The Once Upon a Time season 4 premiere picks up right where last season left off and doesn’t skip a beat. Frozen fans will be pumped that it looks like Elsa and Anna are going to stick around for a while as they search for answers about their parents’ death. Meanwhile, a heartbroken Regina seeks out an old friend to help her “change the book” so she can finally get her happy ending. And as usual, Rumple can’t seem to shake his obsession with power.
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Anna and Elsa Look for Answers
A long time ago, the king and queen of Arendelle were killed at sea. Before their deaths, the queen put a message in a bottle that told her husband that their children must know the truth. Five years after their death, Anna is to be wed to Kristoff, while Elsa still struggles with her ice powers. While making last minute arrangements, Elsa stumbles upon their mother’s diary, where in it her mother mentions Elsa’s power. The diary makes Elsa believe that their parents’ deaths were her fault.
Anna assures her this isn’t the case and looks to her future in-laws, the trolls, for help. Grand Pabbie tells them that their parents were headed to a place called Mist Haven to learn more about Elsa before their deaths. Anna immediately wants to go to this land, but Elsa has her doubts. Anna goes alone, much to Elsa’s dismay, leaving her with Kristoff in Arendelle. Kristoff tells Elsa that Mist Haven is also called the Enchanted Forest.
Somehow, though, as most fairy tale characters do, Elsa ends up in Storybrooke looking for Anna. Of course, when she gets scared or upset, she unleashes the snow monster on the town, which isn’t good for anyone and tips residents off to a new person in Storybrooke.
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Regina Just Wants to Be Happy
Fresh from finding out that Emma saved Maid Marian and brought her back to Storybrooke to be unintentionally reunited with Robin Hood, Regina is not a happy camper. Robin just wants everyone to get along after he tells Regina that he needs to stay committed to Marian. Emma is now walking around with the weight of her decision on her shoulders, determined to fix it. And Regina’s evil starts to come out, just a little.
Regina seeks out Sidney, aka the Mirror, who has been locked away for a while. Her first plan, after she throws him back into the mirror, is to go back in time when she captured Marian as the Evil Queen. She wants to make sure that Marian actually dies, like she originally did. However, after being called a monster over and over again, she starts to have a change of heart.
When she rescues Marian from the snow monster, I think she expects everyone to sing her praises and perhaps win the heart of Robin back. But that is not the case. Emma tries to comfort her, assuring her that her job now is to make sure everyone gets their “happily ever after.” But this sparks a plan B for Regina. She wants to change the story book. She asks the mirror to find the author so that they can re-write the stories to give all the villains happy endings.
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Can Rumple Stay Good?
Any Once Upon a Time fan knows that it’s very hard for Rumple to stay good for a long period of time. And it seems that even after avenging Neal’s death and marrying Belle, he is still facing the good/evil struggle.
On their honeymoon at a beautiful home, Rumple, after swearing on Neal’s grave he would, switches the fake dagger in Belle’s bag for the real one, so he won’t start his relationship with a lie anymore. The two have a very fairy tale-like “first dance” in the library, which resembles Belle’s dance with the Beast from the movie.
However, in the house, Rumple spies a trinket that he knows is magical. So while Belle is asleep, he gets out the real dagger again and waves it over the trinket. Sure enough, it smokes and produces a tiny universe inside a hat. What does it all mean?
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I have to admit, I was very skeptical when I heard Frozen was coming to Storybrooke. But I kind of like where it’s going. I like that it’s exploring what happens to Anna and Elsa after they got their happily ever after in the film. And I LOVE both Sven and the trolls. The CGI is much better this season, too.
Now that the Frozen storyline is in place, I hope the show gets back into more of Emma’s role. And I really like the Regina storyline. I’ve always liked the good vs. evil struggle in both her and Rumple and it looks like that’s where this season will take them both. I am very curious to see how Elsa and Anna’s role will intertwine with the rest of the town. Looks like all good things for Once Upon a Time this season.
Once Upon a Time airs Sundays at 8pm on ABC.
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
