‘Once Upon a Time’ recap: ‘Birth’ and ‘The Bear King’ and the return of Mulan and Ruby

The “Birth” and “The Bear King” episodes of “Once Upon a Time” -- making up a two-hour special because the American Music Awards takes over next Sunday’s timeslot -- were the most revelatory of the season.

We got to catch up with favorite characters Mulan and Ruby, and, after being teased since the beginning of the season with the “six weeks ago” timeline, we finally got the answer to what we’d been wondering: What happened in Camelot that messed with Emma so badly?

We start with “Birth,” and as the title mentions, somebody’s birthing a baby. But first, a little justice. Charming, Robin Hood and Hook got to pay a visit to King Arthur. David confronts him with the truth: They know he hid the truth and even put a spell on him and Snow. Arthur doesn’t deny it and bolts out the back. Hook gives chase, but after a faked fall, Arthur has the upper hand. “You brought a hook to a sword fight,” says Arthur. His killing blow is stopped by an Excalibur-wielding Emma, who throws him back toward a tree. Hook is grateful, but needs to know what she’s planning, what happened to her in Camelot, and who is Nimue? They’re questions that all of the heroes, even Mr. Gold himself, need to know the answer to if they’re going to help Emma and save themselves. We know -- at least about Nimue -- but Hook and the heroes don’t yet. “I’m doing it all for you,” is all Emma can muster.

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Six weeks ago in Camelot, Merlin and Emma face off in Granny’s diner. He’s frozen Henry and Granny, and tells Emma that she needs to bring the ember, the flame of Prometheus, to a spot in the forest, or Arthur will order Merlin to kill Hook, Regina, Snow and David. He cautions her not to do anything hasty or for revenge, because he can defeat her, he says. “Don’t make the same mistake that Nimue made,” says Merlin. Exactly.

Still in Camelot, in an effort to get Emma to believe in herself and let her know that others believe in her, Henry opens up to her about Operation LightSwan. Hook and Henry had found what they thought would be the perfect house, and Hook was going to ask Emma to move in with her. Aww -- sweet. Now go fight Merlin.

The Wicked Witch is oh so Wicked, but not as powerful as a Dark One. Emma takes Zelena out pretty quickly when she arrives, tying her to a tree. Arthur forces Merlin to fight, and after a quick light show, the wizard bests Emma, knocking her down. Now, he’s about to kill Snow, but suddenly, he’s able to resist Excalibur and Arthur’s commands for a moment. In that moment, Hook frees himself -- remember, his hook can cut through magical bonds -- and he knocks down Arthur, taking a slash in the neck from Excalibur. He grabs the sword, and that releases everyone. With Regina and Emma together, the Wicked Witch and Arthur make a hasty retreat back to Camelot. Emma heals Hook, and all is well, right? Yay team!

Now, Emma needs to fans the ember of Prometheus into the spark of Prometheus, and is having trouble. Regina comes to help. Emma won’t tell her what’s really wrong, so Regina grabs the dagger and makes Emma tell her. First, she says that she doesn’t want to give up the darkness because it helps her protect her family. Regina knows that’s not the whole story and forces her to say more. That’s when Hook and the others walk up and Hook grabs the dagger. It was a small, but intense scene showing Regina is well-intentioned, but maybe is not the most gentle in getting what she thinks she needs. But, Emma says, later, she was right. Emma was afraid of something else: a relationship with Hook. Giving up the darkness would jump-start that.

But something still isn’t right.

Later in Storybrooke, Dark Emma has sped up Zelena’s pregnancy, and her two or three-month pregnancy is now full term. Robin and Regina rush Zelena to the hospital where Dr. Whale, now platinum blond, is going to help them out -- despite having been thrown into a wall last time he met Zelena. “There’s an angry baby inside of me. Get it out!” OK, here goes. Awww, it’s a cute baby girl for Robin and Zelena. Even having recently given birth, Zelena still has to get in a dig. “Now who’s green with envy,” she says to Regina. And that’s when Emma pops in. Regina and Robin will defend the baby -- but that’s not who Emma was after. She teleports away with Zelena.

Hook is still trying to get Emma to say what happened in Camelot, so he jumps off a building to get her attention. She saves him, takes him back to her house, tells him that he picked the house for her, then kisses him and shackles him in the basement alongside Zelena. And then, it all becomes clear.

Back in Camelot, the wound that Hook sustained from Excalibur did not heal when Emma tried. Nothing can heal it, and Hook is dying. The only way to save him, and help Merlin, is for Emma to bond Hook’s life force to the darkness in Excalibur, releasing Merlin but creating a new magical being with Hook. She does it, creating, as Zelena later puts it, the Dark Ones. Both Hook and Emma’s names are on the made-whole Excalibur.

In order to help Hook, Emma was going to take the darkness out of the sword and put it all in Zelena. She was already Wicked and would welcome it. But Emma didn’t want to do this while Zelena was pregnant; she didn’t want to harm an innocent. Regardless, now Emma’s created another Dark One, one who was already pretty dark in his killing days as a pirate -- which he recounts in an earlier scene explaining the rings of dead people that he wears.

Ooo, this is good, but not for Emma. Killian the pirate, or Capt. Hook, now wants her dead.

On to “The Bear King.”

Back when Zelena and Arthur spirited away after the fight with Emma, Arthur needed Zelena to take him to find a magical item to help him lead his knights against Emma and Storybrooke should they attack -- in a land called DunBroch.

