The Fears That Once Controlled Me

Review/Recap of Once Upon a Time 4.10 Shattered Sight - Spoilers!

First off all - I need this version of "Let It Go" here. Yes, I know it's not as good as the Idina Menzel version, but somehow I feel like this one fits with this episode of Once Upon a Time. Especially some of the lyrics that are in the pop version that aren't in the movie -



Last summer, I wrote a blog post (before I knew what the Frozen story arc was going to be about) comparing and contrasting a lot of the Once Upon a Time "villains" and why I thought Elsa would be a perfect fit in this overall story of those past feeling coming back for their redemption. Well, now that Once's retelling of The Snow Queen is complete, I almost want to rewrite that post, but instead of focusing on Elsa, make it about Ingrid.

Before I get to that, I've got to talk about sisters (and I hope to heaven my own sisters don't read this because I'm probably going to be rather embarrassing towards all of them). Lately, Once has been hitting a lot of sensitive nerves for me. To be honest, it's probably in the same way that Frozen hit those same (yet wholly different) nerves as well. I've had some interesting experiences with this season - mostly around my youngest sister. I'm not particularly close with any of my sisters. It's just a matter of fact - we all have our different lives and interests and very few of them overlap. Except my youngest sister and I started watching Once Upon a Time totally on our own and for different reasons. It was kind of an odd - but good - moment when we both realized that we were both watching this show and we liked a lot of the same characters (we're both huge Hook fangirls). So, here was something that we both could enjoy together (even though we live in different cities - but we both know what the other is doing on Sunday nights). When Season 4 started, we made it a bit of tradition to text each other and talk about what we liked about the episode and what we thought was going to happen next time - sometimes these conversations last throughout the week (the week after "Smash the Mirror" - that discussion lasted well into Wednesday). My point is - I've been glad to have something to share with at least one of my sisters. And it's opened up our relationship to the point where we can talk about other things we like and we're kind of rediscovering that whole "sisterly bond" thing that I kind of missed out on for... reasons.

So, I guess when you've got a villain who's only a villain because she's trying to recreate a relationship with new sisters because she lost hers early on - I'm going to respond to that in a bit of an emotional way.

I have completely loved The Snow Queen arc this season (which, marketing and hype aside, that's really what this storyline has been about). I love how Ingrid's journey has been paralleled with Emma's and I love how Emma's journey has been paralleled with the movie Frozen. I love how it all came together in this episode - in a way that I probably should have seen coming, but I didn't realize that it would happen like that until Anna read her mother's final letter to her and Elsa (and, in some way, the letter was also written to Ingrid).

I'll start at the end and work my way back. I positively bawled when Ingrid heard Gerda's letter and realized that she'd made a huge mistake in using the Spell of Shattered Sight. It speaks to Ingrid's moral strength that, instead of continuing to blame her sister and milk that victim card for all it's worth, Ingrid immediately takes responsibility for her actions and works to correct what she's done. In a season where Regina is still holding onto that decades-old hurt and betrayal and Rumple is out for power and world domination, it's interesting that we have a villain who is only a villain because she is seeking for the kind of love she once had and lost. And, upon realizing she never really lost that love at all, she does a complete 180. She even points out the goodness and love that she felt for the people she met along the way - Emma, Elsa, and even Anna. If we had longer with the Frozen characters, I would guess that Ingrid would have a very similar character arc to Hook - who is another character who is motivated by love and whose actions are guided by losing and finding love over and over again.

One of my favorite lines in Frozen (Source)

I'm continually blown away by how complex these stories and characters are. This may seem like a simple show about fairy tales and magic and happy endings - and those elements are certainly important in bringing in an audience. I love how the writers use one plot to tell multiple stories - we've had the running theme of Frozen (and The Snow Queen) and from that one story, they've built upon the mythos of all the other characters in Once Upon a Time. Just to show one example (and it's the most obvious one) - Emma Swan got her traditional "Happily Ever After" at the end of Season 3. But the writers went even further to show how, even though she's found her family and true love, that's not the end of her story. Because she's found happiness before, but it's been taken away through circumstances beyond her control (and some that were somewhat within her control - as shown in the flashback to her days in the foster system). But this season - she's done running. She's done being scared. Even when she had the most reason to be afraid, she looked for a solution that would make her safe for people to be around her (she didn't know that solution was actually going to kill her, but it's been well-established that Rumple's an ass). Emma Swan is done running away. She is in Storybrooke for good - and she is going to do everything she can to protect her new home and the people she loves.

