The second half of Once Upon A Time this season isn’t pulling any punches. Shocking revelations, a new curse, seeds for romance, and the return of a major character are just some of the shockers in this second episode. So let’s jump right in, recap, and answer the question everyone is dying to know: WHO is the Wicked Witch’s father?

Zelena – The Wicked Witch:

We all know this half season’s villain is the Wicked Witch, but we’re not the only ones familiar with the tales of Oz. As we learn in The Enchanted Forest, Regina and Belle are quite familiar with the Wicked Witch of Oz – though neither has ever met her. Between flying monkeys and puffs of green smoke, the witch’s reputation certainly precedes her; but what about her Storybrook persona?

In Storybrook, we learn that the Wicked Witch’s real name is Zelena and –as she told Snow – used to be a midwife in the Enchanted Forest. Whether she’s telling the truth or lying with this little bit of information, it’s certain that she has big plans for Snow’s unborn child. But why? Well think about this, like Emma, this child is the product of True Love which means it’ll be quite valuable. The race is on to see if they can break this new curse before Zelena gets her hand on the baby – which looks like it’ll be coming any day now. Speaking of which, what’s exactly different about this new curse?

The New Curse:

Like last time, any Dark Curse has three areas of note: memory, magic, and what happens when you cross the town line:

• Memory: Rather than be given new memories, this curse has stripped everyone of their memories of what’s happened the second they left Storybrook. To the residents, it was as if the broken curse washed over them only to have them wake up back in their Storybrook beds. It was Hook – who was off sailing the world – that confirmed they did in fact leave Storybrook on that fateful day; and he only knew to return because he received a bird with a message and memory potion strapped to its leg.
• Magic: Unlike the last curse, Magic is present this time around. Between earthquake, force-abilities and teleportation it’s clear to see that magic is in full effect.
• Crossing The Line: During the first curse, anyone who crossed the town line met with a horrible fate. Once magic returned, they forgot who they were and became their Storybrook persona. This time around there seems to be no real consequence for leaving beyond the town line being patrolled by Flying Monkeys.

Whether these Flying Monkeys only attack those who try to leave is uncertain; however, it seems as though they might attack almost anyone. With five dwarves missing it seems unrealistic that all five would test the town line theory at the same time. Regardless, it’s what happens after these monkey attacks that is really horrific.

When they find Little Jon and bring him to the emergency room, they discover a strange bite mark on his shoulder. Soon after, he begins trembling until he fully transforms into a flying monkey. With this Flying Monkey Syndrome seeming like the new zombie plague, it’s hard to know how many Flying Monkey’s Zelena actually has in her employ. Thus far the tally is 1 destroyed thanks to Emma, and six new additions (five dwarves and Little Jon). How can they ever hope to get to the bottom of this? Well, they’ll need a plan.

Emma and Regina’s Plan: 

At first it seemed as though Emma – along with all of Storybrook – was ready to burn Regina at the stake; but in reality it was all an elaborate plan – WELL, at least Emma was faking. In reality, it was a brilliant plan to make everyone think Regina was on her own when in reality they could work together to make a memory potion like the one Emma drank.

Personally, I’m very happy this scene turned out to be a plan between Emma and Regina, because these two have bickered enough for the past 3 seasons. It’s time for them to actually be friends and work together; and thanks to Emma’s superpower of telling when someone is lying, they can work together.

Sadly, the potion-making plan is a failure, but they quickly shift gears into making everyone think it did succeed so that they could flush out the person who has a stake in everyone forgetting. After having Leroy spread the word, the plan worked like a charm and they caught the perpetrator right before he/she disappeared in a puff of green smoke – whom they later realize to be the Wicked Witch. But how? How did the Wicked Witch break Regina’s blood magic – for the second time?

Sister, Sister:

That’s right! Regina and Zelena are actually sisters, well half-sisters actually. Cora had Zelena first, before she became royalty. Now we don’t yet know if this makes Regina the Wicked Witch of the East – doubtful though. Regina is the Evil Queen, and has nothing to do with Wicked. Also, considering Leroy knew of the two Witches and how to kill them; that means there is another Wicked Witch out there – who isn’t Regina. One final thing to note is that like Regina, Zelena also crossed paths with Rumplestiltskin – but how and why?

