#Once Upon a Time rewatch

[sailor-hufflepuff]

I don’t think I’ve ever flipped my feelings on a ship so fast as I did rumbelle.

In Season 1 I forgot how hard I shipped them, how much I swooned when they finally kissed, how I cheered when they found each other after the curse broke.

And then, within just a couple of episodes, I hated it. I hated how Rumple lied to her, over and over again, from the very moment they are reunited. Even about stuff she would understand - “hey, I need magic to help find my son”.

I’m only on s2x05 of my rewatch, but I’m already bracing myself for the horrible cycle. He lies. She leaves. He apologizes. She takes him back. Rinse and repeat over and over and OVER.

On the bright side, it’s kind of cool to see Hook now, knowing where he ends up. (It took me AGES to ship captain Swan, I absolutely hated him in the beginning.) I’ll be able to fully enjoy his entire journey now.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 4x06 "Family Business" Review

We learn a little more about the Snow Queen’s plans and about her past with Emma. And apparently Belle and Anna knew each other but Belle has kept it a secret from Elsa because she’s ashamed that she wanted her memories more than saving a girl she’d just met. So apparently shame is a big deterrent in not helping save Anna this time too. 

Summary: The Snow Queen leads our heroes on a chase so they can see that she actually cared for Emma at one point. In the past, Belle can’t remember how her mother died in an Ogre attack, so she goes to Arendelle to visit the Rock Trolls and meets Princess Anna who is looking for information on her Aunt Ingrid.

Opening: Ice Cream Truck

New Characters:

Belle’s Mother (Colette): First off, I really thought Belle’s mother would get more air time in this episode, considering she’s played by Frances O’Connor (known for Mansfield Park, AI, The Importance of Being Earnest), but alas, she’s killed off pretty quickly. We do see where Belle gets her love of reading from, as they both try to get priceless books out of the library before the Ogre attacks them. They end up hiding under a table, and I’m confused about how he finds them. Does he hear them, because it was established that Ogres were blind back in Lady of the Lake. However he figured out where they were, Colette does not end up making it through the attack.

Character Observations:

Belle: In the past, Belle and her mother are attacked in their library by an Ogre. I get that there are priceless books in there (or in Belle’s case, the book that she remembers her mother first reading to her), but Ogres are attacking. You can come back for the books once they leave! Belle and her mother get trapped under a table and the last thing Belle remembers is the Ogre lifting the table off them and yelling in their faces. Belle awakens to find her mother is dead and she can’t remember how she died (I’m guessing an Ogre killed her). Belle is insistent in trying to recover her memories, but her father doesn’t think that’s a good idea. She tells him about magical beings who can restore memories, but he brings up the whole ‘All magic comes with a price’ line and tells her she is not to leave. Belle makes up her mind to go to Arendelle anyway, where she meets Anna at Oaken’s. Anna also happens to be going to see the Rock Trolls, so they decide to go together. They discuss the fact that they both lost their mothers, and when Anna slips trying to get up the mountain, Belle discovers the hat box (that she stole from Rumple in The Apprentice). Anna won’t give much away to Belle about the evil wizard she stole it from, just tells her she hopes she never meets him. Well, Anna, maybe if you’d given Belle a hint, she wouldn’t be married to him now! Somehow, despite the fact that they could barely make it up the first rock, they get to the top to the Rock Trolls. Grand Pabbie pulls the memory from Belle’s consciousness and puts it in a stone which he tells her to brew in tea at the place where she lost her memory (nice plot point so she can’t brew it right away), and when she drinks the tea she’ll remember what happened to her mother. On the way back down the mountain they get caught up in a storm. Anna is convinced it’s her Aunt Ingrid. When Belle asks what she’s going to do about it, Anna pulls out the hat box again and says she’s going to take her aunt’s magic. And that’s when a big gust of wind comes, knocking the memory stone out of Belle’s hand, and knocking Anna off the trail so she’s hanging off the edge of the mountain. Belle tries to go for the stone first, but it’s knocked off the edge and shatters. Then she tries to get Anna, but Anna falls. Belle witnesses the Snow Queen poof Anna away. Belle returns home and tells her father she didn’t find what she was looking for and her trip was a huge mistake. Maurice finally tells Belle what happened. That her mother stood in the path of the Ogre while the guards pulled Belle to safety, and her mother was killed before the guards could get back. Maurice tells her the war isn’t going well, and Belle suggests calling upon a powerful wizard she read about (not putting together that this might be the same wizard Anna was warning her about). Maurice knows who she is talking about and doesn’t want to call him, but Belle thinks it’s their only choice so they can win the war and so she can be a hero like her mother.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke, Belle is keeping a secret that she knew Anna back in their realm. Elsa wants to research Arendelle in the library with Belle, which is making her very uncomfortable. Elsa starts having a crisis of faith about finding Anna, but Belle tells her she will find Anna, but she looks very guilty about the whole thing. Belle decides the best thing to do is go to the Snow Queen’s hideout, and ‘commands’ Rumple to take her to her lair using the dagger. When they get there, Rumple tells Belle that the Snow Queen isn’t there, but she’s okay with that. She’s looking for the hat to strip someone of their powers! Too bad she doesn’t know Rumple hid it away at the shop, would’ve saved her a trip. Rumple wonders why Belle is helping a stranger. She gives him the excuse that a hero always helps people. She makes Rumple keep watch while she goes inside to look for the hat box. Instead, she hears someone calling for her from behind a covered mirror. When she takes the sheet off, it’s her reflection, but it tells her things she doesn’t want to hear. Basically, all her insecurities, like that Rumple doesn’t really trust her and he didn’t give her the real dagger (listen to the mirror, Belle). Rumple comes in, warning Bell they have to leave since the Snow Queen is coming. She lashes out and cuts him with the dagger before he poofs them back to the shop. Belle starts to believe what mirror Belle said about the dagger, since she had commanded Rumple to stay outside. He gets around that by saying she said to keep watch, and since the Snow Queen was coming back, he was allowed to go in and get her. Belle breaks down when she sees she has cut him and tells him all the awful things the mirror told her. Rumple assures her none of it is true. Belle confesses that Anna is missing because of her and feels guilty for using the dagger on Rumple. She doesn’t think she’s worthy of his love. Oh, lord, if only Belle knew how it’s Rumple who isn’t worthy of her love with all of his lies, manipulation, and deceit. She then spreads on the guilt even thicker by apologizing for keeping this secret, since she knows Rumple would never keep a secret from her. UGH! Belle finally confesses to Elsa about knowing Anna and how the Snow Queen captured her. Belle tells Emma, Elsa, and Killian about the mirror. Rumple has told her that it will be used for the Spell of Shattered Sight, turning the whole town on one another.

