- Regina's plans to head to New York to rescue Robin from Zelena are halted when Cruella kidnaps Henry, as flashbacks show her encounter the Author, who encourages her to stand up to her oppressive mother.
- In the 1920s, Cruella is tortured by her mother's evil uses of her Dalmatians, confined to her attic until a strange visitor tells her she should stand up to her mom; in Storybooke, Regina's plans to save Robin are put on hold when Henry's taken.
- Cruella is keeping secrets. She has her own reasons as to why she wants to find the author. What will Gold do to her when he learns the truth? Meanwhile Regina is getting ready to go to New York. She must save Robin Hood, her true love, from her Wicked sister Zelena. Emma is forced to make a big decision when Cruella kidnaps Henry. Gold is willing to sit back and watch The Savior darken her own heart.—g-wass30
- In fictional 1920s England, viewers meet a young Cruella, whose oppressive mother uses her Dalmatians to terrorize her daughter. Cruella is confined to her mother's attic until a mysterious stranger arrives and empowers her to challenge her captor. In Storybrooke, Regina gains leverage to keep Gold from interfering with her plan to rescue Robin, but her trip to New York takes the backseat when she and Emma learn that Cruella has kidnapped Henry.
- In the 1920s, Cruella's mother terrorizes her daughter with Dalmatians and locks her in an attic. When a stranger comes in to town, he shows Cruella that she can challenge her mother. By giving Cruella magic, Cruella's dark secrets are revealed; Regina's plans to rescue Robin are put on hold when Cruella abducts Henry. Emma, Regina and Hook team up to save him.
- In a cut back to Fairy Tale Land, we see Cruella De Vil's mom was mean. She intimidated her with dalmatians and locked her into an attic.
Maleficent confronts Cruella in present day about Lily, and Cruella confesses, with a smirk, that she left Lily in the woods to die. Maleficent tells Cruella that her death is going to last for days. She turns into a dragon and the magic wars are on. With a quick spell, Cruella gets the dragon to lay down for a nap and announces that with the author now known she's going to get hers.
Emma is still going at it with her parents about what they did to Maleficent's child. Regina comes in and tells everyone that Marian is actually Zelina, the wicked witch. She's going to New York to warn Robin Hood. Regina goes to visit Belle next and asks for her help.
Mr. Gold brings Isaac, the author, to his cabin and says he wants to turn the savior dark. Mr. Gold leaves abruptly to meet with Belle at the wishing well. Belle asks him for the truth about why he's in town and he says it's complicated. He pulls out his dark heart that has just a glimmer of red light and says that he'll eventually lose any ability to love unless the author can reverse his darkness. He says that's why he's in town. She says she understands and starts to cry, saying she worries sometimes that she threw out the chipped teacup too soon. They hug, but then she tells him that the problem is that Will is such a better kisser than he is, and she thinks he's pathetic for groveling. Regina emerges and reveals that she was controlling Belle's heart -- and she threatens to squeeze it in her hands after Mr. Gold threatens her. She says she's headed to New York and threatens to keep Belle's heart if he mentions any of this to Zelina.
Cruella drops in on Isaac and asks him to give back what he took from her. He says he can't and she threatens him, but he tells her she can't hurt him. She then tries flirtation, but he says there's no chance he can help her. But he sees an interesting story developing in that Rumplestiltskin doesn't know that Isaac and Cruella know each other, which means she lied to him. He suggests that she leave, and she does but she's not happy about it.
In Fairy Tale Land, Cruella's mom is yelling at her again when the dogs bark. A newspaper writer -- the author -- is at the door saying he's heard she's the best dog trainer in London. He comes in and when he learns she's had three husbands she gets angry at him for asking such questions. She takes him notepad and throws it out. Cruella whispers to him from the attic and says she has a great story, but he'll have to get her out of the attic first.
Henry finds Bongo, a dalmatian in the street and runs after him for a moment until the dog starts growling. Cruella sneaks up on Henry and tells him to get in the car.
