The news of Snow's pregnancy leaves Charming with mixed feelings, prompting him to seek advice from Robin Hood, who suggests that he should look for a mystical herb called nightroot to help him calm down.
Later on the next day as he starts chopping the root in the forest, Charming hears a woman screaming from a nearby tower, and notices a rope of long black hair which is revealed to belong to Rapunzel.
Flash forward nine months later to present-day Storybrooke, where Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret, David, and Hook try to come up a plan to expose The Wicked Witch of The West.
As David later leaves the apartment and drives off, he begins to feel unnerved after he sees what appears to be a hooded individual in the road and texts Emma that he might have seen the Witch.
The double then disappears before Emma, Regina, and Hook arrive, where they find the cellar and the cage empty, the only clue left being a spinning wheel, indicating that she has Rumplestiltskin.
Due to CBS' broadcast of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament that ran overtime and altered that network's schedule, the outing saw a three percent drop from the previous episode, placing a 2.1/6 among 18-49s with only 6.91 million tuning in, but still won its time slot despite the setback.
[1] The episode was met with mostly positive reviews, with many critics noticing the series taking a serious darker tone this time around, while a few thought the Rapunzel storyline was weak.
Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly gave it a good review: "Tonight's episode of Once was a lengthy meditation on fear that culminated in wicked Zelena getting her once-green mitts on a very special magical item: Prince Charming's courage, or at least "a symbol of it," according to Regina.
Although he’s probably not the greatest character to devote an entire episode to, Charming’s internal journey here offers some nice opportunities for Josh Dallas, unshackled by Snow for once.