Emma: She shows everyone the video of the Snow Queen as her foster mother. Henry suggests looking for her ice cream truck to either find her or find clues. They end up finding it out by the Merry Men’s camp. Robin wants to talk to Regina, but she rebuffs him. Emma tells her she could have been nicer, but Regina tells her to stay out of it and is upset she has to deal with her and Killian making eyes at each other. Emma protests this, but then Killian definitely makes eyes at her. Once inside the truck, neither Regina nor Killian notice the lock on the freezer (how did these two last so long as villains when they don’t even notice details?). Killian uses his hook to break the lock and they find a file on Emma inside, starting from the article on how she was found on the side of the road. Emma looks through the file and discovers she stayed with the Snow Queen for six months, the longest she’d ever stayed anywhere. Killian asks if she’s okay, but she just tells him it was a long time ago, prompting a conversation about the fact that Killian was once a child about 200 years ago. Emma realizes that the Snow Queen has kept old art projects and essays and a card Emma wrote to her, and that someone doesn’t do that unless they care about you. They also discover a scroll with Arendelle writing on it. Back at the sheriff’s station, Elsa has discovered that the Snow Queen is her aunt. She and Emma look at the family tree and discover another sister that Killian thinks looks just like Emma (I really don’t see that except for the fact that she is blonde). Elsa sees the scroll and translates it. It basically says that Emma is the Savior and will become Ingrid’s (the Snow Queen) sister. Belle comes in letting them know about the mirror and the Shattered Sight spell, and Emma and Elsa figure out that they’ll be the only two left that aren’t affected so the Snow Queen can have her family.

Ingrid/The Snow Queen: Anna is introduced to Ingrid who let’s Anna know that the reason she doesn’t know her is because she was put in an urn by people who didn’t understand her. She shows Anna that she also has the same powers as Elsa and that it runs in the family. We don’t see Ingrid again until Anna is on her way back from the Rock Trolls. Ingrid creates a storm that results in Anna falling off a mountain. Ingrid steals the hat box from Anna before poofing them back to the castle. Ingrid has Anna locked in a cell in the dungeons of the castle. She accuses Anna of wanting to strip Elsa of her powers with the hat. Anna claims she wasn’t going to use it on Elsa, but that their parents were. Anna then reveals that the Rock Trolls told her she had another sister and Ingrid gets very angry. Anna asks what Ingrid wants. Ingrid says she wanted a family that would embrace her for who she was, but she doesn’t think Anna can be part of that family since she has nothing in common with her and Elsa. She will have to find someone else to take Anna’s place.

Rumple seeks out the Snow Queen and lets her know Emma is on to her. The Snow Queen tells him that Emma didn’t discover anything she didn’t want her to discover. She goes head to head with Rumple which is pretty fantastic. He doesn’t scare her like he does most others. She tells him to stay out of her way, Later, after Belle has glimpsed the mirror, Rumple comes back to confront the Snow Queen about it. They posture and threaten each other again: Rumple telling her she better now hurt anyone he loves with her plans and the Snow Queen claiming she can’t make any guarantees. Rumple shows her that he has the hat and the Snow Queen shows fear for the first time.

