The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" is the 7th episode of Once Upon a Time.

Summary
One of the town's residents begins to remember their fairytale past, and Storybrooke mourns the loss of one of their own. Meanwhile, in the fairytale world that was, the Evil Queen attempts to find a heartless assassin to murder Snow White.

Plot
"There is a town in Maine..."

We see an overview of the streets of Storybrooke, Maine. Emma Swan appraoches Granny's Bed and Breakfast, inside, she requests a room, Granny hands her a key - "Welcome to Storybrooke.". "Where every storybook character you've ever known..."

Henry Mills reads from his storybook and looks at a picture of the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming. Prince Charming kisses a sleeping Snow White who's lying in a glass coffin, awakening her. "Is trapped between two worlds..."

Mary Margaret Blanchard releases a blue bird from her hand out of the window of her classroom. Snow White releases a blue bird in the same fashion from her balcony. "An Evil Queen sent a bunch of fairytale characters here?", Emma asks Henry. The Evil Queen crashes Snow and Charming's wedding. Regina Mills stares at Emma from her doorstep. "And now they don't remember who they are.", Henry tells Emma, answering her question. "Victims of a powerful curse..."

The Dark Curse envelopes Prince Charming's Castle. "Everything you love, everything all of you love, will be taken from you.", Queen Regina promises in front of the kingdom whilst crashing the royal wedding. "Only one knows the truth..."

Regina looks down at Henry's storybook and then up to the mirror, worried about the safety of her curse. "And only one can break her spell..."

Emma stares back at Regina who's standing on her doorstep. "It's your destiny. You're gonna bring back the happy endings.", Henry tells Emma as the two of them sit on his "castle". "Enjoy your stay.", Mr. Gold tells Emma who's just asked for a room. The Storybrooke clock ticks. ONCE UPON A TIME