Who’s Your Daddy?:

In the Season 2 episode “The Miller’s Daughter”, we learn how Cora and Rumplestiltskin fell in love and originally planned to run away together before Cora married the prince. During that time, a interesting conversation happened where Rumple offered to change his and Cora’s initial deal of giving him her first born into that first born being “his”.

“What if I amended our contract, instead of you owing me some random first born child, you owe me my child.”

Cora quickly agrees and they immediately set out to make it a reality. After Cora rips her heart out and shuns Rumple, it seems as though she found a loophole in their deal. Assuming this child to be Regina, it seemed as that she was indeed “Rumple’s” but he wouldn’t get to see her since Cora broke it off with him. This also later made sense why Rumple came to Regina, because he wanted to see his daughter – despite her never knowing the truth. Well, I was wrong . . . and yet right to notice all this.

If you make this child Zelena, then everything fits. Before she went to go see the king – and decide to rip her own heart out – Cora became pregnant with Rumple’s child. When she gave birth, Rumple came to collect ‘his child’ as per their deal. What follows and how Zelena ended up in Oz remains to be seen. Perhaps Cora sent her to Oz to spite Rumple – who knows.

Either way, Rumple is almost definitely Zelena’s father. It would also explain why she is green – since Rumple was quite green and scaly back then. This could ALSO make Zelena more powerful then Regina due to her having the literal Dark One as her father – but my money is still on Team Regina #TeamEvil. It’s also important to note that Zelena takes the news of both Cora and Rumplestiltskin badly. So there’s more evidence. Speaking of which, I miss Rumplestiltskin.

RUMPLESTILSKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

When Little Jon mentioned that he procured his new crossbow from a ‘rich looking proprietor’, I immediately began hoping that it was Mr Gold and he had returned to his shop with everyone else. Well, we didn’t have to wait for this prediction to come true because episodes end revealed that Rumplestiltskin is back!!!!!! – but how much of him has returned?

We have no idea how Zelena brought him back, or for what purpose she plans to use him for; but however she did it, it didn’t bring him all back. Rumple seems to have snapped, or rather returned to being The Dark One through and through. He can be seen uttering, “You feed the madness and it feeds on you” over and over again. Is he referring to Zelena or to his own madness? He certainly seems like his old Rumple self judging from his gesturing and speech. Hopefully Belle can find him and snap him out of it and bring back the Mr Gold/Rumplestiltskin who was putting his past behind him.

Regina & Robin Hood:

Speaking of romance, this episode we found Regina and Robin Hood grow slightly closer. Well, very slightly, but the seeds are being sown. When Regina is attacked by another Flying Monkey, Robin Hood’s son Roland gets in the way. Regina immediately saves the boy and transforms the monster into a stuffed animal. Robin later mentions this to Regina:

“I saw the way you grabbed Roland back there. Clearly you have the touch of a mother.” – Robin Hood

Robin Hood is very family oriented. Seeing Regina in this motherly way was an excellent start to their budding romance, but she wasn’t the only one who impressed the other.

After seeing this kinder side to Regina, Robin tries to dissuade her from enacting a sleeping curse on herself. He can see the pain she must be feeling and tells her of how he lost Marrion because of his actions putting her in harms way. This doesn’t get through to Regina, but Robin showed fire. He barely hesitated to draw his bow and put Regina in a situation that would have meant her death as well as his.

Sure, this isn’t as romantic a gesture as saving the others child, but Robin has shown himself to actually care about what happens to Regina – which certainly counts for something. Their relationship is going to take a while to blossom, but its good to know that they are at least moving forward – no matter how slowly.

“We all get a second chance Regina, you just have to open your eyes to see it.” – Robin Hood 

With only two episodes into the second half of season three, you can already tell that this is going to be a great season. There is a very strong Season 1 feel to it; and yet it doesn’t feel repetitive. Sure, there’s another curse, but it feels like a logical next step. Zelena wants to enact her father’s curse because she feels it’s her right, but what else did she need this curse for? With Regina’s will to live restored – as well as her desire to destroy someone – you can be sure things are only going to get more heated.