Anna: She comes back from Misthaven and lies to Elsa about what she’s found out. She notices there are no flurries or any of Elsa’s normal icy behaviors happening. Elsa excitedly introduces Anna to their Aunt Ingrid and Anna immediately goes into disbelieving mode. She immediately goes to Kristoff and tells him that she doesn’t trust Ingrid. She claims to be a good judge of character, but Kristoff calls her out on that as she almost married Hans after 10 minutes. Anna doesn’t understand why there isn’t any record of Ingrid anywhere, so she wants to visit the Rock Trolls to find out about her. She also tells Kristoff that she didn’t tell Elsa what she found out on her trip. Unfortunately, Ingrid has been listening to their conversation. Anna runs into Belle at Oaken’s and since they are going to the same place, invites her to come with her to visit the Rock Trolls. Anna asks Grand Pabbie about Ingrid and he tells her that her mother actually had two sisters, and they were quite close. But then one day Ingrid and their other sister, Helga, vanished, so the royal family asked the Rock Trolls to make everyone forget them. This makes Anna think Ingrid is a liar because she didn’t tell them about this (um, wasn’t she trapped in an urn until recently), and needs to get back to the castle fast. Ingrid causes a storm and imprisons Anna, telling her she can’t be part of their family because she is the outsider.

Questions:

Why are they wondering how the Snow Queen got to our world? My first thought would be a magic bean since we’ve seen them several times at this point. I know they were supposed to be gone, but that obviously wasn’t true.

What is up with Belle’s traveling outfit? It’s a short skirt that has that caveman-like cut and knee-high stockings! And it’s white! Plus she’s in full make up. 

Can someone please explain why Emma was moved around in foster care so much that six months was the longest she was anywhere? Isn’t the point of foster care to find a family to take them in so their life isn’t disrupted so much? No wonder Emma is the way she is if she was moved from family to family so much she couldn’t ever form any bonds.

Once again, what is up with Belle’s Storybrooke outfit? She’s going to infiltrate the Snow Queen’s lair in a short skirt and knee high boots (I mean, they are fur lined, but still)?

Ingrid told Anna she’d been trapped in an urn, so why would Anna think she knew anything about her family erasing everyone’s memories?

Who’s voice is coming from the mirror before Belle takes the cover off. It’s not speaking in Belle’s normal accent.

So, did Colette and Belle somehow get up when the Ogre pulled the table off of them? Maurice says her mother stood up to the Ogre, but they’d been lying under a table. 

Why was Belle so worried about the Ogres reaching the road? They’d already been to the castle.

Where did this prophecy come from? Most prophecies aren’t so literal.

Observations:

The first book Belle’s mother ever read to her was called Her Handsome Hero.

Belle is wearing her blue movie dress. We saw her wear this in Rumple’s castle in Skin Deep. I had assumed that it had been something Rumple had given her since she didn’t bring anything with her, but maybe Rumple magicked her belongings to the castle at some point.

If this were real life, Anna would be so dead, or at least have multiple broken bones after falling off the mountain.

Rumple looks into the Snow Queen’s mirror and nothing happens.

The Snow Queen’s plan to use a mirror for the Spell of Shattered Sight comes directly from the Hans Christian Anderson story The Snow Queen. Although it is not her mirror that shatters, but the devil’s mirror. Read the tale here.

The false eyelashes on Belle are over the top this episode.

Timeline Issues:

Emma says she’s 13, maybe 14 in the video, but it’s supposed to be 1998, and in the fall. Emma was born in 1983, so that would make her 15, maybe 14 if it’s still the beginning of October.

If Anna met Belle before Belle met Rumple, then how old must she be now? Belle lived with Rumple, probably for at least a year (despite the short time we saw in Skin Deep and Lacey), and then she went on the adventure with Mulan to find the Yaoguai in The Outsider, and then she was captured by the Evil Queen and imprisoned for about 2 ½ years according to the hash marks in her cell in that we saw in Queen of Hearts. We know Elsa was trapped in the urn (although we don’t know how), but it had to have happened before Snow and Charming met, as it came through the time portal with Emma and Killian during There’s No Place Like Home, and as we saw, Belle was still Rumplestiltskin’s maid at this time. Assuming Arendelle wasn’t part of the curse (which, it shouldn’t be since it wasn’t part of the Enchanted Forest), at least 35 years must have passed from what we just saw.

So the Snow Queen apparently cared about Emma, but what happened for Emma to leave and the Snow Queen make her forget? How did she get to our land if not by my theory of a magic bean? The Snow Queen is planning to tear the town apart just so she can get Emma and Elsa to become her sisters, and Rumple is being a conniving ass as usual.

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x15 2x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22 3x01 3x02 3x03 3x04 3x05 3x06 3x07 3x08 3x09 3x10 3x11 3x12 3x13 3x14 3x15 3x16 3x17 3x18 3x19 3x20 3x21 3x22 4x01 4x02 4x03 4x04 4x05

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @wistfulcynic​ @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda

[drjohndisco]

Tamara they should have used you better!!!

[jackiestarsister]

OUAT rewatch: Episode 1x01

~ The written intro feels more like the script for a trailer than a prologue/introduction. It doesn’t seem necessary to me, since the audience presumably has some idea of the premise already, and if they don’t, it’s explained pretty early on.

~ The open scene really is magical, from the landscape shots to the perfect actors to the real snowfall.