Back when Merida was a wee lass -- or actually only a few years ago -- Merida’s father, King Fergus, went to a witch for something that would help him repel invaders from the south (the English?). She gave him a magical helmet, but he had to sign a contract, a magical IOU that the witch could cash in at any time.

Just so happens that the witch decides to cash in on the day Merida is to be crowned queen. The king is dead, but the contract still stands, and Merida will have to pay enough gold to bankrupt all the clans or find and return the magical helm -- or the witch will curse the whole kingdoms, turning them all into bears.

Merida needs help finding the helm, so she goes to the warrior who taught her to fight -- Mulan!!! Great to see her back, though she’s a bit rough around the edges, even for Merida’s tastes. In a flashback, we see King Fergus introducing a cocky young Merida to Mulan, who puts Merida on her back first time they cross swords. In the present, though, something has made her a bit more cold.

Zelena and Arthur, hot on the trail of the magical helm, visit the witch who threatened to curse Merida’s clans. Zelena roughs her up a bit after knocking out her guard wolf, and she tells them that Merida is after the helm as well, though she doesn’t know where it is. They’re off.

Mulan joins Merida in going back to the place where King Fergus was struck down. She finds the arrow that she shot towards Fergus’ attacker -- the one that missed. The attacker, we learn, is none other than King Arthur, who plunged his sword into Fergus’ back, killing him and taking the helmet. As the two remember, Zelena and Arthur appear. It wouldn’t be much of a contest if they fought, but there’s no need. Zelena takes Merida’s bow and will use it to find Fergus’ helmet since it was something that he once possessed. Arthur finally tells Merida why they’re after it: It has the power to make men follow its bidding. Merida can’t believe it, and it makes her doubt her own abilities.

In the past, she had asked her dad what it was that made him command respect, seeing as how she saw very little from the other clans toward her. He tells her that you have to show that you’re willing to fight and die just as they are for the cause. As she leaves, he looks down at his magical helmet.

Mulan has regained her sense of justice, and decides to track down the man who killed Fergus using a bit of cloth that was still on the arrow that Merida shot. Back to the witch’s hut, and a meeting with the witch’s wolf. Merida knows it’s not a real wolf, and she’s able to sprinkle some magic on it as it attacks. It’s Ruby! Little Red Riding Hood has returned! It seems the witch has been keeping her prisoner.

In a quick flashback, we see that Ruby, after Snow and David named their baby Neal in the diner, had decided to leave Storybrooke to find her werewolf pack. She had cultivated a magic bean and went back to the Enchanted Forest. She didn’t find them, though, and ran into the witch. All caught up.

Merida returns to the clans, telling them that if they find the helm, they can have the crown. She wants to protect her people more than be queen. Mulan and Ruby enter, though, saying that they can track the man who killed Fergus -- or, rather, Ruby’s lupine senses can. And they do -- leading them right to Arthur and Zelena. They have pulled the helmet out of the lake, where apparently Fergus had thrown it before going into battle. He didn’t want that to be the reason his people fought for and with him. This fuels Merida, and she and Arthur commence with the swordplay!

Zelena is about to join the battle, but Mulan stops her, and Ruby hits her with sleeping powder from the side. Was wondering how they’d get her out of the fight. Merida and Arthur continue fighting. As they’re about to have to mortally wound one another to get the helm, archers from Merida’s clans show up. They can kill Arthur if he reaches for the helm. Zelena gains enough consciousness to teleport herself and Arthur away from danger.

Merida is crowned queen, and the witch comes calling. Merida, though, will not give up the helm and wants to destroy it. That’s just what the witch wanted to hear, and she gives Merida a chance to speak to her dad as a reward.

Mulan goes off to help Ruby find her pack, and Merida has a touching last reunion with her proud papa.

But Queen Merida of DunBroch is not being sentimental. Now she knows that King Arthur killed her dad, and she’s coming for him.

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In a twist, we add insight to the straight-laced recap by publishing occasional questions, concerns and comments submitted by Layla Andre, 8, a fervent fan of “Once Upon a Time” and the daughter of a Los Angeles Times staff member. They come about while she watches the latest episodes, and they’re probably some of the same that many viewers have.

-- Whenever it’s a two-hour episode, you know it’s going to be good!

-- Here’s an idea: If you want to control Arthur, just strangle his wife.

-- I wonder what Zelena is going to name her baby... It should start with a Z... Like Zara.

-- It can be handy to have a hook for a hand. It helped Captain Hook escape when he was tied to the tree.

-- What happened to the dwarves? They were such a big deal when the season started. Is Dopey still a tree?

-- I was surprised when Emma came for Zelena, not her baby. I thought she wanted the baby, like Rumplestiltskin wanted one.

-- What is Emma going to do since Captain Hook is a Dark One too?

-- How come Captain Hook wants to kill Emma? They’re soulmates!

-- I’m really happy to see Merida again. Is that Merida’s mother standing next to her? She doesn’t look that old. But she has that chunk of white hair.

-- Is that lady supposed to be a pixie or a witch? Because she has pointy ears like a pixie but she can do potions like a witch...

-- How come Emma isn’t in the second hour? All it is is Merida, her mom, her dad, the clans and Arthur, Zelena, Mulan and Ruby.

-- I was also really happy to see Ruby. We haven’t seen her since Season 2.

-- Why does Arthur hate the Dark One so much? It’s his friend’s daughter. I wouldn’t do that.

--Why does Arthur need the helmet? He’s a horrible king.