TV Recap: Once Upon a Time 4-2 - White Out

The show is definitely getting better, and I think it’s because I can now begin to see where they might be doing their own twist on the story and the characters from Frozen.  Yes, last week needed to be a set up to introduce everyone.  My head knew that.  But it still wasn’t the strongest hour of the show.

Not that this was either, but it was definitely better.

Shall we get to it?

Our flashback this week takes place in The Enchanted Forest and introduces Anna to David in his pre-Charming days.  And if you needed any proof of that, just look at the long hair he had.  Certainly not charming.  Anyway, Anna shows up there to get help for her “secret mission.”  Christof suggested it since he and David are friends.  I sure wonder how they know each other.

Anyway, Anna is trying to keep her mission a secret, so she goes by Joan.  Unfortunately, while she is there, Bo Peep shows up.  And she’s not looking for sheep.  It seems that David and his mother owe the witch money, and if they don’t pay, they will be her slaves.  David has accepted his lot, but Anna convinces him to fight, much like she convinced Elsa.  She even trains him in sword fighting.

Unfortunately Bo Peep’s staff is magic, and she uses it to tag her “sheep,” ie people who have displeased her.  She does that to Anna and then takes her away, which is what finally makes David snap and start fighting.  And considering he’s had only a couple hours of sword training, he’s remarkably good at it.  He manages to defeat the henchmen and tie up Bo Peep.  He then uses Bo’s staff to locate Anna.

Anna finally heads out to continue her mission, but David is now willing to fight – essentially he’s the hero we now know and love.  Meanwhile, Anna gets a lead on someone who might help her learn the secret of Elsa’s powers – Rumplestiltskin.  Meanwhile, Rumple is looking at her in his crystal ball and laughing.

Meanwhile, in Storybrooke….

Else has decided that no one is leaving town until she finds Anna, so she erects an ice barrier around the town.  (People sure acted like they could leave town in the new curse, but I wonder if that is true or not.)  While growing this ice barrier, Elsa accidentally cuts the power lines, causing a town wide power outage.  Grumpy, Happy, and Granny show up and demand that Mary Margaret do something about it.  After all, since she created the new curse, she is now the Mayor of the town.  Mary Margaret isn’t sure she wants the job, but she goes down to the power plant with Grumpy, Happy, and Granny.  As the trio start giving her contractor advice, Mary Margaret loses it and actually yells at them pointing out they lived for years without electric lights – why do they have to have them now?  Even after they leave, Mary Margaret is still there trying to get the power back on.  Only when she stops to feed Neal does she realize that the power grid might want fuel, too.  She throws the switch on the fuel supply and the power comes back on.  (Um, what about the downed power lines?  Doesn’t that have anything to do with the power outage and when power comes back on?)

Meanwhile, Emma, David, and Hook head down to the ice barrier to find out what is causing it.  Emma finds Elsa and they two are talking when Hook and David show up, startling Elsa and causing her to grow more ice and form an ice cave with herself and Emma trapped inside.  Seeing this as an advantage, Elsa demands they bring her Anna before she melts the ice and frees Emma.

So David and Hook set off to find Anna.  Their first stop is Gold’s, where Belle shows them a picture of Anna’s necklace.  David immediately recognizes it and sets off for Bo Peep’s butcher shop to try to track down Anna.  Bo’s staff will hopefully have a clue.

However, they are called back to the scene at the fence when Emma starts to freeze to death.  Out of time, David uses the same motivational speech that Anna gave him during the flashback.  And it works.  While Elsa usually can’t control her powers without Anna present, the pep talk actually helped her figure it out just in time to save Emma.

Back at the apartment, David talks about how what this family does is keep searching until they find the person they are looking for.  So they use the shepherd’s crook to try to find Anna.  No picture.  No clue.  Just the sound of a beating heart.  She is alive, but we don’t know where.

Meanwhile, Henry has a couple of scenes worrying over Regina.  He’s trying to find some way to cheer her up after Robin Hood dumped her last week.  She refuses to see him, even sending a note to that effect via pigeon black crow raven.  However, inspired by David’s speech, Henry goes to Regina’s door and pounds on it until she answers.  Henry has finally gotten through, but will it be enough to help Regina overcome the hurt of being dumped?

The final scene of the night takes place in an ice cream shop.  The owner, guest star Elizabeth Mitchell (no idea what her character’s name might be yet), is serving Grumpy and saying how lucky she was not to lose any merchandise during the blackout.  However, we learn the real reason she didn’t lose anything.  When the customers leave, she waves her hand over a carton of liquid.  Instant ice cream.  As she leans against the freezer and smiles, the wall and freezer start to freeze over.

Looks like Ela isn’t the only one with these powers, yet she currently believes she is.

Still no Knave?  I really want to see how they are going to work him into the show.

But what was here was certainly interesting.  There were rumors that Elizabeth Mitchell would play the original Snow Queen (quite different form Elsa.)  Looks like those rumors might be fact.  We’ll have to wait to see for sure.

This being Once, I knew they’d give some of the Frozen characters interactions with the rest of the core cast in flashbacks.  I liked what we saw with Anna and David this week.  I wonder where they will go next time for the flashback.

We got some interesting character development, especially the bonding that Emma and Elsa did while trapped in the cave.  I hope they build on that in coming weeks.  Oh, and I loved David taking the time to give Hook “the talk” about his intensions with Emma.

So, the show is definitely getting better in this next chapter.  And we’re beginning to get mysteries that might lead to the bigger ARC the writers have planned for us.  No, it’s not Once at its best – yet.  But I am quite anxious to find out for sure where this is all going.

I don’t think I have any more.  Thoughts?  Questions?  Theories?  I’d love to hear them all.  Hit me up in the comments and tell me what you thought.