Once Upon A Time : Rocky Road Recap

Synopsis of 4×03: Marian is under a freezing spell, Emma has trouble being the savior, they find the Snow Queen, and Hook blackmails Gold.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Storybrooke

Robin Hood reassures Marian that, in time, she’ll like Storybrooke and adjust to all the new things there. Their kid smartly uses the “Regina let me” ploy to get ice cream. There’s no problem that can’t be solved with a bit of ice cream… and magic from the lady behind the counter. Free ice cream with a frozen twist.

Rumple plays dumb about knowing Elsa. He makes a valid point to Emma, Hook, and Elsa that he has a ton of things in his possession, and some of them he just might not remember getting, or even how they came to be his. His leaf has turned. He’s a new man telling the truth. Of course no one believes him so Belle pulls out the dagger, and makes him tell the truth. Which is exactly as he has said. With no new leads, Emma is at a loss for what is happening.

Arendelle

Elsa is frantic, as none of the scouts have been able to locate Anna. Kristoff is there giving some form of support, saying that Anna can take care of herself. She has fought off wolves, a giant snow monster (Marshmallow), and Hans. The kingdom needs Elsa more than Anna does, and somehow Kristoff convinces her to stay. In bursts a guard who has discovered something in the mountains: Hans has gathered an army and is planning an attack. Kristoff wants to go, but Elsa has got this under control. She’ll take care of Hans this time.

Storybrooke 

Mayor Mary Margret is holding her first “fireside chat with the Mayor.” All of the important characters are there, and they skip directly to item five – the ice wall. Everyone freaks when they find out it surrounds the entire town, not like they haven’t been trapped in town before or anything. In the midst of all their clamor about Elsa being good/evil, friend/foe, Marian falls under an ice spell. This sends everyone into a bigger panic.

Regina and Henry have some one and one time in Granny’s. She brought him a stack of  comic books, Thor is on top.  Regina oh so slyly asks about who wrote the storybook. You know, THE storybook. She wants to find the author and ask them to write a happy ending. Henry buys this and they start a mission. Regina names it Operation Mongoose. The previous operation was Operation Cobra. What kills cobras? Mongooses. Any one else see where this is going?

Back in the mayor’s office, Regina has been summoned to mock the decor. Or maybe she’s there to see about helping Marian. It’s powerful magic, and Elsa lets them know that the only way to cure a freezing spell is with an act of true love.  Robin kisses Marian, but nothing happens. Now no one really knows what to do, and Emma goes off to find whoever started this spell, but not before Regina gets a jab in about her effectiveness as savior. Hook tries to go with her, but Emma shuts him down and tells him to take Elsa to the sheriff’s office before the town catches wind and wants her head. Hook totally goes for the plan.

Arendelle

Kristoff and Sven are out searching for Hans and his army. They happen upon the camp and find Hans and his brothers. Kristoff finds out that Hans has a secret object. An urn that will trap people with magic. Hans plans to use it against Elsa. Kristoff hurries back to tell Elsa the plan. They come up with a plan to take the fight to Hans to destroy the urn. Off they go through the woods to the cave where the urn is hidden. They have a great heart to heart about growing up with family, but alone. Or well, Elsa always felt alone because of her powers. Kristoff felt totally okay with his rock troll family. They make it to the edge of the forest, and to get to the cave they have to rappel.

Storybrooke

David and Emma go through the woods to look for whoever started this freeze. They happen upon a tent whose occupant is none other than The Knave, Will Scarlet. Naturally he runs, because what else is a knave to do? David takes him out, and they get some very valuable information from him. He had heard what happened to Marian, so he decided to live out away from everyone. During the blackout he was stealing along Main Street when he came to the ice cream parlor. All the ice cream was totally frozen. Not believing him, David and Emma make him go to the parlor for confirmation.