~ No disrespect to Prince Charming, but shouting “Hey” to get the Evil Queen’s attention before throwing the sword at her was not smart. It’s like shouting “Sneak attack” while attacking someone.

~ Emma’s blue star-shaped candle = making a wish on a star, associated with the Blue Fairy

~ It’s striking how Emma and Henry face each other. He’s much shrewder than you’d expect a 10-year-old to be, and he has some similarities to her in attitude and intelligence. The way he outmaneuvers her is similar to how she outmaneuvered her fake date at the start of the episode.

~ “Come home with me.” = a Hadestown reference?

~ “Believing in something doesn’t make it true.” “That’s exactly what makes it true.” Sounds like a convicting statement, but that’s not how either stories or the real world work. There is truth in metaphor, symbolism, and story itself; but truth does not depend on whether someone believes, understands, or acknowledges it. But (spoiler alert) this becomes a key concept in the season 6 finale.

~ Rumpelstiltskin’s first scene is fantastic. I wonder if him being in the dungeon at the beginning has some psychological symbolism for Snow and Charming. His return at the end is a bit startling, and confirms him as a significant recurring character, someone Emma will have to contend with, rather than just a footnote or supporting character in her parents’ story.

~ I don’t know why I didn’t realize it from the start, but the title is much more than just the first line of most fairy tales. Time itself is a central theme of the show, from the very beginning. The curse is being frozen in time. The story structure in each episode jumps between different points in time, showing the impact of the past on the present.

~ In light of these themes, the fact that the clock tower is located right above the library, a place that houses books, is quite fitting!

~ “Giving into one’s dark side never accomplishes anything.” – That line, spoken twice in this episode, could be one of the theses of the show. It hits differently knowing what lies in store for many of the characters!

~ The reply, “How many wars has a clear conscience won?” is a valid question. It’s easy to have principles and ideals in the abstract, but it’s another thing to live them out, especially when someone is threatening you or your loved ones.

~ “Our fate rests on a tree?” makes me think of the cross of Christ, another foretold Savior

~ It’s interesting that Regina’s house has a white color scheme, and in her first scene as mayor she’s wearing light-colored outfit. It’s only afterwards that she switches to a darker outfit. Maybe, instead of the white = good and black = evil symbolism used elsewhere, they decided to contrast white/neutral colors for Regina with vivid colors for Emma, as seen in her red jacket and yellow car.

~ I have questions about the castle setup. Why did Gepetto and Pinocchio go about constructing the wardrobe so far away from the royal couple’s bedrooms? My only guess is that they didn’t expect the baby or the curse to come as quickly as they did.

~ It makes sense for Emma’s last name to be a type of bird, given her mother’s connection with them and the metaphor they serve in her first scene as Mary Margaret.

~ I remain curious about religion in both the Enchanted Forest and Storybrooke. An archbishop officiated Snow and Charming’s wedding, and Mary Margaret is wearing a cross necklace in her first scene. Given that the Grimm brothers were theologians, it would make sense for these characters to be influenced by Christianity, but that raises questions about where the Enchanted Forest and other realms exist.

~ The queen and her forces approaching when a mother is giving birth and searching for her child to kill it is reminiscent of the mother, child, and dragon in Revelation 12

~ Snow and Charming’s love for their daughter and capacity for self-sacrifice are what establishes them as heroes, even more than the audience’s familiarity with their story.

~ Prince Charming defending his newborn child with his life = the most dramatic possible visualization of fatherhood, both gentle and fierce

~ Emma’s journey through the tree-wardrobe is similar to the stories of Moses, Elora Danan, and other mythical children who escape danger as infants, signifying hope for the future of their people.

~ I love all the motifs and little details that nod to the characters’ stories, like Pinocchio carving a whale, Henry’s bedroom lamp showing images of birds, starting with a swan, and Regina going to a mirror when she is threatened.

~ The episode is relatively simple and self-contained, but soooo good! Even though it switches between two timelines, they manage to lead into each other with great effect. For example, Pinocchio appears just one scene after he’s first mentioned, and Grumpy gets his big closeup and line right before his first scene as Leroy.

[coffee-with-mint-syrup]

Malcolm - Peter Pan from OUAT season 3 was one of the best commentary on irresponsible manchild fathers and the impact they leave on their children. Little Rumpel made a great image of child having to be more mature than their parent. Rips my heart even after all those years.

I kinda forgot that OUAT had such a hard topics in its first few seasons.

[onceuponaouat]

restarting my 2024 rewatch of once upon a time because I have a blog to be annoying about it on now

[bisaster-energy]

regina wanted to take in those kids so bad man i forgor

[sixty-silver-wishes]

I love once upon a time. imagine being a human man. with a doctorate. and a successful therapeutic practice. with no fucking idea you’re actually a fucking cricket

[dinneratgrannys]

tfw you remember your fiancee is a princess

[flipperbrain-awakes]

[madamephantom]

just gonna come out and say emma clearly has a type

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 4x07 "The Snow Queen" Review

We finally get the backstory of the Snow Queen, and it is quite tragic, but enough to make her turn evil? And Snow is acting completely out of character when it comes to Emma in this episode.

