‘Once Upon a Time’ recap: the origins of Merlin, Excalibur and the Dark One

Fans of storytelling should like the little twist that the “Once Upon a Time” writers added here: two artifacts of immense power actually being just one morphed into the other. Telling the origin stories of Merlin, Excalibur and the Dark One in one episode was pretty seamless, putting us on a path for next episode’s two-hour special, and shedding a little light on Emma’s path.

Speaking of the Dark One, Emma now has both Excalibur and the dagger of the Dark One. In the basement of her home in Storybrooke, one of the only parts of the episode that’s in present day, she prepares to reunite them, and not just because she’s being pressured by the Rumplestiltskin she sees in visions -- the embodiment of the power of the Dark One.

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Now, we get to see the back story of said Dark One(s) -- and Merlin. Long ago, Merlin and a companion, fleeing from soldiers, come upon a magical cup in the middle of the desert. The cup of Christ -- the Holy Grail? Looks like it, though it’s a bit more ornate than the one in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” Merlin’s companion tries to grab the cup, but it was not meant for him, and he turned to dust. After Merlin asks skyward for permission to handle the cup, it gives him power of life, and he’s able to turn the desert around him into an oasis of green and trees. So it doesn’t just give you immortality, but the power of life and death and magic.

Merlin tells the heroes back in Camelot that he and Emma need to go away on a mission, while Regina, David, Hook, Zelena and Snow find and secure Excalibur. Hook is upset that Merlin hasn’t seemingly been able to help Emma yet, but to do it, he’ll need Excalibur. And Merlin cautions everyone to continue helping her and loving her. “Her kind of power, good or evil, is a weight on the soul.”

In the far past, Merlin has been using his newfound power to help people, healing and helping with crops. He meets a young lady named Nimue, whose village was destroyed. One of the only things she has left of her home are seeds from the Middlemist flower. Merlin helps them sprout up magically, and he and Nimue grow closer.

Later, in Camelot, Merlin tells Emma that they need to go on a quest to to get mankind’s original fire, the flame of Prometheus. He’ll need it when they get Excalibur. But, the path for this adventure is murky. Merlin can see that either they will succeed or he may die, killed by the power of the Dark One. That means Emma -- and, they’ll have to face the first Dark One. That may be a great temptation and obstacle, unless they can take it on together. If not, then Emma could succumb to the darkness. “Everyone will be at the mercy of the most powerful Dark One ever -- yourself. No pressure.”

Emma readies herself for their adventure, saying goodbye to Hook. “I’ll be working my way back to you, babe.” Quoting the Spinners to your onetime villain boyfriend Capt. Hook before going off on a death-defying mission that could taint your very soul? Priceless.

Merlin was on a quest before for the Holy Grail and the fire of Prometheus. He wanted to reshape the Holy Grail -- even melt it down -- into a sword that he could use to cut away his immortality so that he could be with Nimue and live out his days. They have to go back to Nimue’s hometown. It has been razed, but cups and goblets, golden and not, litter the ground. Nimue has the Grail with her, hidden. But someone went through the whole village to find it.

Meanwhile, in Camelot, Merlin and Emma are on the fire quest. He reassures her that there is hope, but that they will have to face a great evil that could tempt her. Emma: “Is it safe?” Merlin: “Of course not.”

The hero squad needs to get Excalibur away from Camelot. Desperate to do so, they actually listen to Zelena, who seemingly has a plan. Zelena plotted a way in and out of Camelot while playing as Regina’s mute handmaiden. She never actually left because of the bracelet and a huge metal gate blocking the way. The heroes journey forth, leaving Zelena and Mary Margaret behind.

Zelena and Mary Margaret have a chat, with Zelena talking up her rivalry with Regina, trying to garner some sympathy from Snow. Zelena is, of course, faking pain, both physical and emotional. When Snow shows the slightest compassionate concern -- bam! Zelena kicks her hard and ties her up. “No rest for the wicked.” Yep, the Wicked Witch of the West uttered that line.

In the far past, Merlin use the fire of the first man to forge Excalibur by melting and reshaping the Holy Grail! Love the mixing of genres in this world! The first Dark One seems to appear, the one who had been searching for the Grail. He grabs Nimue, and she fights him off, then he stabs and kills Nimue. Curiously, no magic involved.

In Camelot, years in the future, Merlin and Emma have reached to point where the fires should be. Merlin needs Emma to summon the first Dark One, who holds the power of the eternal flame of Prometheus. She brings back the first Dark One, and it’s not a he, it’s Nimue, Merlin’s beloved! Wha ...? How did..? Huh? Splain please...

So, Nimue drank from the Grail while Merlin wasn’ t looking after he explained to her about it making someone immortal. She couldn’t resist the immortality and magic, but wanted it mainly for revenge. Her being stabbed by that guy we thought was the Dark One was nothing. She came back from it, and as he is about to kill Merlin, she takes his heart. Merlin tries to stop her from killing him, knowing that killing magically with the power of life and immortality that she now has, will turn her soul dark. But, it’s not enough, and she kills the man who killed her family and torched her village. She becomes the first Dark One. Wow.

Her first act? Breaking the sword/grail so that no one would be able to remove her immortality. Instead of her being able to take advantage of that, Merlin creates the dagger from the shard of Excalibur, bonding Nimue’s soul to it -- which bonds the souls of any Dark One to come later.

On their quest, Emma and Merlin find the spot where the fire was, and Emma summons Nimue using the power of the dagger. Nimue has powerful influence over the Dark One’s action’s, but Emma is able to resist. She takes the ember from Nimue that will restart the Prometheus fire.

In Camelot, the heroes burst into King Arthur’s throne room to snatch up Excalibur. They finally got the drop on him. He has no magic to resist Regina, so it’ll be easy to ... dang it!! Zelena double crosses them. She waltzes in with Snow in tow, gagged and bound, and is free of the magical-dampening bracelet Regina had outfitted her with. Regina is ready to go to war, but Robin worries about the baby that Zelena carries, and she stands down. Arthur has found the spell that was used to bind Nimue’s soul to the dagger. He gets Zelena to do the spell, binding Merlin’s soul to the larger portion of Excalibur. Arthur now controls Merlin -- and this is a very bad thing. Merlin banishes the heroes, under Arthur’s orders, and will surely have to do battle with Emma sooner or later.

We’re not sure yet what happened six weeks ago still, but in the present day, Emma is the Dark Swan -- and now she has both Excalibur and the dagger. As she grabs the ember to reforge the sword, Rumplestiltskin is joined by Nimue, who wants to witness this in person. What look to be dozens of other Dark Ones also show up to watch Emma make Excalibur whole. She does it, and, though there’s a momentary hesitation as she flashes back to Merlin telling her not to wield the sword, she grabs it out of the air, contemplating her newfound power.

Is this how Emma goes dark? Will she have to kill Merlin or Arthur or someone else in order to save all of them? That seems to be where this is heading.