Birth

Plot

Opening sequence

The emerging new Dark One from the vault appears in the forest.

Event chronology

The Camelot scene at the mes place after "Nimue" and before "Broken Heart". The Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke events take place after "Nimue".

In the Enchanted Forest, outside Camelot

Three weeks earlier in Camelot, Emma brings a box with the Spark of the Promethean Flame in it to Granny's Diner, and she tells Henry that she can reunite the sword with it. Henry tells her that the others are not back with Arthur's fragment of Excalibur, and Emma says that Merlin is missing too. Granny and Henry begin to lock up the shop, but before they can finish, they are frozen with magic by Merlin, who is there and being forced to follow Arthur's orders, due to him being tethered to the Excalibur fragment. He says that Arthur tethered him to Excalibur and has ordered him to unite the sword, with the Promethean Flame. Emma refuses to hand it over, and Merlin says that Arthur has her family and will force him to kill them unless she hands over the Dagger of the Dark One and the flame. Emma says that it's not a flame yet, just a spark since she hasn't had enough time to light it yet, but Merlin tells her that with her power, she will be able to light it when she's ready. Emma then says she can't give up without a fight. But Merlin tells her that "acceptance is a form of strength," begs her not to seek vengeance and not to make the same mistakes as Nimue.

Emma tries to ignite the spark into a flame when Rumplestiltskin's manifestation appears and says that Arthur will kill her if he reunites Excalibur, but she says she has no choice and can't risk the lives of her family. Rumple's manifestation says that she can only light it when she's ready to give up the darkness. As the manifestation tries to goad Emma into lighting the flame, Emma loses her temper and yells at him to stop. Henry finds Emma talking to herself, and he asks what she's doing, and what the "voices" said. Emma says that they told her she wasn't ready to give up the darkness. He shows her a photo of a house that he and Hook were looking at for their Operation Light Swan, which Hook planned to obtain for Emma after she was free of the Darkness. Henry tells her that it was a reminder of something she could look forward to. Emma shuts the lid on the spark and says that she's not ready to give up the darkness just yet because she has to use her dark magic one more time.

Emma goes to the woods and sees Arthur, Merlin, and Zelena, with Emma's family tied to trees. She tells him to free them but Arthur wants Emma to hand over the dagger, and spark or else he'll "unleash" Merlin, and brought along Zelena to make sure she complies, asking Emma if she should kill Hook or David first. Emma hands Zelena the spark but when she opens it Zelena discovers that it's a fake, containing a spell that binds her to a tree. Furious that Emma tricked him, Arthur orders Merlin to fight her, and they battle by using magic. Merlin says he wishes Emma could defeat him, but that he's too experienced, and Merlin knocks her back. Arthur, believing he has the upper hand, orders Merlin to kill Mary Margaret, which he does by choking her with one of the tree's vines. Emma then pleads with Merlin to fight back against Arthur, telling him that he is the greatest sorcerer of all time and that if he can't fight off the darkness, no one can. Merlin struggles, but successfully fights off Arthur's control and stops the vine from choking Mary Margaret.

In Storybrooke

In the woods, David, Hook and Robin are ready to confront Arthur at his tent, and they brought weapons along, just in case. Robin and Hook secure the area while David goes inside the tent. As Arthur greets David cordially, David demands to know why Arthur lied and tried to burn the Crimson Crown, and tells him about the message they received from Merlin, which detailed that only Nimue could destroy that Darkness. David demands to know who Nimue is and points his gun at Arthur. Arthur, however, decides to throw the threesome off with a table, then escapes into the wood with the three in pursuit. After Arthur trips, he sees Hook and kicks him down and draws his sword on him, but just before he can kill Hook, Emma suddenly shows up and uses the now-reunited Excalibur stop Arthur's attack, telling a stunned Arthur that the sword no longer controls anyone, before sending him flying into a tree. Hook thanks Emma, but Emma says that there's no need to. Hook apologizes for what he said on his ship, and when Emma asks if he meant that he didn't love her and that he refused to accept who she now was, he says that he still does and will always love her. When Emma asks Hook what he wants, he says that he wants to help her, and asks who Nimue is. She says that Nimue doesn't matter anymore, and that it will all be over tomorrow. Hook asks why she needs the sword. Emma walks away and Hook says he knows she has reasons for doing this, and Emma tells Hook that she does, and that she's doing all of this for him, before disappearing.

Arthur is in a cell in the town prison, and Hook wants to know who Nimue is and what he's hiding, but Arthur says that Emma took his memories so he doesn't know anything. David pries Hook away, saying that Arthur was right, he doesn't remember anything from the events in Camelot, and the now Arthur was "no longer important." Hook says Emma told them this was about him, but Regina says that Emma is manipulating him as all the Dark Ones do. Regina is convinced that Emma has fully succumbed to the darkness. Hook believes Emma hasn't fully caved to the darkness yet since she hasn't used the sword. But Regina thinks Emma still needs another ingredient for her spell. Hook is determined to find out what went on in Camelot, saying that the only way to help her is to find out what happened between him and Emma. Hook visits Gold at his shop, and Mr. Gold tells Belle to put down the crossbow since Hook wasn't Emma. Mr. Gold says he had some squid ink set aside, but the new Dark One took it. Hook says that Dark Ones are clever, being able to convince everyone that they've really changed when they haven't, and then asks what's going on inside Emma's head. He tells Gold what Emma said about her actions being about him. Gold says he recognizes the look on her face – regret. He says he became the Dark One to save his son. He adds that he convinced himself everything he did was for that, and that once he saved his son, he would atone for his sins, but things did not work out. He tells Hook to find out what Emma is trying to atone for. Hook says he can't find her, and Gold says that he will have to give her a reason to find him. Hook goes outside and calls for Emma and asks what happened between them and what she wants.

Reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics

Andrea Towers of Entertainment Weekly notes in her assessment of the review, "While the two back-to-back episodes didn’t make too much sense meshed together, we still learned a lot of important things."

In a review from Rickey.org, Nick Roman said, "I liked that the script had enough trust in its audience to allow them to decide for themselves whether or not it was the right thing to do."

Amy Ratcliffe of IGN said of the episode, "The first installment of tonight's two-part yet separate Once Upon a Time episodes addressed nearly all the questions about the whys and hows of Emma's decision. Hook was an obvious choice, but the part about him also becoming a Dark One was an unexpected move and a smart way to twist the story. It was weird to follow the big reveal with a barely related adventure starring Merida though." Ratcliffe gave the episode an 8.5 rating out of 10.

Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the episode an excellent review, giving it an A. In her recap, she gave the performances high marks: "Fortunately, “Birth” was magnificent enough to almost make up for all of that. We finally learn Emma's secret plan, and it's amazing: She had to turn Hook into another Dark One to save his life. In all the likely speculative scenarios, I sincerely doubt anyone saw that coming. So sure, Emma's plan is a bit dastardly now: To have Zelena absorb all of the dark magic, then kill her, but hey, she's the (a) Dark One! Of course her plan has to be a bit menacing."

Christine Orlando of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 out of 5 stars.