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This page is move protected The subject of this article is involved with the Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is or relates to an episode The subject of this article is featured in Season Five of Once Upon a Time
This article focuses on the Season Five episode.
For the Season Five episode with a similar name, see "Broken Heart".
For the Season Two episode, see "Broken".
For the locations known as "The Broken Kingdom", see Camelot or the Underworld.

They call Camelot "The Broken Kingdom" because we have no king, and we never will.

Kay to Arthur and Guinevere

"The Broken Kingdom" is the fourth episode of Season Five of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by David H. Goodman & Jerome Schwartz, and directed by Alrick Riley. It is the ninety-second episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 18, 2015.

Synopsis

After receiving a cryptic warning from Lancelot about Arthur’s intentions, Mary Margaret realizes Arthur may be the heroes’ biggest threat, but when she is unable to convince David of the danger, she takes matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Hook’s unwavering love for Emma provides a glimmer of hope in her struggle against the unrelenting voice of Rumplestiltskin. In a Camelot flashback, Guinevere senses that Arthur is losing his way, consumed by his obsession with making Excalibur whole, so she sets out with Lancelot on her own quest into the heart of darkness. In Storybrooke, Dark Emma unleashes a secret weapon in the next phase of her plan to find the brave soul she needs to draw Excalibur from the stone.[2]

Recap

This section is a detailed recap of this episode. There are major spoilers. Click to expand.

In the Characters' Past

In the early years before Camelot, we meet the stable boy who would later become the once and future King, Arthur, who was motivated to fulfill his prophecy of finding Excalibur at a very early age, which he would follow through as an adult years later (33 years before the Storybrooke residents' arrival, including 28 years of Regina's Curse), when he pulled the sword out the stone.

While he proclaimed to his kingdom that he had found the entire sword, Arthur, like Merlin, only spoke in half-truths, as the King left out the part about the sword being split in half, after he shows a portion from the case. He even tells Guinevere that he has studied the translations of the Carmarthen Scroll, which contain the three elements: the star, the eye, and the sun, but he can't decipher the clues. Arthur's quest to reunite Excalibur has led to his long running obsession to seek out the missing sword piece, which in turn leads to shutting Guinevere out of his life, which in turn leads to her turning to Lancelot, who plans a party for her and makes her feel loved and would stay behind to watch Guinevere as Arthur began his search for the missing dagger.

With Arthur out on his mission, Lancelot and Guinevere decided to seek out the dagger themselves, by using Merlin’s gauntlet that leads the two to a magical passageway that was located in the Vault of the Dark One. However, the passageway was also a deadly trap, as the Dark One emerges as pure darkness, and almost kills Lancelot, but he eventually survives, after Guinevere uses a torch to repel the Darkness. This would lead to a kiss between Lancelot and Guinevere. The two walk through the doorway and discover the Dagger but couldn't grab it thanks to a protection spell placed on it by Rumplestiltskin, who in exchange for the gauntlet, offered the magical sands of Avalon, which can be used to fix anything that appears to be "broken" at their choosing.

Unfortunately, despite Lancelot's warning not to accept it, Guinevere decided to accept the deal and goes back to Arthur. However, when she returns to Camelot, she is confronted by Arthur, who knew about her and Lancelot, and threw the enchanted sand of Avalon on her, making his wife obedient with whatever he wanted, and used more of the sand to create his Camelot empire.

In Camelot and the Enchanted Forest

King Arthur showed David the broken Excalibur after reading books on how to make it whole, and when he asked David to help him find the other half, David realized where the portion of the dagger came from. As for the dagger itself Emma is being drawn to it with each passing day but is repelled by a protection spell put in place by Regina.

The manifestation of Rumplestiltskin continues to consume Emma's mind to the point of her inadvertently nearly hurting Hook. The effects are starting a toll on Emma, prompting an intervention from Hook, Henry, Mary Margaret, David, and Regina, but before they can come up with a solution, Mary Margaret asks David for a moment alone to talk to her husband, and as expected, was to tell him about King Arthur. However, when she told him about Lancelot being alive and the message he gave her, David ended up defending Arthur, believing that he is being very trustworthy. Mary Margaret on the other hand, believes David has become friends with Arthur because he misses the life he enjoyed back in the Enchanted Forest and that fulfilling it as a Knight in the Round Table will make him important again.

David told Arthur they were going to restore Excalibur right this second and revealed that Emma was the Dark One and that Lancelot was back. David believed that he had brought the dagger to hand over, but Mary Margaret brought it to Lancelot to hide, who then took her to the place that he and Guinevere had discovered.

