ONCE UPON A TIME There Was Time To "Reflect"

 

Episode 405 “Breaking Glass”

[Photos: Jack Rowand/ABC]

 

In last week’s episode, there were thievery, an ice bridge, and a Magic Makeup Compact.

It’s nice to have an episode every once in a while that’s not convoluted and chaotic with multiple simultaneous sub-plots. There are only a couple this time around, the main one being that everyone is after the Snow Queen. And believe it or not, there was no Enchanted Forest in this episode.

One new potential story line comes from Emma’s past, with a temporary friend/partner in crime. It played out like a new potential story line. At least it had better be. It was a bit awkward how it played in the story, as nothing more than a lesson on forgiveness.

Anyway, when Emma was caught shoplifting as a teen in 1998, a girl who was watching bailed her out saying that Emma was holding a box until she could grab a cart. She had a credit card to pay with. So she was on the run as well. The two escaped someone following them which the girl, Lily, claimed was her case worker. When they crashed in a summer home, playing video games and recording themselves on a video camera, the man found them.

Turns out it was her adoptive father. Lily had a family the whole time, but lied to Emma saying that she was on the run just like Emma was. Lily wanted to stay friends. Emma wasn’t going to forgive. Oh, and Lily had an interesting mark of a 5-point star on the inside of her wrist. That indicates to me that she’s likely to appear again soon.

The plot in Storybrooke thickened when Emma was looking at photos taken of her by Sidney for Regina. One of the pictures was of Emma with the Snow Queen in the ice cream shop. Emma had no memory of the encounter. So they went to Regina who was in her vault. And now we know that Regina doesn’t care for Emma whatsoever. While not completely unexpected or out of place, it did seem rather sudden. It felt almost like Family Guy when Quagmire did a complete 180 and suddenly didn’t like Brian at all with no indication of it before. Yeah, awkward. Maybe it will become part of some redemptive plot point as well.

Then comes the cliché.  Elsa, being told by Emma to stay in the car, saw Anna calling to her. So she wandered off … into a trap.  She built an ice bridge to cross the gorge only to find the Snow Queen, who imprisoned her. Anna turned out to be an ice illusion. That’s right. A structure of ice … in full color. So the Snow Queen told Elsa that she couldn’t control her power because of her fear. If she could overcome it, she would be able to control her powers. She was being held in ice shackles. The Snow Queen told Elsa she was going to build a snowman. As if the over sized Stay-Puft-Marshmallow-Man style one in the first episode of the season wasn’t enough of a wink to the Frozen reference.

Will Scarlet was no longer in the jail cell. Mary Margaret, being turned into a much less adventurous person since entering her latest stage of motherhood, was taken along by David to search for Will. This part was one of the highlights of the episode. MM was complaining about having not been away from their baby for more than an hour before, whom they left with Belle. So David went on to search for Will. Then MM saw a man digging on the beach (it was Will). She asked him what he was digging for. He said he buried a bag with a map and was looking for it. She found out it was who they were looking for and figured that it was a setup by David to get her to go adventuring again. She said if Will would confess to working with David, she would give him a pardon. And that’s what happened. Later, David informed her that it wasn’t a setup and she just pardoned the one they were looking for. But at least for a moment, she got her mojo back.

So now we come to the reason for the show’s title. Sidney is still trapped in the mirror. Regina wants to use him to find the Snow Queen. He wants his release in exchange. Instead, he gets put into a makeup compact mirror for easy transport. (Regina is apparently running iMirror on her devices allowing for easy Sidney transfer.) They used him to search for the Snow Queen. This led them to the ice bridge, which they didn’t have any trouble walking on (ice is supposed to be slippery, you know).

About halfway across, the winds picked up. Then Sidney revealed he was working for the Snow Queen just before the ice bridge collapsed. Really??? Did the Snow Queen somehow visit him while he was in his cell? The excuse for the Snow Queen so far is she’s been there the whole time, just nobody remembers. Shame on you, writers.

So they encountered a big Viking-style ice knight. Regina couldn’t beat it. But Emma and Regina together could. After crossing their streams, there strangely was no G.I. Joe character to talk about teamwork. It felt like there should have been. Elsa gained her courage and broke the ice chains just in time to save Regina and Emma from SQ, who had the two suspended in the air in a Darth Vader-style Force choke. SQ took the compact with Sidney and disappeared. Regina refused to forgive Emma and also disappeared.

SQ freed Sidney and only apparently needed the compact to help mend a broken mirror. Still don’t know what that’s all about.

The ending once again played on that she-was-here-the-whole-time-but-we-forgot issue. When looking through some old stuff from her past, Emma found the tape from when she and Lily played around with the camcorder so many years ago. She and Killian watched it only to find another part to the tape. In a foster home, she and other kids were being watched over by … the Snow Queen! Really?

Overall a decent episode, and not as convoluted and confusing as others. But it was still the lowest point so far for the season. All I can hope is that it will go back uphill from here on out.

[Show web site at ABC]     [Previous Recap: “The Apprentice”]