‘Once Upon a Time’ Hero and Villain of the Week: Rising From the Ashes

Warning: This recap for “The Other Shoe” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.

At what cost does someone get their happy ending?

This week on Once Upon a Time, Emma ponders this question as she realizes that she’s fought for everybody else’s happy endings — but she might not get hers. No, instead, as the Savior, she seems bound for a terrible, bloody, tragic death.

Related: Catch Up on ‘Once Upon a Time’ With Our Recaps

In the other main story, we see that Cinderella’s happy ending came at a tragic cost to someone in her life. We’ve seen Cinderella’s backstory before, but not this facet. All we saw was the union with Prince Thomas and that they eventually had a baby. But it turns out that the evil stepsister in this tale might’ve been Cinderella all along!

Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode…

Villain of the Week: Lady Tremaine

As Emma continues to struggle with the vision of her future death, she’s also managing the influx of characters from the Land of Untold Stories. A well-known character, Cinderella, comes into the diner inquiring about a particular person on the list — her stepsister, Clorinda.

Flashbacks to Cinderella’s story show us mostly what we know from the tale: Ella was abused by her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and evil stepsisters. But (as we’ve seen previously), her “fairy godmother,” aka Rumplestiltskin, helped get her to the ball, where she met future husband Prince Thomas.

Now, in Storybrooke, Thomas is worried that Ella is hunting down one of those stepsisters, Clorinda, a denizen of the Land of Untold Stories. But as flashbacks show, Clorinda actually was on Ella’s side. She falls in love with the prince’s footman — only her mother will never accept it. So, Ella gives her a magical key that will open a portal to the Land of Untold Stories. There, they can live happily ever after (in a suspended timeline).

Lady Tremaine threatens to smash Ella’s remaining glass slipper, unless she reveals Clorinda’s whereabouts. Ella capitulates, and of course, Lady Tremaine still smashes the slipper. Then, she tracks down Clorinda, seemingly kills the footman, and drags her daughter through the portal.

So, in current-day Storybrooke, Ella finds Clorinda, who is NOT too happy with her. Both she and the stepmother want vengeance. Lady Tremaine stabs her — but Emma is there!

Unfortunately, her magic has been wonky ever since the visions started. Henry gives her a pep talk, and Emma is able to use her magic to save Ella. Almost everyone gets their happy ending. Except for Lady Tremaine — she’s put to work by the dwarves as roadside cleanup.

Hero of the Week: Snow White

As Regina, Snow White, and Prince Charming try to track down the Evil Queen, Snow experiences a major nostalgia pang for a time when they weren’t always in danger. You know, like during the curse. Of course, she doesn’t want another curse to wipe out her memories, but she misses teaching and a normal life.

In the Cinderella flashbacks, Snow again proves she’s a badass by helping Prince Thomas track down his princess. She’s got good instincts, that Snow!

After Regina figures out she can get info from her sorta-evil sister Zelena, Snow decides to use her instincts for a more current cause. Dr. Jekyll needs a lab to work in to find a way to defeat the Evil Queen. So, she pairs him up with … Dr. Frankenstein! OK, sure. And not only that, hey, wouldn’t they make the best science teachers in Storybrooke’s high school? OK, sure, yeah!

Unbeknownst to her, Charming is grappling with the info that Rumple gave him about the coin and his father’s not-accidental death. Snow pleads with him to let it go. “We don’t need vengeance,” she says.

Charming appears to agree. But he doesn’t burn the paper with Rumple’s info. Looks like someone isn’t done with vengeance!

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch full episodes and clips of OUAT on Yahoo View.