Once Upon A Time: More from tonight's episode

So far it seems like the ones associated with the Dark One do not have their memories erased in our world, with Dr. Whale being the exception. Jefferson did stuff with the Dark One, and his memory wasn't erased. It also seems like Jefferson might be a compass, a guide between worlds, because he jumped with Dr. Whale when Dr. Whale was going back to his world, and later from the notorious Captain Hook we figured out people can't navigate their way around portals without a compass. And now we know Regina may have figured out the association with Dr. Whale and how he tricked her so he could steal one of her hearts, explaining why she brought him to our world with the curse. Jefferson was also involved, and he remembered, and endured the pain of having his daughter away from him for 28 years. Sound familiar? Yup. Jefferson kind of did that to her, too, in regards to Daniel. Why didn't Dr. Whale realize that Regina probably would have given him two hearts - one for Daniel and one for his brother? Surely there were two strong hearts full of magic. Cora had a bad habit of stealing hearts, after all.

It's all about the family ties in this show, huh?

Dr. Whale tricked Regina in Fairy Tale land, but he tried to give her Daniel in this one. Remember, he said the experiment was science, not magic. Science exists in our world, so he could find it in our world. Where was his world at? It looked like a dead, cold, grey world. I wouldn't want to live in his world. Again, how does the curse work? It took Dr. Whale from his world, it took Jefferson from Wonderland, it took Captain Hook's men but not Captain Hook. Regina said she took the people she wanted to take, which apparently included Rumple, who gave her the curse to fulfill his purpose of finding his son, Snow, Charming, the dwarves, the fairies (probably more thanks to Rumple), Captain Hook's men but not Captain Hook, Hansel and Gretel, Geppatto, the Huntsman, her father's dead body, Daniel, Jiminy Cricket, Cinderella, King George, etc. But not Lancelot, her mother,  Captain Hook, the giant, Mulan, Prince Philip, Aurora, and the others left behind. Perhaps because Cora was in that land, and apparently escaped the mirror somehow, she stopped the curse from taking those in her realm.

She took Daniel's dead body. And it was revived.

When Daniel was going crazy, Regina stopped him with true love.

Regina said, "I love you." Who knew she was capable of actual love? Henry certainly didn't, I don't think, and he wasn't even present for her declaration.

And the heart began to beat, and it caused him pain. He told her to end it, and she wouldn't, but then she did. Regina finally let him die. She finally accepted that no matter how long she preserved him, he was still going to be dead, or in severe, unending pain in our world.

Now we know what changed Regina into the true Evil Queen - she was searching for a heart strong enough to revive Daniel. She wanted the power to resurrect Daniel, which no one could actually do. Dr. Whale had limited to no success with his schemes, as we saw.

It's interesting that Jiminy Cricket is now her counselor. Very interesting indeed.

There is a really good chance that Mr. Mysterious from the first episode is Bae. Only Emma, Pinocchio, who was already revealed as August W. Booth, and Henry can apparently cross from Storybrooke to the rest of the world. Anyone who was brought from Fairy Tale Land via the curse, or the surrounding worlds seen in the Mad Hatter episode, was fair game to losing their memories of Fairy Tale land forever if they crossed the border, even Rumple. Mr. Mysterious recognized the curse - he knew what the word Broken meant, and the clocktower, and Storybrooke. He wasn't happy about it, either. He remembered Fairy Tale Land, or knew about the curse. That meant he didn't come to our world WITH the curse. He was outside the curse, which means he has a good chance he's Bae.

Guess what I'm sensing Emma's favor for Rumple is going to be? Yup. Finding Bae in our world. She and Henry and Pinocchio are the only ones who can leave Storybrooke and remember Fairy Tale land. And if it isn't that, I'll be sorely upset.

And the plot thickens.

Praying you have faith, hope, and love always,

Rachel