Once Upon a Time: Shattered Sight (4x11)

Okay, this episode was hilarious! There were touching and sad moments here as well, but mostly it was absolutely precious and it made me laugh multiple times. Let's start with a plot summary.

We get flashbacks to when Ingrid first entered our world in the 1980's. She goes to see a psychic, to ask about Emma, but quickly realizes that the woman is a fake. She angrily declares that she'll wait as long as it takes to find Emma. Years later, Emma enters Ingrid's house as a foster child. Emma wants to run away at first, but Ingrid and Emma eventually form a bond. After a while, Ingrid tells Emma she's going to adopt her, and that she can be like Emma's big sister. Emma is thrilled. Ingrid believes that Emma is starting to show signs of magical power, so she decides to spur her into realization by throwing her in front of a car. Emma angrily dives out of the way. She thinks Ingrid is crazy, and she runs off.

Ingrid uses the scroll given to her by the Sorcerer's Apprentice to get to Storybrooke, where she knows Emma will arrive on her 28th birthday. Emma does indeed come to Storybrooke, as we know. When she sees Ingrid in the ice cream shop, she is angry and scared. Ingrid realizes that Emma still isn't ready to embrace her powers, so she takes Emma's memories of Ingrid away using a memory stone, which explains why Emma doesn't remember anything.

In Storybrooke, the Spell of Shattered Sight has begun to affect the town, and people are going crazy. Mary Margaret and David are yelling at each other, Kristoff is griping and complaining, while Anna just tries to keep the peace. Townsfolk are rioting in the streets, etc. Anna, Emma, and Elsa, who are all immune, try to come up with a plan. Elsa and Emma leave baby Neal with Anna, while they go to confront Ingrid. However, when they do, they realize that the ribbons Ingrid has put on them make it impossible for them to hurt her.

Emma has a plan - if the ribbons are a manifestation of strong love, then maybe it takes strong hate to break the ribbons off. Emma and Elsa go to Regina's vault. Regina is locked up inside, furious at herself for being trapped in her own vault. She has changed her outfit back into the Evil Queen getup she used to wear. Emma breaks into the vault and starts to insult Regina, lying and saying that she knew who Marian was all along, and brought her back on purpose. She also says she wanted to rub it in Regina's face by showing her how happy she was with Hook. Regina tries to attack Emma, but Emma and Elsa deflect the magic and channel it into the ribbons, which break off.

Regina is then able to escape the vault. She goes to the police station, where she thinks she will find Emma. Instead, she finds Mary Margaret and David, and delights in the chance to take them out. She frees Mary Margaret from her cell so they can fight one-on-one. Both David and Mary Margaret are united against Regina when she threatens to take baby Neal. Regina zaps Anna and Kristoff out of the way so they can't interfere in this fight, and they end up back on the beach. Kristoff says he wants to go back home, and Anna, knowing that all his harsh words are just a product of the Curse, hits him over the head with a bottle to knock him out and keep him from rushing off.

The bottle contains a note from Anna and Elsa's mother, which she reads. When she realizes what it is, she rushes off to tell Elsa. Elsa and Emma have found Ingrid in her lair, and she tells them of her plan to restore their memories, but only the good ones about Ingrid, so that they will love her again. Anna shows up and reads the note out loud. Gerda wants Elsa and Anna to restore the memories of her two sisters to the land of the people, and to free Ingrid from the urn. She also says she was wrong to ever tell Elsa to hide her magic. Ingrid doesn't believe her at first, and tries to choke Anna. However, she then reads the note and realizes that she does have the love of her two sisters after all.

The only way to break the Curse is for Ingrid to die. She decides to sacrifice herself to save everybody else, and she does so with a free heart, realizing once and for all that she has the love of her sisters. She also returns Elsa and Emma's memories to them, saying that they deserve to know about their love for her, but also the full truth of all that's happened.

Meanwhile, Rumple prepares to make his way out of Storybrooke. He tells Hook to go fetch Henry for him so that he can escape with Belle and Henry. When Hook goes to get Henry, Henry refuses to come with him, because of course he's under the Curse, and he says he hates Hook. Hook tries to come in anyway, but Henry has set up marbles in the doorway to trip Hook. Henry runs off. Before Hook can chase him, Will shows up to punch him, in return for the time when Hook punched Will. Hook easily evades Will's attack, but Henry does escape. Hook tells Rumple that he couldn't catch Henry, because his "heart wasn't in it." He also asks for a dying request from Rumple - leave Emma and the rest of the town alone. Rumple says that as long as they don't get in his way, Emma and the others will have nothing to fear.

The Spell of Shattered Sight is broken, and everybody happily reunites. David and Mary Margaret forgive each other, Regina and Mary Margaret laugh off their fight to the death, Henry reunites with his mothers, and all is well. Of course, none of them know about Hook and Rumple...

So, do I have complaints? Yeah, a few.

First of all, some nitpicking. I thought that Henry was protected inside of the mayor's office. I thought that nobody could get in or out? So how was Hook able to open the door? Also, the moment when Emma uses Regina's hatred to break through the love of the ribbons was a little bit contrived. It seemed like a bit of a stretch that this would work so nicely. I suppose you could just say this is one of the overall flaws of the show. The rules of the magic are pretty undefinable and vague. A final nitpick - Emma, as a teen, references Harry Potter a couple of times. Technically, it's possible, since the first Harry Potter book came out in 1997, and Emma was in the foster home with Ingrid in 1999. Even so, Harry Potter wasn't as ubiquitous then as it would be now, so it felt like a strange thing to reference.

