BWW Recap: Blast from the Past on Season Finale of ABC's ONCE UPON A TIME

The two-hour season finale begins commences with a flashback to Emma's childhood in a group home. A teenage Emma sadly watches as a little girl from the home drives off with her new family. A faculty member assures Emma that she will find a home of her own one day, but Emma remains distraught.

Regina and Robin Hood share a romantic evening together. Regina finally tells Robin of Tinkerbell's prediction; the fairy had informed Regina that she was destined to be with a man with a lion tattoo that could only belong to Robin.

Snow and Charming decide to throw a pot-luck gathering at Granny's Diner in honor of the birth of their baby during which they will announce the child's name, as per tradition in the Enchanted Forest. At the gathering, Snow and Charming recount the story of how they met while Henry reads aloud to the baby from the storybook. Captain Hook soils the family bonding by letting it slip that Emma plans to move back to New York. Rather than deal with her family's prodding, Emma rushes out of the diner; Hook agrees to go after her and talk some sense into her. After he leaves, the gang sees a huge beam of light along the horizon, which Rumpel claims is Zelena's time portal; it must have been opened somehow.

Rumpel, Regina, and Charming go to the police station to discuss how Zelena could have possibly broken out of prison. Regina accuses Rumpel of killing Zelena, which would explain how her spirit reopened the time portal. However, Rumpel is quick to deny such accusations, insisting Belle has the dagger he would have needed to use to kill her. As Charming goes to look at the security tape for Zelena's jail cell (which would have revealed Rumpel's impure actions), Rumpel uses magic to change the footage; the tape now porters Zelena killing herself with magic.

Hook finally locates Emma in the woods of Storybrooke. The two have a brief heart-to-heart, during which Emma expresses her desire to find a true home for herself, one she will miss when she leaves it. She has yet to find a place she misses when she leaves, so she is determined to keep searching for a setting that makes her feel in a such a way. Just then, Emma and Hook spot the light beam of the time portal, and decide to check it out.

Emma and Hook rush to the site of Zelena's time portal. The portal appears to encompass a strong amount of energy, which begins sucking Emma into it. Hook attempts to save her, but is unsuccessful. Emma falls into the portal, and Hook dives in after her. The two wake up in the Enchanted Forest once again, but determine they must be in the past after discovering a 'wanted' poster for the bandit Snow White.

Before being drawn into the portal, Emma had been thinking about the story of her parent's initial meeting, which explains why Emma and Hook were transported to this specific time period. Emma concludes that they must find Rumpelstilitskin if they want any shot at returning home.

As Emma and Hook wander through the woods, they come across the Evil Queen threatening an entire village; she claims that she will arrest and murder anyone who hides information regarding the whereabouts of Snow White. To prove her seriousness, the Evil Queen reveals a young woman she had kidnapped on account of her allegiance to Snow White; the young woman is to be executed within a matter of days.

Before continuing on their journey, Hook provides Emma with some new clothes that will help her blend in with the culture of the Enchanted Forest. He warns her that they mustn't change major or even minor events during their stay, for small changes could have catastrophic consequences.

As Hook and Emma travel through the woods of the Enchanted Forest with the hopes of finding Rumpelstiltskin, they run into a royal carriage, which happens to inhabit Charming and his then-fiancee Princess Abigail. After spotting a fallen tree in the road and Snow White hidden in a treetop, Emma realizes this is the moment her parents met. However, Emma cracks a branch, which causes a noise that startles Snow enough to make her fall out of the tree. She scurries away before she can be caught. This occurrence means that Snow never robbed Charming's carriage, and never stole the wedding ring that originally drove him to track her down in the first place. Emma realizes she must make Snow somehow steal the wedding ring, which would set her parent's love story back on track. Otherwise, her own existence may fade.

Emma and Hook finally locate Rumpelstiltskin's castle. However, the Dark One does not initially believe they are indeed from the future. Emma proves their word by explaining her knowledge of the curse she knows he is planning, which convinces him. Rumpel asks whether or not he ever finds his son again, and Emma assures him that he does. In exchange for this information, Rumpel agrees to create a new time travel portal so that Emma and Hook can get home, but insists that they fix the problem regarding Emma's parents themselves. Rumpel's crystal ball reveals that Snow is currently seeking aid from Blackbeard; she desires to go aboard his ship in order to leave town.

With this knowledge in mind, Emma and Hook devise a plan; they will hunt down Captain Hook's younger self, and Emma will distract him for a long enough time for the present-day Hook to speak with Snow, who will believe he is the Hook of the past (or rather, her present). Hook will make a deal with Snow in which he will give her a ride on his ship and out of town if she can bring him Prince Charming's wedding ring. This plan goes smoothly until Emma is forced to take a drunken Past-Hook back to the ship, forcing Present-Hook to punch him so they can escape without questions.

Later that evening, Rumpel comes to the aid of Hook and Emma by providing them with an invitation to Charming's ball that evening, where they can hopefully witness Snow attempting to steal the wedding ring. Rumpel also casts a spell upon them that makes the two appear to have different faces to those around them, just to be safe.

At the ball, Snow White scales the wall of the castle, and breaks in through a window. She searches Charming's bedroom until she locates the wedding ring. Just before she turns to leave, Charming enters the room (he had been sent by Abigail to retrieve her more 'comfy' shoes) and tries to prevent Snow's theft. But, Snow knocks him out swiftly, and climbs out the window.

Unfortunately, Emma realizes that Snow dropped the ring on her way out, and rushes to catch up with her mother. However, Emma is halted by the Evil Queen, who believes Emma is trying to assist Snow White. Emma is arrested by the Queen's guards, and brought to her Castle to be imprisoned.

