‘Once Upon A Time’ Season 7, Episode 19 ‘Flower Child’ Recap: Oh Sweet Child Of Mine [SPOILERS]

It turns out, that science is all it takes to make Henry Mills (Andrew J. West) believe in what his fairy tales are telling him. But, even if it looks like Henry and Jacinda (Dania Ramirez) are finally finding their way to each other, trouble is once again brewing right under their noses. After that little distraction with Hansel and Facilier (Daniel Francis), Gothel (Emma Booth) has now come and taken her rightful place in the villainous spotlight. However, even Gothel’s spiteful nature has its history. In “Flower Child,” “Once Upon A Time” is treating us with a trip down the good old days when Mother Gothel wasn’t more grating to hear rather than the evil stepmother.

Gothel Finds Her Sisters

This episode starts with a young, naïve and rebellious Gother sneaking around a human home with her younger sister Yero. The siblings watch as a bunch of girls dilly dally around their parlor with beautiful gowns. Unlike her sister and mother, Gothel wants to mingle with them. And despite Yero’s protests, Gothel goes into the cottage and explores. The girls catch Gothel doing some small magic trick. Instead of being frightened or angry, the girls befriend Gothel and invite her to a party.

A few years into the future, the evil Gothel hypnotizes the man at the front desk of the police station to work for her and wake up her sisters. While she does that, Henry’s trying to convince Jacinda to try and open her eyes to the possibility that Lucy has been right all along. Henry presents her part of the broken glass slipper but, their conversation is cut short by a call from Sabine. Drew (Jeff Pierre) hasn’t been to work, and Sabine needs a Fryman.

At the precinct, Rogers (Colin O’Donoghue) interrogates Drew about Nick’s strange death. With no hesitance, Drew says that Facilier used magic. He goes on to clarify that Eloise Gardner or Gothel isn’t in a cult but a coven. Drew warns Rogers that the sooner he believes these things, the more possibility that he’ll survive the brewing war.

Back in memory lane, Gothel comes home from her visit with the humans. Her mother scolds her about her human mask, and she reverts to her original tree nymph appearance. Despite Gothel’s protests that her new friends were different, her mother reminds her that she’s not one of them. Furthermore, she has responsibilities to nature, to magic, and to her family.

Doubt and Belief Starts Settling In ‘Once Upon A Time’

In the present time, Gothel approaches Tilly (Rose Reynolds) and tells her the truth about being her mother. With tears in her eyes, Tilly rejects her. On the other hand, Lucy (Alison Fernandez) is trying to make a bargain with Facilier. She wants Henry’s curse to be broken. Facilier sends her in search of an item that came over from the land with magic that symbolizes Henry and Jacinda’s love. Like Drew, Facilier mentions the witches’ war. He says that for them all to survive, he’s going to need magic.

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Back in a fairytale world, Gothel attends the human party she was invited to. All is good and well until her new friends beg her to show them some magic. In a broken down greenhouse, she shows them but, the girls suddenly turn on her. They gang up on her and bathe her with dirt, all the while ridiculing her.

Meanwhile, the present day Gothel visits Roni’s bar in search of Tilly’s sweetheart Margot (Tiera Skovbye). Once again, she does her hypnotizing trick and takes a drop of blood from Margot. On the other side of town, Rogers and Tilly visit Henry after agreeing to solve the Eloise Gardner mystery together. Henry hesitates to let them in but, after Tilly’s barrage of information about covens and voodoo magic, Henry relents.

Tilly and Rogers discover that Henry’s been thinking of the same thing. In full detective style, Henry has laid out all the oddities and connections between the people in Hyperion Heights and the characters in his book. As they ponder over Eloise Gardner or Gothel, Henry realizes that if for her to cast a big spell, she’s going to need a boatload of magic. To stop Gothel, all they need to do is to cut her off from the source.

The Flower Child Meets Destruction

Based on a tip from Gothel’s new police henchman, Tilly and Rogers rush to scout the theatre. Tilly tells Rogers about what Eloise told her. In turn, Rogers promises to help her find the truth. Meanwhile, as Lucy and Jacinda sort through their old things, Lucy sees the rest of the glass slipper.

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Back in fairytale land, Gothel comes home to find that her abode has been destroyed and that her family has perished with it. She sees her mother struggling with her last breaths. Her mother tells her to find a new place and regrow. But, Gothel promises revenge on the humans who destroyed her home and killed her family.

Gothel heads back to the party and unleashes the terrible side of her magic. She sought to strike Seraphina (Naika Toussaint), one of the girls who deceived her. But, Seraphina defended herself with magic. Seraphina reveals that she’s just like Gothel. However, she was always too afraid to show her true self. Gothel insists that she join her and Seraphina hesitantly agrees. The rest of the party falls to death under Gothel’s rage.

Back in Hyperion Heights, Rogers and Tilly head into the theatre chasing Gothel only to find that they’ve been set up. With Rogers bound to a chair, Gothel reveals that he’s Tilly’s father. She tries to play the mother card to get Tilly to help them but, once again, Tilly downright refuses. Gothel has no choice but to dangle Roger’s life in front of Tilly.

Gothel Comes Back to the Land Without Magic

After the party, Gothel and Seraphina go back to Gothel’s home. Its destruction has created the land without magic. Gothel vows to come back and take back what’s theirs. But, in the meanwhile, she and Seraphina head into a new realm to find others like them.

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In the present time, Gothel finds a scrap of magic she left behind all those long years ago. After taking a drop of blood from Roger, she threatens his life again. Despite Roger’s protests, Tilly takes the cape, silently agreeing to Gothel’s terms.

Meanwhile, Lucy gives Facilier the glass slipper. He does his voodoo magic to take off the poison from Henry’s body that’ll kill him if the curse is broken. It works. At the same moment, Henry and Jacinda finally confront their feelings for each other. They share the true love’s kiss but, even though Henry doesn’t drop to the ground dead, nothing happens to their memories. Lucy comes home to find out that her plan didn’t work. The curse didn’t break.

Back underground, Tilly successfully opens up the magic that Gothel has sought after for so long. Roger, as a father, begs Tilly to stop. But, Tilly refuses to let her father die. She steps into the place of the eight witch. As the witches join their hands, power is forged from the land without magic.

“Once Upon A Time” continues next Friday, May 4th, with “Is This Henry Mills?” at 8/7c on ABC.