Season 2, Episode 20:
The Evil Queen
The Evil Queen: "When Snow White is dead, then they will see my kindness."
Rumplestiltskin: "Through the charred remains of their homes. Yes, I'm sure that will be perfectly clear."
Regina Mills: "I don't have any other choice. As long as there are other people in our lives, you can never fully be mine. You loved me once. With them gone, you'll love me again, and you can see me for what I truly am—a hero."
Henry Mills: "Not if you kill everyone. You're a villain."
Regina Mills: "Me? They're the ones that have been keeping us apart. They're the villains."
Henry Mills: "How can I ever love anybody who would do such horrible things? Why would you even tell me this?"
Regina Mills: "Because I don't have anyone else to talk to."
With the aid of Hook, Regina attempts to put a plan in motion that will help transport herself and Henry back to Fairytale land. But her plan revolves around a fail-safe that was planted within the curse, which if triggered could wipe Storybrooke off the map – and kill all of its inhabitants; and Emma’s suspicions about Tamara grow. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, the Evil Queen asks Rumplestiltskin to transform her into an unrecognizable peasant in order to kill an unsuspecting Snow White, with the twisted aim of earning the love and respect of her subjects.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Regina hired Berkley as a guard in spite of his drinking.
- Anti-Magic:
- Owen and Tamara have magic-nullifying technology that involves injecting metals and tiny machines into the body.
- Rumplestiltskin's shapeshifting spell prevents Regina from using magic.
- Appropriated Appellation: This is the first time Regina calls herself the Evil Queen.
- Back for the Dead: Maleficent.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Regina actually believes she is the good one for a while, and that all she needs to do for everyone to love her is to murder the genuinely good people who stand in her way.
- The Chessmaster: Understated. Rumple's demand that Regina cut off all trade with King George seems rather inconsequential, until you remember that the poor conditions of the kingdom's finances are what set in motion the events that culminated in Snow and Charming's meeting.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Regina betrays Hook, leaving him to Maleficent so she can get the failsafe trigger, but then he (having been saved by Greg and Tamara) betrays her by having put the Anti-Magic cuff on her (at her own demand!). But as is revealed in the next episodes, they in turn betray him by trying to destroy Storybrooke (which will kill Gold, yes, but also him), so then he betrays them by leading David to the cannery, then betrays the heroes by stealing the bean. And finally, as revealed in the third season, Tamara and Greg were in turn betrayed by their superior Pan when he no longer needed them.
- Cliffhanger: Charming, Snow, and Grumpy discover that the bean fields have been burned and the beans taken (by Regina). Meanwhile Regina herself is betrayed by Hook, locked in an Anti-Magic cuff, and kidnapped by Greg and Tamara...who now have the failsafe trigger.
- Continuity Nod:
- The magic cuff Cora gave Hook to climb the beanstalk is now used to tempt Regina into demanding it—not knowing it had been turned into an anti-magic cuff by the Home Office (Pan).
- The failsafe trigger is hidden inside the remains of Snow White's glass coffin, first revealed to be in the mines beneath Storybrooke way back in "That Still, Small Voice", thus explaining why it was there in the first place and showing Regina's usual sense of Irony: she put the one thing that could destroy Storybrooke inside something associated with the one she blamed for destroying her life.
- In exchange for glamouring Regina, Rumple demands that she cuts off all trade with King George's kingdom, thus making it bankrupt.
- Couch Gag: The title card features Regina's castle.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Bloody hell, Regina. Did you seriously imagine that telling Henry all about your plans to kill all his blood relatives and everyone he actually likes would lead to him buying into it?
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Snow tells the disguised Regina that the Queen still has good in her. Regina is genuinely touched and is inspired to change. But Snow changes her tune the moment she sees the villagers that Regina massacred.
- Idiot Ball:
- Regina apparently forgets that she's wearing a shapeshifting spell and unable to use magic. This allows her to get captured by her own knights and be rescued by Snow White.
- In the present, she actually trusts Hook, tells him about her plan to escape with Henry, and takes him with her to fetch the failsafe, after he told her Greg and Tamara wanted him to ally with her and betray her...and simply believes him when he tells her he changed his mind and decided to just stay loyal to her. Granted she needed help, and she was desperate, but it seemed all he had to do was utter a few well-placed words about her and Cora, and his relationship with them, to convince her he wasn't going to do just what he said he would.
- Ignored Epiphany:
- Hook considers that making an all-consuming quest for revenge one's only purpose in life may make it difficult to earn others' affection and may leave a feeling of emptiness once fulfilled, but completely ignores his own advice.
- Regina in the past has her Blue-and-Orange Morality shattered and realizes that people don't love her because she commits evil. However, she willingly ignores this epiphany because she thinks that even if she stops being evil and does good, she won't be forgiven for her past sins, and thus she gives in to the Then Let Me Be Evil trope.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Snow tells "Wilma" about how she met Regina without saying it was Regina who saved her from the horse. When Wilma mentions how the Queen saved her life, Snow realizes that Wilma isn't who she claims to be.
- Which is somewhat Fridge Logic; considering Regina is a Queen and that incident is what made her one in the first place, the story of her saving Snow should likely be a well-known story.
- King Incognito: Regina. She's not very good at it. She promptly stands out, gets arrested, makes a fool of herself trying to convince the guards that she's the Queen, tries to use magic despite Rumplestiltskin clearly telling her that she won't be able to, and would have gotten herself killed if not for Snow.
- MacGuffin Location: The library and its Clock Tower become this even more, as well as a Magnetic Plot Device—not only was this already where Regina trapped Dragon!Maleficent and Gold hid the Dark One's dagger, it's where Regina hid the spell trigger. It's also briefly the villainous hideout for Tamara and Greg when they are interrogating Hook and making a deal to get him on their side.
- Mauve Shirt: In an army of Faceless Goons, Berkley and Rivers get names, faces, lines, personalities, and tiny glimpses into their pasts.
- Meaningful Echo: Regina telling Henry "As long as there are other people in our lives, you can never truly be mine" is similar to a conversation she had with Emma in the season 1 finale.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The battle between Hook and Maleficent is mostly offscreen. As is however Greg and Tamara defeated her to save him.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Henry manages to do this after he eavesdrops on his mother and grandmother talking about the magic beans.
- Operation: [Blank]: Henry and Emma once again have to have a codename in their pursuit of proof against Tamara. Emma tries "Operation: Tiger" while Henry chooses "Operation: Praying Mantis."
- Right Behind Me: A variant. One of the knights calls Regina ugly while right in front of the disguised Regina.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: "The Queen is dead. Long live the Evil Queen."
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Despite his desire for revenge on Rumplestiltskin, Hook seems to feel this way. Regina disagrees.
