Season 7, Episode 11:
Secret Garden
Eager to harness her burgeoning magical skills, Robin engages in a risky relationship with Mother Gothel. Meanwhile in Hyperion Heights, Roni and Kelly strike a deal with Eloise, desperate to save Lucy from her mysterious illness. But nothing comes without a price. As things finally come to a head between Victoria and Ivy, someone may have to pay with their life.
Tropes
- Arc Words: Gothel reminds Victoria that "magic comes with a price."
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Drizella tried her whole life to earn her mother's love and approval, but after realizing she'll never get it, vows to make her suffer. When Victoria/Tremaine finally learns to love Ivy, it costs her her life. As she is dying, Victoria suffers over the fact that she didn't love Ivy/Drizella sooner.
- Call-Back: The book Robin was using to learn magic, and which Regina gave her, is the same one Rumple gave to Cora, which she in turn gave to Regina, and which Regina used to restore her magic after the curse was broken in Season Two. This is also pointed out in dialogue by Zelena.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Regina insists that neither Henry nor Lucy will die because she and Zelena will work together to find a solution, Zelena quips, "You mean, wicked and evil?" referencing how she had always contrasted the two of them since first appearing in Season Three.
- In the curio store, we see the old cymbal-playing monkey from Gold's shop.
- Gothel shows off the "arrow that will always find its mark" to Robin.
- When taking the Resurrection Amulet from Regina, Victoria speaks not only of how she did something dark (casting a terrible curse) but ended up being forgiven for it because in the end it was done for a good cause, but that like her, she would do anything to save her child.
- Couch Gag: The opening title shows Madame Leota in her crystal ball inside the "O".
- Enemy Mine: Once Zelena reveals that Gothel took her daughter, Hook immediately wishes to join her quest as payback to Gothel for what she did to him and Alice. Lampshaded when Hook quotes "the enemy of my enemy is...", defied when Zelena insists she works alone, but it eventually becomes a genuine version of the trope once he impresses on her how much she needs help and she realizes how much they have in common.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
- When Ivy asks why she's bound in the pentacle, Victoria slowly starts noting how the spell to help Lucy doesn't just need magic but a sacrifice... and that's Ivy.
- Regina and Zelena seeing Lucy awake and then realizing that means the Resurrection Amulet was used in a life-for-life trade.
- Fond Memories That Could Have Been: What Victoria realizes as she gives up her life for Ivy — that she could have had a devoted daughter's love without having to bring back Anastasia, and not only did she ruin this and turn Drizella to darkness, now it's too late since she's dying.Victoria: I spent so much time focused on one lost daughter, I didn't see the one who was with me all this time.
- Foreshadowing:
- Dr. Sage mockingly says that a fizzy drink will kill you. She dies because that drink got poisoned.
- In the flashback, Regina and Zelena mention that Gothel is also known as "Mother Nature".
- From a Certain Point of View: Rumple tells Rogers that Eloise is part of a dangerous cult. Technically true, he just leaves out the part where she and her fellows are actual witches. He also says Belfrey captured Eloise because Anastasia had been abducted by the cult; Anastasia has been abducted, just not when Eloise was imprisoned.
- Genre Savvy: The smirk on Kelly's face implies that she knew the Resurrection Amulet was hidden in the sign. This means that when Zelena, in the flashback, says she needs to "hide it somewhere safe", she hid it with Regina. Because Regina is fucking frightening when she has to be.
- Gilligan Cut: A dramatic version as in flashback, Zelena notes she has to hide the amulet as "it can cause a great deal of harm in the wrong hands." Cut to a close-up of the amulet in Gothel's hands in the present.
- Heel Realization: Seeing Ivy's agony makes Victoria realize how her own selfish actions helped turn her daughter to darkness and the only way to make amends is to give up her own life.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Victoria sacrifices her life for her daughter. No, not Anastasia, Ivy.
- History Repeats:
- Noted by Zelena on how she denied Robin a chance to be herself just like her own father did to her.
- Zelena attempts to give her life to save her daughter from the Resurrection Amulet (only to be saved by Robin shooting the arrow). In the present, Victoria does the same thing to save Ivy; this time the death takes.
- Then, averted massively; Cora would never have died for either of her children — Regina's more than willing to die for Henry, and Zelena is willing to die for Robin; the apple fell far from the tree.
- It's not Rumple this time, but yet another Mills woman falls under the sway of an Evil Mentor. Luckily for Robin, this time it doesn't stick.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Gothel shows Robin the arrow enchanted "to always hit its mark." Robin ends up using it to stop the sacrifice of Zelena.
- Human Sacrifice:
- The Amulet of Resurrection can only revive someone in exchange for another life. In this case, it's Victoria's life to save Lucy's.
- In the flashbacks, Gothel tries to do this to Robin to resurrect Madame Leota. Zelena steps in to take her place, but Robin returns the favor by using a bow to stop the ritual.
- Hypocrite: Gothel calls Victoria a monster who needs to be locked up and turns Anastasia away from her by reciting a laundry list of her misdeeds, but one could easily make a similar list of her own, and that's just the stuff we know about.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: Gothel's not wrong about the weight of Victoria's crimes, though.
