The episode, written by series creators Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Ralph Hemecker, was met with excellent reviews for its fast paced storyline in this outing.
When the rider arrives, the hood is pulled off and it's Belle, who's ready to tell Regina, Snow, Charming, Phillip, and Aurora about what happened to Baelfire after he brought Rumplestiltskin back from the dead.
At the War Room, Charming, with Snow, Regina, Robin Hood, and Belle discuss how to defeat Zelena.
When Belle takes his hand, Rumplestiltskin tells them that "The light magic of Glinda, the Good Witch of The South" will defeat the Wicked Witch of the West, but adds sing-song clues to the message ("through the door step inside if pure of heart then she won't hide") after Snow questions him.
Later that night in the forest, the rescuers find a door that leads to nowhere, fitting the musical description that Rumplestiltskin gave them.
But Charming figures out that Snow can cast the curse and offers his heart, realizing the risk that he is taking to protect their unborn child.
Then, Zelena tells Regina to pay close attention since that is "how you ruin a happy ending," before flying off on her broom.
Emma does not suspect Henry's true intention is to take the VW and escape Storybrooke by driving to the nearest bus station.
This disappoints Emma as she wants to take Henry back to New York and she thinks his remembering will just make it harder.
As Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret and David arrive at the docks, they also take out (with a combination of gun, sword, and magic) the additional flying monkeys that have shown up in force.
But just as Regina tells Emma to kiss Henry to break the curse, he disappears and reappears in Zelena's arms with her hands at his throat.
The episode saw a huge jump in ratings from the previous outing and winning its timeslot for the third week in a row, posting a 2.2/6 among 18-49s with 7.34 million viewers tuning in.
Why'd I have to go and waste a perfectly good heart title on last week's recap when it would have made much more sense for tonight's episode?
This is what Once should be: a fast-paced thrill ride boosted by the occasional wisecrack and only marred a tiny bit by relative implausibility.
[4] Amy Ratcliffe of IGN gave it a 9.4, saying that "This week's Once introduced the Good Witch and took a surprising and satisfying turn in one of its best episodes.
What with OUAT’s frequent off-pacing, it seemed like enough events happened in “A Curious Thing” to fill a few episodes, but so many annoying questions this Oz half-season were cleared up.