Once Upon a Fangirl...: Fall

After that small 2 week hiatus thanks to the AMAs & the 2 hour episode, we're now back as we see the Shattered Sight spell begin to take over Storybrooke as everyone prepares to fight against Ingrid despite Emma & Elsa being binded by the magical ribbons. Finally finding Anna's necklace which she dropped in 4x02, Elsa & Emma use a locator spell to find Anna & it becomes a test as to whether they should save the town with the mirror dust on the necklace & destroy it, or using it to find Anna so she can be reunited with her sister. Elsa tricks them by giving them pebbles from the mines in the bag, but then it's revealed it'd be too late to make the antidote even if they found Elsa with the necklace on time. Emma finds her & they manage to find a way out of the mines to the beach, where the sisters finally reunite as she made a wish for Anna to with with her, also saving her & Kristoff from dying (I'll explain more in the flashbacks). Meanwhile, after having ripped out Hook's heart to do his bidding, Rumple forces Hook to put the fairies in the hat in order to collect more power despite the fact they & Belle were finding a way to make an antidote to reverse the affects of the curse. And in order to protect her, Rumple locks Belle up in the shop with a protection spell to avoid others entering as she along with everyone sans Emma, Elsa & Anna (whose immune as she's already been cast by the spell by Ingrid before) succumbs to the curse separated from the people they love. Meanwhile, it seems the Frozen flashbacks haven't quite finished yet as we see the aftermath of Ingrid freezing Arendelle & Rumple taking the urn which contains Elsa as Anna & Kristoff decide to find a way to get Elsa back through a wishing star which they decide to get from a pirate (specifically Black Beard), only for Hans (who turns out not to be dead from Ingrid freezing him) to try & kill them & tricks them into meeting Black Beard (who was saved by Ariel from drowning in 3x17) in the Enchanted Forest, where it's revealed that they were frozen for 30 years (so this takes place during the Storybrooke scenes) & puts them in a chest into the ocean where they'd drown to death, only for Elsa's wish to save them at the very last minute.
Although I don't think this episode is as good as the most recent episodes due to the slow pacing & no character development, it's still better than 4x02 as it does progress the plot, albeit slowly & I consider it more of a prologue to the main show of next week's episode when we see how the Shattered Sight curse will affect everyone in Storybrooke. It felt nice to see all the characters contribute something even with their own little subplots. I loved that Anna & Elsa have finally reunited after 9 episodes of seeing Elsa so desperate to find her & it was interesting to see the loopholes (OK, the wishing stone was kinda a deus ex machina, but still) throughout. I even enjoyed seeing Belle contribute more with trying to make the antidote despite her husband's treachery with the fairies & the emotional stakes were pretty high from everyone as they prepared for the curse to hit them. However, like I said, I have some issues, like the slow pacing, the flashbacks weren't really as strong despite Hans appearing again with Black Beard (despite the plot hole surrounding the Jolly Roger) & hardly seeing Ingrid as the curse was hitting didn't really make her as threatening for me. Oh yeah, and strange Rumple all of a sudden wants to take Henry with him & Belle when he leaves (even if I doubt that will happen anyway), but at least it kinda shows he wants his family safe despite his lies...One thing I surprisingly really loved in this was the scenes between Anna & Kristoff, in particular after they're put in the chest, thanks to the acting & chemistry between Elizabeth & Scott as they show how much the characters really love each other as the show & the movie mostly focused on the sisterly love between Anna & Elsa! And the last 15 minutes as Emma said goodbye to everyone & preparing to leave with Elsa & Anna while the rest were locking themselves up was also really well done thanks to the emotional stakes.
Overall, while I think this is a bit weak compared to the last episodes, it's not bad thanks to the (slow) plot progression, the Frozen flashbacks ending, seeing the sisters FINALLY reuniting & I can't wait to see how the Shattered Sight curse will affect everyone in Storybrooke while Emma & Elsa find a way to stop Ingrid!

Interesting now that Rumple also wants to take Henry with him when he leaves with Belle...

Rather slow curse...

Well, at least they knew soon that there was the tiny problem of the ice cavern at the town line!

At least Elsa gained something out of it!

Nice to see Belle contribute more!

Yeah, I think that's the appropriate reaction to hearing your brother sang with the girl he was going to marry & kill! And funny Love Is An Open Door is now part of the OUAT canon...

Boy, Ingrid is pretty serious with the whole everyone dying thing...

You really haven't figured out now Rumple's obviously gonna make the selfish choice?

Aww, love seeing more of Robin & Roland!

Nice to see you Will!

Can't help but feel sorry for them despite it being a kinda affair!

Nice parallel with 1x22!

Interesting information over a wishing star...

Nice to see you again Black Beard!

I knew it'd be an ambush!

Haha! 'It'll be sundown before you munchkins finish!' 'Dwarves, sister!' 'I don't care!'

Nice to see you again Mother Superior!

NO, DON'T TRUST HIM!

Interesting even Mary Margaret agrees they should destroy the necklace over finding Anna!

Hmm, seems she's definitely not giving up on her sister!

Looks like they're pretty mich screwed...also, why the hell is Rumple just sitting there doing nothing?!

So the mines lead to the beach...?

Haha! 'You rolled around in gold bars? That's weird! And, ouch!'

OK, how did they survive this?! And interesting they were kept frozen for 30 years!

Kinda horrfiying to think Hans could've taken over Arendelle by now...

Am I the only one who was reminded of Tangled during this bit?

At least Emma understands why Elsa did what she did!

Am I the only one who got teary eyed in this scene?

Interesting loophole with the wishing star being in the necklace!

AWWW!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!

Still wondering what's in that message...

'If there's one thing I've learned it's never trust a fairy' Yeah, maybe you shouldn't say that within earshot of all of them given your complicated past with one certain fairy!

HAHAHA! 'What a funny looking world!' 'Right?!'

Well, at least Hook is apologetic for doing this!

'Look, I'll be back soon. And then we're gonna be together. And we're gonna be fine! I promise.' Aww! Very nice reference to Beauty and the Beast there!