Rocky Road

Completely ignoring the fact that the title reminds me of the ice cream flavour, this episode takes place shortly after White Out after the reveal that there's more than one person in Storybrooke with snow powers. While out having ice cream with Robin & Roland, Marian's heart is frozen thanks to the Snow Queen (yeah, she doesn't have a name yet so I'm just gonna call her that for now) & once. Meanwhile, Elsa discovers that she lost her memories of how she got in the vault & Rumple gives her a tracking spell to find the culprit behind Marian's freezing, while Hook blackmails him about the fake dagger threatening to tell Belle if he doesn't give him what he wants (yeah, although Rumple is back to being a jerk, Hook is no better now). Emma & David also investigate Any Given Sundae thanks to Will Scarlett (played by Michael Socha from OUATIW) & discover the same that it wasn't Elsa who froze Marian. Once they find her, it's revealed that she knows Emma & afterwards, it's also revealed Rumple knows that she knows Emma & offers his services for the Snow Queen, which she rejects. With Marian's freezing, it's revealed once Robin tries a True Love's Kiss on her it doesn't work as he's still in love with Regina & she ultimately preserves her by removing her heart just before the spell completely takes hold & puts it in her vault for safekeeping. Oh yeah, and Emma is avoiding Hook cos she doesn't want him to die like Graham & Neal, Henry agrees to help Regina find the author of the book called Operation Mongoose & Mary Margaret struggles with being the new mayor. Meanwhile in Arendelle, Elsa is concerned about Anna & it turns out that Hans (played by Tyler Jacob Moore) is after an urn which entraps people like her with his 12 brothers & to seize Arendelle. However, Elsa & Kristoff beat him to it & it turns out someone else was in the urn, The Snow Queen, who quickly defeats Hans & it's finally revealed that she is Anna & Elsa's aunt! (big shock? Seriously, why can't they have a villain that is not connected to a character via blood relation?)
This episode is an improvement over White Out since the tone is much more serious & I do like the focus on The Snow Queen character, with Elizabeth Mitchell's performance being fantastic, capturing a cold & subtle side to the character & making her threatening. Pretty far cry from Zelena & I am loving it! And the fact that not only does she know Emma, but that Rumple also knows that was a very interesting twist & I can't wait to see it be further explored more along with their interactions. Michael Socha as Will was also a nice addition & I love how they've kept the same lovable & snarky charm to the character from the spin-off. I even enjoyed seeing more of Elsa's & Kristoff's interactions together & it shows their love for Anna is equal & I loved seeing Hans, still being the crazy psychopath he was in the movie & honestly, seeing the jerks he has for brothers, it's no wonder he became evil! Anyway, although it wasn't a surprise the Snow Queen was Elsa's aunt at all, it's still kinda interesting to see more from Anna & Elsa's family also revealing that the snow powers were genetic! Seeing Regina & Henry bond was also very sweet to watch & I absoultely loved the scenes between her & Robin, especially when it's revealed he's still in love with her despite Marian being in the way of their relationship, with the acting from Lana & Sean being spot on!
While this is an improvement over the previous episode like I said, I have some big issues. For starters, the CaptainSwan scenes which, again, plague this episode while other characters aren't given the screen time they actually deserve i.e. Rumple, Belle, Regina...and when Emma mentions Graham & Neal being dead...no, just no! Pretty stupid reason to avoid Hook, darling! And I don't think she'll be pleased once she finds out he's blackmailing Rumple given that he gives him his hand in next week's episode! Anyway, another problem I have is Rumple's character development suddenly getting a 180 turn back to his season 1 self! I don't have as much of a problem since he has been through a hell of a lot & I do like season 1 Rumple as a funny charismatic bastard, but the main issue I have with it is how sudden it is now that he's newly married & has lost his son (who may I remind you, made a vow to at his grave that he quickly broke), but it feels like they're doing it to create some false conflict which was really uneeded & I think he should realize how lucky he is that he's been given a second chance in life with a loving wife he shouldn't take for granted...still, it's interesting to know that he knows the Snow Queen knows Emma! But the biggest issue I have is Hook blackmailing Rumple! There are so many plot holes like: how the hell did he deduct he gave Belle a fake dagger when he had absolutely no clue about it in the first place, why is he all of a sudden intefering with Rumple's personal life after all the hell he's caused & why does Rumple have to do what a smug pirate says while he's the bloody Dark One & could kill him at any time? Oh yeah, and it makes me hate Hook more than ever, forgot to mention that! I'm sorry, but this has put the nail in the coffin for me with Hook! I've never liked him, don't like him now & never ever gonna like him in the future!
Anyway, like I said, this is still a good episode & an improvement over 4x02! As for next week's episode, I am excited to see a Rumple centric episode & the interaction between him & Anna lookings interesting & I can't wait to see more of Belle & Rumple as a married couple, but the fact CaptainSwan are going on a date & him getting his hand back is obviously gonna overshadow everything & piss me off even more! Sorry, I freaking hate they're getting more screen time than everyone else!

Oh my gosh, Roland is so cute mentioning Regina letting him get ice cream!

OK, I don't think I wanna eat the ice cream at Any Given Sundae any time soon!

Bit weird he's asking her to use the dagger to prove to everyone that he doesn't know them even if it's clear he's lying!

Love Elsa's hair!

Nice to see Mary Margaret being mayor even if everyone is being rude about Elsa! 

1) Nice parallel to Frozen & 2) DEFINITELY not planning on going to Any Given Sundae any time soon!

Love seeing Regina & Henry bonding! By the way Operation Mongoose, pretty subtle since they're enemies with cobras!

Love Regina's reaction to the ugly hummingbird painting...seriously, it looks so out of place!

Haha! Still love seeing Kristoff & Sven!

 Kinda scary how much Tyler looks like Hans with the wig, costume & make-up!

Nice reference to the movie with the 200 ft drop!

Nice to see you Will Scarlett! Seriously though, he was the best thing about OUATIW!

I HATE YOU HOOK!!!! Yes, Rumple lied to his wife, but blackmailing him about it doesn't make you any better! Yeah, I'd rather have Rumple's lie blow up in his face instead of someone telling her!

Nice to see Archie looking out for Mary Margaret!

Oh my God... 

So that's where the urn she was in originally was...

Nice reference to the movie!

Seems Hans is still the massive douche! 

OK, this bit was pretty funny! Still doesn't change the fact he's an asshole!

LOVE the dress! Although I do wonder why is it that the villainesses have a lot of cleavage...

Well, that was pretty easy!

HAHA! 'HEY! DAIRY QUEEN!' Wait, she knows Emma?! HOW?!

Why am I not surprised that she's Anna & Elsa's aunt? 

OK, she looks very creepy...

So Marian is not Robin's True Love...HALLELUJAH!!!

So Regina's the one to save her...AGAIN!!!

Bloody hell, I thought I could try & tolerate them but this puts the nail in the coffin for me!

So Rumple knows the Snow Queen knows Emma...very interesting! And bloody hell, they had to make him regress back to his season 1 self?! I don't think his wife will be very pleased...