‘Once Upon A Time’ Episode 2.12: ‘In The Name Of The Brother’ Recap

After being shot by Hook last week, Belle can’t remember who Gold is. Gold heals her wounds, just as David and Emma show up. An ambulance shows up and Emma tells them to attend to the outsider whose car crashed hit Hook. “Looks like the world came to Storybrooke,” Emma says.

Dr. Whale is being paged to the O.R., but he’s drinking in his office. In a flashback, he, his father, and his brother are toasting to the Frankensteins. His father gives Gerhardt a watch, and Victor gets a commission to be a camp physician. He doesn’t want to leave his work, but his father doesn’t want to hear it.

The stranger and Belle have been taken to the hospital, and Gold demands to see her. Whale says she’s in good hands.

Victor’s brother offers him the watch his father gave him, that was from his mother. Rumple watches from behind some trees.

Gold visits Belle in her hospital room. He kisses her and she wakes up and screams. She still doesn’t know who he is.

Hook is in his hospital room, and Emma asks him where Cora is. He says he doesn’t know where she is. He says he hurt Gold’s heart, and that Belle is “just where he keeps it.”

Mary Margaret and David are trying to break into the stranger’s phone. Emma manages to get into it. They all realize that whatever kept the outside world out is gone. Ruby says she’s been trying to track Cora but she’s gone underground. Whale come out and says that the stranger is bleeding into his chest. Gold comes down the stairs and Whale asks him to heal the stranger. Gold says everyone better hope he dies because he saw Gold using magic. The group is divided on whether or not to let him live. David says they should worry about the town after they save the man’s life. Mary Margaret asks if anyone else noticed that Whale is drunk.

The stranger’s phone rings, and Emma says someone is looking for him.

Victor is in his lab when Rumple appears. His interest is in how Victor does what he does, i.e. bringing people back to life. He says his land has witchcraft, but it’s not the same as in Rumple’s land. He gives Victor a ton of gold and he agrees to help. His assistant Igor comes downstairs and Rumple disappears. He tells him to bring back the equipment and that they’ll need a body.

In his shop, Gold picks up Belle’s chipped cup — Beauty and the Beast reference! — and then Cora appears. He says he thought Cora was dead. She says she brought him a peace offering, and that she wants to be reunited with Regina. If he helps her, she’ll give him his son. He opens a box to find an object that will help him find Bae. Gold asks Cora if she has any spells to restore memory, and she says she only knows what he taught her. They shake hands for a truce, and she says “Let’s seal it like we used to” and kisses him.

Whale is holding the stranger’s watch and jokes to David that he gets the best watches that way. Whale says he isn’t drunk and David says to focus on saving the stranger.

Victor is digging in a graveyard when his brother shows up. An officer shows up and shoots at him, and the brothers escape into a carriage. Gerhardt has been shot, the watch his father gave him shattered.

The stranger’s phone keeps ringing. It’s from “Her.” An employee comes out looking for Whale, and when he pages him, it goes off, having been thrown in the trash. The group realizes that he is gone.

Ruby sniffs Whale’s coat to get his scent. Mary Margaret is wondering whether Cora kidnapped him, or if there is another option for why he isn’t there. David says he hasn’t been the same since he brought Daniel back to life and had his arm ripped off and reattached. Mary Margaret is confused and asked what happened while she and Emma were gone.

Victor is tring to bring his brother back to life. He realizes that he is unable to bring him back, and asks Igor to cover him. His father comes into the lab, having learned that he brought a body into the house. He sees the scar and realizes that Victor tried to bring him back to life. Victor says he wanted him to have two sons again, and his father says now he has none.

In Regina’s house, Cora is going through her daughter’s things. She finds a hand mold Henry made that says “For Mommy.”

Henry goes to the mausoleum looking for Regina. Regina opens a wall and Henry hugs her. She tells him she had nothing to do with Archie being killed, and he says he knows. When she asks how he knew he says, “Simple, because I did it,” and transforms into Cora.