The only larger flaw I have was about Ingrid's redemption. I liked it over all, but I wish there could have been a bit more buildup to it. One thing that was never addressed was how insane Ingrid is. She's like this deranged, desperate person who is trying to force people to love her. In that way, she's pretty similar to Zelena. I wish we could see that actually addressed. As it is, nobody seems to realize how absolutely insane Ingrid is.

Mostly, though, I loved everything about this hour of television.

First of all, the humor was off the charts! There were so many funny moments in this episode that I'm sure I'm going to forget a bunch of them even as I try to write them down. Here are a few of my favorites:

Anna says to Kristoff: "You just stay here where you can't hurt anybody! But me. With your words."

Emma to Ingrid when Ingrid is about to take her memories in the ice cream shop: "What's that, your pet rock?"

Emma to Elsa: "I'm prickly?"

Regina: "What am I wearing?" She says this twice, once as the Curse takes effect, and once when the Curse breaks.

Emma does this adorable little jump up and down to psych herself up for her confrontation with Regina. So, so, cute.

The funniest part about the whole episode, though, was every single thing with Mary Margaret, David, and the Evil Queen Regina. Oh my God I was cracking up during every moment of these scenes. Mary Margaret and David unpack a lot of old baggage, including Mary Margaret going on a date with Dr. Whale. Mary Margaret says, in the background of one scene, "He is a doctor, he actually knows which part is which." Oh my goodness! Then there's the fight between the Evil Queen, who is back in full and campy force, and Mary Margaret, who is at her meanest. They roll around a lot and shout insults and David just hides behind the bars of his cage and doesn't know what to do. The best part was when the Curse actually broke, and they all just started cracking up. They realize how ridiculous the whole thing truly was.

Of course, there were more serious aspects to this episode as well, and one of the best things about it was how well the humor and drama were mixed together. The Spell of Shattered Sight seemed a lot more tragic and upsetting last week, when everybody was saying goodbye. When it actually happened, it was pretty darn hilarious. But still - you never forgot that these people might actually kill each other. The danger was present along with the humor.

Elsa and Emma worked together! They're such good friends. I'm going to miss the Arendelle characters when they leave. I never thought I would be saying that, but it's true. Elsa and Anna are both so precious, and Kristoff is as well.

I complained earlier that maybe Ingrid's redemption arc was a little out of left field, but at the same time, I love the way everything in this Frozen story-arc connected to a couple of key themes. This whole arc has been about accepting yourself, but also about the importance of family, and of accepting one another. Ultimately, the world is saved because Ingrid learns that her sisters really did love her. She finally sees the truth, and is able to free Elsa and Emma from her control because of it. Ingrid's sacrifice thus becomes a manifestation of the bond of sisterly love. It's a bond that Elsa and Anna share, and one that Emma shares with them too, to an extent. Ultimately, I think the Frozen-inspired arc in Once Upon a Time did a better job than the movie Frozen itself, at emphasizing the importance of True Love in all its forms.

Emma has found a sister in Elsa, just like Ingrid wanted. The fact that Ingrid doesn't get to be there to see her two "sisters" find happiness doesn't make it any less special. And now Ingrid can join her two sisters in death, where their bond can be eternally strong. Pretty powerful stuff, actually.

Of course, even as Ingrid exits, there's still the larger threat of Rumple lingering over everything. What's going to happen to Hook? I didn't whine and complain about the lack of Emma and Hook together in this episode, because I'm hoping that next week we get to focus a whole bunch on their relationship. If not, I'll be a little bit upset.

In any case, the few mentions of "Captain Swan" that we did get were pretty adorable. Emma says she wanted to hurt Regina with her happiness, and she specifically talks about how much she and Hook are happy together. One thing I found interesting, incidentally, is that Emma was very careful not to bring Henry into the mix, when she is purposefully trying to piss off Regina. That's one thing that the two of them stand united on - Henry is their son, and they'll protect him together, at all costs. That happened too with Mary Margaret and David. Even as they were griping and complaining, they united when they thought baby Neal was in danger.

Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent. The other mention of Hook and Emma was when Henry told Hook that he hated him, especially since he and Emma are "together." Hook gets this adorable little smile, and he's really happy that Emma used that word "together." Too precious. Hook is kind of like a little kid when it comes to Emma. Everything about her just makes him so happy and awestruck. I cannot get enough.

However, we get proof that Hook is a much better person than Rumple, and that he's grown a lot as a person. His dying wish isn't just to save Emma, but to save all of Storybrooke. In contrast, Rumple just wants Belle and Henry, and that's it. What a jerk. I'm so glad that Hook asked for Emma's safety, but that he also included the rest of the town. He cares for her, yes, but he cares about the whole community as well.

I could keep talking about this episode forever and ever. I really loved the humor in it. I wasn't expecting them to take that angle, but I'm glad they did! I was cracking up at a lot of this stuff! Next week is probably going to be horribly depressing, as we introduce our next conflict, and hopefully deal with some of this stuff with Hook! Maybe if Henry tells Emma how Hook tried to come get him during the Curse, she'll realize that something fishy is going on? One can only hope!

8/10