Best Laid Plans

In this episode, we finally get to see how Snow & Charming caused Maleficent to lose her child as they come across a Peddler (played by Patrick Fischler), who tells them to meet the Sorcerer's Apprentice. They make a deal so that they can get rid of Emma's darkness by using a vessel to put it in someone, ultimately choosing Maleficent's egg, until they discover after stealing it that a child is inside of it & that the Apprentice would send it to another realm & while trying to save it, accidentally push Ursula & Cruella into the portal in the process.

Poor Unfortunate Soul

As if the title didn't make it any more obvious, we now get to see a teenage Ursula (played by Tiffany Boone) and her past with Hook, as it turned out that she was a free spirited mermaid in Neverland with her father King Poseidon (played by special guest star Ernie Hudson) with a beautiful singing voice, but had to use it to lure ships to kill pirates (for revenge on Poseidon's part as pirates killed Ursula's mother)

Enter The Dragon

In this episode, we get to see Maleficent's backstory along with some insight to the Sleeping Beauty story (finally) & her & Regina's friendship origins as it's revealed that Maleficent (who's pretty much a parallel of a retired washed up celebrity in this episode) actually cursed Aurora in adulthood before her wedding to Philip for revenge against her mother Briar Rose thanks to some motivation from Regina (who's growing impatient at Rumple for not teaching her how to stop Snow White) despite King Stefan (played by Sebastian Roche) trying to stop them.

Unforgiven

Directed by Adam Horowitz (one half of the creators of the show), this episode details the connection between Snow & Charming & the Queens of Darkness, where their dark secret is revealed: after they all go to the Tree of Wisdom to find a way to stop Regina & the Dark Curse, it turns out they can't answer their question as Snow is pregnant, where it's also revealed that not only were they already aware that Emma had potential to be dark, but also that Maleficent is pregnant & wanted to team up with Snow to stop the curse because they both want to protect their children, only for Snow to refuse as Maleficent is a villain. In Storybrooke, we get to see David & Mary Margaret try to avoid Maleficent being revived so she can't reveal their secret, only to fail thanks to Ursula & Cruella forming a ruse to lure them into the mines so they could use their blood to resurrect her. Meanwhile, Emma, Regina & Henry question Pinocchio over the book as his August self tampered with it, but after Regina goes too far to try & force Pinocchio into remembering, Marco tells her to stay away & that her plan is a lost cause, but after apologising, he gives her August's belongings to find possible clues as to who the author is!

Darkness On The Edge of Town

Finally, after nearly 3 months, we are finally back & this was definitely worth the very long wait! After the events of the midseason finale, Rumple & Ursula go off to find Cruella in Long Island so they can convince her to team up with them to find the author of the book so they can all get happy endings. The flashbacks reveal that Rumple had sent for Maleficent, Ursula & Cruella & promises them their happy endings if they can obtain the Dark Curse from a number of obstacles, including the Chernabog from Fantasia. In Storybrooke, Emma, Regina & Henry also begin their quest to find the author, but first have to find a way to save the fairies from the hat they were entrapped in along with Belle & Hook, only to accidentally release Chernabog in the process. However, when Emma & Regina fight him off with their magic, it only manages to drive him away instead of destroying him as it's revealed that he's after someone whose heart can contain much darkness, initially believed to be Regina, but instead turns out to be Emma according to Mr Gold (and it's revealed he was the professor from Oxford that sent Belle a translation to get everyone out of the hat). Once the former head towards the town line, Cruella & Ursula manage to make a deal with Regina & Emma under the pretense that they have redeemed themselves, as they plan to use scrolls like the one Ingrid used in order to cross through, also making a deal with Rumple for him to cross with another scroll (which they do) & they plan to resurrect Maleficent from her zombie form from back in season 2. Oh yeah & it's revealed that Mary Margaret & David know Cruella & Ursula & are keeping a very dark secret up to the point that Mary Margaret threatens to crush both of their hearts.