Mary Margaret realized that she has been here before in a vision where Emma pulled her heart out and crushed it, but before they can carry out their plan a deranged Arthur arrived and pulled a sword on them and demanded Mary Margaret hand over the dagger. Arthur reveals that he was planning to use the Dagger to have Emma restore Excalibur, and then, he planned to kill Merlin with Excalibur and become the most powerful king in all the realms.

Arthur then uses the dagger to try to command Emma to come to him, only to realize that he was fooled by Mary Margaret, as the dagger she gave him was a fake, and David was on to this plan all along. The threesome took Arthur to Granny’s Diner, where Guinevere arrives and uncuffs him. Aware that Guinevere was still under a spell, she broke Lancelot's heart by telling him that she loved Arthur. Arthur also had a plan up his sleeves, as Guinevere blows a kiss out the sands on David and Mary Margaret, then tosses Lancelot in jail, where he was joined by another cellmate, Merida.

With Mary Margaret and David now under Arthur's powers, they go to Regina and deceive her, with Mary Margaret saying "Making Excalibur whole is our best chance to help Emma."

Meanwhile, Henry brings Emma & Hook to the stables, but he really just wanted to see Violet, even though he didn't tell her about his birth mother being the Dark One. Hook makes Emma forget all about Rumple's manifestation with a romantic horseback riding. She needed to trust someone, and afterwards the two kiss in a field of Middlemist flowers.

In Storybrooke

In Storybrooke, Emma still had a pink rose called middlemist from Hook. As for Gold however, he was still locked up saying he is not ready to be a hero. Emma wasn't convinced, telling Gold that she could turn him into one with a little time. It also turned out that Emma has another person working for her as her minion, which is revealed to be Merida, since she has her heart. Emma wants the archer to carry out her plan, telling Merida, "I need you to make him brave."

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Cast[2]

Starring

Guest Starring

Co-Starring

Uncredited

Note:
*: Only in archive footage

Trivia

Title

Production Notes

  • A behind the scenes photo posted on Instagram reveals that names and illustrations of other astrological signs are also painted on the ceiling.[11] However, they do not appear on-screen.

Event Chronology

Episode Connections

  • Young Arthur shows young Guinevere a tree that contains a powerful sorcerer, which was first established in "The Price".
  • Arthur tells Guinevere of Merlin's prophecy, which was mentioned in "The Dark Swan".
  • The story behind the middlemist flower is explored in "Nimue".
  • The scene of Arthur pulling out the sword from the stone is from "The Dark Swan".
  • Arthur mentions that David is now part of the Round Table, which was established in "Siege Perilous".
  • Arthur's discovery of the Dark One dagger was mentioned in "The Price".
  • Emma first saw Rumplestiltskin's manifestation in "The Dark Swan".
  • Mary Margaret tells David that they cannot trust Arthur, something Lancelot told her in "Siege Perilous".
  • David recalls that Cora said Lancelot was dead, which was mentioned in Lady of the Lake.
  • Mary Margaret recalls Lancelot marrying her and David, which occurred in "Lady of the Lake".
  • Mary Margaret asks why David had to become a member of the Knights of the Round Table, which occurred in "Siege Perilous".
  • David tells Arthur that the Darkness is threatening his daughter Emma, which first began in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
  • Guinevere uses a magic gauntlet to find the true location of the dagger, which was first seen in "Heroes and Villains".
  • Guinevere and Lancelot travel to the Vault of the Dark One, which was first seen in "Quiet Minds".
  • The Darkness attacks Lancelot, a dark force first seen in "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
  • Henry first met Violet in "The Price".
  • Rumplestiltskin says that he knows what happens when a woman's heart is torn between duty and desire, and adds that it never ends well; a reference to Milah's story from "The Crocodile".
  • Rumplestiltskin makes a deal with Guinevere, by trading a vial of enchanted sand from the Isle of Avalon in exchange for the gauntlet. His journey to Camelot and acquisition of the gauntlet was mentioned in "Heroes and Villains".
  • Mary Margaret and Lancelot travel to the Vault of the Dark One and emerge through a magical door to a jungle, where Mary Margaret recalls her vision of Emma ripping out her heart. This was first seen in "Best Laid Plans".
  • When Arthur gets his hands on the (fake) dagger, he expresses his desire to become "the greatest king in all the realms". Sir Kay says the same thing in "The Dark Swan".
  • Arthur uses the Sands of Avalon to build the castle of Camelot, first seen in "The Dark Swan".
  • The horse that Hook "borrows" is scared of the Dark One. Violet's horse reacts in the same way in "Dreamcatcher".
  • David and Mary Margaret are freed from the effects of the Sands of Avalon in "Dreamcatcher".
  • Emma kidnapped Gold in "Siege Perilous".
  • Emma and Merida recall their first encounter, which first occurred in "The Dark Swan".
  • The tunnel where Emma unchains Merida is the same tunnel where Emma and Sidney Glass talked about how to beat Regina in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".
  • Emma's plan to make Mr. Gold pull Excalibur from the stone succeeds in "The Bear and the Bow".
  • Merida is freed from captivity, and gets her heart back, in "The Bear and the Bow".

