So far in season 6, Emma is having terrifying visions of the moment of her death, scores of people from the Land of Untold Stories have arrived in Storybrooke, and the Evil Queen is on the loose. What else is new?

Spoilers ahead, dearies.

I’ll Be Your Mirror

Despite their cursed heart situation, Snow and David are making the most of it, trying to learn to live without each other. When one is asleep and the other is awake, they leave notes, videos, and manage their house and take care of the baby. It works for a while, but soon, Snow grows tired of the charade. Nearly at the point of giving up, Snow realizes that the Evil Queen is watching them through her bedroom mirror, causing her to smash it and renew her vow to find a way to break the curse.

The “peeping queen” incident gives Regina an idea of how she can trap her alter ego instead of killing her. Henry, Emma, and Regina concoct a plan to trap the Evil Queen in a mirror. However, the plan backfires and Emma and Regina are instead trapped in the mirror realm, from which there is no escape. The Evil Queen dresses herself as her better half, and masquerades as Regina, fooling everyone including Henry. Regina and Emma, helpless to do anything, observe everything from mirrors inside their alternate world. They realize that Henry is probably their only chance at escaping, and try their best to get his attention when he is looking in a mirror at Granny’s. Although he doesn’t see them, he catches on to the Evil Queen’s ruse when she tells him to stand up straight—something that Regina probably hasn’t done since before the first curse was broken when Henry was a child.

Inside the mirror-land, Regina and Emma run into the Dragon (aka that dude from last season). He shows them where Sydney (the man inside the magic mirror on the wall…yeah we’re going way back) used to live when he was trapped inside the mirror. They work to repair his portal but are rescued when Henry smashes the mirror from the other side.

Changelings

In the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin kidnaps a baby and brings it to his castle. Belle tries to discover who the child belongs to so that she can return him, but Rumple locks her up when he realizes what she’s planning. Belle is rescued by the Blue Fairy, who explains that Rumple is going to use the innocent baby as bait to lure in the one called the Black Fairy, an evil woman who is known for taking children. Belle arrives just in time to see Rumple with the Black Fairy, who is revealed to be his mother who abandoned him years ago. Belle takes the baby back while Rumple is distracted and returns him to his family. Meanwhile, the Dark One is left without answers from his long-lost mother.

In Storybrooke, Jasmine has possession of a genie’s lamp that Aladdin stole from Gold’s Pawn Shop. She had planned to make a wish to find Agrabah, but is worried about what the genie might want in return. She decides to rub the lamp anyway, but only two cuffs emerge, indicating that whichever genie once lived within the lamp has been freed. Aladdin puts the cuffs on before anyone can stop him, and is sucked into the lamp. In the meantime, the Evil Queen tries to kill Zelena (on Rumple’s orders, as he can’t hurt Zelena himself), but is stopped by Regina. Although Regina saves her sister’s life, she admits that she can’t find it in herself to forgive her for what happened to Robin Hood. The sisters argue and part ways yet again.

Unbeknowst to Rumple, the Evil Queen goes through with his abandoned plan to accelerate Belle’s pregnancy. Belle gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but begs Mother Superior/Blue to take Gideon somewhere safe where Rumple can’t cut his red cord of fate. Although Rumple had initially given up on the plan, he arrives at the nunnery just in time to see Blue get away with the newborn. He demands that Belle give him the baby’s name, but she refuses, telling him that they are 100000% done. He vows to find their child, although he is still unwilling to admit that he’s desperate for a replacement for the son he’s already lost.

In the midst of everything, Emma has had another vision of her impending death—but this time, she saw something new. The sword that stabs her. She and Hook find the sword in Rumple’s shop, and she feels emboldened to find out who the person under the hood is.

Wait, what?

1.) The Black Fairy and the title “changelings” harkens back to old fairy tale lore, and a time in which people believed that babies could be stolen by fairies and replaced with imposter children. Not only is this pretty awesome, but we just might get more information on fairy society, Rumple’s childhood, and how the heck Gideon turns into Morpheus, the god of dreams.

2.) Can I just say how proud I am of Belle?

3.) And lastly, we are one step closer to discovering who is destined to kill the Savior. I’m gonna take a stab and say…the Dark One.

Until next time, dearies.

-The Collected Mutineer