“Once Upon a Time” has indeed frozen over–just maybe not all the way yet. This past Sunday, ABC’s hit show “Once Upon a Time” returned and it’s premiere episode wasted no time introducing viewers to the “Frozen” characters they’ve been teasing fans with for months. Most of the episode was devoted to the “Frozen” backstory and began right where the movie left off. Almost every character in “Frozen” made an appearance, including Elsa’s terrifying snow monster. While fans hoped to see Elsa interact with the other characters, she spent most of the episode hiding and acting more like a scared school girl than the self-assured, badass ruler she is and as a result, the whole storyline felt slightly hollow.
However, his was not the case with the rest of the OUAT characters. Picking right up where Season 3 left off, almost to the second, there were several storylines yet to be resolved. On the romantic front, Belle and Mr. Gold (aka Rumplestiltskin/The Beast) won the cutest couple award for their reenactment of the iconic “Beauty and the Beast” dance scene, of course, featuring a yellow ball gown and a dazzling chandelier. There was also an interesting moment after this in which he used the dagger to unlock a mysterious object, which ends up being the sorcerer’s hat Mickey Mouse wears in “Fantasia.” So maybe we’ll be getting a Mickey sighting this season?
The relationship between Regina (The Evil Queen) and Robin Hood also became much darker. In the season 3 finale, Emma accidentally brings back Robin’s (no longer) deceased wife, which puts a huge strain on Regina’s budding relationship with him. While Regina does act kindly toward her beau’s wife, it’s obvious that things won’t be going well in the coming episodes.
But the couple that, let’s be honest, most people had tuned in to see didn’t give fans too much to work with. Emma Swan and Captain Hook have been in a will they/won’t they relationship, something long-running TV shows are famous for, for the past two seasons, and so it was a relief to finally see them get together in the Season 3 finale after hours of longing looks and ridiculous stalling. However, despite the climactic scene we were left with in May, this episode only gave them two short scenes together, and it seems Emma is still resisting Hook’s charms (like the stubborn idiot she often is). This time, the reason she refuses to give in is that she feels guilty about wrecking Regina’s happiness, and so she can’t concentrate on being with Hook. Since Hook is obviously smarter than that, he doesn’t buy it, and tells Emma that he has “all the time in the world” to wait for her, “unless another monster appears and kills [me].” Oh, good old Hook. This is why we keep you around (plus the very nice Irish looks). On the whole, the episode ws enjoyable, but it really just tied-up some loose ends and introduced a story line. Hopefully, the use of the characters from “Frozen” will get more interesting, and Storybrooke will actually freeze over (as every OUAT preview has been boasting about.) Otherwise, it will become even more clear with every episode just how much a marketing ploy the integration of “Frozen” is in reality, potentially trying to make Sundays match Thursday nights. We’ll just have to wait and see next week.
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