Summary: Ingrid isolates herself from her family because of her ice powers, despite her sisters being totally okay with it. The Snow Queen’s goading starts making Emma think her powers make her a monster.

Opening: Kite

New Characters: 

Helga: Ingrid’s middle sister and number one champion in finding out about her sister’s ice powers. She’s smart and scrappy and doesn’t fall for any bullshit. Unfortunately, because of her poor choice in men (the Duke of Weselton), she ends up as a broken ice sculpture.

Gerda: The youngest of Ingrid’s sisters. She is almost kidnapped by a man with a kite and Ingrid saves her by using her ice powers for the first time. She and Helga say they will always be by Ingrid’s side. She also has heard about Rumplestiltskin, when they are older, and brings Ingrid to him to help control her powers. She ends up putting Ingrid in the urn when she accidentally kills Helga. Gerda goes to the rock trolls after both her sisters are gone and asks Grand Pabbie to make the whole realm of Arendelle forget about Ingrid and Helga. He warns her that the truth always has a way of coming out. He also warns her that magic always comes with a price. Gerda is convinced she’s already paid it, not realizing that her daughter, Elsa will be that price.

Character Observations:

Ingrid: She discovers her ice powers when a man tries to kidnap her youngest sister as a child. For some reason, killing the guy that just tried to abduct her sister with ice powers makes her think she is a monster instead of a hero. And despite both her sisters (Helga and Gerda) being completely on her side, Ingrid is still very worried. Helga takes the ribbons from the kite they’d been following (which was the kidnappers to try and kidnap any child it seems) and uses them to make a pact that they will always be there for each other as long as they wear them.

Years later, at their father’s 70th birthday, Ingrid’s sisters are trying to convince her to come and join the party. She says she can’t come out of hiding until her affliction is dealt with, but her sisters aren’t having it. Ingrid does seem to have a good grip on her powers if she’s still living in the same room as her sisters and hanging out with them. She doesn’t seem to have any fear about hurting them. Ingrid goes out to watch the ball and sees her sisters dancing happily and snow flurries start forming around her because she is sad. Apparently, this is the impetus for her to decide to leave for good. Her sisters catch her packing and don’t accept this. Ingrid is afraid she’ll hurt someone, and I still don’t understand why. As far as this episode has shown us, with the exception of the kidnapper, Ingrid hasn’t hurt anyone. Gerda has apparently heard whispers of a man, a sorcerer, that can help them. And it’s, of course, Rumplestiltskin.

Rumple doesn’t understand why she’d want to get rid of her powers, but Ingrid is too afraid that she can’t control them. He offers her lessons instead, but she’s not biting. He sends her off with gloves to conceal her powers (the same ones Elsa uses in the movie Frozen) and a failsafe, the urn that we first saw Ingrid emerge from. His price is the kite ribbons they’ve worn since the kidnapping incident. Ingrid doesn’t understand why he’d want them, but he explains that sometimes with love, ordinary objects can become magical. Ingrid’s sisters don’t want to give them up and try to convince her that they are her failsafe, but Ingrid is desperate so they give up the ribbons.

Back in Arendelle, Ingrid is sitting happily in a gazebo just holding the gloves and urn, and dressed in the icy looking outfit we’ve seen her wearing since she was out of the urn. Considering there isn’t a ball going on at this point, it seems a bit overkill. And why she isn’t wearing the gloves is beyond me. She’s been hoping to control her powers and she’s just sitting there stroking them. Those gloves would’ve been on my hands immediately after Rumplestiltskin handed them over if I was so worried about hurting people. The Duke of Weselton comes by and starts stroking her ego and then coming onto her. She drops her gloves and can’t get them back on. The Duke starts trying to kiss her and Ingrid shoves him back with magic, but I don’t see any actual ice, so why the Duke automatically thinks she’s used magic is baffling. Ingrid begs him to keep this encounter their little secret (which just makes me think of sexual assault victims who think it was their fault), when Helga comes upon them. He tries to convince Helga that Ingrid came onto him, and Ingrid seems to think that Helga will believe him over her, which luckily, she does not. Helga dumps the Duke, who seems confused that a princess would dump a duke to defend her sister. When Helga threatens his diplomatic mission, he threatens to tell everyone about Ingrid and that Arendelle will side with him. Helga defends Ingrid, but Weselton keeps going on his tirade, making Ingrid more and more upset, so when he finally calls her a monster, she uses her powers on him. But, coward that he is, he uses Helga as a shield and she gets turned into ice, then crumbles, effectively killing her. Ingrid is devastated over what she’s done. Gerda comes by and sees Ingrid crying over a pile of ice and somehow deduces that it used to be Helga. She immediately turns on her sister, despite Ingrid trying to explain what happened. Ingrid tries to get Gerda to take her hand as they always did that to help each other, but Gerda calls her a monster making Ingrid even more upset. Ingrid still tries to convince Gerda to help her, but Gerda backs into the urn and Ingrid realizes what she is going to do. Gerda opens the urn and Ingrid gets pulled inside. Notice that the only times Ingrid really used her powers was in self-defense. As angry as Gerda was getting at her, Ingrid’s powers never manifested, which shows she always had control of her powers as long as her sister’s were by her side.

