Once Upon a Time: Season Four – “Smash the Mirror” (Part 1 of 2)

First aired November 16, 2014.

This episode of Once Upon a Time has been made into a two-hour event and there won’t be a new episode for two weeks. However, there is plenty of action to keep OUAT fans satisfied until then, or just insatiably hungry for more.

Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) is hiding out in the woods to keep from hurting anyone with her magic. Henry (played by Jared Gilmore) tracks her down but an emotional Emma accidentally attacks him with her powers and forces him to leave. She goes to Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold (played by Robert Carlyle), who she believes is the only person powerful enough to remove her powers. Gold agrees to help Emma remove her magic but it’s not out of the kindness of his heart. One of the things Gold needs to free himself from the dagger that controls him is lots of magic, and he wants to use the magical hat to trap Emma and steal her magic. When Hook (played by Colin O’Donoghue) learns what Emma is doing, he calls her cell phone relentlessly and searches every part of town for her. Elsa (played by Georgina Haig) overhears Emma’s parents saying it may be best for Emma to lose her magic and be “normal,” so she goes off on her own to find her. With Emma keeping her distance from her family, the only person who can stop his plan is the Snow Queen/Ingrid (played by Elizabeth Mitchell). Ingrid would never let Gold take away her “sister,” so he traps her in a magical ring of dust to make sure she can’t stop him. Ingrid isn’t able to leave the circle but she is able to project an image of herself to Emma as she drives to meet Gold. Unfortunately, seeing Ingrid in the middle of the road causes Emma to swerve and crash.

In hindsight, projecting yourself in the middle of the road when someone is driving isn’t the smartest thing to do. While I can understand that Rumpel/Gold is probably one of the most powerful characters in the OUAT universe, I’m still amazed Emma would go to him for help. Gold may technically be family, but he’s done more harm than good. In fact, when something horrible and unexplained happened, he was usually suspect number one. Regina (played by Lana Parilla) would have been a better option because even though she’s tried to kill Emma too, they’ve since managed to become somewhat close by, co-parenting Henry (played by Jared Gilmore). And true to form, Gold proved that, in spite of his promises to be a better man on his son’s grave and to his wife Belle (played by Emilie de Ravin), he can’t resist a power play. I think Gold has proven himself to be a lost cause if he’s willing to sacrifice the mother of his grandchild to become more powerful. Regina (despite some setbacks) put a lot of effort into transitioning from villain to hero; Gold half-assed it and went back to what he does best. Although when he learned what was needed, he was almost giddy with excitement. As bad as he is, I find it a little hard to believe he would be that enthusiastic about taking out Emma.

The flashbacks show Ingrid putting the box containing the hat on ice and burying it before going to see the Apprentice (played by Timothy Webber) in the Enchanted Forest. She tells the Apprentice that, if his master, the Sorcerer, wants the hat back, they have to help her achieve happiness. Ingrid wants to find a third magical sister to join her and her niece Elsa, the Apprentice reluctantly agrees telling her it will take time. Back in Arendelle things pick up right after the Snow Queen had Anna (played by Elizabeth Lail) imprisoned in the castle dungeon. Ingrid goes to Elsa who is preparing a surprise feast of chocolate for Anna. She claims that Anna intended to strip Elsa of her powers with the hat and that Anna could never love Elsa because she isn’t the same as them. Elsa goes to the dungeon and berates Anna but once the guards leave she reveals it was all a ruse. She frees Anna and the girls resolve to find the magical urn that trapped Ingrid and put her right back inside of it. After finding the urn in Ingrid’s old room they get to work setting a trap and Anna assures Elsa that she loves her and that their parents would feel the same if they were alive.

When the Snow Queen puts her mind to something, she goes all in. It’s a good thing what she’s after isn’t world domination. I’m curious who this all powerful Sorcerer is. All we know is that he refuses to talk to people unless it’s through his Apprentice (that sounds like a diva to me). But then again there already so many characters on the show, it may not be the worst thing in the world if the Sorcerer remained a mysterious unknown entity. Elsa and Anna’s plan to put Ingrid back in the urn was definitely a smart one, but I’m wondering why Ingrid made it so easy to find. If I were trapped in that urn for decades and got out, I would hide it in the ends of the earth, or better yet just destroy it. This should be a lesson to people when they decide to be lazy and not put things away somewhere secure.

I have to say, Ingrid should have used a different strategy to turn Elsa against her sister by spinning a story of betrayal instead of expecting Elsa to take her word for it. I mean, she’s been in the picture for a few days by this point. Ingrid may be family, but she’s basically a stranger to Elsa and Anna.

Meanwhile, Regina and Robin Hood (played by Sean Maguire) are experiencing the afterglow of a romantic night together. Regina shows Robin the book of fairytales which includes a page depicting Regina choosing her life as the Evil Queen over meeting Robin in the past. She reiterates her belief that because the book still depicts her as a villain that a happy ending isn’t possible for her so Robin decides to help. Robin steals the book and goes to his old friend Will Scarlet (played by Michael Socha) for help tracking down the book’s origins. Will mentions that when magic first came to Storybrooke it began with the clock tower that began moving once Emma arrived, and that under it is the town library. They attempt to break into the library but find that it hadn’t closed yet so they stroll in and begin searching for answers.

Magic is the key factor in everything on this show so I wasn’t shocked that was why Robin and Will went to check the library. Logically speaking, a library should have information on the author anyway, being a library and all, but either way they went to the right place. Will has been in town since the first curse, not shocking since there are new residents popping up all the time. I am curious about how he got from Wonderland to the Enchanted Forest to get caught up in the curse. I really want Will’s backstory fleshed out at some point this season. It’s about time Regina and Robin got together their endless back and forth was getting to be annoying. Hopefully they don’t get too lost in their newfound happiness and forget to save Robin’s wife (or ex-wife now) Marian (played by Christie Laing).

Quotes & Thoughts

“When your powers are out of control, everything’s upside down. You don’t want to be anywhere near the people you care about.” “Wonderful. Shall we send Sneezy after her then, or Happy? Which is the dwarf she despises?”

That speech Hook made to Emma’s voicemail was touching, but I was hoping to see Belle standing nearby listening to him. I want her to see what Gold is up to and see the inevitable consequences it would have on their marriage.

“If you see Ingrid use the secret signal…wait, do we have a secret signal?” “I think ‘run’ will work just fine.”

Emma’s parents Snow White/Mary Margaret (played by Ginnfer Goodwin) and Prince Charming/David (played by Josh Dallas) have been essentially useless to the plot so far. When they become more relevant to the story, they can have an opinion about who should do what.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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