Once Upon a Time: ‘One Little Tear’ Recap & Review

In this week’s episode, we don’t get to see Henry and Regina (my personal favorites), but we do dive into Rapunzel’s story. Or should I say, Victoria Belfrey’s story, because as it turns out, Victoria Belfrey is actually Rapunzel.

Full Recap

We first meet Rapunzel as she tries to steal from Mother Gothel’s garden. However, she catches her and strikes a deal, with Rapunzel not knowing exactly what she was agreeing to. But she was desperate to provide for her children and a sick husband. Mother Gothel ensures her family will be well off and taken care of. In return, Rapunzel must stay trapped in the tower. Initially, we’re tricked into thinking that Drizella and Anastasia are Rapunzel’s children because she yells out their names in the tower. But then we discover Rapunzel and Victoria are the same person and it becomes the biggest shock of the season thus far (Sidenote: I’ll be referring to her as Victoria from this point forward to avoid confusion). Then, we find out she stays stuck in the tower for six years, and her husband, Marcus, remarried Cinderella’s mother after Victoria disappeared.

Back in Hyperion Heights, Weaver and Victoria make a deal. He agrees to help her stay out of prison if she tells him all she knows about the Guardian. Surprisingly, it’s someone we still don’t know much about just yet. What we do know is that Weaver’s looking for him/her so he can get back to Belle. The Guardian’s gradually becoming the mystery of the season and I for one hope it’s someone we’ve already met. If it is, it would be a very interesting twist. It could even be someone who doesn’t know they’re the Guardian, much like Emma was unknowingly the Savior. Considering how many callbacks there have been to the first season, my guess can’t be too far off.

What Happened to Anastasia

Later in the episode, we finally find out what happened to Anastasia. Apparently, she and Cinderella fall through the ice and Marcus is only able to save one of them. Obviously, he chose to save Cinderella being that Anastasia’s nowhere to be found these days. Afterward, Victoria goes back to Mother Gothel and gets her to save Anastasia’s last breath, and agrees to go back to the tower. Back in Hyperion Heights, Victoria finds Lucy and tells her she’s right: Henry’s book is real but she doesn’t know the whole story. So, she proceeds to tell her the real story, or at least her side of the story. She then convinces Lucy that they’re the same because she’s done everything right, but she still can’t seem to get her happy ending.

To make matters worse, Victoria gets Lucy to stop believing in happy endings by showing her a video of Jacinda and Nick kissing, which happened earlier in the episode. This got Lucy to shed one little tear (hence the episode title), which Victoria then uses to wake up Anastasia, who’s been in a coma and is strangely still a child (as she’s supposed to be Ivy’s older sister). Lucy runs off and to find her, Weaver gets Rogers to help. But it turns out she just went home. However, when Anastasia finally awakens, Lucy collapses when she gets home and that’s where the episode ends.

Final Thoughts

I think that the writers will eventually redeem Victoria’s character, especially after seeing her good side. We see her change after she decides to use a poisonous mushroom on Cinderella’s mother. But I also think it’ll happen gradually much like Regina’s which took years to develop. But like Regina says: evil isn’t born, it’s made.