In Fairy Tale Land, Isaac gets Cruella out of the attic and takes her to a nightclub where there is much music and dancing -- and gin. She immediately reveals that her mother poisoned her father -- and any doubts she had were gone when the next two husbands died. They start dancing.
Regina is preparing to leave for New York and Emma gives her a gun in case she needs it. They both get a video message from Henry, who is being held by Cruella. She wants Regina to kill the author or Henry will "meet a very unhappy ending."
Mr. Gold comes back to see Isaac and is not happy about the author and Cruella lying to him about their knowing each other. He tells Isaac about Cruella's request to have him killed, but Mr. Gold wants to keep him alive. He wants to know exactly what Isaac wrote about her that would make her want him dead. Isaac hands Mr Gold a slip of paper and Mr. Gold chuckles after reading it.
Back in Fairy Tale Land, the night of dancing is over and Isaac offers to make it more memorable by showing her his "special" pen. He reveals that he goes to different "realms of storytelling," to places that exist out of time -- like the one they're in. She thinks he's had too much gin. He tells her his pen and ink are enchanted with magic and he can change people's stories. He proves it by writing up new jewelry for her to wear. She's amazed. He says he can use it to whisk them away to a place away from her mother and the dogs and they could be together. He offers to give her magic to protect her wherever she is -- and he writes that Cruella is able to control all animals wherever they are. She says she has to see her mother before they leave. She asks him to promise he won't take off with another girl. He promises and hands her the keys to his car to be sure, telling her it's hers now. She leaves.
Regina sits down with the whole crew and they strategize how they should handle Cruella. Even through this, Emma manages to work in the fact that she doesn't trust her parents.
Regina and Killian both try to convince Emma to get over what her parents did, but she says she can't because her parents always said they were heroes.
Henry cuts his hand ties with a piece of broken glass and takes off, with Cruella sending Bongo off to chase him.
Back in Fairy Tale Land, Cruella's mother shows up at Isaac's hotel and tells him Cruella told him a tall tale and that it was actually Cruella who killed her first husband. He doesn't believe her, but she says she never wanted to believe it. She says Cruella was always a troubled girl and that she had a hint of a smile on her face the night her father died. She says she didn't go to the authorities because she thought she could fix her. Isaac tells her to leave and Cruella's mother warns him to stay away from Cruella because she takes the things people care about and destroys them. He doesn't believe it, but then he finds that his pen case is empty. Back at her house, Cruella's mom comes home to find Cruella there. She tries to stick the dogs on her, but she blows some magic their way and then orders the dogs to kill her mother, which they do.
Henry gets to a cliff's edge in the woods and stops running. Cruella is close behind with the dog, and she threatens to kill Henry. Emma shows up and Cruella holds a gun to Henry.
In Fairy Tale Land, Isaac goes to Cruella's house and finds her in the attic frantically sewing and playing loud music. He asks where her mother is and she says that thanks to him her mother's dead. She puts on a coat made of dalmatian fur and says the dogs are with her mother now. Isaac sees his pen on a table and lunges for it. They tussle over the ink well and it spills on Cruella's head, giving her black hair with a streak of white, and Isaac writes something on a slip of paper. When Cruella grabs a gun and aims it at Isaac, it won't shoot -- clearly because of what he wrote, but we don't see it. He simply tells her that he took what she loves most and destroyed it. He leaves and she's outraged.
David and Mary Margaret show up at Mr. Gold's cabin and Isaac is afraid to talk to them. But when David pins him up against a wall, Isaac says he didn't see the end of the story, in which Mr. Gold tries to turn the savior dark. He shows them the slip of paper, which says that Cruella can no longer take the life of another. That means Mr. Gold is using Cruella to turn Emma dark. We next see Emma threatening to use her power to save Henry. Cruella reminds Emma that she's a hero, and heroes don't kill -- but Emma does. With one thrust of magic, she propels Cruella off the edge of the cliff to her death. She and Henry hug and Emma then looks over the cliff to see Cruella's body. And her eyes look different.
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