History Recap / OnceUponATimeS7E9OneLittleTear

* EnemyMine: Both Rumple and Gothel, though they don't say it in words, are both aware that Gothel is ''playing Drizella like a very small fiddle'' and that they're both searching for the guardian. Neither expressly agrees to team up - Rumple is, in fact, against it - but it seems that neither is actively working ''against'' the other making it a tentative case of Gothel and Rumple working against the Tremaines. And, as seen earlier in the Series, Gothel ''also'' seems to ''not'' want Lucy's belief broken, something which she warns Rumple about when she gets the chance.

** Weaver asks Gothel why she calls herself "mother"; the witch replies the word means different things to different people, saying that she "tends to people's needs" (also implying it refers to her garden and plant-based powers).

* AbsenteeActor: Because the Enchanted Forest flashbacks all deal with Gothel and Rapunzel/Tremaine, and in the present day Regina and Henry are offscreen driving to San Francisco to fetch Zelena, neither Lana Parilla nor Andrew J. West are in this episode.

* ManipulativeBitch: Victoria has nastily re-ascended to this role again. First she uses Ivy's desperation to claim Anastasia's heart to arrange a meeting with Weaver (and so she can taunt her); then she reveals she knows Weaver's real identity and offers him the means to free himself of the dagger and rejoin Belle if he will help her; then she delivers the custody papers to Jacinda (which Nick proves are on the up-and-up) all so she can secretly stash her phone there and record Jacinda and Nick's caught-in-the-moment kiss; then finally she shares the storybook with Lucy and confesses everything, but adds in enough cruel and cynical twistings of the truth, plus the previously-recorded kiss, to break Lucy's belief so she can bring back Anastasia.

** In retrospect, having Victoria's last name be Belfrey is even more this than it seemed--instead of just being a villain who traps people in towers (Cinderella, Gothel), she herself was trapped in one as Rapunzel.
** Also in retrospect, Drizella's cursed name being Ivy when she is the daughter of Rapunzel and protege of Gothel (not to mention how much she seems to cling to things, as Tremaine herself had noted before--Cecelia, a need to be loved or at least respected by her mother, magic, Gothel, revenge...).

** In the present day, a tear is once again the key to saving someone's life, but with a twist--while in the Disney film there was a cost (Rapunzel losing her magic), it was one she was more than willing to pay to heal Eugene, but here Lucy (although she likely would have gladly restored Anastasia if she could, and didn't know the price) has to sacrifice her belief. Whether this will have further repercussions for Hyperion Heights, or perhaps even magic and the curse itself, remains to be seen, but for now it has certainly endangered Lucy's life, just as happened to Henry twice before (the turnover, Pan).

** Tremaine[=/=]Rapunzel favors Anastasia because the latter remembered her better after her absence - Drizella was younger, and bonded more with her stepmother Cecelia, causing Tremaine to resent her.
** The circumstances of Anastasia's near death are revealed - [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 while building a snowman with her sisters]], she and Ella fell through the ice, and their father was only able to save Ella.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Gothel reveals the whole situation she engineered with Rapunzel was this--the initial deal to trade her life for the happiness and safety of her family was predicated on the notion that Rapunzel might be the OnlyThePureOfHeart Guardian. But she allowed her to escape the tower so as to prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt by tempting her with the means to destroy the innocent Cecelia, after discovering what happened to her family in her absence. Rapunzel passed when initially making the deal, but failed after her escape.

* ThisIsReality: Variation. Victoria confesses to Lucy that the fairy tales she believes in are real, and even shows her the original ''Once Upon a Time'' storybook to prove it...but then tells her the terrible things which happened after the 'endings' which she blames for ruining her life, then uses this to claim that happy endings aren't real.

** Gothel telling Rapunzel she wants the Guardian too.

* MythologyGag: Multiple ones, to both ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' and the original Grimms' fairy tale.