I feel like I could go on and on in circles about this episode (and, considering the number of paragraphs I've deleted and rewritten, I think I have). If I had one complaint about this episode, it's that I feel like there was a lot more story to tell. But at the same time, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I think that I enjoyed Ingrid as a character so much that I would love to have as much backstory on her as we've gotten on someone like Regina or Rumple. I'll be honest - I'm kind of feeling a little burned out on those two characters. I'm ready to follow somebody new. At least, as far as flashbacks are concerned. This season hasn't been as bad as Season 3A was with Rumple - and the Frozen characters have helped to mix it up a little bit. But how many second chances do these two get before they are past redemption. Especially Rumple (but he may be getting his comeuppance next week? I hope? Please???)

Other Things I Liked/Noticed

- There wasn't a whole lot of Captain Swan interaction in this episode (which, given where they left off last time, it makes sense). But there were a couple little lines thrown in there just to remind us - yes, Emma and Killian are very much together. Regardless of how cursed!Henry feels about it.

- I adored Killian's little goofy smile when Henry referred to him and Emma as being "together." I mean, obviously they're together - but it's probably nice for Killian to hear it from someone else.

- Along those lines - Will Scarlet is never going to get the better of Killian Jones. That's just a fact that everyone is going to have to come to terms with (but he's welcome to continue trying. It amuses me).

- Considering how scared and angst-filled everyone was last week when Shattered Sight was closing in on Storybrooke, the actual result of the curse hitting the town was pretty hilarious. No more so evident than in the sheriff's station where Snow, Charming, and Kristoff are all bickering with each other and poor Anna is trying to maintain the peace and keep Baby Baelfire safe (even though she admits that Kristoff's words are pretty hurtful, even though she knows he doesn't mean it).

- When Emma and Elsa figure out that the only way to remove the Snow Queen's ribbons is with an equal amount of hatred, Emma goes directly to Regina. It's funny in a really sad way - but it's still funny.

- Ingrid hid the memory stones in the carrot sherbet. Honestly, the humor in Once continues to be a delight to my soul.

"There is no version of this where you come out on top."

Feels like we waited so long for this season, and now this half of it is coming to an end (stupid hiatuses!) And I've got to talk about Rumplestiltskin and his plans to separate himself from the dagger and become the Head Cheese in Charge of the World. But first, I'm going to let another Disney property speechify on how this whole this is going to go down -



At this point, Rumple is in all kinds of hot water. His plans hinged upon everyone in Storybrooke being too preoccupied with Shattered Sight and the Snow Queen keeping Emma and Elsa prisoner in town. Now that Ingrid is gone and the curse is broken - how in the hell does he expect to get out of there unnoticed? I can think of three possible scenarios -

Worst Case: Rumple is successful in skipping town. He kills Killian and leaves him for dead near the town line, likely to be found at some point because Emma's going to notice that he's not where he should be. Somehow, the manner of his death is discovered and they figure out that Rumple and Belle are also missing. Emma isn't limited by the town line, so she could very well take off after the rat bastard - with all manner of righteous indignation and the fury of true love lost bearing down on Rumple's head. Savior magic trumps anything that Rumple can come up with and Emma is hell-bent on destroying the piece of shit that killed her pirate (this scenario is all kinds of unlikely because there is no way that the creators are going to kill off one of the more popular characters on the show).

Best Case: Rumple is in a mad rush to get out of town before anyone notices that he's Up To Something. Mistakes are made in haste and Killian sees an opportunity to warn Emma and the Charmings of Rumple's plans. Showdown at the Town Line at High Noon (Will Scarlet's selling tickets).

Even Better Case: Belle overhears something and FINALLY cottons on that her hubby dearest is a piece of garbage and calls him out on his crap. Rumple folds like a deck of cards because his asshattery has been discovered by the one and only person he gives a crap about and he's left with absolutely nothing.