Biblical

Disney

Fairytales and Folklore

Props Notes

Set Dressing

Costume Notes

  • SECONDHAND CLOTHING: The outfit Guinevere wears for the quest for the dagger[61] is the same outfit that Jack wore in the Season Two episode "Tiny".[62]
  • BRAND INFO: Emma is wearing[63] a pair of Prada Women's Black Pointed Toe 'Vitello Lux' Ankle Zip Leather Booties[64] (no longer available).
  • USE IT AGAIN: She wears the same boots in the next episode, "Dreamcatcher".[65]

Filming Locations

  • RECYCLED SET: The Apprentice's Cottage from Season Four[69] doubles as one of the village cottages.[70] This can easily be seen from the identical architecture and window panes and the identical pattern of the brick stones (the ones around the window are easiest to compare).
  • A redressed version of the cottage was used for the exterior of Brennan's cottage in "Swan Song".[71] The wooden floor on the Apprentice's front porch was replaced by a stone floor and climbing plants were added to the walls to make the cottage look different.
  • The same set doubles as the exterior of the Wooodcutter's cottage in "Sisters".[72] Although the cottage was heavily redressed to double as the Woodcutter's home (most noticeably, the roof of his cottage has a completely different shape and the chimney is in a different position), the door, the window panes and the pattern of the brick stones (again, the ones around the window are easiest to compare) are the same.
  • The cottage was once again reused, for Malcolm and Fiona's cottage, in the Season Six episode "The Black Fairy".[73] This can be seen from the identical pattern of the brick stones (the ones on the right hand side of the lower half of the door are easiest to compare). The Apprentice's roof tiles were replaced with a thatched roof for this episode.

