"The Evil Queen" is the 20th episode of the second season of the American ABC fantasy/drama television series Once Upon a Time, and the show's 42nd episode overall. It aired on April 28, 2013.
In this episode, Hook helps Regina find a way to get her and Henry to the Enchanted Forest; and Emma and Henry investigate Tamara. In flashbacks, the Evil Queen goes undercover to kill Snow White.
The episode was written by Christine Boylan & Jane Espenson and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
Plot
Opening Sequence
The Evil Queen's fortress appears in the forest.
Event Chronology
The Enchanted Forest events take place after "Child of the Moon" and before "Ariel". The Storybrooke events take place after "Lacey".
In the Characters' Past
In the Enchanted Forest, Queen Regina (Lana Parrilla) searches for the fugitive Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and finds that Snow has recently left a village. Regina offers the villagers gold for information on Snow, whom she denounces as the murderer of Leopold, but they remain silent. Regina orders all the villagers killed. She meets with Rumplestiltstkin, asking to learn Cora's shape-shifting spell. He tells her it would take too long to teach it, instead offering to cast it on her himself, in exchange for her cutting off trade with King George's kingdom in order to bankrupt him. She agrees and is transformed into an inconspicuous peasant. She will be unable to use her own magic while under the spell, but she plans to get close enough to Snow White to murder her with her own hands, and then cast herself as a hero instead of the "Evil Queen" her subjects call her.
In a marketplace, Regina is unable to contain her anger at seeing the public defacement of an effigy of herself; blamed for the crime and mocked as a madwoman when she proclaims herself the queen, guards take her to be beheaded. Snow White appears and rescues her from the chopping block, taking her to a forest hideout to nurse her injuries. Regina asks why Snow, a known fugitive, would risk her own life to help her, a stranger. Snow explains that a stranger saved her life when she was a little girl on a runaway horse, and that two people can form a true connection through kindness. At Regina's prompting, Snow also speaks of Regina as they move within the forest, saying that if Regina were truly repentant and wanted to be a family, Snow could forgive her for sending the Huntsman after her. But when they come to the massacred village, Snow declares that there is no good in Regina and her crimes are unforgivable. Regina reminds Snow that Regina saved her from the horse, a connection Snow never revealed, leading Snow to recognize Regina. Snow nocks an arrow but does not shoot as Regina flees. Regina comes to the palace of Rumplestiltskin, who has repeatedly ignored her verbal summons. He forces her to acknowledge that neither Snow nor the people will ever accept her, then restores her appearance. She embraces her identity as the "Evil Queen."
In Storybrooke
At the library clock tower, Greg (Ethan Embry) and Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green) remove Hook's (Colin O'Donoghue) hood, begin their plot to take magic from Storybrooke, and look for Greg's father. The outsiders offer Hook a chance to help them, but Hook says that he already succeeded in his mission in killing Rumplestiltskin. But the two show Hook that his mission failed by giving him his telescope to show him that Mr. Gold and Lacey are still alive. Hook reluctantly gives in to their demands. At the same time, at the docks, David (Josh Dallas) and Mary Margaret discuss what to do about Regina, knowing that every time they tried to trust her she kept breaking those promises, unaware that Regina, posing as a fisherman, is hearing the conversation and vows that she will not be locked away. The following morning, Regina approaches Henry at the park and tries to manipulate him into believing that his family is about to take him away from her by showing off the magic beans that would transport them back to the Enchanted Forest. However, when Regina tells Henry that she plans to solve the problem by unleashing a fail-safe trigger that would wipe out Storybrooke, Henry tells Regina that she has not changed. Before he can warn the family, Regina takes out her book of spells and gives him a short-term memory block to make him forget about the conversation and they start over as if nothing happened.