In Storybrooke, the Snow Queen has moved her magic mirror up to the clocktower. Emma, Elsa, David, and Killian all barge in and Emma uses a magical candle to put fire cuffs around the Snow Queen so they can capture her.

Emma, being the ever consummate professional, walks into the interrogation room with Elsa, who immediately begins questioning the Snow Queen about where Anna is. The Snow Queen continues to aggravate Elsa by telling her that Anna put her in the urn and she shouldn’t want to find someone like that. Elsa gets angrier while the Snow Queen is cool as a cucumber. Emma finally makes Elsa get out.

The Snow Queen mentions Emma’s superpower, which throws Emma for a loop. Emma says they’re not friends. The Snow Queen agrees, they’re family, which Emma does not agree with in the least. The Snow Queen tells Emma that she’ll realize everything she’s said about her family thinking her a monster will come true, and when it does, she’ll release the Snow Queen herself. Emma’s not buying it. She lays out that they know who she is, what she’s planning with the Spell of Shattered Sight, and that they know she wants to replace her sisters with Emma and Elsa. But Emma wants to know why she’s been following her her whole life. The Snow Queen claims she was trying to protect her and that they’re family. Emma lets her know she has a family, but the Snow Queen says family is not about blood. She and Elsa are her real family since they all have magic and no one else can understand that.

The Snow Queen continues to play on Emma’s fears by asking if she’s ever seen them wince at her powers. Emma claims they love her and her powers, but the Snow Queen says she thought that once too. While Emma has left the Snow Queen alone, we see that the cuffs did not suppress her powers, as she manages to freeze the front doors of the Sheriff’s station. The Snow Queen continues to make Emma feel like her family doesn’t care about her by saying her parents could have found another way to break the curse and that her parents are using her as the savior instead of thinking of her as their daughter. Then she brings up the fact that they had another child to replace her and that he doesn’t have powers, playing on Emma’s worst fears about how her parents feel about her. The Snow Queen claims you can’t love someone you don’t understand (so apparently she feels her sisters didn’t really love her?). The Snow Queen tells her that people fear what they don’t understand and they’ll come to think of her like a monster. This angers Emma enough to blast a hole through the side of the Sheriff’s Station. Emma’s freaking out thinking the Snow Queen did something, but the Snow Queen lets her know that it’s all Emma, before shaking off the cuffs and swirling away in a snow flurry.

The Snow Queen then goes to Rumpelstiltskin's pawn shop saying she’s ready to make a deal. She wants her ribbons back. Rumple doesn’t think she has anything to make a deal with, but she knows more about the hat than he does. She knows he wants to cleave himself from the dagger so he can leave and still have his powers. He shows her the ribbons and she is practically beside herself at seeing them again. She tells him he can go out into the world and conquer that, she just wants Storybrooke. They strike a deal that she’ll tell him how to get all the power from the hat, but we don’t get to hear it because she whispers it to him, despite no one being around.

Emma: Belle has found a spell for her to use to neutralize the Snow Queen’s powers. Elsa hopes that with it they can find out what happened to Anna. Emma wonders if Anna had powers. Elsa says she didn't, which is why she thinks the Snow Queen is so interested in Emma. Elsa says it’s hard when your family looks at you differently because of your magic, but Emma says they don’t. They try testing the candle on Elsa, but it doesn’t work. Emma has to go babysit Baby Neal, so she runs off.

Emma comes in at the end of the Mommy and Me class Mary Margaret is at. She gets a little offended when Ashley talks about being there for the first time moms. Snow is quick to say she knows she’s not a first time mom, but Emma says she kind of is because she never got to do this with Emma. She seems fine about everything but then realizes by the looks on Mary Margaret, Ashley, and Aurora’s faces, that she is making the milk in the bottle boil. She claims that she’s been working on her magic and she’s just a bit revved up. Then when she goes to take Baby Neal, Mary Margaret keeps him away from Emma. Rude much? Luckily, Emma gets a phone call about the Snow Queen’s whereabouts, so she doesn’t have to deal with Mary Margaret’s faux pas.

Emma, Elsa, David, and Killian all burst into the clock tower and Emma uses the candle to create cuffs to capture the Snow Queen. Interrogation time. The Snow Queen basically gaslights and goads Emma into thinking her family will never understand her because of her magic, and because of the incident with Mary Margaret earlier, Emma gets angry and blasts a hole in the side of the Sheriff’s Station. She’s freaking out because her magic seems to be glitching on her and she can’t get it to stop, but the Snow Queen tells her this is who she truly is before snow poofing out. Emma goes outside to assess the damage and her family, Killian, Belle, and Rumple turn up. Killian asks what the monster (meaning the Snow Queen) did to the station, but Emma quickly tells him she was the monster. She doesn’t want them coming near her since she’s having problems controlling her magic. Killian doesn’t listen and Emma sweeps her hand to push him away and causes all the lights to burst and a light pole to come crashing down. David pushes Killian out of the way and gets hurt, and Mary Margaret admonishes Emma like she did it on purpose (what the hell, Mary Margaret!). Emma looks properly chagrined and drives off in the Bug to be alone and away from everyone.