International Titles


Videos

References

  1. Sunday final ratings: 'The Good Wife,' 'Madam Secretary' and 'The Simpsons' adjusted up, plus final NFL numbers. TV by the Numbers (October 20, 2015). “Once Upon a Time (ABC) (...) 4.92”
  2. 2.0 2.1 LISTINGS: ONCE UPON A TIME. The Futon Critic. “Air Date: Sunday, October 18, 2015. Time Slot: 8:00 PM-9:00 PM EST on ABC. Episode Title: (#504) "The Broken Kingdom".”
  3. MORGAN TANNER - ACTRA, - UBCP/ACTRA. da Costa Talent. Retrieved on January 31, 2019.
  4. File:504Title.png
  5. TwitterLogo Adam Horowitz (@AdamHorowitzLA) on X, formerly Twitter: Here's another #OnceUponATime #titlespoiler -- hope to see ya 9/27! (August 11, 2015). (backup link) (archive screenshot)
  6. TwitterLogo Dalila Bela (@Dalila_Bela1) on X, formerly Twitter: ellos solo descubrieron que yo soy la hermana de Raphael cuando yo estaba filmando. (March 13, 2016). (archive screenshot) (in Spanish)
  7. Kennedy, Maev (March 9, 2018). World's rarest camellia in full bloom. The Guardian. “The Middlemist's Red camellia has been flowering for more than two centuries within a couple of miles of its first home outside China. There are believed to be only two left in the world – the one lighting up the Duke of Devonshire's conservatory at Chiswick, west London, and another in Waitangi, New Zealand. The plant was collected in China in 1804 by John Middlemist, from Shepherd's Bush, west London, who gave it to Kew Gardens.”
  8. File:504IWasWondering.png
  9. File:504ThrowingTheSand.png
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 File:504WalkingToWindow.png
  11. InstagramIcon Craig Clarke (@vfxsup) on Instagram: #OnceUponATime (November 14, 2015). (backup link) (archive screenshot) (photograph)
  12. TwitterLogo Adam Horowitz (@AdamHorowitzLA) on X, formerly Twitter: Hey #Oncers -- here's writer @AndrewChambliss clarifying last night's #OnceUponATime timeline. Hope this helps! (October 19, 2015). (backup link) (archive screenshot)
  13. Prigg, Mark (April 6, 2015). The book of GHOSTS: Eerie faces and messages discovered in ancient medieval manuscript of King Arthur and Merlin. Daily Mail. “Dating from 1250, The Black Book of Carmarthen is the earliest surviving medieval manuscript written solely in Welsh, and contains some of the earliest references to Arthur and Merlin.”
  14. File:504StarEyeAndSun.png
  15. File:504TakingTheDagger.png
  16. File:413MyAssociates.png
  17. File:703GoingIntoTent.png
  18. File:706HenryElla.png
  19. File:708WontFightDirty.png
  20. File:710APrincess.png
  21. File:712WhoAreYou2.png
  22. File:716GoldSilver.png
  23. File:504DarknessEmerges2.png
    File:504TakingTorch.png
  24. File:521ReachingTheDock.png
    File:521GrabbingTorch.png
  25. Once Upon a Time - Hook's Torch / Dark One's Vault Torch (0582). iCollector. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved on October 10, 2020.
  26. File:504ThereItIs.png
    File:504FinallyBeComplete.png
  27. File:504OnceAndForAll.png
    File:504TrailingHim.png
  28. File:602ItsOkay.png
  29. File:505UnwrappingDagger.png
    File:505Emma2.png
  30. File:507NotGreen.png
    File:507Zelena.png
  31. File:510ThisWay.png
  32. 32.0 32.1 File:217GoThroughUs.png
  33. File:504NoLongerTheBrokenKingdom.png
  34. File:507MerlinAndNimueWalkOff.png
  35. File:104EllaAtTheWell.png
  36. File:108Noooooo!.png
  37. File:115Corpses.png
  38. File:117CarriageIsThat.png
  39. File:203Corpses.png
  40. File:320Glinda!Glinda!.png
    File:320ZelenaComesBackToLife.png
  41. File:602ArrivingAtVillage.png
    File:602RansackingVillages.png
  42. File:701ThrowingThat.png
  43. File:722BelleAppears.png
  44. File:504PicksUpExcaluibur.png
  45. File:504DefeatTheDarkness.png
  46. File:504FollowedYourHeart.png
  47. File:214WillNeverEver.png
  48. Gittins, Susan (March 28, 2018). SERIES FINALE: ONCE UPON A TIME in Steveston as Storybrooke With New Hook, New Henry, New Alice, New Robin & Archie. Hollywood North Buzz. (Photograph)
  49. File:504GuinevereSad.png
  50. File:314WitchIsNear.png
  51. File:502Dancing.png
  52. File:504Shortly.png
  53. File:420Well.png
  54. File:611ManInAllTheLands.png
  55. File:504VioletEnters.png
    File:504YouDoingHere.png
  56. Screenshot from Snow White and the Huntsman
  57. File:505YesIDo.png
  58. File:706BTS4.jpg
  59. File:710NoNeedToBe.png
  60. File:715WatchingReginaEnter.png
  61. File:504WhyWeReHere.png
  62. File:213James!.png
  63. File:504RipsHeartOut.png
    File:504PickUpTheBow.png
  64. Prada LEATHER POINT-TOE BOOTIES. Pradux. Retrieved on January 31, 2019.
    PRADA WOMEN'S BLACK POINTED TOE 'VITELLO LUX' ANKLE ZIP LEATHER BOOTIES. Best Shoes Blogger (June 4, 2014). Archived from the original on February 12, 2017.
  65. File:505BetterWay.png
  66. File:504ReachingForSand.png
  67. File:319NealWasDying.png
  68. Gittins, Susan (August 19, 2015). SET: ONCE UPON A TIME's CaptainSwan (Colin O'Donoghue & Jennifer Morrison) Horse Ride in Burnaby's Central Park. Hollywood North Buzz. “How goes the Search for Merlin in Camelot? It's hard to tell from the glimpses we’ve seen of different Once Upon a Time sets and characters in Burnaby's Central Park. Last weekend Once Upon a Time crew built a thatched village in the park to film a scene of [young Arthur and Guinevere] on Monday. And the couple known as CaptainSwan — Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) — rode through the park on horseback.”
    FlickrIconTemplate Lawrence Andreutti. Once Upon A Time August 17, 2015 (August 17, 2015).  "Once Upon a Time set photos from Central Park, Burnaby, BC (Camelot) taken on August 17, 2015.(archive copy)
  69. File:404RunsToCottage.png
    File:408ApprenticeSeesSnowQueen.png
  70. File:504VillageOfCamelot2.png
    File:504KingArthur!.png
  71. File:511HookLeavesCottage.png
    File:511ThankYouKillian.png
    File:511ReplaceHim.png
  72. File:519DroppingLogs.png
    File:519Woodpile.png
  73. File:619DreamCabin.png
  74. File:IGlee j buckley-504.png

    File:IGmo_co_lee-504.png
  75. 75.0 75.1 Movies Filmed at The Makin Lands. MovieMaps. Retrieved on March 11, 2019.
    Note the location was previously used in the Season One episode "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".
  76. Siren #207 “Entrapment”. MovieMaps. Retrieved on March 11, 2019.
    File:203AllThatsLeft.png (Once Upon a Time)
    Screenshot from Siren: "Entrapment" (note the placement of the dunes and surrounding trees. Once Upon a Time CGIed out the power lines and the mountain in the upper right hand corner)

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