At a campsite, Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory), Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), and their allies are attacked by King George's (Alan Dale) knights.

One of the assailants turns out to be Sir Lancelot (Sinqua Walls), who captures Snow and brings her back to face King George.

The King had offered Snow water to drink upon her arrival, and after she has drunk it, he reveals to her it that was actually a potion to prevent her from ever having children.

Moments later, and after being dropped out of a carriage, Snow hears someone on horseback, so she takes a stick and knocks him to the ground, revealing the person to be Lancelot.

However, it turns out that Lancelot wants to help Snow reach Charming and his mother Ruth (Gabrielle Rose) before King George's men get to them.

By the time they reach the farm, Snow and Lancelot discover that they are too late, as Charming has already fended off the King's men, but Ruth has been shot by a poisoned arrow.

While Princess Aurora (Sarah Bolger) seethes at Lancelot's warm treatment, Mulan (Jamie Chung) puts her faith in him.

Lancelot tells Mary Margaret about what happened when the curse was broken: ogres have returned and are currently roaming the woods, terrorizing any survivors outside the island.

Mary Margaret easily disarms Aurora and holds her to the ground, telling her that Phillip's death was not her fault and to channel her anger some other way.

As Mulan pulls Mary Margaret off of Aurora, Emma shoots a bullet into the air, catching the attention of a nearby ogre, who proceeds to give chase.

Later, at the former palace of Snow White and Prince Charming, the four ladies arrive, where they proceed to Emma's former nursery and find the wardrobe there.

As Emma and Mary Margaret try to figure out a way to bring the wardrobe back to the safe haven, Lancelot shows up at the last minute.

"Lady of the Lake" was co-written by producers Andrew Chambliss & Ian Goldberg, while being directed by 24 veteran Milan Cheylov.

"), but thought that the Storybrooke setup in this outing was a little weak: "While nothing was really wrong with this portion of the episode, it didn't do much to propel Once's master plot forward.

Club gave the episode a B, but had positive remarks, noting that "things are moving at a much brisker pace than last season, and this show is finally figuring out a good balance between fairy tale fantasy and grounded human emotion.

The show does run the risk of becoming overstuffed with so many plots going on at once, though, and some of the more dramatic moments lose their impact because they aren’t fully built up.