Robin and Regina: Robin comes to Regina in her vault. She’s angry because she told him to stay away. Regina reminds him that he needs True Love's Kiss to wake Marian. He knows, but his heart brought him there. Regina reminds him that Marian is his wife and him being there is torture for her. He tells her he can’t just fall back in love with Marian when Regina is here and he doesn’t know what to do. Regina plays the selfless card and tells him to think about Marian and forget about her.

Regina is torturing herself by looking through the storybook and stopping on all the pictures of the happy married couples, including Robin and Marian. She looks angry and upset, but then Henry comes in asking for help with his tie, and Regina goes from hurt to proud mama. Henry has to dress up to work in Rumple’s shop, so Regina fixes the tie right up. Henry asks her what's up because she’s going through the storybook with her ‘scary’ face on. She tells him she needs to move on from Robin Hood. She goes back on about Operation Mongoose, finding the author to get a happy ending, and Henry says he has some ideas about where to look in Rumple’s shop for clues. I absolutely adore Regina in this scene. She’s so proud of Henry and it shows.

Meanwhile, Robin is drowning his sorrows at Granny’s and doing a piss-poor job playing darts, not even able to hit the dartboard. But he manages to throw one into the wall near Will Scarlet’s head when he sees Robin and tries to leave (reminiscent of when Graham did the same thing to Emma in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter). Will and Robin have a drink and Will apologizes for the last time he was with Robin and the Merry Men. Robin scoffs about it all being about a woman and asks where she is now. Will doesn’t answer, leading Robin to the conclusion that she’s gone in some capacity. Robin starts telling the story about he and Marian met, which Will has had at least 30 times at this point, but it was she who made him the man who steals from the rich to give to the poor and he needs to remember that to save her. Will relates that Marian told him she always saw the good in Robin and you don’t give up on someone who has good in them, especially if they don’t see it themselves. Sounds like Marian and Belle subscribe to the same philosophies on love, only Robin isn’t a lying asshole like Rumple is, but I digress. Robin wonders if Will believes in this after everything, and Will tells him if you find someone to ruin your entire life for, it’s worth it. Robin contemplates this bit of advice.

Regina is back in her vault looking at a picture of when she was almost killed in The Cricket Game, when Robin enters. He tells Regina he tries to be good and live by a code, but today is not one of those days and he kisses Regina passionately! I know there’s been some debate about whether Robin is cheating on Marian, but once again, Marian was technically dead for four years and Robin moved on. Just because Emma accidentally brought her back doesn’t mean Robin’s feelings for Regina can just turn off. 

Everyone else: At Mommy and Me class, Mary Margaret is there with Baby Neal. She tries not to make Emma feel bad when Ashley talks about her being a first time mom, but she sees Emma has some issues when she accidentally uses her magic to make the milk in Baby Neal’s bottle bubble. She pulls the baby back from Emma when she goes to hold him. Luckily, David calls with news of the Snow Queen so Mary Margaret doesn’t have to explain to Emma why she’s reluctant to let her hold him.

Emma, Elsa, David, and Killian all rush in and capture the Snow Queen. While Emma is interrogating the Snow Queen, David, Elsa, and Killian examine the Snow Queen’s mirror. Belle comes with research, but warns them to stay away from the mirror as it will make you see the worst in yourself. Belle sees that it is not the same mirror she saw previously, and David and Killian realize the Snow Queen wanted to get caught. They immediately run to the station to save Emma. By the time they get there, the Snow Queen has frozen the entrance so they can’t get in.

The gang all show up to ask Rumple for help to get into the Sheriff’s Station. Rumple really doesn’t want to help, but Belle begs him and he relents. Killian questions Rumple about whether he and the Snow Queen have a history, but of course Rumple tells him it’s none of his business. When they get to the station, Emma’s magic is out of control, which causes David to get hurt. Mary Margaret’s tone says she can’t believe Emma would do this, like she meant to hurt David, and then she realizes how she said it and softens her tone. But really Mary Margaret, why would you think Emma did that on purpose? Emma runs off and Killian tries to stop her, but she’s too afraid of hurting anyone else. Later on, the gang all meet up in the loft after searching for Emma. Elsa relates that she saw the same look of fear on her family’s face as well with her powers. Mary Margaret realizes they had a major parenting fail today, and that the Snow Queen doesn’t need her mirror to turn them against each other as they’re already doing it themselves. Glad to see Mary Margaret finally got perspective by the end, but really, Mary Margaret was the only one that was fearful.

Questions:

David tells Emma that there’s a trail of snow going up the clock tower, but when we saw the Snow Queen go up there earlier, there was no snow trail. Did she make one just to get herself captured? Also, how does he know there isn’t another trail going down? Wouldn’t she just make a trail over the first trail?

Where are the magic cuffs they used on Pan and Zelena to take away their power?

How does the Snow Queen know exactly when David and crew are coming back to seal herself and Emma into the Sheriff’s Station? Also, shouldn’t the station have more than one entrance and exit?

