"Dreamcatcher" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American fantasy drama series Once Upon a Time, which aired on October 25, 2015.

In this episode, with Mary Margaret and David attempting to retrieve the dagger, Emma uses a Dreamcatcher to look into the past to see how Merlin was transformed into a tree, and joins Regina in their quest to free the sorcerer, but Arthur is determined to keep Merlin imprisoned.

The Enchanted Forest scenes at Granny's Diner take place after "The Broken Kingdom".

However, Merlin fails in his attempt to stab the Dark One, only to drop the knife in shock, saying that he can't do it.

The two talked about having lost a parent, with Violet telling Henry that her mother was once a champion rider before she died.

All of a sudden Violet's father Sir Morgan arrives, where the introduction becomes an unwelcomed one for Henry.

Morgan disapproves of the outsider because of his lack of swordsman and horse riding skills, and even saving Violet from an ogre attack if it comes to that.

In present day, the residents discover that Grif has disappeared, but Arthur, who had his squire killed, kept silent about his "whereabouts."

Henry, on the other hand, believes the only way to stay positive in light of all this is to hold a dance, which in turn was a way to ask Violet out.

As they arrive in the woods, Merida began putting Gold to work on making him a hero, but he is shown to be weak, which infuriated the Scottish archer from DunBroch.

Belle also discovers the rope indicating that Gold was in the room, but when Regina gets a text that Emma was returning, everyone makes their exit.

The episode's numbers remained steady for a fourth week with a 1.6/5 among 18-49s, but saw a slight increase with 5.12 million viewers tuning in.

Andrea Towers of Entertainment Weekly notes in her assessment of the review, "I’ve said this over and over, but one of my favorite things this season are the Camelot outfits.

[3] In a review from Rickey.org, Nick Roman said, "Once Upon a Time thrived for four seasons on the notion that Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) was the be all, end all hero of the storybook worlds, and ours.

It moved the plot along, but at a feverish pace and with built in leaps in faith and storyline that just haven't been explained enough.

[Emma learns from Mr. Gold how to use a Dreamcatcher in Season 2, using Pongo's memories to see what happened between Archie & Regina.]

Maybe all those assumptions and conclusions will be eventually explained in one of those “ohhhhh, I get it now” summations a couple of episodes down the road, but maybe not.

Once's writers and creators have a tendency to play fast and loose with their storylines, knowing their audience will just kind of accept it and move on.