Bonus Round: When Rumple goes to use the hat to separate himself from the dagger, it turns out he's made a severe miscalculation in what the hat is actually meant to do and everything goes "EXPLODEY!" Everyone that the hat has collected is released, very much alive and very much well (the Apprentice, the fairies, probably the Sorcerer, anyone else Eddy and Adam want to throw into the mix - Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella - just to set up Season 4B), and they all proceed to wail on Rumple's ass. That douchey little attache case gets found at the scene and Emma returns Killian's heart to him and we have a happy little cliffhanger until March (the Dark Queen triumvirate is left to plot and scheme and whatever, but that's coming up).

That's what I've got. Rumple is done. He's had it. He can talk a big game and strut around like he owns the place (which, I suppose he does), but this time he's bitten off more than he can chew. And it's probably not even going to be Emma or Regina or anyone else that brings him down. It's going to be his own ego and hubris that (to borrow an overused phrase from Season 3 that just about had me screaming for the hills last year) will be his undoing. All I can say is it's about bloody time.

And here's the promo for next week. And then we're done. And then we wait.



(even more Rumple backstory... *le sigh* All right - let's do this thing)

Hey Disney! The World Needs Frozen 2!

Let me start with this: I adored Frozen. The story, the characters, the music - it was utterly perfect in every way that it could be perfect. I was pulling for it to win Best Animated Picture and Best Original Song at the Oscars (I usually stay out of Oscar season, mostly because I find it to be just a bunch of egotistical jackasses in the middle of a tedious circle jerk over boring movies that are made solely for the Elitist Artsy Snob crowd that John and Jane Q. Public suddenly have to pretend to care about simply because that simpering nitwit anchor on Good Morning America was losing her head over it. Besides, nothing I like ever wins).

Ahem - anyway - Frozen. Loved it to pieces. I bought the soundtrack right after I came home from the movie theater and I've been playing it WILLINGLY nearly nonstop and I have all the lyrics memorized (and I don't even have kids to blame this on).

Having said that - Frozen needs a sequel. Hell, The Incredibles and Cars are both getting sequels (I never saw Cars 2. I thought the original Cars was great and the sequel was completely unnecessary, so in my headcanon, it doesn't exist) - the idea was floated during the Oscars during the acceptance speech for Best Original Song - it's one of the most successful (if not THE most successful) movies Disney has had in a long time - bring back the original cast and animators and make a decent go at it and they could totally take home another Best Animated Picture award! (at least give the public another earworm).

(Before I go on - the following discussion WILL SPOIL Frozen. If you have not seen Frozen - first of all, WHAT??? Get thee to a movie theater or Disney download [I hear that's a thing now] and watch this movie!)

Honestly, with Frozen, we only got half a story. This movie, for all it being based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen and Elsa being the eponymous queen, is Anna's story. Anna is the lonely girl who has to be shut inside the palace in Arendelle because they can't risk Elsa's power becoming public knowledge. Nevermind that Elsa's the one shut up in her room and slowly losing control of her powers with nobody and nothing to help her - Anna is the one we are meant to feel sorry for. It's the perky, happy, cheerful, outgoing sister that takes center stage and saves the brooding, depressed, introverted sister from herself  (I would be lying if this didn't irk me just a tiny bit).

As much as I love this movie, I feel like there is more to the story. How did Elsa come by her powers? Are there others like her out there? Is there more she can learn? Is this something her children will inherit? How will she help them understand this ability?

Now that the setting and characters and backstory of Frozen have been established, I want to see an adventure with Elsa. Anna got her happy ending - let's tell Elsa's story of self-discovery. Because I don't think that she got a whole lot of that ("Let It Go" notwithstanding. Actually, that sequence doesn't even solve her problems. If anything, it made them worse) and she is due for some answers.