Act I
The shot moves up on a photograph of a deer and a dart is soon seen hitting it. Graham is the thrower of said dart, and is preparing himself to throw another, within Granny's Diner. He throws the second dart, hitting the deer picture on the dart board in a similar place as before. "Nice shot, chief. I bet you twenty bucks you can't do it again.", says Sidney Glass, sitting in one of the diner's booths. Graham downs a drink which is served to him by Ruby, and he throws the dart, hitting the picture precisely in the deer's face. Sidney is surprised. Emma walks out of the bathroom and is surprised to see Graham, "Emma, what can I get you?", Ruby asks, "Nothing.", Emma states, walking past Graham and to the diner's door. As Emma is about to leave, Graham throws a fourth dart in her direction, it hits the door frame rigt next to her, she is startled, as is everyone else in the diner. "What the hell?! You could have hit me!", Emma exclaims, "I never miss.", Graham says, shrugging. Graham begins to walk towards Emma, "Have you been avoiding me? Since last night when you saw me-", "Leaving the mayor? And yes, that is a euphamism. I'm not avoiding you, Graham, I just have no interest in having this conversation. It's your life, I really don't care.", Emma tells him. The blonde leaves the diner. Soon, Graham is walking after Emma down the street, "If you don't care, then why're you so upset?!", Graham asks, "I'm not upset!", Emma exclaims, "If that were true, you'd be at the bar with me having drink and not running away.", he tells her, running in front of her, stopping her so that they may talk. "It's none of my business, really.", she tells him, walking past him. "But can we please talk about this? I need you to understand.", Graham says, stopping Emma again, "Why?!", she asks, "I don't know, maybe so... I can understand.", he tells her, "IF you want analysis, go talk to Archie!", Emma recommends, "I want to talk to you.", he explains. "Well, your bad judgement is your problem, not mine.", she tells him before walking away again, Graham walks after her, "You don;t know what it's like with her, I don't feel anything!", Graham exclaims, stopping Emma yet again. He asks her if she can understand that, "A bad relationship, yeah, I understand a bad relationship, I just don't wanna talk about yours.", she says, continuing to walk with Graham not far behind. "Look, I know you and Regina have your own issues and I should've told you about that before you took the job.", he explains, walking in front of her, "Yeah, why the secrecy?! We're all adults, you can do whatever you want!", Emma tells him, "Because I... I didn't want you to look at me how you are right now.", he explains. Emma asks him why he cares how she looks at him, "Because...", he starts, "What?", Emma asks, impatiently, Graham says nothing, he merely leans in and kisses her. As this happens, Graham is startled as he has flashes of another life, he sees the trees of the Enchanted Forest and a wolf walking down a hill within it, the wolf growls and the shot moves in on its eyes, one normal, one red. "What the hell was that?!", Emma yells, backing out of the kiss, a frightened Graham asks her if she saw what he saw, Emma asks him how much he's been drinking, telling him that that was way over the line. "I'm sorry, I just...", he tries, "What?! You what?!", Emma yells, madly, "I need to feel something.", he tells her. "Listen to me, Graham, you are drunk and full of regret, I get it, but whatever it is you are looking to feel, I can tell you one thing: you're not getting it with me.", Emma states bluntly. Emma walks across the street, leaving Graham alone. He does not follow. Later, Sheriff Graham knocks on Regina's door, a light turns on and Regina answers it, she is surprised to see him, "Is Henry asleep?", he asks, "Yes, why?", she tells him, Graham walks in and kisses Regina, she pulls him away but he persists, he gives in and the door closes. He begins to kiss her neck and the shot moves into her eye, leading into the fairytale land that was. Within the past land, the shot moves into the Dark Palace and a distressed looking Queen Regina is seen looking out over the Enchanted Forest. She sees on a floor below her, a figure walking towards a tomb. Snow White places a white rose upon the tomb of her father, King Leopold, she is deeply saddened. "Goodbye, father.", Snow weeps, Regina walks up behind the princess and lightly touches her shoulder, shocking her slightly, she turns to her stepmother, "I'm so sorry, Snow.", Regina tells her. "I loved him so much.", Snow cries, Regina hugs her crying stepdaughter, "So did I, dear. So did I.", she says, sounding sincere. "The loss I feel for my husband must be nothing compared for the loss you feel for your father.", Regina states, "If tehre is anything I can do, please let me know. I may only be your mother through marriage, but I'm here for you, dear. Truly and forever.", the queen offers. Snow hugs her again. Queen Regina walks through her castle, "Congratulations, your revenge is almost complete.", he Magic Mirror tells her. "One down, one to go.", Regina states, happily. She walks towards her dressing table and the magic mirror appears in another, "She has no idea, does she?", she asks, "That I'm responsible for his passing? She sought comfort with me.", Regina says, sitting down. "Sickening. I could've ended her miserable existence right there. Believe me, it was tempting.", the queen says. "It would have sated your soul.", the mirror tells her, Regina goes on to mention how the kingdom's still loyal to Snow and would turn on her if she killed her - "They don;t know the retcheantness inside her like I do. They don't know what she did to me.", she says. She leans into her mirror, "We msut be delicate in this next phase. Her demise must be handled with care.", Regian stands up and walks past another mirror which the magic one appears in, "Perhaps one of your knights, your majesty.", he suggests, "No, I need someone adept at murder.", Regina tells him, saying she needs someone with no mercy, the Magic Mirror suggests someone with no heart, "Now you understand.", she tells him, "Well, in that case, you need a huntsman.", he suggests. Regina is intrigued. Elsewhere in the Enchanted Forest, a deer is feeding from the floor and hears something, it begins to run but an arrow is soon fired at it and it drops to the floor, dead. The Huntsman, Sheriff Graham's counterpart, approaches the animal, having just killed it, and crouches over it, "You have died so that I may live. Forgive me. Your sacrifice is honorable. I thank you.", the Huntsman tells the beast, crying. The Huntsman places his hand around the arrow in the deer and hears a wolf, he looks up to see one with one normal eye and one red eye, it walks towards him. "Don;t worry, boy. You won't go hungry tonight.", the Hunstman promises the wolf, pulling the bloody arrow out of the deer. In Storybrooke, Graham wakes up in Regina's bed, sitting up, shocked. "What is it?", Regina asks, placing a hand on his arm, "I just has the most intense dream, I was... in the woods... hunting... and I killed a deer... there was a wolf.", he says, confused, Regina reacts to this, "A wolf?", she asks, sitting up. "And its eyes, one was blood red, the other was black as night. The funny thing is... I think I've seen the wolf before.", he says, exhaling heavily. Regina tells him to come back to bed, assuring him that it was just a dream. "It didn't feel like a dream... it felt like a memory.", he tells her. Regina becomes worried. Graham stands up out of bed and begins to get dressed, telling Regina that he needs some air and time to think. Regina asks her lover to return to bed, says he left his credit card somehwere and needs to go get it, he sits on the bed to put his boots on. "Graham, it's late, you're tired, you're still drunk, don't leave.", she asks of him, "Since when did you want me to stay, anyway?", Graham asks. She tells him that he's not well but he assures her that he's fine, Graham leaves and Regina is wary. Outside, a scruffy Graham appraoches his sheriff's car, he drops his keys and crouches down to pick them up, however, before grabbing them, he looks up to see that standing before him is a wolf with one eye that's blood red and the other that's black as night. He backs away, shocked to the core. The wolf soon walks away and a creeped out Graham leans against his car, shaken.

