OUAT: Snowballed

Last time on “Once:” Elizabeth Mitchell used her magic to set up Elsa by freezing Maid Marian. When Robin’s attempt at True Love’s kiss failed, he confesses it’s because he loves Regina. They still can’t be together and Regina removes Marian’s heart to save her until they can undo the spell. As a mob forms to chase down Elsa, she and Hook ask Mr. Gold for help in finding the real culprit. Meanwhile, Emma and David encounter Will Scarlet in Robin Hood’s camp and he leads them to the same answer: Elizabeth. She explains she was trying to show Elsa that people will only ever see her as a monster and Elizabeth also seems to know Emma. In Arendelle, Hans is preparing to attack. He plans to put Elsa in the urn in order to defeat her. So she and Kristoff go to retrieve first. But Elizabeth Mitchell is in the urn! She reveals she is Elsa’s aunt and that Elsa’s mother imprisoned her in the urn. Is she telling the truth? Who knows? It’s only episode 4 so it’ll be awhile until we discover that.

We open in a strange place a long time ago. An old man sweeps the floor, dressed in plain robes. Is he a Jedi? Anyway, a hooded figure enters the place. It’s the Dark One and the older man is the Sorcerer's Apprentice. He fights the Dark One, saying he’ll never get whatever it is the Dark One wants. But the Dark One overpowers him and approaches the strange box we saw Gold fiddling with in the premiere.

(He doesn't look like Mickey Mouse)

But wait! This Dark One is Rumplestilskin. No, it’s Zoso, the Dark One Rumple defeated in order to become the new Dark One. And he is thrown back from the box by the Sorcerer’s enchantment. The apprentice laughs at how the Dark One thought the Sorcerer wouldn’t make sure to protect it well from all the Dark Ones who keep trying to get whatever’s in the box. They will never succeed. 

(Blast from the past!)

Except clearly Rumplestilskin has. Mr. Gold still has the box in his possession and has unlocked what’s inside. Hmm…

CREDITS! It’s a walking broom!


Emma’s yellow bug pulls up in front of Granny’s. She and Henry get out and she asks him if he’s sure about this. He isn’t but he wants her to be happy. He gives her a little push and she enters the establishment. Inside, Hook tosses some darts as Emma approaches him. She asks him out on a date. Captain Swan is progressing! He accepts on the condition he gets to plan the date. After all, Emma’s skill sets are monster chasing. She acknowledges the point and leaves.

(Emma looks like she forgot her line)

As she gets back in her car, she notices a giant puddle around it. Another nod to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Hmm…

Hook goes to Mr. Gold’s. He asks if Mr. Gold still has his hand. Turns out he does. Go figure. Anyway, Hook asks Gold to reattach it so he can hold Emma on their date with both hands. Gold wants to know what’s in it for him. Hook says he’ll continue not telling Belle that the dagger she has is a fake. Gold then warns Hook that the hand was cut off the man he used to be, not the man he was now. Reattaching the hand could bring back aspects Hook has worked to overcome. Hook’s like “Stop stalling, reattach the hand.” Gold does so.

(This reminded me of Doctor Who)

In the past, Anna arrives at Dark One Manor. She continues using the name Joan and tries to come up with a reason for being there. But Rumple sees right through her. He says her name is Anna of Arendelle and she’s there to ask him about her parents. She’s impressed. And she thinks he’ll help her. But she has to do something for him. Anna agrees—she’ll do anything to help her sister.

You’re going to regret that statement, Anna.

(Poor thing has no clue who she's dealing with)

Rumple tells her to go to a little cottage where a mean old man lives. He tells her he probably eats children. She has to put a vial of something into his tea. Anna wrestles with it as she knocks on the mean old man’s door. The mean old man?

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

(Oh, good, you're not a Jehovah's Witness. Come in!)

