The Eighth Witch

"The Eighth Witch" is the tenth episode of the seventh season of ABC's Once Upon a Time and the one hundred and forty-third episode of the series overall. It premiered on December 15, 2017. It was written by Jane Espenson and Jerome Schwartz, while being directed by Ralph Hemecker. This episode serves as the mid-season finale.
When Drizella threatens the realm with a dark curse, Henry and Ella take extreme actions to protect Lucy and the others; and Regina is forced into making an unimaginable choice. In Hyperion Heights, Roni recruits Henry to travel to San Francisco to search for her sister, but when he learns Lucy has fallen unconscious, Henry rushes to be by her side. Meanwhile, Gothel earns the trust of Anastasia and the consequences of their budding relationship could prove to be fatal.
==Plot==
===Opening sequence===
The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco is featured in the background.
===In the Characters' Past===
In the New Realm, everyone gathers to help Henry celebrate the birth of his daughter, Lucy. But Drizella has shown up to dampen the festivities by warning them of a new curse that will be cast. Unfortunately, she is suddenly frozen in stone by Tremaine with the use of blood magic that was poured on the wet ground, but not before she warns them that within eight years upon Lucy's birthday, she'll have a surprise waiting for everyone.
Eight years later, the prophecy does come true, as everyone gathers for Lucy's birthday, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Gothel, who not only restores Drizella back to life, but bought along company: a group of cloaked witches. Before they leave with Drizella, Gothel warns them that the Dark Curse is coming soon. Henry and Ella come up with a plan to protect Lucy from the curse while ensuring a way to help Regina prevent it from happening.
Meanwhile, Regina tracks down her sister, Zelena, and gets a greeting from Robin, who is now 25 and has followed in her father's footsteps as an archer. When Regina warned Zelena of this new threat, she agreed to help. Zelena tells Regina that Gothel and her fellow witches are part of a group known as the Coven of the Eight, who happens to be more powerful than they expected. Meanwhile, Hook tracked down Rumplestiltskin, who has given up his life as Mr. Gold after Belle's death. Rumple tells Hook that he can't stop the new curse, but he can give Hook and Alice hope when they're bought into the new world by giving him a white elephant carving so he and Alice can retain their relationship, following the Dark Curse.
The event that lead up to the Dark Curse is revealed, with Henry and Ella agreeing to send Lucy away to the New World using the same plan that Snow White used to send Emma before the curse consumed them. Henry returned to the Enchanted Forest with Lucy to coordinate with Tiger Lily as he plans to build a magic wardrobe for Lucy. However, it appears that something has followed Henry to the realm and he runs to the cabin to save Lucy and he gives her the book and she escaped before he is caught. Instead of going to the tree, Lucy returned to the palace and tells Ella that Henry was kidnapped by the Coven of Eight. Tremaine decided to seek out the Coven on her own but Drizella already had set a scheme to make her mother believe she had cast the curse in order to help her bring Anastasia back to life and made her collapse on the ground under a spell. With Regina and Zelena returning to discover what has happened with Henry, they learned that Drizella has poisoned Henry, and the only way to save him is to send Henry to a land without magic. Drizella needs Regina blood to cast it. With Henry's life on the line, Regina casts the Dark Curse, which consumes the entire realm.
Before they're engulfed in the black smoke, Rumple gave Alice the chipped cup that will regain his memory and reminding her what to do if it doesn't work, and is joined by Robin, who embraced and kissed Alice, thus revealing her true love she alluded to in the present day. At the palace, Hook gave Ella the White Elephant so she and Lucy can be together, thus sacrificing his chance to reunite with Alice.
===In Seattle===
Jacinda rushes Lucy to the hospital after her collapse. The tear that Victoria used on Anastasia caused Lucy to slip into a coma, thus rendering her ability to being a true believer. Tiana offers to help Jacinda by calling everyone to fill them in on Lucy's condition and she says she'll ask Rogers if he can find out where Lucy was in the hours prior to her collapse.