- Irony:
- A number of episodes ago, Victoria complained about how everything in her life seemed to revolve around shoes. How does she escape the well with Ivy? Throwing her shoe to hit the pulley and release the rope Gothel earlier used to suspend her.
- Also, the thing Rapunzel/Tremaine counted on and believed in for so long to help her escape Gothel and get back to her family, the release of the lanterns? It was Drizella, the daughter she thought didn't remember or love her anymore, who came up with it.
- How many times has Cora fucked over her daughters' lives by letting them suffer? We won't list them here as we would literally be here forever. Both of her daughters, however, go to drastic lengths to save their children.
- Though not much is seen of Robin's power in the episode, Gothel's assessment would put her as one of the weaker magic users in the series. Her mother, Zelena, has long been The Ace and one of the most powerful magic users.
- I Shall Taunt You: Gothel is in rare form, but her cruelest and pettiest of examples is when she claims Hook "always showing up on [her] doorstep" is a sign he still wants to bed her.
- Like Father, Like Son: Or in this case, Like Father, Like Daughter — after most of the episode making it appear Robin takes after Zelena, it turns out she was only pursuing magic because she felt she had to, being related to powerful spellcasters like the Wicked Witch of the West and the Evil Queen... and the parent she actually takes after, archery and all, is Robin Hood.
- Meaningful Name:
- To fit the Haunted Mansion theme, the name of the curio shop is "Memento Mori", "Remember the dead." Ironically it becomes even more meaningful once it's revealed the owner, Madame Leota, is dead and requires resurrection.
- Zelena also reveals, when describing how the spell Robin tried to cast led to her being kidnapped by Gothel, that the reason the latter calls herself "Mother" is because she is known in the Enchanted Forest as Mother Nature.
- Manipulative Bitch: The way Gothel works in general. She uses a series of not-quite-lies to get people on her side, even playing up any existing grievances to do so. All in service of her Coven that takes young girls and practices human sacrifices.
- Mythology Gag:
- Madame Leota says the opening narration from The Haunted Mansion.
- During the first confrontation between Zelena and Gothel (before Robin learns what the latter truly wants her for), Gothel taunts Zelena on how she had been such a poor mother by not encouraging her daughter's magical talents and independence, then claims she is offering Robin what she needs, the chance to make her own choices, finally ending with "let her choose which mother knows best." Gothel's Villain Song from Tangled is called "Mother Knows Best".
- Negated Moment of Awesome: The opening scene plays up the idea of a sinister cult of witches casting a dark and terrible spell... only to have it interrupted by a phone's ringtone, revealing the cultists are actually just Robin and a couple of her teenage friends playing with magic in Regina's vault.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Robin realizing that she's the sacrifice required to resurrect Leota.
- Likewise, Victoria realizing Gothel intends to sacrifice Ivy.
- And when Regina and Zelena realize someone did get sacrificed to save Lucy.
- Pet the Dog: It turns out that although she resented Ella and was willing to sacrifice Lucy's belief and eventually her life to restore Anastasia, Victoria really did care about her granddaughter... and so, after her actions are revealed by Gothel to drive Anastasia away, she chooses to try and make up for it by restoring Lucy to life.
- Redemption Equals Death: Downplayed; the things Victoria did to Drizella over the years, all for the sake of saving Anastasia, and her other crimes cannot be forgiven so easily. At the same time, she does realize her mistakes, confesses her love after giving her life to save Ivy, and dies in her arms. Whether or not Ivy can truly forgive her mother remains to be seen, but she is clearly traumatized by Victoria's death.
- The Reveal: Somewhat minor compared to everything else that happens in the episode, but it's revealed how Zelena can have her magic back: the Resurrection Amulet, like the Crimson Heart which took her magic in the first place, can drain someone's magic if it is not used to take their life. Her taking Robin's place allowed the latter's magic to fill the amulet, and since Robin doesn't really want it (partly because of her experience with Gothel, partly because she was only interested in magic in the first place because she felt pressured to be thanks to who her mother was), she encourages Zelena to use it to restore her magic.
- Shout-Out:
- The entire Madame Leota sequence is a huge tribute to Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction.
- Henry dryly asks if Lucy thinks Dr. Sage is "Doctor Dolittle" or "Doctor Strange".
- Spotting the Thread: When Rogers drops in on Gothel, she claims to be alone. However, he sees there's an extra cup set up and is getting suspicious so she breaks one of the cups to distract him.
- Strange Secret Entrance: The curio shop can only be found by means of a special map, pacing out an exact number and length of steps in the right place, and then finding the invisible door and knob while saying the store's name. The door can also be made to vanish from the inside to trap intruders.
- Villainous BSoD: Well, she isn't precisely a villain anymore after what Gothel has done to her, but Ivy otherwise falls into one of these after Victoria's sacrifice.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Ivy/Drizella finally gets her mother's love and approval, long after she gave up on it.
- Wham Shot: Just after reading blood tests confirming Henry is Lucy's father, Dr. Sage takes a poisoned drink and keels over dead. A mysterious figure cuts off a lock of her hair and then takes the results away.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Hook gives Zelena a speech like this to encourage her to prove her love to Robin and save her from Gothel.
