Recap / Once Upon a Time S4 E17 "Heart of Gold"

Season 4, Episode 17:

Heart of Gold

Emma is still reeling after learning the truth of her parents' history with Maleficent, but she must focus on finding the Author, who is running loose in Storybrooke, before Gold does. When Gold's quest for his happy ending grows more urgent, he blackmails Regina into helping him by threatening Robin Hood's life. And in a Fairy Tale Land flashback, Robin Hood learns what it means to be an honorable thief when he accepts a proposition by Rumplestiltskin to travel to Oz to steal a valuable magic elixir from the Wicked Witch.

Tropes:

• The Bus Came Back: Little John (and the rest of the Merry Men), the Sheriff of Nottingham.
• Children Are Innocent: Roland seems unable to tell that his mother is not who she seems.
• Contrived Coincidence: When Robin goes through Rumple's portal to Oz, he not only happens to encounter Will Scarlet (who was also there to get some of the Elixir from the Wicked Witch), the portal falls on a guard who had captured Will, thus letting Robin free him. This, of course, sets up for their future friendship and association.
• Couch Gag: The title card features the Emerald City.
• A Day in the Limelight: For Robin.
• Dead All Along: Zelena killed Marian and used an illusion to take her place before Emma and Hook brought her back to the present.
• Demoted to Dragon: Zelena is forcing Rumple to work for her, he may act like he's the one calling the shots to everyone else, but it's really her.
• Double-Meaning Title: As usual—it refers literally to Gold's heart and how all his evil acts have poisoned him and are killing him, and how he needs a potion specifically meant to heal it, but it's also a reference to Robin being a thief with a heart of gold by robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. To a lesser degree, it also points to Gold not being fully evil even now, since the advice he gives Robin is heartfelt and genuine—and for all he knew (and hoped for, since it would make Regina happy), Robin might have responded to it by going back to Storybrooke, thus depriving Zelena of some of her leverage.
• Enemy Mine: Of an enforced sort—although Gold claims to Regina they "came to an understanding", the truth is that he is being forced to work with Zelena (the woman who, as her own sister points out, killed his beloved son) because she is the only one with the potion to cure his heart and only he can find the Author who can give all the villains happy endings. Similarly, Gold forces this with Regina via blackmail, to work with them in corrupting Emma or else Robin Hood dies at Zelena's hands.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Author complains about having to write about Rumple (although it's possible it was his angst and woobie-ness he was complaining about—that Rumple wasn't evil enough.)
    • The exact words were "the biggest pain in the ass": Rumple had been the resident invokedMagnificent Bastard for centuries and the most powerful wizard around (and we saw what happened once the Author crossed someone with magical powers), so there might not have been any moral judgment behind that remark, just a consideration about how hard it made meddling with stories and manipulating people.
  • Rumple is clearly appalled that Zelena's been impersonating Marian.
• Evil All Along: Marian/Zelena.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Elixir of the Wounded Heart, which can heal any kind of damage to a heart, magical or otherwise. Lampshaded by Robin.
• Failed a Spot Check: Will Scarlet missed Robin hiding the vial of elixir in his pocket while they were embracing.
• Faking the Dead: Sort of; while Gold did kill Zelena's body, her magic was strong enough to allow her spirit to escape and go through the time portal until it could find a body to reconstruct and possess. Zelena invokedhas a history of this.
• Fish out of Water: Robin is really having problems adjusting to New York City.
• Foreshadowing: Robin telling Marian, after she wanted him to let Gold die, that she had changed, and her delay in telling him what words she spoke that day in Sherwood Forest, hint that all is not what it seems with her. More subtly, her knowledge of Baelfire being the name of Rumple's son, when Robin tells her they are going to his apartment—knowledge it would be very strange for Marian to have, but which of course Zelena knew all along.
• A Friend in Need: Although eventually she gives in to spare Robin Hood's life, at first Regina refuses to let Gold darken Emma's heart and turn her into a monster "the same way you did to me." This is especially significant after having spent most of the first half of the season being furious with Emma for bringing Marian back to the present; even though it was just revealed Marian was Zelena all along, the fact Regina was still willing to risk Robin's life for Emma is a powerful bit of Character Development.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Amongst the drawers Robin's opening you can spot a hidden Mickey
• Genre Savvy: Zelena quickly realizes that Robin is an impostor working for the Dark One, since he doesn't act like one of her guards and only Rumple would be bold enough to try and steal from her.
• Glamour: The six-leaf clover pendant allows for this. Unless there was more than one, the implication is that the one Robin stole and gave to Marian is the very one Zelena stole from her body to impersonate her. Humorously, it's implied (through him saying Rumple would "never see his face again") that it's responsible for invokedhim looking very different in his introductory episode... And it retroactively explains invokedhow Zelena impersonated Ariel in "The Jolly Roger."
• History Repeats: Robin has to steal the Elixir of the Wounded Heart twice. The first time he gets it, claims he didn't, then slips it to Will. The second time he gets it, gives it directly to Gold...but Marian/Zelena had been the one to switch it.