===In San Fransisco===
Meanwhile in San Francisco, Regina enlisted Henry in helping her meet someone who happens to work in a fitness center. Pretending to be new members, the two see the bike trainer leading the group, Kelly, who happens to be Zelena under her new cursed identity. Kelly, is bitter over with Roni and doesn't want to go back to Seattle with Regina. Using a potion to restore her memory, Regina offered Kelly a drink of whiskey and Kelly reluctantly accepted. After a sip, Kelly suddenly remembers her previous life as Zelena and the sisters are reunited for real. However, Zelena tells Regina that she is getting married soon, making it difficult to help Regina return to Seattle, but agrees to put the wedding aside to do this.
===In Seattle, after Henry's return===
Prior to the sister's reunion, Henry learned of Lucy's coma, so he returned to Seattle to find out what he can do. Jacinda suggests that he read the storybook to Lucy in the hope that he can give Lucy the belief that maybe he is her father and he can save her with True Love's kiss, but when he kiss her forehead, nothing happened. After Henry called Regina regarding Lucy, Regina tells Zelena the only way to break the curse could have consequences and implications. If she doesn't break the curse, Lucy will likely die. However, if she does break the curse, Henry will die. Both sisters now must find a way to restore their powers in order to save them.
With Anastasia alive again, Victoria is trying to get her to assimilate to the new world. However, Weaver has shown up and tells Victoria about what she has done by placing Lucy in a coma so she can revive her daughter. Victoria is more upset that Weaver believes that Anastasia might be the Guardian that he's been seeking. A skeptical Victoria agreed to take Anastasia to a location with Weaver to test out the theory. In a lab room, Weaver has Anastasia pick out which of the five knives is the Dagger, and suddenly she causes a rumble that allowed the knives to direct itself to a cabinet and Weaver finds the real Dagger. Unfortunately, Anastasia became more disturbed when Eloise finds her and she knocked Victoria and Weaver out. A scared Anastasia runs away, only to see a surprised Ivy, who gave her a pair of bracelets to control her powers. Afterwards, Rogers and Tilly, who have been tracking down a series of strange symbols that have shown up around the area, visits the lab and find a unconscious Weaver, who informed the two that the Coven of Eight are in Hyperion Heights right now.
Unfortunately, Ivy tricked Anastasia by bringing her to Eloise, as she hoped to get even with her sister by absorbing her powers with the bracelets, only to discover that Eloise betrayed Ivy by rendering her powerless by having Anastasia reclaimed her powers with the bracelets, as she was the chosen one to follow Eloise/Gothel. Ivy/Drizella is then sent to a well hole, joining Rapunzel/Victoria as her prisoner. Gothel then takes Anastasia to a secret location to show her the wardrobe of the Coven of Eight, telling her that they are in Hyperion Heights and she knows where to look for them.
==Cast==
===Starring===
*Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills/Roni
*Colin O'Donoghue as Hook/Rogers
*Andrew J. West as Henry Mills
*Dania Ramirez as Cinderella/Jacinda Vidrio
*Gabrielle Anwar as Lady Tremaine/Victoria Belfrey
*Alison Fernandez as Lucy
*Mekia Cox as Tiana/Sabine
*Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Weaver
===Guest Starring===
*Emma Booth as Gothel/Eloise Gardener
*Adelaide Kane as Drizella/Ivy Belfrey
*Rebecca Mader as Zelena/Kelly West
*Nathan Parsons as Jack/Nick Branson
*Rose Reynolds as Alice/Tilly
*Sara Tomko as Tiger Lily
*Tiera Skovbye as Robin
*Yael Yurman as Anastasia
===Co-Starring===
*Nisreen Slim as Andrea Sage
==Gallery==
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Photography - Dagger Test.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Photography - Anastasia.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Opening Sequence.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Lucy Birthday.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Gothel and the Coven Arrive.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Coven.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Robin Jr..jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Family.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Tiger Lily, Lucy and Henry.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Coven of the Eight.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Drizella.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x08 - Pretty in Blue - Gothel Smiling.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Regina.png
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Casting the Curse.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Alice Robin Kiss.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Jacinda Sabine.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Kelly and Roni.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Jacinda and Henry.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Guardian Test.jpg
Once Upon a Time - 7x10 - The Eighth Witch - Eloise.jpg
==External links==
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Category:Once Upon a Time episodes
Category:Birthday productions
Category:LGBTQ+ representation