How are the ribbons so clean when the sisters give them to Rumpelstiltskin? They’ve been wearing them for probably 10-15 years at this point and they look brand new. They don’t even have any creasing in them when they hand them to Rumpelstiltskin.

Who is watching Baby Neal? Emma was supposed to babysit, and then Mary Margaret is with David and the others after the destruction of the Sheriff’s Station.

Ingrid is wearing some very ostentatious rings in the gazebo. Why would she be wearing those if she was planning on putting the gloves on? And why didn’t she put the gloves on immediately when the Duke came by to talk to her?

How come in the Frozen movie, when Anna gets hit in the heart with ice, she gets a few days before turning into ice and Elsa’s true love crying saves her, but when Ingrid hits Helga in the heart, she turns into ice right away and Ingrid’s true love crying doesn’t save her? Is Ingrid’s magic more unstable than Elsa’s?

Observations:

Arendelle’s time period at the ball seems to be reminiscent of England’s Regency Era.

The couples Regina sees in the storybook are Snow and Charming, Thomas and Ella, and Robin and Marian.

Will’s backstory with Robin and the Merry Men is explained in the series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. He convinces them to steal from Maleficent with his own agenda of stealing a magic looking-glass so he and his girlfriend, Anastasia, can go through it to have a new life.

Will’s timeline is very convoluted because at this time, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland had ended and Will had ended up with his true love, Anastasia (the Red Queen), but this takes place at some point in the middle of the series between when Anastasia was married to the Red King and when she and Will got back together. Hence why Will had the picture of the Red Queen from the library in The Apprentice.

Gerda looks exactly like Anna when she visits Rumplestiltskin; it's uncanny.

Emma says the Snow Queen took a year of her life, but in Family Business the papers she found said she lived with her for 6 months.

The Duke says he doesn’t take orders from a princess. Um, if you’re in her kingdom you do. He also says he’ll tell all of Arendelle about Ingrid and that they’ll side with him against her. Sounds like treason to me buddy.

It is unclear whether Gerda’s memories were also wiped of Ingrid and Helga with the Rock Trolls magic, or if she remained the one person who remembered what had happened.

Timeline Issues:

Ashley had Alexandra a few days into Emma arriving in Storybrooke, around late October or early November. We made it to at least spring by the time the curse broke, so she should have been about 5 months old. There was another few weeks when Emma and Mary Margaret were in the Enchanted Forest, so 6 months. Then a few weeks for the whole Cora returning, Emma going to NY, Neal returning, and the whole Greg/Tamara debacle, so let’s say she’s 9 months after all of that. Neverland was a little over a week, but then they all went back to the Enchanted Forest for a year, before returning. Mary Margaret was 8 months pregnant and it was probably a month before she had Neal, so Alexandra should be at least 2-years-old by now. So why does she look like she’s under a year? And also, why does she look like a boy?

And Aurora was pregnant at the beginning of season 3b when she was turned into a flying monkey and didn’t give birth until after Zelena was stripped of her powers, which was the same day Baby Neal was born, so why is Baby Neal still a newborn and Baby Phillip looks about 6 months old and the same age as Alexandra? But also, did being a flying monkey prevent Aurora from giving birth, because she was pregnant when the curse brought everyone back to the Enchanted Forest, and Snow didn’t become pregnant until at least 2-3 months later if she was close to having the baby when they came back from the curse. Baby Phillip should have been born when she was still a monkey.

The Snow Queen seems to have successfully separated Emma from her loved ones (nice mentally abusive behavior there), and is still planning on enacting the Spell of Shattered Sight. Robin and Regina were hot and heavy at the end of this episode, let’s see where that will lead in the future. I still don’t see when the Snow Queen could have gone evil. As of right now, she wasn’t evil before going into the urn, so it had to be when she met Anna and decided that she would only be surrounded by magical people. We still don’t know if she’s telling the truth about Anna putting Elsa into the urn, or why Emma ran away from Ingrid’s home when she was her foster mother.

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @wistfulcynic​ @mariakov81 @lfh1226-linda

[drjohndisco]

why is everyone just eating cream cheese bagels? i understand that it tastes good, but surely not everyone enjoys it. particularly henry? why hasn't he added jam?

[spookys]

once upon a time (rewatch) - season three ↳ “That's how you know you've really got a home. Cause when you leave it, there's this feeling you can't shake. You just miss it."

[coffee-with-mint-syrup]

Don't get me wrong, but I love Baelfire and hate Neal with all my guts. They did 13 y.o. me so dirty when they introduced Neal. With a little bit different - and I actually mean a little bit - approach Neal/Bae and Emma's story could have been inspiring teenage me for years but instead all I felt was huge cognitive dissonance.

That and the fact that I adored actor playing Baelfire and Neal was way too old for teenage me watching ouat for the first time. For me and for Emma.

[lavishtine]

I'm rewatching Kremy and Gid's wedding and I'm so happy that I did, because I missed Richie saying this line originally.

Nikkie: Kremy you're walking very closely behind, you are technically and legally married to Gideon.

Richie: I guess common law really, probably nothing really changes.

My beautiful, beautiful boy 🤩