excalibur and, to prevent Merlin from ever carving out HER immortality, breaks it against the stone that once held the eternal flame.In almost-present-day Camelot, Nimue pulls down her hood and calls Emma, “sister,” glad the powerful ladies are finally outnumbering the guys.

Nimue uses Emma’s body (since she’s technically just another projection from Emma’s head) to start to kill Merlin, telling Emma that she should kill ANYONE who tries to keep her from being her true dark self. Merlin and Nimue both shout opposite things at her until finally she’s like I AM EMMA HEAR ME ROAR and faces off against her.

Emma takes the ember from Nimue and says she’s going to make her own way please and thank you. Nimue shrugs and is like, “I’m in your head anyway, so I’ll catch ya later” and poofs away. Merlin is proud of Emma, and asks how she feels, having fought the darkness and chosen the right path.

She says it felt damn good but her voice is really dark and rumbly and I feel like maybe she’s saying it felt good having another woman inside her? Her head. Inside her head.

Emma asks Merlin what happened after Nimue became the Dark One, and Merlin explains that after he and his apprentice put the sword in a stone for safekeeping (in the middle of a forest…unattended), he created the Dark One dagger out of the broken tip and linked her soul to it to control her. That backfired when she got the dagger back and turned him into a tree. He says that he doesn’t hate her, he understands that it’s easy to make your peace with darkness if you’ve convinced yourself it’s vengeance. Emma tells her that in the short time they shared a brain and body, Emma learned that even though she’s broken, Nimue still loves Merlin.

Merlin remembers his apprentice saying it was too bad he didn’t see this coming, he could have avoided all this, but Merlin doesn’t regret a moment of it.

Camelot Emma asks if she can harness the dark power for good, but Merlin doesn’t think she’s worthy, so they just have to focus on the task of wiping out the darkness. All they need now is the rest of Excalibur, but surely Team Charming is all over that.

While Team Charming heads inside to try not to fail too hard, Zelena sits outside, crying and sobbing about always being second best to the great and powerful Regina. At first, Mary Margaret doesn’t buy it, but she’s not known for her strong resolve, so she soon goes over to make sure the wicked witch isn’t miscarrying. She’s rewarded with a swift kick and Zelena ties her up and escapes.

Team Charming somehow miraculously makes their way to the room with the Round Table in it, and sees Excalibur on the table. Hook is all worried but Regina literally tells him to tell his timbers to stop shivering because Arthur doesn’t have magic.

Alas, he does have Zelena. Regina is about to launch a fireball at her, but Robin Hood reminds her that she’s pregnant so Regina rolls her eyes and puts the flame away. Zelena uses the conveniently located spellbook to use Merlin’s own spell to tether his soul to Excalibur. Arthur says his name three times to summon him.

In the forest, Emma is chatting about her kid when suddenly Merlin is gone. Merlin is surprised to find himself in Arthur’s castle, and shakes his head at the failure of a man his Arthur had become. Arthur thought he was supposed to be a legend, but as of now his only legacy is that he’s the mad king who took orders from a tree who could see the future. Merlin says there’s still time to fix everything, but Arthur doesn’t care. He makes Merlin poof the “intruders” away.

In present-day Storybrooke, Emma puts the Dagger and Excalibur on her stone. Nimue shows up and says she’s proud of Emma, that they’re all proud of Emma. At her cue, a billion Dark Ones slither out of the darkness, all hoods and glowy eyes.

Emma does some magic to get the Spark from the Ember (so much wasted CGI money that was much needed in other places) and rejoins the Dagger and Sword, making Excalibur whole again. She hesitates for a moment, remember Merlin’s long past warning, telling her to leave the sword alone, but the voices in her head are loud and plentiful, so she takes it.

(Still keeping my fingers crossed that she’s faking it. She did say again in this episode that the voice said it would stay until she fully embraced the darkness, implying since she’s still seeing/hearing them, there might still be hope. But also that fact relies on the writers actually watching their own show? So it’s anything goes at this point.)

Next week, in a two hour special, RUBY AND MULAN COME HOME. Not that you would know it from the preview for next week, but the internet promises me it’s true. It will either be the best or the worst thing that has ever happened on this show; I doubt it will fall anywhere in between.

What did you think of “Nimue”? (The episode as a whole AND the character!)

Here are some of our favorite #queerytales tweets from this week:

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