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

First Aired November 16, 2014

“Part 2” keeps the action going as everyone is struggling to find Emma (played by Jennifer Morrison) before she falls into Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold’s (played by Robert Carlyle) trap. So far the only person who has found Emma is the one person she wouldn’t listen to.

The Snow Queen/Ingrid (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) uses her magical projection to try and convince Emma that Gold is leading her into a trap. Emma refuses to believe a word she says and upon realizing Ingrid isn’t physically there promptly gets in her car and drives off. Emma meets with Gold at a mansion and tells her that he performed a spell to strip her of her powers, but she’s unaware that he has activated the magical hat to suck her into oblivion. Hook (played by Colin O’Donogue) comes to save her but Gold restrains him outside, however Elsa (played by Georgina Haig) also arrives and breaks into the mansion. Elsa tells Emma that, although the love of her family is important in keeping her powers in control, what ultimately will help is if Emma learns to love herself for who she is. Emma manages to gain control over her powers and outside Hook teases Gold when they realize she’s safe, but Gold takes a consolation prize. Another item he needs to free himself from the dagger is the heart of someone from his past before he became the Dark One, which would be Hook. Gold takes his heart and plans to use it to control Hook until he finds another source of magic and then crush Hook’s heart, killing him. Elsa and Emma discover gold ribbons on their wrists, placed there by the Snow Queen. Gold confronts Ingrid and she reveals that the ribbons could bond three magical sisters but only when they all embrace their powers. Now Ingrid can use the ribbons to harness the powers of all three girls and uses the magic to cast the Shattered Sight spell on everyone in Storybrooke.

Looks like the citizens of Storybrooke are about to tear each other a new one and I’m very excited for it. With the exceptions of Gold and Regina (played by Lana Parilla), people don’t exhibit genuine displays of raw anger. I can’t wait to see what emotional baggage gets opened and how it will change/affect the relationships on the show. For instance, the longstanding feud between Gold and Hook, which hasn’t been addressed for a long time. Now I know why Gold was thrilled when Ingrid told him what was needed to become all powerful. Just because circumstances forced them to work together in the past doesn’t mean Hook will forget Rumpel killed his last wife (and Rumpel’s ex). I liked that the key to Emma controlling her powers was for her to love herself and not to rely on the love of her family. The idea of “true love” on the show always involves two people and their connection to each other. It rarely looks at the idea of how powerful loving yourself can be. It turns out Ingrid has more in common with the past villains of this show. She may want a family, but she also wanted power. I figured those ribbons would make Emma and Elsa utterly devoted to Ingrid but instead it allowed her to absorb their powers. But so far I don’t see any of this leading to Ingrid getting her happy family. Even if the spell turns Emma and Elsa against everyone else, it was shown later in the episode that eventually the spell wears off. I’ll just have to see how everything shakes out and in the meantime sit back and watch everyone tear each other apart.

Back in Arendelle, Elsa and Anna (played by Elizabeth Lail) plan their move against Ingrid, Anna will go back to her cell and use the urn to trap Ingrid when she comes to take her away. However, Ingrid was watching them and traps Anna in the cell and resorts to a new plan to drive the sisters apart. Ingrid makes Anna recount the story of a king who used the Shattered Sight spell on his kingdom after his daughter died. Ingrid casts the spell on Anna to make her see the worst in Elsa. Anna launches a hateful tirade against her sister but Elsa is able to see that it’s a spell. Ingrid claims the spell only unlocked Anna’s true feelings and tries to get Elsa to freeze Anna but she refuses and Anna traps her in the urn. Ingrid is furious and claims that since everyone sees her as a monster, she should act the part and freezes Anna and everyone in Arendelle. Rumpel arrives and takes the urn and demands the box containing the magical hat in exchange for it. Before Ingrid can make the trade, the Apprentice (played by Timothy Webber) appears and says the Sorcerer found a third sister (Emma) for her. However, Emma hasn’t been born yet so the Apprentice creates a portal to New York City, circa 1982, so Ingrid can await Emma’s arrival.

That’s what I love about New York City, people who walk around dressed like Disney princesses are virtually invisible because people there have seen it all before. She was lucky to get the drop on Elsa and Anna because they actually put together a good plan to trap her. Ingrid’s plan to use the Shattered Sight spell to turn Anna against Elsa was doomed to fail because by then the girls were already on to her and she knew that. Watching both parts of the episode, I realized that Ingrid had the perfect plan but she didn’t execute it properly. Ingrid shouldn’t have locked up Anna first of all, and then she could have told Elsa about the hat. Then she could have cast the spell and made Anna trap Elsa in the urn, rescue Elsa and suddenly Ingrid looks like the hero. Her capacity for self-delusion really is astounding, Ingrid plays the victim card, saying people view her as a monster because of her powers, not because she you know acts like a monster.

I am glad that we finally solved the mystery of what happened to Anna, now the next few episodes can focus on the upcoming battle with the Snow Queen.

Meanwhile, at the library, Robin Hood (played by Sean Maguire) and Will Scarlet (played by Michael Socha) are looking for clues about the author of the fairy tale book. Robin starts to lose hope when Dr. Seuss is the closest thing they find to a book on fairy tales. He then notices a page from the fairy tale book that magically appeared in his bag and calls Regina, who was out looking for Emma to meet him. Regina arrives at the library and Robin shows her the page. It depicts what would have happened if Regina had chosen to meet Robin when she first had the chance. The page showing Regina leaving is still in the book and Robin theorizes that it’s a sign the author wanted them together. Regina is overjoyed at the thought that her life can still have a happy ending. She embraces Robin.

I sometimes point out small continuity errors that come up during an episode but there was a glaring one here. It was clearly stated while searching for Emma that she drove off in her car, but they still decide to walk down the road tracking her footprints? Major error.

There’s a lot of new speculation surrounding the author of the story book, the biggest being whether he/she is aware of what’s happening. That new page could have been drawn because Regina and Robin are now together and the author is writing their happy ending. There’s no way the author can be someone living in Storybrooke and I would prefer it that way. I mean, there’s only so many people that can be stuffed into this small town.

Quotes & Thoughts

“I’m beginning to think your magic library theory might be a tad off. Any book we want is hardly going to be stacked beside The Cat in the Hat. Why would a cat want a hat?”

The order in which books are stocked in the library is surprisingly horrible. Someone should get on that.

“You get a quarter from the Hope Commissioner every time you say that word, admit it.”

Whoever this author is, maybe he/she can make it so that every major villain who comes along from now on doesn’t have any relation to the main characters for a change.

“I came here looking, trying to find a clue towards that author, towards your happy ending.” “In the public library? Robin, my happy ending is not a Stephen King book-on-tape.”

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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