He invites Anna in for tea and biscuits. This man is really trusting. I guess he never thought the Dark One would try to trick him with a sweet, innocent young woman. No wonder the Sorcerer added extra protections to the hat. Anyway, Anna enters the cottage and as the Apprentice sweeps his cottage (shout out!), she tends to the pot. She struggles about putting the liquid in the tea.

Wait, do you think the Apprentice knows what’s going on? That he’s testing her? Hmm…

Anyway, Emma prepares for her date with Hook. She comes out wearing an adorable pink dress and her hair in a ponytail. Elsa asks where the rest of the dress is while Mary Margaret takes a polaroid of her daughter getting ready for her date. David just has a stern fatherly face on. Emma mutters that she needs her own place as a knock comes to the door. And I thought it was a nice touch that Colin used the same expression Hook used when Emma opened the door back in the coda to Episode 3.10.

(Smile!)

Hook compliments her before handing her a rose—with his newly attached hand. Emma just continues to flirt and doesn’t notice until her parents point it out. She’s amazed but doesn’t seem too fazed by it. As David enters Daddy!Charming mode, Emma ushers Hook out.

(Let's welcome back Hook's hand!)

They go to Storybrooke’s other restaurant, which is far more elegant and most likely owned by a guy named Tony. A couple shares spaghetti a la Lady and the Tramp as Emma and Hook enter. He’s ever the gentleman, holding our her chair and chatting with her. She says he’s gone all fancy but Hook says he has to top Walsh. Emma says that might be difficult because Walsh proposed on the date Hook crashed. Hook then accurately points out that Walsh then tried to kill her. Emma gives him the point.

Also in Tony’s (as I’m dubbing it) is Will Scarlet, nursing some sort of drink. Until he spots Emma. He tries to leave without her seeing him, but trips and knocks wine over her dress. Hook’s reattached hand grabs Will and he threatens him, forcing him to apologize. Emma tells Hook to calm down. She then recognizes Will but he escapes again. This time, Emma chooses not to pursue. She’s on a date and there is a giant ice wall keeping everyone in. He can’t get far, she figures.

(Hook's invading Will's personal bubble)

But Hook isn’t listening. He’s staring at his hand in horror.

Meanwhile, Henry is spending time with his other mother. He and Regina hang out in her vault, going through all her books. But they find nothing about who might’ve written the book of fairy tales. Or how to save Marian. Henry asks if this is because she loves Robin Hood. She realizes he’s more perceptive than she thought. When he asks why she can’t be with Robin since they love each other, Regina tells him it’s more complicated than he can understand. And to leave it at that.

(Operation Mongoose headquarters) 

Hook drops Emma off at home, kissing her goodnight. It seems his errant hand wants to do more but he controls it. Emma invites him in to meet her parents, newborn brother and “a human icemaker” and he declines. She reiterates that she needs to get her own place before going inside. Hook hurries away to deal with his hand.

(I remember when Outlaw Queen got kisses)

Mary Margaret and David are sitting up waiting for her when she comes in. Mary Margaret wants to hear everything while David doesn’t. Emma once again says she needs her own place and goes to her room. Mary Margaret notices that Emma looks really happy and David reluctantly admits that maybe Hook has changed. Emma yells that she can hear them. I don’t think they care.

(They definitely look like parents)

Hook wonders the streets and finds Will trying to break into the library. Will is drunk. He and Hook exchange some banter before Hook starts punching Will. He manages to stop himself and makes Will promise to never tell Emma what happened. He then staggers off while Will picks himself up.

In the past, Anna returns to Dark One Manor to tell Rumpelstilskin that she put the liquid in his tea. Rumple says that’s a good thing—now the Apprentice will live. Anna is surprised to learn she wasn’t carrying poison. But she didn’t actually put the liquid in the tea. Rumple’s like “Eh, no skin off my nose.” Anna wants to go back but he says it’s too late. In his crystal ball, they watch the Apprentice turn into a mouse.

Of course.

