ONCE UPON A TIME There Was An Unholy Alliance

 

Episode 407 “The Snow Queen”

[Photos: Jack Rowand/ABC]

In this episode, there were a shattered sisterhood, a giant hole in the wall, and Henry as an overdressed janitor.

We finally found out about Helga. The story there was great at first. Some guy tried to abduct Gerta and Helga while the two and Ingrid were playing with a kite. Ingrid suddenly fired off some ice and dropped a tree branch on the guy. The girls vowed to keep her powers a secret. They even put on little ribbons from the kite as a symbol of their bond.

Fast forward a number of years and Ingrid was getting ready to leave Arendelle since she couldn’t control her powers, leaving Helga as queen. Then Gerta brought up Rumpelstiltskin as a possible means of controlling her powers. So they went to see him. He offered a pair of gloves to Ingrid in order to control her powers if she “believed” it. He also presented the urn in which she could put her powers. He asked for all of their ribbons (which they were still wearing after all those years, and the ribbons were still in pristine condition). Rumpel said that the sisterly bond was worth its weight in magic (whatever magic is supposed to weigh).

So when the Duke of Weselton from Frozen (a younger version who was portrayed marvelously by Jonathan Runyon) tried putting the moves on Ingrid, she pushed him away and a spell was cast. So he claimed that she tried to force herself on him, but Helga defended Ingrid.

Now here’s where I take issue with the story. Ingrid fired an ice attack at the duke when Helga stepped in the way, took the ice blast, turned to ice, and shattered. Not only did we not get to know much about Helga after all the buildup, but it was in one of those “killing someone accidentally with one’s super powers forcing one into exile” moments. We’ve seen this kind of thing overplayed in comic books already, and now they’ve used the same old tired thing here. I can only remind myself that it’s a Once Upon A Time death and may not be permanent. So there’s still a chance, however remote, that they might get to do more with the character.

Then came another recurring cop-out for this season. After Gerta turned against Ingrid, she went to Pabbie to get her memory erased. Oh, it really happened. They just forgot. Really, writers?

Something else that was a long time coming in a good way was Emma losing control of her powers. It was great to see her put into the position of those who have always stood by Emma to lose trust in her. It was also fun to watch her blast a huge hole in the police station wall and nearly bring a lamp post down on David. All this came after Emma told the Snow Queen that everyone trusted her completely and that wouldn’t change.

Is it just me or is Robin Hood annoying anyone else? Regina is acting heroically taking the high ground and telling Robin he needs to get over her and back to Marian. If he doesn’t, Marian will die. And Robin is like some little kid ruled by his emotions, completely unable to do what’s right. It just makes him seem sad and pathetic at this point.

Henry is probably the best-dressed janitor I’ve ever seen. He went to work for Mr. Gold to come find out how to get Regina her happy ending. His job so far? Sweeping the floor. Now he gets to study the magic … of furniture polish. I just hope this story isn’t as slow to build as the others. I’d like to see Henry learn some magic. Until now, he’s been mostly dead weight all season. It’s time to see something more.

And the bargain made between Snow Queen and Mr. Gold should make for something interesting. SQ trades the final piece Gold needs for absolute power in exchange for Storybrooke and her and her sisters’ ribbons. She’s either seriously obsessed, or she has a bigger plan and trying to play Mr. Gold. I’m looking forward to seeing where this one goes.

Altogether, this episode was another improvement. Not the best of the season, but getting better than where it was.

[Show web site at ABC]     [Previous Recap: “Family Business”]