‘Once Upon a Time’ season 3, episode 12 review: Who is pregnant, and did Emma return?

Sunday night’s new episode of “Once Upon a Time” was the first in quite a long time, and we wondered going into it just how long the writers were going to linger over the fact that Emma Swan no longer remembered who she was.

Instead, the powers-that-be took a very different route in presenting the next phase of the character’s journey. Rather than having it be a long time before we saw her back in Storybrooke, she managed to make it back there in one week thanks in part to Captain Hook. Was it all a little convenient that she believed him enough to go along with what he was saying … and that her new man in Walsh was actually a flying monkey in disguise? Sure, but we really don’t mind moving quickly into what is the more important part of the story.

That story is that everyone is back in Storybrooke, but it’s the curse all over again. The difference is that they remember who they are, but not anything in the past year … and in the process, Snow White is apparently pregnant, and she doesn’t even remember how it happened.

What we did see at the tail end here was that Rebecca Mader’s Wicked Witch is clearly at the center of whatever has transpired here, and she was linked somehow to what was happening to the characters in the fairytale realm.

One other interesting note for now is that Regina has now met her “true love” (per Tinker Bell) in Robin Hood, but nothing has transpired yet. That was a general theme for this story, though: This episode was entirely all setup. It was entertaining, but nothing so special that we’re going to remember it for anything in particular other than getting us from point A to point B. Grade: B.

What did you think about this “Once Upon a Time” episode, and are you glad that we’ve already got Emma back in Storybrooke so soon? Share your thoughts below.