Rumple shows up and asks Victor if he succeeded in bringing his brother back to life. Victor says there was a limit to what his heart could stand, and Rumple says hearts can withstand anything in his land because of magic. He tells Victor he can help him get a heart, and that Regina will help him.

Cora says she knows why Regina sent her through the looking glass, and she knows why she tried to have her killed. She says it’s alright, and Regina says it’s not. Cora says she loves her and that she never should have made Regina marry the king. Cora says when Regina cried over her coffin, it all changed. Regina says she framed her for Archie and Cora says she did it so she could see what the people thought of her. Regina says she wants Emma, Henry, and the “two idiots” to know that Cora killed Archie. She says she tried so hard to be deserving of Henry and she wants the same thing from Cora.

Ruby finds Whale standing at the dock. He throws Greg’s watch into the water and almost jumps in it after it, until Ruby grabs him.

Victor has brought his brother back to life using the heart he got from Rumple. He tells his father and his brother comes into the room. His father holds up a candle to try and get a better look at his son, and Gerhardt is frightened by it. He says that is not his son, it’s a monster, and he yells at Victor. His brother gets angry and begins beating his father to death. Gerhardt runs off.

Whale says he wanted his name to stand for life, but everyone thinks it’s the name of a monster. He says Runple said magic comes with a price, but it seems science does too. Ruby says she ate her boyfriend, and that Regina thought she was punishing everyone by erasing who they were, but she underestimated how much they wanted to forget. Ruby says Whale should take advantage of the chance to start over. Ruby says someone keeps calling for the stranger, and that there may still be something Whale can fix.

Regina and Cora are driving into town, and Cora says something is irritating her. She pulls out the hand mold and Regina asks when she was in her house. Cora says she doesn’t want the town’s love and asks her what she really wants. She says she wants her son back and Cora says she wants her daughter back. She apologizes and asks Regina to let her into her heart and says they can get Henry back together. Regina asks how and Cora says she has a few thoughts.

Whale and Ruby come back to the hospital, and he prepares to go into the operating room.

Victor finds Gerhardt sitting alone and tries to talk to him. Gerhardt jumps at him and starts to strangle him before saying his name. Victor says it’s him and his brother curls up. Victor pulls out a gun and Gerhardt puts it to his head. Victor says he will still save him and that he’ll find a way. Gerhardt tries to take the gun, but Victor backs out of the cell.

Whale says Greg will live, and thanks Ruby “monster to monster.” Mary Margaret says they should go to talk to him, but Emma says they aren’t a group sheriff and that in a normal town, the sheriff doesn’t bring her parents with her.

Gold brings Belle her chipped cup and tries to help her remember who she is. Belle gets upset and he tells her the cup is magic. She throws the cup and tells Gold to go away. He says I’m sorry and walks out.

Emma goes into the stranger’s room, and he thinks she is a nurse. She says she is the sheriff and he says he is thirsty. She gives him water, and he asks if he hit someone. Emma says not to worry about it and that the damage was minor. She says she needs to know what he saw, and he said he was texting and that when he looked up, Hook was too close for him to stop. He asks if that means no charges, and Emma says she’ll let him off with a warning. He asks when he can go home and she says as soon as the doctor clears him. Everyone is relieved that he didn’t see anything.

Gold pricks his finger on the object Cora gave him, and the blood begins to swirl into a map. “Bae,” Gold says.

Mary Margaret tells Henry that Gold and Hook got into a fight and that Whale/Frankenstein brought the stranger back to life. Henry says “Oh, that’s who Doctor Whale is.” Gold walks into the apartment and tells Emma he needs the favor she owes him. He says they’re leaving today to finding his son, and that every minute he’s there is a minute he’s closer to killing Hook. He also says that if any harm comes to Belle, he’ll kill everyone.

Greg, the outsider, takes out his cell phone and calls his wife/girlfriend. He says he was in an accident and that she’s not going to believe what he saw.