Once Upon a Time recap: 'Labor of Love' 

'Once Upon a Time' recap: 'Souls of the Departed'

The Hot Seat: 'Once Upon a Time' bosses answer your burning questions

isn’t exactly a novice when it comes to turning fairytales on their heads, and rarely do they follow stories to the letter. But for those of you who tuned in looking for the classic Disney tale of Hercules, well…you got something slightly different.

The continuation of “Operation Firebird” a.k.a. the saving of souls from the Underworld, began with our first look at Killian Jones since he died in the midseason finale. He’s in just as terrible shape as we saw in the premiere, when Emma tried to summon him briefly, and being held in Hades’ underground prison. As he attempts to escape, a mysterious prisoner (

’s Kacey Rohl) warns him that he can’t leave because something is down here with them that he doesn’t want to face. He does manage to get her out, sending her with a message to look for Emma, and meets what he was told he doesn’t want to face: Cerberus, the three-headed dog. (Using what I assume is most of

In the graveyard, Mary Margaret is looking at all the graves of people who died from her father’s kingdom. She feels regret knowing she was supposed to protect them, but David reminds her that this time, she’s not doing her saving alone. She’s distracted by one particular grave, with a familiar name: Hercules. Apparently, a teenage Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin’s reincarnated soul Bailee Madison) met Hercules a long time ago, when she was forced into taking care of a bandit that was terrorizing her kingdom during Regina’s rule. She ran from the situation (literally), fell into a ditch, and was rescued by none other than the demigod. In this world, Hercules is more than just an old friend. He was Mary Margaret’s first crush. He was her first mentor. Naturally, David is more than a little curious as to how he married her and was never aware she was friends with a demigod (us too, David). But Mary Margaret is insistent that they find a way to help him move on. Besides, if they can save him, maybe he can help save

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Meanwhile, Emma is following cold trails with Henry and Robin and Regina. Regina says that she may have a way to help them; after all, in Storybrooke she has maps of every part of the land. Since this hell is a mirror of the town (and no one still knows why), maybe the same ones are in her office. Henry and Robin go pursue this, and Emma and Regina are distracted by the appearance of the mystery prisoner Killian freed earlier. We won’t learn her true identity until the end of the hour, but for recap purposes, we’ll disclose her here, if you haven’t already figured it out: This is Megara.

On the run from Cerberus and clearly freaked out, Emma magics them to her parents’ apartment while Megara tells them where Killian is and what she’s running from. Mary Margaret shows up and tells them that she knows what the beast is, and the group goes on a hunt to find Herc, starting, predictably, at the diner. The Blind Witch (Emma Caulfield) tells them he comes in every day for his lunch break, which leads Mary Margaret to the docks, where Herc is working — and quite surprised to see her. What? You mean people from the land of the living don’t willingly go to the Underworld on missions ALL THE TIME? Herc, who won’t tell her how he died, says he can’t move on because he never finished his labor. Mary Margaret tells him he can help them by going to the prison where Killian is being held while Herc is just surprised that she has a daughter, much less a grandson. “It’s kind of a complicated story,” says Mary Margaret, which might be the understatement of the year. I mean, have you SEEN the Snow/Charming family tree?

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