I don't proclaim to be the first one to have put forward a possible scenario for Frozen 2 (in fact, if Disney was smart, they already have people on this). But this is what I'd like to see: open with Elsa being Queen of Arendelle, being all queenly and awesome. Anna and Kristoff are perfectly happy with... whatever they're doing. The reindeer and the dopey snowman can be there too doing - reindeer and snowman things. But someone comes to Arendelle with rumors of another Snow Queen in a distant-yet-nearby land. Elsa is intrigued - while she's achieved mastery over her powers, she still doesn't know where they came from in the first place (and her parents never could or would tell her). If there are others like her, shouldn't she help them learn to control their powers? No one should be locked up simply in fear of what they can do. Elsa is determined to seek out this new person and find out what they can learn from each other. Anna and Kristoff are more than capable of taking care of Arendelle in her absence (and if you want a sinister B-Plot to go there, well, go ahead and do it).

Elsa takes off on her adventure (bring along the dopey snowman if you must - but leave those stupid rock trolls behind) with a suitably awesome musical number to accompany the anticipation of meeting someone just like her. Along the way, she meets up with Hans, the disgraced prince who mucked things up royally in the first movie (no pun intended).

Okay - I HATED what they did to Hans. Because here is this immensely likable character that I (at least) fell in love with and he turns out to be the villain. FOR NO GOOD REASON! (if you needed an antagonist, why not that old and crusty mustache dude? Wasn't there enough antagonism from the blizzard and the circumstances of the eternal winter?) But in the sequel - Hans is penitent and seeking forgiveness for his actions. His brothers gave him so much grief over what he did before and have basically kicked him out of their kingdom. The only way he can return is with the power of the new Snow Queen. Elsa initially mistrusts him and he hardly blames her. But through a series of events that writers more clever than I can work out, they end up traveling together (where they're going is pretty dangerous and they both conclude that it'd be safer to do so - even if Elsa refuses to trust Hans for a long time).

When they get to where they're going, they discover a kingdom much like Arendelle (just colder). They are refused entrance into the kingdom for reasons that no one can explain (sound familiar?) Hans, being the youngest of so many brothers and having been picked on a good portion of his life - which included being locked out of the castle - finds a way inside the palace of this new kingdom (as an aside, Elsa is impressed with his secret-passage-finding skills). Guards catch them and they're thrown into prison and they discover a child who has snow powers and has been hidden away by her parents. Only, much worse than Elsa ever was. Where Elsa was at least kept in her bedroom, this child is a prisoner and treated very poorly (as poorly as you can get away with in a Disney movie, that is). Elsa promises to get the child out and teach him/her (no reason it couldn't be a boy with these powers. Again, writers more clever than I could take it from here) to control these powers. Hans has been picking the lock throughout this touching interlude and finally breaks them out. Only to find out that this child's mother is the Original Snow Queen - that is, the Snow Queen that Elsa's curse came from. There's some contrived reason that this Snow Queen took out her anger on Elsa's parents - curse the firstborn child, and all that - but this Snow Queen is impressed by Elsa's mastery of her powers. The Queen tries to tempt Elsa to turn to the dark side - citing that people will never understand her powers and she needs to be around people like her (HOORAY for conflict of character!), but dear sweet Hans steps in with the whole "Being a Villain Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be" speech (which could very well be directed at the writers of the first movie, in a meta sort of way) and Elsa finds the resolve to refuse the Snow Queen's offer. The Snow Queen is pissed and vows revenge on Arendelle and zips out there to do her thing (it's magic, dammit!) Now, the mission is to get to Arendelle before she destroys everything - and that could coincide with the sinister B-Plot that Anna and Kristoff are dealing with. Elsa and Hans and company go tearing off after the Snow Queen with not a whole lot of ideas of how to stop her, only that it must be done. They get to Arendelle, Big Ass Showdown between Elsa and the Snow Queen, the Snow Queen is defeated, Elsa and Hans kiss (oh come on - you had to know that was coming), Elsa teaches the Snow Queen's little prisoner how to be utterly awesome with his/her powers, and Elsa is the Queen of Arendelle and the Queen of Winter and pretty much just rules up and down the land.

Yeah, it's kind of rough, but it's a start. It opens up doors for Elsa's character to be explored and gives her room to grow and become more than the shy, depressed, introvert that Anna was tasked with saving in the first movie. Bonus points for redeeming Hans from a fate that was totally unnecessary and totally unwarranted. And no annoying rock trolls.

If nothing else, this gives me something to work into fan fiction.