Heartless

"Heartless" is the 118th episode of Once Upon a Time.

Summary
In the fairytale land that was, Snow White the bandit dodges a bounty hunter known as the Woodcutter while David the shepherd goes on a fateful journey to sell his family's farm. Several decades later and the royal couple are being made to surrender their heart, lest they want the Evil Queen to make good on her threat to destroy Storybrooke and everyone in it. As Emma and the others prepare to defend the town, the Charmings go with Regina in search of a magical sapling created by the first spark of true love, with the latter using Gold's burgeoning romance with the Queen against them both. Meanwhile, with all this going on, Zelena takes it upon herself to offer Belle some friendly advice.

Teaser
The wind howls at night as we are taken through the Charmings' loft, where they slumber not too far from where a brief flash of light depicts a Queen-shaped shadow onto their rippling curtains. As we move further toward their marital bed, focusing on Snow in particular, she turns around, and then the shadow moves across her. When her eyes open, she is no longer lying next to her husband; instead, she is suddenly out in the woods, having been transported there magically, and in a panic she gets to her feet and drapes a white wrap over her even whiter nightgown. She is clearly disconcerted as she continues to stand there, lit up by the moonlight which streaks through the many trees, and then a familiar figure steps out from behind a trunk, giving the princess an inkling as to just who is behind whatever's going on. The figure is but a silhouette right now, and so Snow squints to try and see her, but soon enough the Evil Queen disappears back behind the trunk and reappears suddenly right in front of her worst enemy, startling her immensely. "Did I wake you?" the Queen then asks, but Snow exhibits only an angered expression in response. Her stepmother's dark half goes on to comment on how peaceful she is when she's asleep, clarifying that sleeping Snow is her favorite Snow, at which Snow finally speaks up and demands to know what the villainess wants. Instead of giving a direct answer, the Queen replies by asking Snow if she remembers her fifteenth birthday, which confuses the princess a fair bit. The Queen continues recalling how Snow wanted a pony and her father bought one, beginning to encircle her nemesis menacingly while said nemesis acts in kind. It was a miniature horse really, tiny as a dog, and he had a trainer work with it for half a year. He then brought Snow to the stables to see this sweet little horse and, when she went to it, it did as it had been trained and bowed its head. Another loyal subject eager to honor her. The Queen has clear distaste for this memory, while Snow remains staring at her in contempt, and then the malicious monarch adds that she's never seen such delight as she did on her stepdaughter's face when that tiny, tiny horse bowed to her. "'This is my perfect day!' you said. Your father always made sure you got what you wanted, plus a little bit more." The Queen then starts to advance on Snow, stroking her face as she says that now she wants what she's always wanted; her hand drifts down to Snow's chest as she reveals, "Your heart in my hand," and she begins to mime holding it. And, since Snow's husband has half her heart, the Queen gets that too, for that's the "little bit more" that will make today her perfect day. Snow shakes her head, assuring the Queen that Regina put a protection spell on both she and David the moment she rolled into town, meaning she can't take them. However, the Queen points out that she never said she would take them, but rather that they would hand them over - willingly. "And this," she takes out a bottle filled with some mysterious liquid, "is how I know it will happen." She forces the bottle into Snow's hand, and the latter has to ask what it is. The Queen makes clear only that it's something terrible, informing the princess that she has twelve hours to figure it out. "And follow your conscience, or the whole town gets a taste of it. And it will be their last taste of anything." With that, she finally vanishes in her signature flurry of purple smoke, and Snow is left standing there with the bottle in tow, a small dead twig amid whatever cloudy liquid fills it. She stares out at the night, unsure of what to do, as she is left abandoned in the moonstruck forest. ONCE UPON A TIME

Act I
Later that morning, at Zelena's farmhouse, the Wicked Witch is bottle-feeding her baby when the Queen returns home in a particularly good mood, happily greeting her sister and commenting upon how she and Robin look so pretty and domestic. As she says this, she grabs a hand mirror from the shelf and begins checking herself out in it, and Zelena proceeds to ask what terrible things she's been up to, for she looks like she's having a good day. The Queen, fixing her hair, amends that it's a perfect day, explaining that she's finally getting her revenge on Snow White with Prince Farming thrown in as a bonus. Soon she'll have their little shared heart beating in the palm of her hand and, to fully express what's going to happen, she foregoes the mirror in favor of one of the apples from her sister's fruit bowl, holding it up and gripping it as though it were her nemesis' life-giving organ. Zelena takes note of how confident she seems and so asks if the Dark One is helping her, wanting to know if that's why he dropped by the day prior, and the Queen, placing the apple back into the bowl, admits that, yes, she had a "productive conversation" with Mr. Gold... lots of give and take. "What did you give and what did he take?" the Wicked Witch would like to know and the Queen informs her that Rumple wanted the Shears of Destiny and so she fished them up for him; he was grateful. Zelena isn't a fan of the implications of this and the Queen begs her not to start insinuating anything, for she and the Dark One are simply old friends, and Zelena, lifting a teacup so as to take a sip, assures that she didn't mean a thing. The Queen knows that there's more to be said, but instead she tells her sister that, while she'd love to stay and burp the baby with her, she's simply got tons to do before Snow's last breath. Many breaths ago, however, we see Snow wandering through an Enchanted Forest campsite during her early days on the run from the Queen. She approaches a nearby nobleman, working to get his attention, and when she finally has it she holds out a valuable-looking brooch and asks if she can interest him in a piece of jewelry. He takes it for inspection, commenting that the girl before him doesn't look like a peddler, and she says she's not, explaining that there was an emergency and she's been forced to sell; she adds that the brooch would make a lovely gift for his wife and the nobleman ponders this, eventually deciding to offer her three coppers. Snow is taken aback by this, as hard as she might try to mask it, for she is sure the man must realize that it is worth a hundred times that, being a family heirloom. Finding this curious, the nobleman states that he only knows one family with heirlooms this valuable, and Snow appears worried now as she fears he may be figuring out who she is. He asks for her name and she responds by telling him that three coppers will be fine - just fine. She takes the money from him and gives thanks, then running off into the woods. The nobleman is left looking highly suspicious.

Trivia

 * The title card of this episode features David's sheepdog, Wilby, running through the forest.

Production

 * The title of this episode was officially confirmed by executive producer/co-creator Adam Horowitz, via his Twitter account, on September 6, 2016.
 * This episode marks, overall, the twenty-sixth writing credit for Jane Espenson.

Gallery
Gallery of photographic stills released to promote the episode.