"Into the Deep" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American ABC fantasy/drama television series Once Upon a Time, and the show's 30th episode overall, which aired on November 25, 2012.
In this episode, Aurora is kidnapped by Cora; Mary Margaret goes to sleep; and David is put under a sleeping curse.
It was co-written by Kalinda Vazquez and Daniel T. Thomsen, while being directed by Ron Underwood.
Plot
Opening sequence
Reanimated corpses are featured in the forest.
In Storybrooke
In his sleep, Henry (Jared S. Gilmore) learns from Aurora (Sarah Bolger) that Snow White/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) are alive in the Enchanted Forest. When he wakes up, he reveals this to David (Josh Dallas) and Regina (Lana Parrilla), and tells them that his mother and grandmother are now threatened by Cora (Barbara Hershey).
Regina finds Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) while he is eating with Belle (Emilie de Ravin), and they discuss Cora; they thought her to be dead, and Regina believed she had seen her mother's body. Regina points out that Gold's feelings for Belle are now a weakness Cora can exploit, and he agrees to help prevent Cora from coming to Storybrooke. Henry is committed to meeting with Aurora again, because he wants to be a hero. Gold explains that when he was imprisoned via a magical quill, it was actually the ink—harvested from a deep-sea squid—that trapped him; he had a supply of this ink, and the others can find it in his jail cell to use against Cora.
Unfortunately, Aurora is pulled from the netherworld before Henry can tell her this information, and Henry's arm is badly burned. Gold uses his magic to heal Henry, but David and Regina agree it is too dangerous to allow Henry to put himself at risk again. David is confident that Mary Margaret will find a way to take Aurora's place in the netherworld, so Regina prepares another sleeping curse and David administers it to himself via a poisoned spindle. Henry gives David the amulet, and also tells Regina he is glad she is using magic sparingly and only for good. Because he is being affected by the curse for the first time, David initially finds himself in a mirrored, torch-lit hall. The amulet helps him find a spot where the floor is hot, and he is able to destroy the floor and fall down into the fiery room. He gives Mary Margaret the information about the ink, and asks her to kiss him in order to free him from the curse; however, they discover that they cannot make any kind of physical contact in the netherworld. David tells Mary Margaret to return to Storybrooke and kiss him there, and they reiterate their love for one another before Mary Margaret wakes up, leaving David alone in the fiery room.
In Mr. Gold's store, where David's body is resting, Regina tries to reassure Henry that David will awaken soon, but it's clear she and Mr. Gold realize something has gone wrong.
In the Enchanted Forest
Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) finishes climbing down the beanstalk, where Cora intercepts him to demand the compass. Upon learning he lost it to Emma, she declares their partnership ended and tells him she will leave him in the Enchanted Forest, his revenge against Rumpelstiltskin not accomplished. Cora returns to the settlement she destroyed, and uses the hearts of the refugees to reanimate the corpses as servants to do her bidding.
Emma shows Aurora a photograph of Henry to confirm that he is the boy she met. Mary Margaret reveals that she, too, has visited the fiery, red room in her sleep, but withheld that information from Aurora to avoid frightening her even more. Mary Margaret realizes that the sleeping curse is the connection, and develops a plan to communicate with Mr. Gold, whom she believes is the only person with the knowledge of how to overpower Cora. Aurora goes back to sleep and explains the whole situation to Henry.
The next day, as they travel, Mulan (Jamie Chung) sees that Aurora's arm has been burned. Having promised Prince Phillip that she would protect Aurora, Mulan is reluctant to let Aurora endanger herself for Mary Margaret and Emma's goals; but Aurora insists that every day since she was rescued has been a gift, and that it is right for her to use that gift to help someone else. They make camp so Aurora can sleep in order to meet with Henry again, but the camp is attacked by Cora's corpse army and Aurora is pulled from the netherworld when Mulan must awaken her. Mary Margaret, Emma, and Mulan prevent Cora's servants from taking the compass, but Aurora is abducted.