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“Once Upon A Time” recap (4.8 & 4.9): Born This Way

Previously on Once Upon A Time, the Snow Queen built a magic mirror in which she could admire her cleave whene’er she wished, and was also on a quest to collect magical blondes like American Girl dolls and form a perfect family. While on this mission, she used her own insecurities about being different to try to turn Emma against her family.

We open an indiscernible amount of time ago in Arendelle, with the Snow Queen riding a horse wearing what looks like an only slightly more practical version of her ice-white getup. She arrives in a cave and hides the starbox under a rock, freezing it there, because she can. She then heads to the Enchanted Forest, where she shows up at the cottage of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Mickey. She tells Mickey she wants to talk to the Sorcerer, because she has his starbox. In return, she wants a magical family to replace the sisters she lost. Elsa will do fine as the first replacement, but she’ll need a third, and she’s willing to wait as long as it takes.

Present-day Emma wakes up in her buggy because her hands were sparking as she was sleeping. She gets out to try to walk it off and runs into Henry in the forest. He tries to tell her to stop pulling away from the people she loves, but in her attempt to get him to stay away, she ends up flinging him across the forest floor, hurting him. Her hands tremble and sparks fly out of her hands and she begs him to go, and when he realizes his love isn’t going to solve this problem, he runs off.

The Snow Queen, always lying in wait for her moment, appears suddenly and tells Emma that she can sympathize, that running won’t help, that she has to embrace who she is. Regina is still in her vault, but now Robin Hood is there too. I’ll spare you the details. Regina tells Robin Hood about the storybook and how she’s sure to be doomed to an unhappy ending, because she’s a villain, and that’s how things always turn out for villains. Robin Hood offers to set the author straight, just tell him who he is. Regina points out that she doesn’t know if it’s a he or a she, or even if it’s human, and doesn’t know how to find them, but Robin Hood offers to help anyway.

Back at the Charming Loft, Elsa tells Mary Margaret and David that the more Emma runs and hides from her powers, the more her soul will be spiraling in frozen fractals all around. Just then, Henry comes home bleeding from the ear and saying he found Emma but couldn’t help her, and the Charmings take this as a sign that they’re doomed. Elsa tries to explain what it’s like, how the more you love someone, the more you fear hurting them and the more out of control you can feel, and Hook offers to send Sneezy or Happy or whichever dwarf she despises. Which could be a coincidence, but I’d like to take it as a quiet apology from the writers for the actor who plays Happy’s Twitter incident.

Flashback to Arendelle, many moons ago. Elsa is preparing a banquet of chocolate for her sister to stuff in her face when Ingrid comes and tells Elsa that Anna has been put in the dungeon. She tells her niece that Anna had lied, that she hadn’t come back from Mist Haven empty handed, but instead with a magic hat that would strip Elsa of her magic. Ingrid says Anna tried to use it on her and that Anna called her a monster, just like their mother. Elsa doesn’t understand, and Ingrid tells her she didn’t want to ruin the memories of her mother, because she was hoping Anna was different, but Anna would never accept Elsa for who she really is. Elsa needs a moment to process all this information and asks to be alone. In present-day Storybrooke, Gold returns to his shop to find everything buzzing and twirling and glowing. He knows that this means Emma is nearby. He tells her to stop hiding and she comes out, begging him to help her fix her powers. He tells her that the only way he knows to stop what’s happening to her is to remove her magic entirely. Emma barely even blinks and agrees, take it away, she’s ready to be ordinary if it means she won’t hurt her family. He tells her it will explode an entire city block, and instead of a) being concerned by this and b) choosing a location in the middle of the infinite forest of Storybrooke, she agrees to meet him in an abandoned manor on the outskirts of town.

Flashback Elsa goes down to the dungeons and starts yelling at her sister, reprimanding her for lying to her, and asks the guards for a moment alone with her. As soon as they’re out of sight, Elsa apologizes and admits she was pretending to be furious. Anna is as relieved as I am that Elsa didn’t blindly trust Ingrid over her sister. Elsa gives Anna back her snowflake necklace, and Anna says that when they took her necklace from her, it felt like they were taking her sister away, something that she never ever wants to happen. Elsa says it doesn’t have to and tells Anna about her plan to trap Ingrid inside the urn. The only problem is, they live in a gigantic castle and Elsa has no idea where to even begin looking. Anna tells her not to worry; she’s spent a lot of time exploring the castle and knows every potential hiding spot by heart.

