Subtitle: At least they only pretended to fridge Anna
This was one of those episodes where a lot of stuff happened but actually nothing happened. The Snow Queen’s mirror curse (that turns everyone it hits into their “worst version”) was cast last episode and takes affect next episode. So this episode was spent running around trying to Do Something but in the end Doing Nothing.
The Arendelle/Enchanted Forest flashback is not even worth discussing (and is not even actually a flashback as we find out in act four but that reveal was so pointless I have no compunction to retain it). To wit: Anna and Kristoff are unfrozen but so are Hans and his brothers and they both try to buy off Blackbeard but he chooses Hans because sexism and thus Anna and Kristoff are stuffed in a chest and thrown into the ocean.
In Storybrooke our heroes scramble to deal with the curse. First they try to escape:
Next they try to counteract it with a spell Belle found in a book. If only Rumple had read all (any) of the books in his library he might have found an easier/faster way to get Neal back, amirite? Per Belle’s research the hair of someone who has already gone through the Mirror Curse can be used to create an antidote. It suddenly becomes important to find Anna, or at least her hair.
Conveniently, Charming’s misadventure with the snow wall returned Anna’s necklace to Elsa so they sprinkle it with locator spell and are lead to
Elsa wants to just break down the wall with an ice blast but Emma convinces her to have a town meeting about it instead. It goes as well as it always does.
Elsa: We need to find my sister!
Emma: We need to save the town!
Regina: This stuff never happened when I was in charge.
Snow: Because we were under your curse!
Grumpy: I hate you all.
Belle runs in with news that — conveniently — the spell can be cast with the mirror-dust trapped in Anna’s necklace. The necklace will be destroyed but the town will be saved. Now everybody fights about what’s more important: saving Anna or saving everyone?
Elsa: We need to find my sister!
Emma: We need to save the town!
Snow: We can do both, we just need to figure out how to do both.
Charming: I agree.
Regina: I can’t believe this is even a discussion. It’s one person’s life weighed against everyone’s.
Snow: Maybe Regina’s right.
Charming: I agree.
Grumpy: I hate you all.
I can’t believe this is even a discussion because what is stopping them looking for Anna in the mine after they save everybody? Now, of course I believe that Emma and Elsa didn’t mark the spot when they found it because of course they didn’t (they should have) but they should still have a pretty good idea about where it was. So they wouldn’t be completely blind. And who’s to say Gold doesn’t have something else of Anna’s in his shop? Or they could find another spell that requires, I don’t know, Anna’s bloodline? It’s silly to think that the ONLY way to EVER find Anna is this necklace. But Elsa is done with waiting so she gives Emma a bag of rocks and steals away with the necklace to find Anna herself.
Emma runs off after Elsa and because apparently she has super speed
she catches up just as Elsa is blasting the wall to reveal
Emma is sympathetic but also wants to get back to town because the curse will hit any moment and she hasn’t had her sad goodbye scene yet. But Elsa’s having a moment. She clutches her necklace close and babbles about where it came from and how sad she is that it’s the last gift she’ll ever give her sister — not that she’s giving up hope! she will never! — but oh she wishes Anna were here with her now.
And like that a chestful of Anna and Kristoff pop onto the shore. And I don’t want to minimize the impact of the Elsa and Anna reunion cuz I cried. I really cried.
But that was super convenient.
Anyway, they all skip back to town to use Anna’s hair to make the antidote. Unfortunately, while they were gone Hook vacuumed all the fairies into the hat on Rumple’s orders.
And I guess this is as good a time as any to talk about Hook. We are supposed to believe Hook is a tortured soul, unable to escape his past, desperate to be redeemed, wanting to be good enough for the woman he loves, and all that jazz. But none of that matters because he is a coward. Rumple got him to do everything Rumple wanted him to do by suggesting that he had no choice but the reality is he had lots of choices. Hook could have told Emma the truth. Hook could have told Belle the truth. Hook could have given Emma the hat. Hook could have given the fairies the hat. Tink wasn’t on screen but I’m going to pretend she was there and Hook could have given her the hat and he would be redeemed just like that. Or Hook could have just not done anything. Rumple didn’t stick around to make sure he went through with the fairy vacuum plan. The smartest, best thing Hook could have done is told Emma/Tink/Regina/Anyone the truth and then they could steal the heart-in-a-bag from unsuspecting Rumple while he was whisking Belle off to safety. They would HAVE THE HAT. And even if they couldn’t get Hook’s heart back Regina could put half of Emma’s in his chest. I mean they could try. With maybe 24 hours left to live anyway risking his life would be on the right side of the cost benefit analysis. And it would certainly be heroic.
But Hook’s not a hero. He’s a coward. And Rumple played him without even trying.
As for Rumple he made a deal with Ingrid to save Belle and Henry so I guess we are also supposed to believe he has some good left in him somewhere. At least he admits to choosing himself over everyone every time.
So, having failed to escape or counter act the spell, everybody prepares for their worst. Robin, Will and the Merry Men tie themselves to trees in the forest. Hook heads to the docks. Rumple seals Belle in his shop. Regina seals Henry in City Hall and then herself in her vault. Snow and Charming have Emma lock them into adjoining cells after handing Baby Neal into her protection. Kristoff is handcuffed to a desk. Elsa, Anna and Emma are immune. And we don’t learn about anyone else so I guess they are not important.
The curse hits.