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New Show Recap: Once Upon a Time 4×04, “The Apprentice”

Happy Monday, all! Time for a tweetcap of OUAT, Episode 4×04!

As the show opens, we see an old man sweeping out a magician’s room. At the sound of footsteps, he draws his sword and calls for the Dark One to come out. It turns out that the Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the one who guards something looking like Pandora’s box. The Dark One — who is not Rumpel — is repelled by the box’s magic and declares that he will one day have what is in that box. “No dark one,” the apprentice says, “will ever have what is in that box.”

Rumpel is shown in his shop, using what appears to be a different kind of magic, or whatever was in the box.

Emma finds Hook playing darts at Granny’s and she asks him out on a date. He is a little put out that Emma asked him, but he agrees to go nonetheless.

Rumpel finds Hook in his shop, and strikes another deal with him: Give him back his hand or else he’ll tell Belle the truth about the dagger. Rumpel warns him that the hand could turn him into the cunning, selfish pirate he used to be, but Hook is willing to take the chance because he wants to hold Emma with both hands. Rumpel restores Hook’s other hand to him.

The Charmings are helping Elsa research records of the old tales to see if they can find her sister while Emma is getting ready for her date. Snow is excited and takes a Polaroid of Emma. Hook shows up at the door in a more modern getup and presents Emma with a rose. They leave for their date.

We flashback to the Enchanted Forest and Anna has gone to Rumpel for help. Despite using a false name, he knows exactly who she is and why she has come to him. It turns out her parents had come to him for answers. He won’t supply Anna with any further details unless they make a deal, and Anna is all too willing. Rumpel has a mission for her: go to the mountains and put a potion in the tea of an old man who eats children. Anna finds the old man’s house and he invites her in for tea and biscuits. The old man isn’t what Rumpel has described and is really quite kind. Anna decides, at the last moment, to not put the potion in the man’s tea.

Hook and Emma go out to a nice restaurant for their date. Emma is still preoccupied with the Snow Queen and decides not to drink that night. Will Scarlet sees Emma at the restaurant and tries to make a dash for it, but he spills some wine on Emma’s dress. Killian loses his temper and demands Will Scarlet apologize to Emma, but Emma urges him to let Scarlet go since she’ll be able to find him. Hook is beginning to realize that the return of his severed hand could be detrimental to him.

At the vault, Henry and Regina are going through Regina’s spell books to see if they can find a cure for Marian, but they can’t find anything. Henry pointed out that Robin told Regina he still loves her, but Regina tells him that this is a situation he won’t be able to understand.

Hook and Emma return from their date and make plans for another one. There’s lots of hand-holding and a kiss, and he’s able to touch Emma with both hands. Snow and Charming are up wanting to know the details of the date, but Emma brushes off their questions and goes to bed.

Hook comes upon Will Scarlet trying to break into the library, and he starts a fight and punches Scarlet. Apparently the hand is bad for Hook.

Anna returns to Rumpel and he discovers that she didn’t pour the potion into the tea. The tea was to have been an antidote for the poison put into the old man’s tea yesterday, and Rumpel shows a vision in his crystal ball of the old man dying.

Anna rushes to the old man’s house and finds the old man turned into a mouse. Anna begs Rumpel to turn him back and Rumpel refuses, since Anna refused temptation of her inner darkness. She is the one who can hep him find what he’s looking for. Anna tells him that she simply couldn’t do it and that she was never tempted. Anna finds out that her part of the deal was to be locked in a tower and she will never return to Elsa. Anna is prepared to kill Rumpel, but she can’t, and Rumpel takes a tear from her, since she faced temptation from her inner darkness and turned away from it. Rumpel sets out the obtain the box.

Hook and Rumpel meet late at night. Hook wants him to take his hand back. Rumpel will only do it if Hook does something for him, but he won’t disclose what. Hook finally agrees to do whatever it takes and will meet Rumpel at the docks the following day.

Emma is driving the next day and nearly loses control of her car when she drives over a patch of ice. She confronts the Snow Queen and asks her why she’s following her, The Snow Queen walks away, and Emma follows her, but the Snow Queen disappears. Emma is interrupted by a call from Belle to go to the library because of what happened to Will.

Rumpel and Hook meet at the docks. Rumpel seeks Hook’s help in finding an old friend. One of the brooms from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice leads them on their search.

Rumpel tells Anna about her parents and how they wanted Rumpel to take Elsa’s magic from her. He was not able to then, but now that Rumpel has the hat, which was contained in the box, his magic will be stronger and limitless.

The mouse tries to take the box from Rumpel, and Anna tries to escape. Anna picks up Rumpel’s dagger and finds out she can use it to control him. She orders him to send her to Arendelle with the box  and to turn the mouse back into a man. He sends Anna back home, but she drops the dagger and he’s free once more.

The broom leads Rumpel and Hook to an old cottage, where the old man is living, and Hook pins the old man in a chair. Rumpel shows that he has the hat and uses it to collect the apprentice’s power, which was exactly why Rumpel needed Hook.

We see Sven and Kristoff in the stables in Arendelle, and Anna has gone to see Kristoff first. Anna’s mission didn’t go as planned, but she tells Kristoff that her parents were looking to use the box to take away Elsa’s powers because they were frightened of her.

At his shop, Rumpel adds more to the deal, showing that he has a security tape recording of what they did. He uses magic to remove himself from the tape. He reveals that the hand was never cursed and that it gave Hook permission to be a ruthless man, even though Hook did something horrible so he could become a better man. Both Hook and Rumpel have dirt on each other, and Rumpel is eager to do more business with Hook and gives the man his hook back.

Emma visits Will in jail and shows that he was found with a book of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in his lap. Elsa and Charming have found out that the Snow Queen wasn’t brought to Storybrooke with the curse, and they wonder why he was brought there.

Henry advises Regina that they go to Rumpelstiltskin for help, since he might know about who wrote the book. Henry worms his way into hanging around with Rumpel a few days a week and helping out in the shop, acting as Rumpel’s apprentice. Henry’s first assigned duty is to sweep the floor.

And that’s it for this week. Next week looks like it will be a little better; this week provided a lot more filler for backstories and was a little short on the action.

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