In this episode, Mary Margaret decides to take matters into her own hands when she fails to convince David about Lancelot's warning about King Arthur, and Hook’s unwavering love for Emma provides a slight possibility of succeeding in her struggle against the unrelenting voice of Rumplestiltskin, while in Storybrooke, Emma unleashes a weapon to unleash Excalibur by using a brave soul to do the task.
The episode displays these events as taking place five years after the scenes focusing on the hunt for the dagger, meaning that the time period is from the point of view of Camelot people and does not include the 28-year duration of the first Dark Curse.
He even tells Guinevere that he has studied the translations of the Carmarthen Scroll, which contain the three elements: the star, the eye, and the sun, but he can't decipher the clues.
With Arthur out on his mission, Lancelot and Guinevere decided to seek out the dagger themselves, by using Merlin's gauntlet that leads the two to a magical passageway that was located in the Vault of the Dark One.
The two walk through the doorway and discover the Dagger, but couldn't grab it thanks to a protection spell placed on it by Rumplestiltskin, who in exchange for the gauntlet, offered the magical sands of Avalon, which can be used to fix anything that appears to be "broken" at their choosing.
Mary Margaret on the other hand, believes David has become friends with Arthur because he misses the life he enjoyed back in the Enchanted Forest and that fulfilling it as a Knight in the Round Table will make him important again.
Arthur also had a plan up his sleeves, as Guinevere blows a kiss out the sands on David and Mary Margaret, then tosses Lancelot in jail, where he was joined by another cellmate, Merida.
Meanwhile, Henry brings Emma & Hook to the stables, but he really just wanted to see Violet, even though he didn't tell her about his birth mother being the Dark One.
Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly said, "Even though Merlin’s already appeared in an episode, wouldn’t you love to see him come out of the tree as Titus Welliver.
"[3] Amy Ratcliffe of IGN said of the episode, "Though the Camelot arc isn't the most compelling yet, the Storybrooke crew is fitting into it nicely.
[5] In a review from Rickey.org, Nick Roman said, “The Broken Kingdom” is inching the overarching narrative forward for Once Upon A Time, while being fittingly entertaining in its own right.
The knights are fun, but the earthy witches and sorcery of the women of Camelot (Morgan, Morgause, and Vivian) add a deeper dimension to the story.
At least in between we get Snow and Charming having another real relationship talk (well, fight, but even that was refreshing), along with a simple example of trickery with a fake dagger that enables them to reveal Arthur’s menace.