(This might be the closest we get to Mickey Mouse appearing on this show)

Rumple and Anna go to the cottage where Rumple gloats to the mouse. He tells Anna that he didn’t expect her to put the potion in the tea. He needed her to face the darkness within and turn away. She says she wasn’t even tempted because she doesn’t have any darkness. Rumple then reveals that the contract she signed means she has to serve him forever. Anna gets angry and pulls a sword on Rumple. He tells her to kill him and she does contemplate it for a hot minute.

(Don't mess with Arendelle)

But then she drops the sword, crumpling to the ground in tears. Rumple catches one on his dagger and thanks her. She’s done what he needs. Anna lets him have it, telling him he uses love as a weapon. Rumple…doesn’t really care. I’m guessing this is before Belle entered his life as his prisoner/free labor. He opens a trap door and descends below, no doubt to get the one thing every Dark One has tried to steal.

Gold leaves his shop, carrying flowers to bring home to Belle.

All together: Aww.

Anyhoodle, Hook slides into Gold’s car. He demands that Gold remove the hand but Gold isn’t going to do anything so easily. He asks that Hook help him with something. Hook agrees though you would think by now that he would know he would be better of talking to Emma about his hand predicament than making a bargain with the devil Rumplestilskin. (I have a feel the devil might be a bit more lenient than that imp). Mr. Gold tells him to meet him on the docks early the next morning. Hook leaves.

Rumple returns with the box and Anna waits for him. She is able to communicate with Mouse!Apprentice, who jumps Rumple. He drops his box and his dagger so Anna picks them up. Rumple lunges for her but she tells him to stay back. Since she’s holding the dagger, he has to obey. Anna figures this out quickly. She makes him tell her what he wants the box for. He reveals it is an item of extreme magical properties. With it, he’ll be able to free himself from the dagger while keeping his Dark One powers.

(Seriously. Don't mess with Arendelle)

Anna then asks about her parents. He tells her that they stopped by Dark One Manor. They were scared of Elsa’s powers and were look for a way to get rid of them. They were going to use the box to trap Elsa. Anna doesn’t believe him and but realizes he has to tell the truth. She’s heartbroken. She then gives the Dark One some demands: That he return her—and the box—to Arendelle, that he never hurts her or Elsa, and that he doesn’t hurt the Apprentice. He agrees and zaps her away. His daggers falls to the floor.

The next morning, Emma is driving around while listening to the weather. The weather guy gives two different reports—one for the center of Storybrooke and one for those living by the ice wall. And the DJ gives a wake up call to Rip van Winkle. Ha! Nice one, Once writers. We don’t hear the song as Emma spins out on ice. She gets out of her yellow bug and follows the ice trail. Elizabeth Mitchell is there. She doesn’t say anything, she just keeps walking until she disappears. Emma is baffled.

(The Snow Queen is playing a hide and go seek to rival Frank and Claire's from Outlander)

She then gets a call and she tells the person that it isn’t a good time. But Belle says she needs Emma, now. As she hangs up, she stares down a sleeping Will. He is clutching booze and a book in his hand.

Gold finds Hook sleeping down by the docks and wakes him up. He asks Gold what his task is. It’s to follow the walking broomstick Gold produces. Yes, just like in the cartoon. 

(Look at the broom!)

Hook follows it all the way to a small house somewhere in Storybrooke. It’s occupant? The Sorcerer’s Apprentice! And he’s no longer a mouse!

Hook ties the Apprentice up in a chair. The Apprentice has some harsh words for Gold, but he doesn’t care. He uses the hat to suck the Apprentice into it. The hat captures and stores powerful people within it—each star on the hat represents one of those poor souls. Gold is one step closer to his goal.

(This doesn't look so scary)

In Arendelle, Kristoff tries to coax Sven into eating. But the reindeer doesn’t have much of an appetite. Not even for his favorite—carrots! Anna pokes her head in and asks if Sven’s missed her. Kristoff isn’t sure, but he has missed her. They hug and then kiss.

