Jiminy Cricket! After two hours of intense ONCE storytelling, you most certainly are entitled to demand tea, biscuits and a trip to the Ice Queen Parlour (or the freezer.. your call). The double episode threw us around Arendelle, The Enchanted Forest, The Snow Queen’s lair, Storybrooke and back again so many times that there is a high risk of whiplash, and potential frostbite. Buckle down and let’s revisit the big events.
Unfortunately for her, Rumplestiltskin’s fascination with the sorcerer’s hat very nearly put a magical spanner in the works as he pretended to support Emma with giving up her powers after she gave Henry a concussion by throwing him across the forest. Before she had even arrived at the house, he had the hat all set up ready to suck her up, taking her and her powers to wherever it leads. A cry out at this point for Jefferson, the Mad Hatter, who would surely have some insight into where, if anywhere, the hat goes and where it stores its victims; surely there is a lot more to this hat, which cannot be concluded in this Frozen story arc and there is a lot of anticipation…
This past drama continued as Rumplestiltskin hid the urn holding Elsa to force the Snow Queen to hand over the Sorcerer’s Hat. However it appears that the Sorcerer himself is partial to making deals as much as the Dark One and offers the Snow Queen the chance of a life with Elsa and another magical sister, explaining how she ended up in the real world from 1982 onwards to be a part of Emma’s life. Although we have still not met the Sorcerer, we know he is incredibly powerful, especially if he can create portals between worlds at the wave of his apprentice’s hand. What exciting stories will this hold, and is he responsible for the writing of the Once Upon a Time storybook?
A great bumper episode filling in blanks and raising more questions, in true ONCE style. But with just two more episodes remaining in this Frozen story arc, the casting of the spell of shattered sight, and the fact that Rumplestiltskin now possesses Captain Hook’s heart (yes another shocker!) will it be all happy endings or will we emerge into the second half of season 4 feeling battered and bruised?