Once Upon a Fangirl...: Family Business

In this Belle centric episode, we get to see her backstory before she met Rumple as she comes across Anna in Arendelle while trying to regain her memories of her mother Colette (played by special guest star Frances O'Connor) after she discovers she died during a raid in the ogres war, with Grand Pabbie giving her a magical stone which will bring them back. In the midst of it all, Anna discovers the new addition to her & Elsa's family tree, Ingrid The Snow Queen (yes, she finally has a name), which she is suspicious about as their mother had never told her & joins Belle, but Grand Pabbie reveals that she had 2 sisters & a tragedy made him erase everyone's memories of Helga & Ingrid. However, the Snow Queen finds out about the box & causes a gust of wind on a cliff the women are on with Anna hanging for her life, with Belle being forced to choose between saving Anna or the stone. The stone breaks which therefore means she can't get the memories back of her mother & decides to save Anna, but she falls off the cliff, the Snow Queen kidnaps her & takes the box. When back home, Maurice finally reveals Colette sacrificed herself to save Belle & her mother's bravery inspires Belle to get Rumplestiltskin to help stop he Ogres War no matter the cost. In Storybrooke, Belle plans to go and confront the Snow Queen & make up for the mistake she made years ago, forcing Rumple to join her with the dagger after he refuses to go willingly because of the possible danger she'd be in. When they finally get to where she's been hiding, it's revealed she's actually after the hat that Rumple now has & comes across a mirror version of herself which puts horrible things in her head & reveals the dagger is fake. However, Rumple gets her to snap out of it after she's put in a trance & attacks him with the dagger, finally breaking down & revealing that she knew Anna in Arendelle & apologises for keeping it from everyone & hurting him. Oh yeah, and Rumple confronts the Snow Queen again & she tells him to stay out of her way & he threatens to use the hat on her as he finally has leverage against her! Meanwhile, after the revelation in the last episode, Emma, Hook, Regina, David & Robin investigate more surrounding the Snow Queen & her plan along with how & why Emma's memories were erased of the Snow Queen in her life. They discover a scroll written in runes which reveals that she needs Emma for a prophecy as she intends to use Emma & Elsa as replacements for her sisters & is planning on using the mirror, which has a spell called Shattered Sight, which will make everyone in Storybrooke turn against each other while she'll have her perfect little family all to herself.
I absolutely loved this episode! I was so so excited to see Belle's mother ever since she was first announced & it felt like a huge breath of fresh air seeing Belle get more screen time after the last few episodes pretty much doing nothing! I loved that she got to prove that she was more than just Rumple's little wife throughout & wouldn't be restrained from doing what she wanted just because it may put her in danger, considering Rumple has used the 'I want to protect you' card quite a few times to avoid her going & helping with beating the villains! Also, the fact Belle has secrets & has made mistakes makes her more human to me rather than just having her be perfect all the time, which ironically makes her more perfect to me as I'm the kind of person that loves characters that aren't purely bad or good (hence why I still enjoy Rumple's character despite his regression into villainy. I don't know, making him fully reformed would make him too boring to me). I know people complained about her using the dagger on Rumple, but the thing is it was a last resort for her & was evidently regretful over it considering she broke down & apologised repeatedly! So no, I didn't find it out of character! And I do appreciate that the writers have made Belle & Rumple a much more realistic married couple in that they do have arguments/disagreements & keep secrets, but still love each other at the end of it all (as that breakdown scene in the shop proved). Another part that I liked was that the scenes inbetween Belle's flashback & Storybrooke scenes actually progressed the plot, finally revealing the Snow Queen's plans with both Emma & Elsa along with her past as a child & Regina letting Robin go so he can save Marian himself. I do think the prophecy is pretty creative (if not very complicated) along with the fact Anna & Elsa's mother was Gerda from the original Snow Queen story (except they weren't sisters in the original) & I loved the show's version of the mirror paid tribute to it but still added their own twist on it! As for the flashbacks, I enjoyed seeing Belle & Anna's interactions given that they have surprisingly similar personalities & I liked seeing Belle take control of what she wanted & it proves her mother meant so much to her & I enjoyed seeing more of Ingrid & the family tree expanding. But then comes Emilie de Ravin as Belle! There's no denying that she does an amazing performance in this episode! That mirror scene was executed perfectly along with the breakdown scene (Emilie & Robert's chemsitry is incredible! Probably the best I've seen from them together) & I'm so glad she showed more of her acting chops after being pretty restrained thanks to the little material that she was given in the last few episodes. However, if there are a few things I'd critique, it'd be the addition of Oaken felt a bit silly to me since he was made like a cartoon character & I don't think it translates well into live action (OK, Belle's reactions to him were hilarious). That's just nitpicking from me, sorry! And I was surprised Colette was only in one scene at the start, but I still enjoyed her nonetheless & the impact she had on her daughter was pretty clear throughout! Other than that, this episode was much much better than I thought it was going to be thanks to amazing acting (ESPECIALLY from Emilie), nice pacing, great story progression, character development & some rather nice visuals! This is easily my favourite season 4 episode so far next to 4x01 & not just because it's Belle centric, but because it shows how to balance character development & story progression perfectly!

Wow! Can definitely see where Belle got her beauty from!

Thank you for the nightmare fuel!

Nice parallel with 2x04!

Poor poor Belle discovering her mother is dead like this! :'(

'I've been looking all over the house for you! Didn't even hear you leave!' 'I didn't want to wake you.' Code for 'so I can carry on secretly using the hat without you knowing!'

Love seeing the whole family team up in the sheriff station!

Nice to see you again Maurice! Still feels weird to think he's Rumple's father in-law in Storybrooke...

Interesting she has another version of her iconic blue outfit!

Hmm, nice map!

Love how they've recreated Elsa's coronation dress...although I wish they'd make original designs instead of copying straight from the movie (like everything else Frozen related in this...)!

Aww, nice to see them reunited!

So her name is Ingrid...

HAHA! 'I'm a good judge of character!' 'Says the girl who agreed to marry Hans 10 minutes after she started talking to him!' 'I was young & naive!' 'You met me the next day!' 'YOUNGER!'

Love the chemistry between these two!

HAHAHA! 'It's bad enough I'm stuck with you & Captain Guyliner making eyes at each other!'

OOH!!! Seems she's been following Emma all her life!

Nice seeing Belle & Elsa interact even if Belle is lying to her...

LOVE her outfit & hair!

Nice to see how Belle & Anna became friends!

Hi Oaken who looks like Zidler from Moulin Rouge in this!

'I'm sorry Robin, but if you truly want to save Marian, you're gonna have to forget about me. And find a way to fall back in love with your wife. 'God, that is such a big sacrifice, Regina!

OOH! 'I have a warning for you: Stay out of my way!' Seems it's quite frosty between them now!

Looks like Anna is still as clumsy as ever!

WHY IS SHE CARRYING THE BOX?!

'I just pray you'll never cross paths with that twisted man!' Little does she know that 'twisted man' would be Belle's future husband!

Am I the only one who noticed Belle's scarf has little daggers & swords on it?

'Belle, I gave you that dagger because I trusted you. Because I thought you would never want to control me.' 'I know! I know & I'm so so sorry Rumple! But if you won't come with me willingly, what choice do I have?' It's not out of character if she's shaking & is regretful to use it on him!