All together now: Aww.

(Seriously, aww)

Kristoff asks about her quest. She reveals that her parents were planning on trapping Elsa because of her parents. She says it’s the worst news ever and she doesn’t know how to tell Elsa. Kristoff is at a loss as well.

Gold removes Hook’s hand, giving him back his hook. He then reveals he lied—the hand was never cursed. It was all mind games and Hook walked right into Gold’s trap. Hook says he still knows that Belle doesn’t have the real dagger. But Hook reveals the Apprentice had security camera and pulls out an honest-to-God VHS. Really? Wow. Gold says he’ll show the tape to Emma and then what will she think of Hook? Hook counters that Gold is on the tape. But Gold waves his hand over it and says that he just erased himself off the tape. It’ll look like Hook acted alone.

(Seriously? VHS?)

Okay, Hook takes Gold’s word for it that he’s no longer on the tape. In fact, he takes Gold’s word for it that there’s anything on the tape. But even still, Gold just claimed to wipe himself off security footage. It doesn’t hit Hook that maybe Gold did the same thing to the security footage in the sheriff’s office. That maybe Gold did do something to Zelena. He could’ve used that. But no, the writers want Gold to have the upper hand here.

This does not bode well.

At the sheriff’s office, Will wakes up in a prison cell. Emma tells him that he had party in the library with his friends the White Rabbit and Alice. She holds up a book—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She asks Will if the book had any special meaning to him. He denies it does. She then finds a page he had dog-eared and holds it up, asking if the woman in the picture has any special meaning to him. It’s a drawing of the Red Queen. Will hesitates, his eyes becoming sad as he denies any connection to the Red Queen.

(Did something happen to Anastasia?)

For those who didn’t watch “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” Will Scarlet was also the Knave of Hearts. It was revealed throughout the course of the series that he was in love with Anastasia, the Red Queen. She loved him back, though she chose being queen over him. The series ended with them reunited. So the question here is: What happened to her? Why is Will in Storybrooke then?

Emma lets it slide for now and asks Will how he got the bruises and cuts on his face. At that moment, Hook walks in and Will tells Emma that he doesn’t remember. Claims to have blacked out. Emma accepts the answer. Will asks when she’s going to let him out and she says not yet because he ruined her date. And there’s also the fact that he stole money from a Snow Queen who is playing tag with Emma, but she doesn’t mention that.

She walks over to Hook and asks if there will be a second date. He promises there will be. After a few moments, she notices his hook is back but doesn’t seem to mind it. Hook angsts as David calls his daughter over. He’s been going through the past censuses and said that the name Elizabeth Mitchell has been using in Storybrooke—Sarah Fisher—doesn’t appear in any of them. She did not come with either curse, somehow getting to Storybrooke some other way. Emma wonders how.

In the vaults, Operation Mongoose continues at a snail’s pace. Nothing Regina has can help them determine who wrote the book. But Henry thinks his grandfather might have an idea. Regina doubts David knows anything beyond swords, charm and Snow. But Henry meant his other grandfather—Rumplestilskin.
Henry ends up in Gold’s shop and asks for a part time job. Something to do in the afternoons and a way to spend time with the closest thing he has to his own father now—Gold. Touched, Gold agrees and puts Henry to work sweeping the shop.

So Anna made it back to Arendelle? Then where is she? What memories has Elsa lost? Why did her parents want to put Elsa in the hat? Or did Rumple manage to lie even with Anna holding the dagger? Hmm…
Why is Will in Storybrooke? Did something happen to Wonderland? To Anastasia? Hmm…

The Captain Swan date was adorable and I’m loving how the writers are building their relationship. Not really loving the monkey wrench they are throwing into it, though. We’ll see how this goes down…

Next time: The Snow Queen wants to build a snowman! Regina vs. Emma!

(Screen caps from here)