Once Upon a Time Season 4 Episode 1 Review: A Tale of Two Sisters
Christine Orlando
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Things got frosty on Once Upon a Time Season 4 Episode 1, as Elsa from the Disney hit movie Frozen made her way to Storybrooke,, almost turning Grumpy and Sleepy into popsicles in the process.
For those of you who haven't seen the movie (you should, it's a lot of fun.) Elsa has trouble controlling her magical powers when she's frightened or upset, thus the appearance of the giant snow monster. He was definitely a great distraction and I can't say I would have minded if he had squashed Marian.
Nothing against her personally, but I'd spent all of last season looking forward to Regina and Robin Hood getting together. Marian's presence was like a bucket of ice cold water on my shipper hopes.
As much as I enjoyed Frozen, I do hope it doesn't completely take over the show. Although that troll was darn cute. However, I am looking forward to Elsa and Emma interacting, especially after my interview with Jennifer Morrison in which she discussed the bond between the two characters.
But Emma's got her own issues. Between the guilt she's feeling over ruining Regina's happy ending and a snow monster running through town, she's finding excuses to hold Hook at arms length despite their makeout session last season. Again, as a shipper of this pair that was a bit disappointing and I was glad that Hook didn't let her get away with it.
There is always a crisis. Perhaps you should consider living your life during them otherwise you might miss it.
Hook
So true, especially in Storybrooke. I'm assuming these two will have a challenging road ahead and I'm fine with that as long as they continue down it together.
There was very little of Charming and Snow in this episode (or are we calling them David and Mary Margaret while they're in Storybrooke) but they did stroll along with little Prince Neal.
Which brings us to Rumplestiltskin. I appreciated that Neal's death truly affected him. "Your heroism showed me the way. I promise I'll spend my life repaying you for that."
Rumple's not exactly coming clean with Belle but he did switch the daggers so that she now has the real one instead of a copy. That's certainly a step in the right direction. Their dance in the empty mansion was just the moment of romance we needed to see from this couple and the music and outfits were a wonderful call back to their origins. I should know better than to get my hopes up but I'd love to have more scenes like this throughout the season.
Elsewhere in Storybrooke, Regina was heartbroken. As she said herself in this Once Upon a Time quote…
Always a villain, even when I'm not.
Regina
Sometimes your past comes back to haunt you and sometimes someone brings it back from the dead. I loved how Regina straddled the line between reverting back to her evil ways and trying to find a new path. As Robin pointed out, she's not who she once was, but those tendencies to go back to what she knows are going to be hard to fight.
When she brought back the magic mirror I was afraid she was about to dive back into the dark side. Now it doesn't look as though it's going to be nearly that simple. Regina wants her own happy ending. Can the book be changed to give it to her?
Tell us TV Fanatic, what did you think of the Once Upon a Time season 4 premiere? Don't forget, you can watch Once Upon a Time online any time via TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