In the Charming loft, present-day, Elsa comes downstairs from making Henry an ice pack and doing her best to explain to him that Emma only hurt him because she was trying so hard not to. Regina comes storming in, finally out of her vault, with a locator potion and a half-buttoned shirt. Emma calls Mary Margaret and tells her that things will be okay soon and explains her plan of ridding herself of her powers. Hook knows this can’t be good news and excuses himself to use his “talking phone” to call Emma and try to talk her out of it, especially if Gold is involved.

Flash back again (try not to get whiplash) to Anna leading Elsa and Kristoff into the forbidden and forgotten East Wing. Elsa finds a broken mirror and wonders out loud what could have happened here to separate two sisters so much that one denied the other’s existence entirely. Anna tells her not to worry, that could never happen to them, and the past is in the past. They snoop around a little more and Anna is startled to find Hans, still fully frozen, inside a wardrobe. As luck would have it, the urn is in there with him.

Present-day Gold visits Madame Scoops in her ice cave and taunts her, telling her that Emma has chosen to give up her powers, that soon the ribbons she won back will be useless. He walks a slow circle around her, and while Scoops thought he was just doing a villain strut, it turns out he was pouring urn dust around her, effectively trapping her, the way a circle of salt would trap a witch. He tells her that it will hold her there just long enough for him to get Emma’s powers and the Snow Queen is less than pleased. In the Charming Loft, Mary Margaret is looking at a picture of her and Emma at a celebration at Granny’s after defeating one of the many evils they have faced. David can’t believe they invited Happy, making me so sure the digs were not coincidences. Mary Margaret asks David if they should convince Emma to keep her magic, and David says it’s her own choice. Which almost seems honorable except it’s selfish. Because, as Mary Margaret points out, Emma was born this way, and shouldn’t they be encouraging her to be herself, to live her truth? David says they put Emma in the closet-er, wardrobe to give her her best chance, so maybe letting her do this is her best chance. David says maybe her best chance is to be “normal”. Which, up to this point, people have been mostly using “ordinary” to describe non-magical people, so when Elsa hears this, hears that David doesn’t think having magic is “normal”, her heart breaks a little. Elsa remembers a time that Anna told her their parents tried to find a way to take away her magic, but Anna assured her that if they knew her now, they wouldn’t feel that way anymore. Anna tells her sister that Elsa’s powers make her special, and that she wouldn’t want her any other way. Because of this, she knows what a true ally looks like, so she knows Emma’s parents aren’t going to be the ones who save her. She grabs the locator spell and Emma’s scarf and zips out of the loft in a flurry. (A metaphorical one this time.)

Upstairs, Henry and Regina are looking through comics and talking about what happened with Emma. Regina magics away Henry’s wound and Henry bemoans not having magic, and not being able to help. He’s afraid he’s going to grow up to be useless like his grandparents instead of awesome like his moms. Regina tells him that he’s special in his own ways, that he has the heart of the truest believer. She also tells him not to worry about Emma, because Emma is a hero, and heroes always win. Flashback to Anna and Elsa tiptoeing back into the dungeons. Anna’s plan is to pretend to still be prisoner, then when Ingrid comes down to banish her, she’ll yell, “Surprise!” and put Ingrid in the urn. But not like a surprise party “Surprise!” more like a deep, Disney villain “Surprise.” I cannot possibly hope to capture Anna’s adorable rambliness in these recaps, but it’s so on point and such a nice contrast to some other characters’ over-dramatic natures. The trick is, Elsa has to be far far away so she doesn’t end up in the urn, too. But as soon as Elsa’s gone, the chains magically shackle Anna again, and Auntie Ingrid shows up and says, “Surprise!” Anna grumbles that she would have done it different and swears Ingrid will never succeed in pitting them against each other but Ingrid begs to differ.