** Rapunzel uses lanterns as a means of connecting her family together, telling Anastasia that as long as they can see her light they'll know she's all right, and as long as she can see theirs she can find her way back to them. This later inspires Anastasia to send up the lanterns from ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'''s SignatureScene, and like in the film seeing them pushes Rapunzel to leave the tower (although here, she knows exactly who she is and what they mean, and this just guides her back to the family she's already seeking).

** There are also a couple small ones to ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'': aside from the fact the Tremaine girls were building a snowman just before the tragedy, it's Ella falling through the ice that puts her sister Anastasia's life in danger. The difference is that no magic is involved, that Anastasia actually would have died if Gothel hadn't frozen her last breath in her lungs (although Anna was close to it as well), and that the incident resulted in the girls' mother hating Ella and blaming her for it all rather than merely fearing or trying to control her.

** The circumstances of Anastasia's near death are revealed - [[Disney/{{Frozen}} while building a snowman with her sisters]], she and Ella fell through the ice, and their father was only able to save Ella.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Rapunzel’s hair is shown to be long enough for her to escape the tower, even though it would take a ''lot'' longer than 6 years for it to grow that long (Drizella is shown to be one fourth the size of the tower in "Wake Up Call").

** Also in retrospect, Drizella's cursed name being Ivy when she is the daughter of Rapunzel and protege of Gothel (not to mention how much she seems to cling to things--Cecelia, a need to be loved or at least respected by her mother, magic, Gothel, revenge...).

* BatmanGambit: And ''how''. Rumple is playing one with the dagger (which, to judge by how he showed it to Sabine under the pretence it was used to break into the kitchen, and from later episodes, is to try and locate the Guardian); Gothel is playing one on Drizella for unknown reasons and in the past was playing ''another'' gambit to find the Guardian herself, while in the present day she seems to be playing a tentative one with Rumple too; and Victoria Belfrey has been playing one to wake Anastasia.

* TheUnreveal: Courtesy of Sabine, Rogers finds out that whoever burned down Cluck's used the Dark One's dagger to break in, but it isn't revealed for certain who did this or how they got the dagger. The only clear thing is that from Weaver's reaction, it wasn't him and he doesn't have it. Although, the implication is that it was the man with the runic tattoo who led Rogers to "Eloise", and that he got the dagger from Victoria.
** Rumple had the dagger last - in the evidence locker. Dialogue indicates he showed it to Sabine ("practically shoved it into her hands"), maybe he's trying to see if it wakes anyone else up. Plus his reaction to the drawing was more like "How much does he know?"

* BatmanGambit: And ''how''. Rumple is playing one to find the dagger and the Guardian, Gothel is playing one on Drizella for unknown reasons and in the past was playing ''another'' gambit to find the Guardian herself, while in the present day she seems to be playing a tentative one with Rumple too, and Victoria Belfrey has been playing one to wake Anastasia.
** Rumple isn't ''looking'' for the dagger, he had it in the evidence locker and showed it to Sabine under the pretence it was used to break into the kitchen. Maybe he's trying to see if it wakes anyone else up? Or, to judge by later episodes, to try and locate the Guardian.

** Rumple isn't ''looking'' for the dagger, he had it in the evidence locker and showed it to Sabine under the pretence it was used to break into the kitchen. Maybe he's trying to see if it wakes anyone else up?

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Rapunzel’s hair is shown to be long enough for her to escape the tower, even though it would take a ''lot'' longer than 6 years for it to grow that long (Drizella is shown to be one fourth the size of the tower in “Wake Up Call”).

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Rapunzel’s hair is shown to be long enough for her to escape the tower, even though it would take a lot longer than 6 years for it to grow that long (Drizella is shown to be one fourth the size of the tower in “Wake Up Call”).

Victoria strikes a deal with Weaver in an attempt to free herself from jail and wake Anastasia, but the cost of saving one life could mean the loss of another; Rogers, meanwhile, becomes suspicious and investigates his fellow officer, and Jacinda and Nick share an exchange that could alter her future with Henry. And in the Enchanted Forest, Rapunzel reunites with her family with the aid of Mother Gothel, but it comes with a cost.