Act II
Emma walks down the stairs at her apartment to discover a bouquet of flowers on the table, assuming that they're an apologetic gift from Graham, Emma prepares to throw them in the trash, however, Mary Margaret sees this and quickly stops her, asking her what she's doing, Emma throws them in the trash can, "If Graham thinks flowers will work on me-", "No, those... were mine.", Mary Margaret says, "Oh... from David?", Emma asks, applying her coat, "No, er... Dr. Whale.", Mary Margaret admits. Emma begins to wonder why Dr. Whale would send her flowers but soon gets the message - he and Mary Margaret slept together. "Are yuo serious?", Emma says, "I know, it's a disaster.", Mary Margaret tells her, however, Emma assures her that it's amazing as she's getting over David. "First of all, there's nothing to get over, and second of all... it's just a one-night stand.", Mary Margaret says, "Not according to those flowers.", Emma points out, Mary Margaret admits that she perhaps shouldn't have called him, "Oh, my God. You called him?", Emma says, registering this as a mistake, "That is definitely not a one-night stand.", she tells her roommate. Mary Margaret tells her friend that she's still learning as she;s never had one before, she says she feels guilty, "Why? There's nothing wrong with what you did. Trust me... one-nighters is as far as I ever go.", Emma assures her. "Well, yeah, but that's because you're-", "Because I'm what?", Emma asks, "Never mind.", Mary Margaret tells her, turning backt o her coffee, "No, tell me, what do I do?", Emma insists, Mary Margaret pauses, "...you're just protecting yourself... with thatb wall you put up.", she spits out. Emma says that she doesn't get emotional over men but Mary Margaret tells her that what she did to the flowers tells a different story. "What story's that?", Emma wonders, "The one that's obvious to everyone except, aparantly, you. That you have feelings for Graham.", Mary Margaret tells her, Emma is refusant to believe this, Mary Margaret points out that she's using the wall. Emma tries to tell her that it's not a wall but Mary Margaret is refusant to believe this. "There's nothing wrong with being cautious.", Emma tells Mary Margaret who's fished the flowers from the trash can and is now placing them in a vase with some water, "True, but Emma, that wall fo yours... it may keep out pain... but it also may keep out love.", Mary Margaret warns her. Mary Margaret takes the vase and leaves, leaving Emma to ponder what her friend just told her.

Act III
TBA

Act IV
TBA

Act V
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Act VI
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Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the episode.