'Once Upon a Time' Hero and Villain of the Week: Queen's Speech

Warning: This recap for the “Labor of Love” episode of Once Upon a Time contains spoilers.

Meet Snow White, total badass.

This week’s episode of Once Upon a Time was a nice callback to the Snow White we met in the Enchanted Forest back in Season 1 — fearless, brave, quick with her bow and arrow. Thanks to Regina’s curse, she morphed into a meek schoolteacher.

But running into her old friend, Hercules, in the Underworld — plus a pep talk from, of all people, Regina — reminds Snow of the warrior she used to be.

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This mama bear certainly can fight when called upon, as she must do to help Hercules defeat Cerberus, the three-headed hell dog that is keeping Hook captive. Yes, we finally see Hook in the flesh, and he looks even more awful than Emma’s vision. And things are only getting worse for him, as Hades gives him a terrible task — one that puts his friends in grave danger.

Hero of the Week: Snow White

As she moves through the cemetery, Snow sees a familiar name on one of the gravestones: Hercules. From flashbacks, we learn that teen Snow met Hercules in a difficult period of her life. While her father was away, the kingdom was being threatened by bandits (secretly hired by Regina, of course, to undermine her). Snow couldn’t handle the pressure to protect her people and ran away. Herc finds her and offers to train her in the bow and arrow to fight the bandits herself.

When they met, Herc was on the last of his 12 labors to get into Mount Olympus — defeating Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the Underworld. Well, in the Alterna-Storybrooke Underworld, Cerberus is keeping watch on Hook and a young girl. Hook helps her escape, so she can find Emma and free him.

Snow realizes that the only way to defeat Cerberus is to involve Hercules — plus, it would allow Herc to pass through to the better place. At first, he’s game to help, but his courage fails him. Turns out, he died in the Enchanted Forest thanks to Cerberus, and now he’s doomed with unfinished business.

Snow tries to give him a pep talk, but that fails. She’s moping in her Underworld apartment when Regina finds her. She kicks Snow’s butt a little, reminding her stepdaughter that Snow defeated the Evil Queen in a way nobody else had — by making her a friend.

Snow chins up, and rallies Herc again. This time, they’ll take on Cerberus together. They pull in the former prisoner girl, and the three of them each take one of the dog’s heads. They defeat him, and Herc has finished his last labor.

The girl turns out to be Megara (look it up, or watch the Disney movie), and the two of them are able to depart for the better place.

Hades is not happy to lose more people from his realm, and he gives Hook a heartbreaking order: For every person that Hades loses, one of Hook’s friends will die. And Hook has to decide which ones.

Villains of the Week: Cruella de Vil

She’s baaaack! While Emma, Regina, and Snow are off on their adventure, Robin Hood and Henry go to Regina’s office to search for schematics of the town to aid in the search for Hook.

Henry sneaks in through a ventilation duct, only to find Cruella waiting for him. She really misses the world of the living (especially gin), and Henry can help her get back there. She says that he has the power to do it, because he’s the Author. But wait, he broke the quill. Turns out, the Quill is a living entity, so when Henry broke it, he sent its spirit to the Underworld.

All Henry has to do is find the Quill and he can write Cruella a new ending. But why would he do this? She reminds him that his mother killed her, and if he can bring Cruella back, Emma’s heart would be pure once more. Dastardly, but smart argument!

Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.