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‘Once Upon a Time’: ‘Kansas’ brings Dorothy -- and a wicked ending?

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“Once Upon a Time” finally introduces us to Dorothy Gale, the supposed foil of Zelena and savior of Oz -- that is, until the creators of this show got hold of the legend. Oh, and Snow White has her baby, Rumpelstiltskin looks for revenge and Regina goes on a rampage. We actually are in “Kansas,” at least in this episode, and it’s still magical.

Ah, the sounds of childbirth. Snow White’s screams fill the air as the child conceived by she and Prince Charming decides to make an entrance. Of course, Snow is scared because Zelena wants to take her baby, but Charming will protect Snow and big sis Emma Swan is going to go out and take the fight to Zelena. Reluctantly, Hook must go with her in case she needs backup, or someone to draw the Wicked Witch’s fire.

Speaking of Zelena, she now has everything she needs for her master time spell, except for Snow’s baby. One of the last ingredients was from Rumpelstiltskin. Forced to do her bidding, he has spun straw into gold, and Zelena takes that straw and turns it into a golden brain -- Rumpelstiltskin’s brain to be exact. Now she has courage, a heart, a brain, and she will commence to baby-snatching. But why so wicked?

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Ask and you shall receive, as we go back into the past in the land of Oz. Glinda the Good Witch of the North pays Zelena a visit after Zelena has turned the great and powerful and fake Wizard into a flying monkey. Glinda thanks her, and tells her that she needn’t worry about Regina so much -- and that she can change her green fate anytime she chooses to.

Back in Storybrooke, Henry is looking for apartments for he and his mom to live in while Emma is on the prowl for the Wicked Witch. Hook questions why she’s being reckless, and why she needs so badly to take Henry back to New York (unbeknownst to Henry). Her feelings of safety in New York were proved to be false by a flying monkey/almost-fiancé, but she’s still stubborn. Then Zelena and Rumpelstiltskin appear. Zelena pretty much drowns Hook, forcing Emma to use mouth-to-mouth to revive him. Uh-oh, cursed lips. Saving Hook has now moved her off the board in terms of a magical rival as Emma’s light magic power floats away. “What have you done?” is right, Hook. Storybrooke has pretty much been left defenseless now. Well played, Zelena. Now, off to get the baby.

But first, back to past Oz. Glinda tries to befriend Zelena, and even offers her a seat of power with her other sister witches (very wiccan things going on), the Good Witch of the South and the Good Witch of the East. The three witches represent love, wisdom and courage -- and Zelena will represent innocence. Ummm ... OK. A history, and premonition, of Oz tells of a powerful witch, brought to Oz by a tornado, who would be a protector of the land. It must be Zelena! Must be. She becomes one of the sisters and is given a necklace that will hold and amplify her power. She also goes back to her natural hue. Awwwww.

Back to Storybrooke, Zelena breaks into the hospital and no one can stop her and Rumpelstiltskin. Not Robin Hood and his band of arrow-slingers. Not Regina and her underpowered black magic. And finally, not Charming, who is frozen along with Snow White and made to watch as Zelena takes the baby and disappears. Dang.

Back in Oz, a wrecked house lands, and though it’s mostly destroyed, out pops Dorothy Gale of Kansas. Zelena realizes almost right away that this girl, brought to Oz by a tornado, is probably the witch prophesied about. Zelena is now jealous of Dorothy -- with good reason. She reads the prophecy book, and the prophecy says that someone will come to unseat the greatest evil the realm has ever known. And that apparently means Dorothy defeating Zelena the Wicked Witch. Glinda says that she can change that, but Zelena’s turning green again ...

In Storybrooke, Henry gives Regina a pep talk, saying that she can defeat Zelena using light magic. Because Emma lost her magic smooching/saving Hook, she’s their only hope. Regina kissed Henry, breaking the curse with light magic, so she can wield it. If the heart of the truest believer believes in you, guess there’s no other path to take. Regina, Emma, Robin, Hook and Charming confront Zelena right as she has cast her time-travelling spell. Zelena forces Rumpelstiltskin to smack them about. Right as Zelena’s about to win, little sister Regina finds the power to use light magic and blasts Zelena. Regina takes Zelena’s pendant and her power, and the time spell dissipates. Rumpelstiltskin, no longer under Zelena’s power, is about to kill her -- she did kill Baelfire, remember? -- but Regina stops him. It’s not what heroes do, and today, she’s a hero. I didn’t particularly hear a lot of protests from the peanut gallery when Rumpelstiltskin announced his intentions. Were they powerless to do anything or were they, somewhere deep within, agreeing to his justice?

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And a twist to a modern-day classic: In Oz, Zelena confronts a frightened Dorothy, threatening her with fire. Dorothy grabs a bucket of water and douses the fire, and Zelena dramatically melts. Glinda takes Dorothy to see the Wizard, and he sends Dorothy back to Kansas. No scarecrow, lion or tin man. But, it turns out, that it wasn’t the Wizard who sent Dorothy back, but Zelena. She was never melted by water -- how ridiculous. She just wanted Dorothy out of the way. She then banishes Glinda and basically begins plotting how to take down Regina and change her own life. Shocking turn of events from the feel good “Wizard of Oz” storyline that we’ve grown to love.

Back to Belle and Rumpel. Rumpbelle? Belpel? Eh. Belle gives Rumpelstiltskin his dagger back because she trusts him. He hands it to Belle, and proposes!?!? That’s romantic as heck. But that romance is apparently as fake as the dagger he gave to Belle. He makes a visit to Zelena’s jail cell with his real dagger. He made a promise to his son to avenge his death, and Rumpelstiltskin always keeps his word. He stabs Zelena in the gut, turning her into some sort of statue, which then breaks apart. She turns into the green mist that her power evokes, and that smoke goes through what seems to be the time portal that she was trying to open when the heroes stopped her.

No idea where she went or what this means? Join the club. The Wicked Witch saga seems to be over for the time being -- and what a great saga it was. With Emma supposedly powerless (I think she did get her power back!) and wanting to leave, that will surely cause a bit of family friction. In the promo for next week, the announcer said they’ve been to Neverland and to Oz this season, then asks what’s next. That’s a great question. With an episode entitled “There’s No Place Like Home” next week, they could go anywhere. Ideas? How about Transylvania, maybe delving more into Dr. Frankenstein’s world? Please leave some suggestions in the comments section.

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