Recap / Once Upon a Time S2 E15 "The Queen Is Dead"

Season 2, Episode 15:

The Queen Is Dead

Snow White: But I thought we were royals.
Queen Eva: We are. But that doesn't make us better than anyone else.

Regina: Well, there you go. You see where good gets you.

Upon discovering Cora and Regina's plan to find and take possession of Rumplestiltskin's dagger, Mary Margaret, with the aid of David and Mother Superior, makes it her mission to find it first; and while Mr. Gold continues his quest in New York to reunite with his son, Baelfire, Hook devises a plan to rid himself of a crocodile. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, the Blue Fairy offers Snow White an unconventional enchantment that could help save her dying mother, Queen Eva.

Tropes:

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Cora's wish that she makes to Eva's body comes true in the very next episode when Snow kills her with the very candle she gave her.
• Cathedral Climax: Beginning what will be a long tradition for the rest of the series, the Clock Tower of the Storybrooke library is the backdrop for the Hostage for MacGuffin situation described below, since it's where the Dark One's dagger was hidden. And naturally when Cora pulls the typical villainous You Said You Would Let Them Go on Johanna, it involves being flung through the clock face (another tradition in later seasons). Note also its appearance in the episode title card.
• Chekhov's Gun: The candle Cora gives to Snow in the past will be used to kill Cora herself in the next episode.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Symbolized by young Snow's tiara which is noted to be heavier than it looks.
• Couch Gag: The title card features Storybrooke's clock tower.
• The Corrupter: Cora tries to be this to Snow White.
• Death in the Limelight: Mary Margaret reconnects with Johanna, the now-elderly former castle servant who sent her her old tiara for her birthday. Towards the end of the episode, Cora threatens to kill Johanna unless Mary Margaret gives her Rumplestiltskin's dagger - then she flings Johanna through the clock face and sends her to her death anyway.
• Doomed by Canon: It was clear that Snow White's mother was going to die, given that her father later remarries to give Snow a new mother.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Regina looks shocked when Cora admits to killing Eva, especially when Cora explains the motive in making Regina the Queen.
• Evil Is Petty: Aside from Cora killing Johanna just to twist the knife in Snow, when Hook goes to the sheriff's station to get his hook back, he punches David out in the process.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Mary Margaret just so happens to find Johanna near the spot where Cora and Regina are searching for Rumpelstiltskin's dagger and discussing their plans to use said dagger to control him. This may or may not have been part of Cora and Regina's ploy to get Mary Margaret and David to find the dagger for them.
• Foreshadowing: Aside from everything involving the candle, darkening Snow's heart, and Cora's conversation by Eva's body about payback for being just the miller's daughter, there's the fact that after they can't get into Gold's shop to find the dagger without using dark magic, Snow turns to the Mother Superior and tells her this is one of those dire times when it's necessary, "just like you told me before." Blue immediately stares at her in confusion and shock, saying she said no such thing. Snow tries to suggest she's just denying this because she'd sworn her to secrecy before, and then the call from Emma giving them Gold's info on the dagger's location intervenes, but if there hadn't been this interruption, it's clear Blue would have revealed she wasn't the one to give Snow the candle. Only a short time after this, "Blue" is revealed as Cora by Eva's body, and then the truth finally comes out during the confrontation in the clock tower.
• Hero Ball: Cora counts on this—not only in David and Mary Margaret finding the dagger for them, but in being willing to give it up to save Johanna.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Cora holds Johanna hostage in exchange for the Dark One's dagger.
• I Shall Taunt You: Not only does Cora use Snow's goodness and regard for life against her to procure the dagger, but she then uses words which only Snow and the Blue Fairy would know to reveal she was the one to tempt her with the dark magic candle, and the one to poison Eva. Despite this reveal, and the subsequent murder of Johanna, Regina then follows up with "See? That's what goodness gets you."
• Limited Wardrobe: The outfit Queen Eva is buried in is the same one she wears planning a ball and then on her deathbed.
• Manipulative Bitch: The full machinations behind Regina becoming queen are revealed when Snow not only realizes (and Cora confirms) that she was the Blue Fairy in disguise and that Cora poisoned Eva, but when Regina confronts her mother afterward back at the mayor's office; while she had previously suggested in "The Stable Boy" that Cora had arranged Snow's riding accident, her mother had denied it and she apparently accepted this. But now Cora freely admits that she made sure Regina would be out riding and did frighten Snow's horse. Despite how this further reveals that everything which happened leading up to and including Daniel's death was her mother's fault, Regina still doesn't turn on her—because despite Snow's warnings, she so desperately wants to believe her mother loves her, is doing what's best for her, and only wishes to stop Rumple and the heroes and get Henry back for her.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Because David and Mary Margaret overhear Cora and Regina's plans for the dagger, and the Mother Superior can't get them into the pawn shop to find it or a way to protect it, Mary Margaret gets Emma to lean on Gold until he tells them where it is...but if she and David hadn't gone and found it, it's likely Cora and Regina wouldn't have either. All part of Cora's manipulative plan, of course.
• Nice to the Waiter: Shockingly Snow isn't at first but is quickly taught this by her mother. Serves as an Establishing Character Moment for Eva.
• Once More, with Clarity: After Cora's reveal about Eva to Snow, Regina confronts her regarding all the manipulations she did to make Regina queen—and we're treated to flashbacks explaining both how Cora made sure Regina would be riding Rocinante that day, and caused Snow's horse to run away with her.
• Put on a Bus: Hook, after making his way to New York and stabbing Gold, ends up knocked out and shoved in a storage closet, where he'll remain for several more episodes.
• The Reveal: Aside from the reveal about Cora having killed Eva (and being the one to arrange for both little Snow's runaway horse and Regina being riding nearby so as to save her), near the end of the episode as Emma and the others are trying to get Gold to the harbor and Hook's ship, Neal has to reveal to Emma that the 'friend' helping them is actually his fiancee, Tamara.
• Secret Test of Character: A variation. The Blue Fairy (actually Cora in disguise) gives Snow White a candle that will save her mother's life at the cost of another's. Snow doesn't go through with it and Eva commends her on her decision. The twist is that Cora wanted her to use it in order to corrupt her.
• So Proud of You: Eva says this to her daughter verbatim when she decides not to save her life at another's cost (even if it means she dies anyways).
• Wham Episode: Cora was the one who killed Snow's mother. After she forces Snow to give her the Dark One's dagger to save her servant Johanna's life, only to kill her anyway, Snow vows to kill Cora. Oh, and Gold has been stabbed by Hook with a poison that can't be cured unless Emma and the others can get back to Storybrooke in time.
• Xanatos Gambit: We learn the true extent of Cora's plotting and machinations in this episode. She poisoned Eva, then gave Snow dark magic that could've saved her, knowing Snow wouldn't use it, and in the off chance she did, she'd merely darken Snow's heart. Sometime after the poison killed Eva, she spooked Snow's horse, knowing that a young, kind-hearted Regina out on her riding lesson would save her, and that a grateful King Leopold would propose to Regina, making her daughter the queen. The only things she didn't count on were Daniel, but she was able to manipulate Snow into revealing their relationship, which she promptly took care of.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Poor Johanna.