Hook and Elsa go to Mr. Gold’s Pawn. Hook goes up to Gold and lets him know that he knows the dagger is a fake. He’ll prove it too by asking Belle to summon Gold with the dagger, which would prove that it’s a fake. Gold takes the deal, and now has to help Elsa and Hook find out who cast the freezing spell on Marian. He does his thing, and turns the hair from Marian back into it’s magic form. Snowflakes that will seek out whoever cast the magic. Like magic finds like.

David, Emma, and Will go to the shop to find no one there. They break in, find out there are no compressors humming, so there is no cooling system in the shop. Emma and David go into the back and find it covered in ice. Will takes this opportunity to steal all the cash and dash. David notices that something is wrong with Emma, and they have a heart to heart about her having a string of bad days. She just can’t lose hope in herself.

Arendelle

Elsa and Kristoff make it to the cave where Hans has stashed the urn. While the plan is to destroy it, Elsa gets super curious about some runes that appear and now wants to save it so she could learn more about people like her. While they go back and forth about destroying it, Hans and his three brothers attack. Elsa whips out some fast ice magic to keep the brothers at bay, but Hans manages to get Kristoff at the end of his sword. Elsa has to make a choice, give up the urn and be trapped, or save Kristoff. She does the noble thing and saves Kristoff for Anna. Hans gets all cocky, opens the urn, and lets out the mysterious Ice Lady. She promptly sides with Elsa, and freezes Hans.

Storybrooke 

Elsa and Hook find the end of the snowflake trail and the person who is in control of the spell, and ice wall. Hook calls Emma on his talking device, while Elsa tries to get a better look. They wait for a bit, and then go to find Emma. Mystery lady freezes Hook in place. She knows Elsa, and says that the magic of the rock trolls caused Elsa to forget. Beyond that, they made Anna forget about Elsa because she grew to fear Elsa, and that it was Anna who trapped her in the urn. Mystery lady tells Elsa that everyone turns on people like them, people with magic out of fear. She hangs some fierce looking icicles above Hook in an attempt to kill him and have the town blame Elsa because it would show her how much the town fears her. Emma comes in, finds out the lady knows her name,  uses her magic to push away the Mysterious Lady, and save Hook. Mystery lady disappears into the woods without a trace.

Arendelle

Elsa and Mysterious Lady talk about making snowmen come to life (Olaf!), creating ice castles, and general happy things you can do when you have ice powers. Lady spies Elsa’s favorite picture of her parents, and it really touches her. She is Anna and Elsa’s aunt, and didn’t want to overwhelm Elsa with the news. Their mother never told them that she had a sister, and Lady said it was to spare them the pain of a past too terrible to speak about. After finding out that their mom is dead, and Anna is missing, Lady promises that they will find Anna together. That’s what family does.

Storybrooke

Emma freaks out about Mysterious Lady knowing her name. David talks her down and lets her know that she did good. Emma berates Hook for not listening to her and putting himself and Elsa in danger. Elsa is not convinced that Anna would put her into the urn. Emma believes there is something more sinister at work, because Emma brought Elsa to Storybrooke, but the Snow Queen was already here.

Back in the mayor’s office, Regina and Robin wait for Henry to show back up with something from the vault to save Marian. Robin reveals to Regina that he believes the kiss didn’t work because he loves someone else. He loves Regina, but has his duties with his family. Henry shows up with a heart box. She reaches in and takes Marian’s heart to save it from freezing. She vows to find a cure.

Hook corners Emma and gets her to talk about why she’s been avoiding and pushing him away. She tells him it’s because she’s lost everyone. Neal, Graham, Walsh. Everyone she’s allowed to get close ends up dead. But not Hook. If there is one thing he’s good at, it’s surviving.

We end with Snow Queen walking through the forest, and being met by Gold. He offers her help, and apparently knows a lot about her plan.

Frozen Movie References: ★★☆☆☆

Parallel scene with one of Hans’ brothers, Sven and Kristoff, mention of fighting off wolves, Marshmallow, and a living snowman…. It’s getting better folks!