In this episode Cora frames Regina, while flashbacks show Snow and Charming trying to deal with the Evil Queen.
Snow White recalls that the Queen was once kind and saved her life, but accedes to Charming's insistence that this is the only way to protect the kingdom.
On Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding day, Rumplestiltskin comes to the Evil Queen and tells her that the protection spell would lose its effect if they traveled to a different land.
To hide their presence, Cora makes the ship invisible and turns a harbor worker who has spotted them into a fish.
The next day, Regina confronts Dr. Hopper about discussing her sessions with Emma, but he insists he did not breach physician–patient privilege and encourages her to still see him as a confidante.
Ruby determines that something is wrong, and she and Emma follow the dog back to Archie's office and find him dead on the floor.
The three of them search Dr. Hopper's office for clues and find that Regina's file is missing; Emma explains that the large amount of evidence is suspicious in and of itself and actually points towards a frame job.
With Gold's encouragement, Emma then uses her own magic to display the dog's memory of Archie's murder, and they all witness Regina seemingly choking the therapist to death.
As they wait for Henry's school bus, Emma, Mary Margaret, and David discuss the fact that they are all struggling to learn how to be parents to children they barely know and resolve to face their challenges together as a family.
Cora's plan is to use Archie's knowledge of the deepest secrets of Storybrooke's residents in order to discover and exploit Rumplestiltskin's weaknesses.
Entertainment Weekly critic Hilary Busis gave it a good review: "Once Upon a Time tackled these questions and more tonight, returning from its hiatus with a winter premiere heavy on setup and light on payoff -- just what we should have expected from an hour meant to kick-start the season's second half.
Club gave it a B: "Once Upon A Time flew off the rails during the first half of this season, but its first episode back from winter hiatus makes some promising strides in the right direction.
She also added that "Parrilla does a masterful job at playing all the sides of Regina" and that it was "cool to see Emma intentionally using magic for the first time.