• Honor Before Reason: This episode explains the origin of this code in Robin Hood, even as it somewhat deconstructs it since it leads him to stay with Marian out of obligation, and she isn't even really the woman he loved.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Regina calls Gold on both working with Zelena (the woman who killed his son!) and threatening her when he had told her (before Belle exiled him) that he wanted Regina to be happy. Gold simply claims he came to an understanding with Zelena (not explaining about the elixir or her blackmail, merely speaking of the Author), and notes that he does want Regina to be happy—as long as it isn't at his expense.
• I Have Your Wife: Variation. Gold threatens Regina that unless she helps him and the Queens corrupt Emma so that the Author can give them happy endings, he will have Zelena kill Robin...but in actuality, the plan was her idea and he is just her pawn/messenger boy.
• Kick the Dog: After revealing herself via a delicious villainous monologue, Zelena explains that she had originally intended to do this with Robin—implying she made the Snow Queen's spell return to force Robin and Regina to separate, but more directly stating she intended to make Robin fall in love with her and thus deprive Regina of her true love. However, his continued devotion to Regina led her to a new plan of horning in on Gold's Author scheme.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Zelena wastes no time in lording her superiority over a bed-ridden Gold.
• Kill and Replace: Zelena did this to Marian.
• Laser-Guided Karma: As it turns out, all of Gold's past misdeeds are catching up to him, and have literally poisoned his heart, which is why he wants the Elixir.
• Me's a Crowd: Zelena pulls this trick on Robin in the Emerald City, creating two illusionary doubles of herself.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Rumple creates a doorway to Oz for Robin, it somehow "lands" on one of the witch's guards...leaving him with only his feet showing.
  • Also, once said guard's costume is removed and worn by Robin, it's a dead-ringer for the Winkies in the MGM film.
  • When Gold demands that Robin break into Walsh/the Wizard's now-closed furniture store in New York to obtain the Elixir which Zelena had given him, the store is called "Wizard of Oak". Both Robin and Gold lampshade this, the latter snarking about Walsh's "lack of originality".
• Never My Fault:
  • Averted with Rumple. He admits to Robin that he "pushed away every chance of happiness he'd been given".
  • Once again, Regina accuses Gold of having made her a monster.
  • Snow and Charming blame the Author for what they did to Maleficent's baby. Emma calls them out on it.
• Once More, with Clarity: During Zelena's explanation for how she came to be still alive and disguised as Marian, flashblacks reveal to the viewer how she had killed Marian's unconscious body, then replaced it, at a point when Hook and Emma were distracted.
• Retcon: The initial explanation for Robin's kiss not working to save Marian from the Snow Queen's spell was that she wasn't his True Love any more. Turns out that was true far more than we knew.
• The Reveal: Zelena is alive, and impersonating Marian, who isn't.
• Sadistic Choice:
  • Help Gold and the Queens corrupt Emma, the woman who has become your friend and mother of your beloved son...or allow Gold and Zelena to kill your true love. Sadly, Regina had to choose the first option, at least for now.
  • Gold has one too, either die or be The Dragon to the monster who killed his son. You can tell he wants to tell Robin the truth but if he does, then Zelena will just kill them both.
• Shout-Out: The scene where Robin takes a horse and chases down a purse-snatcher in modern-day New York may be a shout-out to Kate & Leopold.
• So Happy Together: In flashback we get to see how close and loving Robin and Marian were when they first became outlaws together...in the very same episode we find out Marian has been dead all along and replaced by Zelena.
• That Man Is Dead: Variation. Gold doesn't want Neal's things back because they remind him of the man his son became when he abandoned him and failed to save him, and he would rather remember him as Baelfire.
• This Cannot Be!: Both Gold and Regina have this reaction to learning Zelena is still alive.
• Trust Password: Unintentional on his part since he didn't suspect a thing, but Robin asking Marian what she said to him when they first became outlaws together acts as proof of her identity. Zelena gets around it by saying she "wants to hear [him] say it."
• Unlucky Extra: Marian's status as this is now fully confirmed (even if it was just by having her original dead status fulfilled).
• Wham Episode: Marian was Dead All Along, having been replaced by a still-living Zelena, and she is now blackmailing Regina (through Gold) into helping them corrupt Emma to achieve their happy endings. Also, Gold convinced the Author to join him to escape Emma and the others, so the villains now hold all the cards. There's also the fact that Gold's past misdeeds are literally poisoning his heart.
• Wham Shot: "Marian" transforming into a very much alive Zelena.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Emma blasts Snow and Charming for what they did to Maleficent's baby; that the Author manipulated them doesn't help their case.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Despite the bombshell of last week, this episode sees what happened to Robin Hood, and then there's another flashback showing Robin back in the Enchanted Forest. Although the former is justified to explain just what leverage Gold can now have over Regina (as well as to fill in the blank for the time between his exile from Storybrooke and him approaching Ursula).