In jail, Emma encounters the young woman from the village whom she had seen tortured by the Evil Queen the previous day. The young woman does not reveal her identity, but informs Emma that everyone in the prison is due to be executed the following day.

We then flashback to to Portland in 2001, in Emma's early twenties. It appears to be one of Emma and Neil's first dates; the couple breaks into an abandoned amusement park, and shares a heartfelt conversation on one of the rides. Neil shares a bit about his less than perfect home life, but admits that he is happy to have a place to call him in the first place. It seems Neil is the one who put the idea of home into Emma's mind.

Back in the past Enchanted Forest, Charming traps Snow White in the Woods using a tremendous treetop net. He demands to have his ring back, but Snow obviously does not have it. Captain Hook swings by in the knick of time, and tells Charming that his own princess (Emma) is actually in possession of the ring, but she is currently imprisoned in the Evil Queen's castle. Snow offers to help rescue Emma if it means Charming would let her go scot-free, and Charming agrees to this deal.

On the way to the castle, Snow explains to Charming that she originally wanted to steal the ring in order to make a deal with Blackbeard to get out of town. She needs to escape Regina, for she knows the Queen is after her head. She plans on using dark fairy dust to defeat her if the opportunity presented itself, which would turn Regina into a measly bug.

In her jail cell, Emma spots a piece of wire, which she craftily uses to pick the lock of her cell. Unable to leave the young woman behind to die, Emma chooses to let her free as well. As Emma and the young woman leave the castle, they run into Hook and Charming, who were let into the Castle with the help with Snow's werewolf friend, Ruby.

Meanwhile, Snow sneaks into Regina's bedroom; she attempts to use her dark fairy dust to kill the Queen, but Regina stops the spell with magic of her own. Fueled by hatred, Regina orders Snow to be executed that night. Snow is then tied to a wooden stake, and burned to death by Regina's hand; Emma, Hook, Charming, and the young woman witness the whole thing through a window.

The group retreats to the woods of the forest. Emma is distraught after witnessing her mother's death, but wonders why she herself continues to exist. Emma realizes Snow must be alive after all. Charming remembers Snow's talk of the fairy dust, and realizes she must have used the dust to turn herself into a bug rather than Regina. They call upon the Blue Fairy, who uses light magic to restore Snow back to her human form.

All is not well, however; Hook believes Emma should not have saved the young woman, for her avoidance of death could have dire consequences. Rather than leave her in the Enchanted Forest, Hook and Emma agree the safest way to handle the situation is to bring her back to the future with them. But, the young woman does not want to comply with this plan, so Hook knocks her out in her to scale a kidnapping.

Charming then realizes that Snow stole his wedding ring after all, and his headed for the troll bridge. In their original love story, Snow used the dark fairy dust to save Charming from a troll attack; but, since she already used it in this alternate version, Emma is concerned of the outcome. But Snow outsmarts the trolls by claiming she has dark fairy dust, when in reality she is holding a handful of sand. The trolls are still frightened by her threat, and the Snow-Charming love story resumes its normal course.

With matters between Emma's parents fixed, Hook and Emma return to Rumpel's castle. Rumpel was not able to create a time travel portal, but still feels threatened by Emma and Hook's knowledge of the future. He traps the two in his underground lair for safekeeping. Though trapped, Emma tells Hook that if they were to make it back home, Emma would give up her plans of leaving Storybrooke and remain with her family; watching her mother die before her eyes changed her perspective. This realization and catharsis returned Emma's once-stolen magic to her, and she is able to create a time travel portal.

Hook immediately jumps through the portal with the young woman (still unconscious) in his arms. Just as Emma is about to go through, she is pulled back by Rumpelstilitskin. The Dark One demands to know if his son forgives him for his wrongdoings in the future, and Emma replies that he does, but it is clear she is holding something back. When Rumpel questions what she is hiding, Emma finally tells him that his son eventually dies, but dies a hero; she mostly says this so that Rumpel will let go of her, giving her Leverage to get to the portal. Rumpel does let Emma go at last, but drinks forgetting potion in order to not jeopardize his future.

Emma and Hook are transported back to our world, and the proper time period. Emma reunites with her parents and Henry at Granny's diner, where the Charmings also reveal the name of their baby; they chose Prince Neil, after the heroic Bae.

Emma talks with Hook outside the diner, and thanks him for helping her in the Enchanted Forest. Emma also asks how Hook was able to escape Pan's curse and cross worlds in order to find her in New York a few months ago. Hook reveals that he sold his prized ship, the Jolly Roger, in order to retrieve some magic beans to cross realms. Realizing that Hook gave up the thing he loved most in the world to save her, Emma passionately kisses Hook.

In a heartwarming scene, Rumpel and Belle share a wedding under the trees. As they say their vows, we flash to each couple in the series; Charming and Snow, Hook and Emma, and finally, Regina and Robin Hood.

But as usual, matters do not remain joyous for long. Emma introduces the young woman from the Enchanted Forest to Regina, who turns out to be Robin's wife. She was originally supposed to die many years ago, but Emma has changed the past; her existence is clearly going to cause a rift between Regina and Robin. Regina is infuriated by Emma's irresponsible actions, and it seems the evil in Regina is resurfacing.

To close the episode, we flash to Zelena's old time portal once more. A Blue light fills the portal, and a figure slowly arises from said light. A woman emerges, and flicks ice from her finger tips. As she walks away, those who have seen Disney's Frozen will immediately recognize her as Queen Elsa! It seems there will be a new queen in town on the next season of Once Upon a Time, which returns this fall on ABC.

Photo credit: Dean Buscher/ABC