Once Upon a Time: Rocky Road (4x03)

Hmmmm. Things are getting veeeerrrry interesting. Not sure what to think right now, to be honest.

In Arendelle's past, Elsa is worried about Anna, but Kristoff tells her to relax. When news comes of a new attack from Hans, Kristoff disobeys Elsa and goes to spy, learning about a special urn that will be able to trap Elsa, getting her out of the way so Hans can take over. Kristoff and Elsa go to a cave where the urn is being kept, but Elsa won't destroy it, too curious about the writing on it. She wants to know if there's anyone else like her out there. She hesitates too long, and Hans shows up with his brothers. Hans threatens to kill Kristoff unless Elsa surrenders the urn. She does so, but when the urn is open, Hans is unable to put Elsa into it - because the Snow Queen comes out! She freezes Hans, and then leaves the caves with Elsa and Kristoff. The Snow Queen reveals that she is Elsa's mother's sister - aka, Elsa's aunt. She promises to help Elsa find Anna.

In Storybrooke, the Snow Queen masquerades as the owner of an ice cream parlor. She puts a spell on Marian to freeze her, in order to frame Elsa. Robin's true love's kiss is unable to wake up Marian, so Regina says she has another plan. She asks Henry to fetch something from her vault. Robin tells Regina that he's still in love with her, which is why kissing Marian didn't work. But, of course, he has to stay with his wife. Regina pulls Marian's heart out to avoid letting it get frozen, and she promises Robin that she'll find a cure for Marian. Regina also talks with Henry and says she wants to find the author of the book of fairy tales, so she can get a happy ending. Henry agrees to help her with a new mission: Operation Mongoose.

Mary Margaret tries to run a town meeting, but between juggling the chaos of the town and baby Neal, she's in over her head. Some advice from Dr. Hopper makes her consider giving the baby a little space, even though she's scared to miss anything, the way she missed Emma's childhood.

Emma goes to track down the person who hurt Marian, telling Hook to take Elsa to the sheriff's station to get her out of the way of angry townsfolk. Hook disobeys her, instead going with Elsa to Rumple, who is able to help them track the person who cursed Marian. Hook threatens to tell Belle that she doesn't have the real dagger, because he believes Rumple would never give that up. Elsa and Hook follow traces of the Snow Queen's magic, and when they find her, Elsa is fascinated to see someone else like her. The Snow Queen traps Hook under some precarious icicles, and says she plans on killing him, and framing Elsa for it. She says that Anna is the one who put Elsa in that urn, and that she just doesn't remember it - or remember the Snow Queen herself.

While all this has been going on, Emma and David have been following their own leads to find the Snow Queen. They meet Will Scarlet in the woods, and he leads them to the ice cream parlor, where he points out that there don't seem to be any electronic freezers keeping the ice cream cool, and yet nothing is melting. Will runs away before Emma can do anything about him. She then gets a message that Hook left for her earlier, and Emma and David rush to the woods. They show up in time to save Hook from the icicles, using Emma's magic. It seems that the Snow Queen also knows Emma somehow, although Emma doesn't remember her.

Emma chastises Hook for not staying out of danger, and Hook asks Emma why she still can't trust him. Emma says she does trust him, and that that's not what this is about - everyone she's ever been with is dead, and she can't lose Hook too. Hook assures her that he's good at surviving, and the two share a kiss.

The Snow Queen and Rumple meet in the woods. Rumple asks the Snow Queen if Emma remembers her, and she says no. Something mysterious is afoot!

I'll start with the things I'm not too sure about... are we really doing another mystery amnesia thing? It's getting a little stale, guys. Now we have Elsa and Emma, who both have a past with the Snow Queen, and who have both forgotten all about it. The mystery of "where's Anna" was enough to keep things interesting. This feels a little over the top.

Also, I'm confused about Rumple again. Is the dagger that Belle has the real one, or not? Hook's conversation with him made me start to doubt again... but we'll see.

Mostly, I loved everything in this one, though.

First of all, Mary Margaret as an over-worked mother and mayor was just perfect! She tries to keep up that sweet optimism of hers, but she's finding it more and more difficult. Hopper was really sweet to step in and try to help out. My favorite Mary Margaret moment was when Regina saw the bird picture in the mayor's office. Mary Margaret says she was trying to give the place her "own personal touch," and Regina says: "Well, you've succeeded. Hideously."

Regina was probably my favorite part of this episode, truth be told. Her conversation with Henry was really sweet. She's so happy to be getting closer to her son, and to be included in something that he used to keep from her. I'm glad she seems to have changed for good. Her sassy attitude is always a treat, too. Best of all is the fact that she's going to help save Marian, for Robin's sake. Good effects on the frozen Marian, too. I'm excited to see this play out - will it be hard for Robin to stay away from Regina now that his wife isn't around?

The back story in Arendelle was fun... I'm still a bit miffed about this added Snow Queen mystery, but I did love the growing friendship between Kristoff and Elsa. That's a relationship that didn't get much development in the Disney movie, and it's fun to see it here. The actor who played Hans was freakishly well-cast, too. He looked just like his animated counterpart.

Will Scarlet! I never watched Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, but I'm a fan of the actor from his Being Human days, so it was fun to see him here. I'm not sure how he's going to mesh with the existing story, but I'll hold my judgment, since I do like him so far.

I like the fact that we dealt with Emma's savior complex a bit. She tells her father that she's been like the anti-savior lately. I think it's so refreshing that Emma, who has almost never been the damsel in distress in this whole show, notices when her luck turns. She's had to be saved by other people quite a few times this season, and the fact that our female protagonist notices this, and that it's out of the norm, it simply wonderful.

Hook was darling, as always... what with his growing friendship with Elsa, his insistence on helping Emma even when Emma told him not to... that phone call: "I push the Emma button and she answers usually." So funny. I also find it enlightening that Emma's magic, which was on the fritz last week when Emma was in danger of freezing to death, suddenly works just fine when it's Hook's life in danger. Aww. Then there's Emma's "I can't lose you too" speech, which of course melted my heart. And that kiss. Remember back when Hook and Emma were first meeting, and we could only dream of these days? Now we've got Hook saying "my love," and declarations of trust, and passionate kisses. It's so adorable.

I'll leave it there. I still haven't been convinced that this whole Frozen thing is a good idea, but the acting is good, and there have been some creative choices, so I'll continue watching and see what comes next!

8/10