In her ice cave, Madame Scoops tests the boundaries of her urn dust circle, and when she realizes that she’s defenseless against it, she decides to look at her cleavage in the mirror to make herself feel better. While doing that, she gets an idea and uses the mirror to use astral projection and make Emma’s car crash. Emma gets out and the Snow Queen tries to warn her not to trust Gold, but Emma quickly realizes she’s just a visage and storms through her, saying that if the Snow Queen doesn’t want her to do it, it’s probably exactly what she should be doing.

When Regina comes downstairs in the Loft, she thanks Mary Margaret for telling her to button her shirt so she didn’t scar Henry for life they way she scarred us with the thought of her and Robin Hood-together. When David enters the conversation, Regina flips out; why isn’t anyone looking for Emma? When they tell her that Emma has decided to get rid of her magic, she reacts, appropriately, like they just told her they’re letting their daughter get electroshock therapy to try to get rid of her gayness. She tells them this is the worst idea they’ve ever had, including the time they hired Zelena to be their nanny, and asks the rhetorical question, “Do you know what my biggest regret is?” and when David tries to answer by mentioning all the people she’s killed, she gives him side eye that I’m sure left a scar. Her only regret is that when Henry first found the book, she didn’t support him at all. Afraid of losing him forever, instead of embracing his special-ness, she denied it and made him feel crazy, tried to convince him that being “normal” was better. The Charmings realize the mistake they’ve made and they decide to go with Regina to stop Emma, and that’s when they notice that the locator potion is gone. That’s when they realize, for the first time, that the blindingly blonde girl in the aggressively sparkly blue dress with magical ice powers isn’t in their four by four loft apartment. Observant ones, the Charmings.

In Anna’s cell back in past-tense Arendelle, Ingrid asks Anna to recap the tale of the Troldon Glass for us, and she does. Basically it’s the Spell of Shattered Sight’s origin story. When Anna’s done, instead of getting an A+, she gets GLASS IN HER EYE, which means now she’ll only see the worst things about the ones she loves.

Mary Margaret, David, Regina and Henry start tracking Emma, and while they’re walking along, Mary Margaret and Regina have a heart to heart. They’re relationship was once step-daughter/step-mother, then evil queen/wanted bandit, then daughter-in-law/mother-in-law, but it’s now slowly evolving into a weird little friendship. Mary Margaret tells her that hope is the key to happiness, and that if Regina keeps on the path of goodness and holds onto hope that things will get better, they will. But assuming that things will go wrong, even when they’re not currently going wrong, will make things go wrong. Just look at what happened to the Snow Queen.

Mary Margaret says probably the smartest thing she’s said since she shed her Snow White badassery. “You are not all evil and I am not all good.” It’s not as simple as all that. Regina still tries to blame the book, saying she doesn’t even have free will, but Mary Margaret says that if she keeps doing good, she will be redeemed. She’s sure of it. They’re interrupted by a call from Robin Hood, who needs to see Regina right away. Mary Margaret promises she won’t screw this up again, and Regina takes off.

Inside the manor, Gold tells Emma that all she has to do is walk through the door and her powers will be gone. She asks if it’s safe, and he decidedly does not answer her, saying all magic is risky. She asks what he would do, and he says he wouldn’t go in there, because he’s a power monger, and reminds Emma that she’s better than he is. It’s excellent reverse psychology, and he did a good job not actually lying, just in case her “superpower” decided to be working today. Emma genuinely thanks him and considers her options one last time.

Hook is first to arrive on the scene, ready to be Emma’s pirate in shining leather, but Gold stops him in his tracks and ties him to a fence.

Elsa, on the other hand, surely wishing she was wearing something more suitable for running, finds a side door and breaks into the manor.

In the past, Shattered!Anna walks darkly into the room and tells Elsa that she resents her for ignoring her for years, for making her feel like she did something to deserve being locked out. Elsa can tell something is wrong, her cheerful and jabbering sister is gone, and some shell of her stands before her. Shattered!Anna throws her snowflake necklace into the fire and Elsa knows for sure Ingrid’s done something to her. Ingrid claims it’s a spell that reveals true feelings, but Elsa ignores her aunt and tries to reason with her sister. Ingrid yells at Elsa to freeze Anna, to use her powers on her, but Elsa refuses. She locks eyes with Anna and tells her she loves her no matter what, and stands resolutely still as Anna opens the urn and Elsa is sucked in, accepting of her fate. As soon as Elsa is inside the urn, Anna wakes up and realizes what Ingrid made her do. Before she can open the urn again, Ingrid takes it and freezes the entire room, including Anna and Kristoff, who had just burst in to help, too little too late. Ingrid quietly tells the urn that she’ll find a third sister, no matter how long it takes.

In Storybrooke, in the manor, Emma is about to open the door when Elsa appears, begging her not to do it. Elsa isn’t ready to give up on Emma, just like Emma wouldn’t give up on her when she was out of control of her powers in the ice cave. Emma says she saw Frozen, she knows how it worked for Elsa, but Henry’s love didn’t work on her. Elsa tells her that it wasn’t only true love from someone else that mattered, that got her in control of her powers. True love broke the curse on Anna, stopped her from freezing, but the thing that got Elsa in control of her powers was loving herself. It doesn’t matter if you’re surrounded by the most supportive people on the planet, if you can’t come out to yourself, and love yourself just the way you are, you’re never going to be happy. Again, something the Snow Queen had a major problem with.

Elsa reaches out to Emma and tells her that it’s time to stop being afraid. Emma finally understands, and takes Elsa’s hand. A rainbow magic burst spreads throughout the room, and Emma’s hands stop sparking, and the house stops shaking, and Emma is in control of her powers once again. Elsa saved the day. Outside, Gold sees the manor stopped shaking and glowing, but also noted that there was no explosion, so he knows Emma didn’t go through with it. But he’s not concerned, because now he has something else he wants. He rips out Hook’s heart, since he’s the only one around who knew Gold before he was Rumpelstiltskin, and says that before he kills the pirate, he’s going to play Geppetto for a while and play him like a puppet.

Flashback to Rumpelstiltskin visiting the Snow Queen, catching her taking memories out of the urn, rock troll style. He steals the urn from her, holding it ransom for the sorcerer’s hat. He takes Anna’s necklace too, just for kicks, and tells her to call his name three times when she’s ready to give up the starbox.

In the manor, Hook bursts in and embraces Emma, glad she didn’t go through with it. Elsa is squicked out, just like me. While Emma and Elsa leave the manor, Hook lingers and pockets the starbox.

Across town, Robin Hood shows Regina the page from the book that appeared in his satchel. It was a scene from the pub long ago, a scene showing Regina and Hood kissing way back then. This proves that she has free will, that her life is made up of choices, and that her ending isn’t written yet.

Deep in the Storybrooke Forest, the Snow Queen’s urn dust trap disappears. As soon as she’s free she waves her hand over her ribbons and they all disappear. One reappears on her arm, and she snuggles with it like the sociopath she is. Flashback to Arendelle, again, and the Snow Queen gets the starbox from her hiding place and starts to say Rumpelstiltskin, but is interrupted by Mickey the Apprentice before she can say it thrice. He tells her the sorcerer agreed to help her find her third sister, and get Elsa back, but it’s going to require patience, as the third sister isn’t even born yet. He gives her a scroll and a door to a new land and sends her through. Luckily she doesn’t end up in some kid’s closet, but instead finds herself on the street of “Our World”, in 1982.

Present-day Emma and Elsa find their useless friends and family and everyone’s glad that Emma’s okay despite their utter lack of assistance. Emma proves she’s in control of her powers by giving herself some coming out fireworks, and is quite proud of herself. Henry notices a yellow ribbon on her wrist, and Elsa sees that she has one, too. When they can’t get them off and the ribbons start to glow and harness their powers, Emma has a feeling she knows who’s behind them.

Gold visits Ingrid in her ice cave, furious. She is the opposite of furious, though, because Elsa saved Emma, like a true sister would. Gold is 1000% done with her insanity, but she’s in her criminally insane bliss. Now that all three of them have embraced their powers, she can cast the Spell of Shattered Sight on the breeders and start her commune for once and for all. Gold scoffs and tells her not to overestimate her power, but she warns him not to underestimate it. She casts the spell and a cloud of shattered glass descends upon Storybrooke. Way less cool than the purple cloud.

What did you think of the “Smash the Mirror” double feature?

Here are some of our favorite #queerytales tweets from this week:

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

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