Once Upon a Fangirl...: Heroes and Villains

In this midseason finale & ending to the Frozen arc, we see the group find a way to take Anna, Elsa & Kristoff back to Arendelle as soon as they can after Anna spills that Hans has taken over. Marian comes back to life thanks to Regina & after realizing Robin is happy with her, Marian gives them their blessing to be together. However, some remnants of the frozen heart spell remain despite Ingrid dying & Regina ends up letting Robin go as they decide to cross the town line in order for her to live. With Rumple, despite the setback of Anna possibly spilling the beans to Belle since she's the only other person besides Hook who knows of his plans (which she does to everyone just before she leaves through the portal), he still plans to leave to go to New York now only with Belle for 'a proper honeymoon' (until Henry spills the beans they can't go back). Everyone goes to confront him at the clock tower just as he tries to kill Hook to cleave himself of the dagger, but can't as Belle commanded him to with the real dagger. And Belle FINALLY discovers the truth about the dagger being fake through the gauntlet (which leads someone to the thing they love most/their weakness AKA power for Rumple) from the flashbacks, and let's just say that she's not happy about it (believe me when I say that's a massive understatement) as she commands Rumple to leave Storybrooke at the town line as it's a one way trip & he can't go back & he won't have any magic. In the flashbacks, we get to see more of Belle & Rumple as they started to fall in love, when Belle comes across a dalmatian puppy and ends up getting kidnapped by Maleficent, Ursula & Cruella de Vil as they make a deal with Rumple for the gauntlet he recently got in Camelot in exchange for Belle, which he decides to do since, well, he cares about her (until he gets it back from them later). Oh yeah, and Emma joins in Operation Mongoose as Henry finds a secret library at the mansion with many books like the infamous Once Upon A Time book that are blank. But in a twist, six weeks later in New York, Rumple comes across Ursula & they decide to become allies as he has 2 more stops before somehow returning to Storybrooke!
I really enjoyed this episode as it tied up loose ends from this half of the season & it is so so sad to see the Frozen characters leaving as I absolutely loved them! Seeing them get their happy ending again was so nice to see & for them to return to Arendelle ending with their wedding was a nice way to end & for Anna's reason for her adventure was to see her sister as happy as her was so heartwarming. With Robin & Regina, it was so so sad seeing how their story ended considering Marian gave them their blessing & completely understood how Robin felt since he thought she was dead for years (and the scene with Rumple & Regina in the car was pretty heartwarming given their complicated relationship)! But at least Regina gained a friend out of it with Emma & I loved seeing that she was on board with Operation Mongoose along with the interesting twist with the library & the mansion belonging to the sorcerer (as I predicted) As for Rumbelle...it honestly doesn't surprise me! I absolutely love them, don't get me wrong, but seeing this from a different perspective, I completely understand why considering he's been doing nothing but lying to her & keeping secrets from her ever since they got married, so do forgive me if I'm not exactly sympathetic of his plight! And keep in mind, we're only halfway through season 4 so we do have 11 more episodes for them to rekindle their love! But the town line scene with Belle calling Rumple out on everything was just so perfect rather it be the acting from both Robert & Emilie or the mere fact Belle finally calls him out for still choosing power over love! Still have hope for them, but like I said, it'll probably take some time!
As for Cruella de Vil (played by Victoria Smurfit), Maleficent & Ursula (recast now played by Merrin Dungey) appearing as the villains in the second half, I'm honestly oddly excited, but I have mixed feelings about Cruella as she is a non magical character from a contemporary non magical setting & her only goal in the book & film was to get fur coats & nothing else! Not much to go by for a fantasy show full of fairytale characters & it makes no sense to me! Well, it could actually be an interesting turn to have a villain in the show without magic (not including Greg & Tamara since they had magic destroying objects with them at all times)! With Ursula, it's gonna be interesting seeing her in Storybrooke since Ariel was in the show last year & she was meant to be a benevolent goddess instead of downright evil, but I do hope that this doesn't mean they'll cause more subplots in favour of the ones brought over from the first half! Still, I'm actually intrigued to see more of them & the acting from all of them was really good (especially from Victoria Smurfit & Merrin Dungey already) & seeing them team up despite being completely different villains was actually pretty fun! The flashbacks themselves I consider more of a way to introduce the characters rather than contributing to the plot (besides the gauntlet that'd obviously come back later into the Storybrooke scenes) And I am so intrigued with how Rumple gets back to Storybrooke given the small issue with the town line & how Ursula, Maleficent & Cruella ended up outside (along with how Maleficent turned back into a human from that zombie thing after Emma defeated her back in season 1).
Overall this was much better than I thought it was going to be with very solid writing, high emotional stakes, amazing acting & is a nice way to say goodbye to the Frozen cast who I'm really going to miss! I can't wait to see what happens in 4B as Rumple & the Queens of Darkness take over the town in March next year! And with Rumbelle...I'm gonna keep hoping for them because their story isn't over yet (you could say I'm an optimist)!

So awesome finally seeing Elsa destroy the ice cavern!

Why the hell is Rumple talking to Hook about his plans while Belle is asleep right in front of him?! Just cos she's asleep it doesn't mean she can't hear them!

AWW! SO nice to see FTL Rumbelle!

Interesting reference to Camelot...would really like to see it if there's a season 5!

AWWWWWWWW! So sweet giving her breakfast in bed!

About time we see this plot get resolved after being put on hold since 4x05!

Genuinely surprised with how understanding Marian is over the whole situation!

I KNEW the mansion belonged to the sorcerer!

Sweet seeing Henry & Belle interacting! Weird hearing him call her 'grandma' though...

Ooh...

Haha! 'You're just upset cos you know I'm right! And no. I am not talking to myself...'

AWWW! What a cute puppy!

Ugh, not again!

Feels so weird seeing them in Granny's!

God, this is so creepy!

I wonder who kidnapped her...and yeah, this already proves he cares about her!

N'aww! Sweet they're gonna make a fresh start!

To quote Anna 'Wait, what?!'

'Robin, you need to know something. It's a one-way trip! There's a curse on the town line. Once you leave you can't come back.' Oh no...

About time we saw Rumple & Regina interacting given that we haven't since 3x21! Pretty heartwarming after everything between them & funny he knew the whole time Henry was going undercover!

No turning back now...

AWWWW! Poor Robin! :'(

NO!!!!!

Nice to see you again Maleficent with a new headress thanks to the Angelina Jolie film getting lots of money (sorry, I personally don't like that movie)

Nice to see you again Ursula! And liking her outfit!

OK...not sure what to think about Cruella de Vil coming into the show!

Aww, haha! 'Why do you care about me?' *Blatantly lying* 'I don't!'

Oh no...

GOD I'm gonna miss them! Really loved Emma & Elsa's friendship!

'Who was he in the other world? Wait, let me guess! He was a fairy godfather, wasn't he?' 'Well, not exactly. He was an evil sorcerer you're lucky to have never met. Rumplestiltskin!' 'Wait, what?!' 'You knew him? He explicitly said he didn't know anything about you!' 'Well, that's a lie! Not that I'm surprised. All he does is lie!' OH GOD!

Hmm, some nice graphics!

'I don't understand. Why can't I (crush Hook's heart)? 'Because I commanded you not to!' OOOOH!

'And now you can take us to the town line. Because we need to be alone for what comes next!' Wow. You really don't want to mess with an angry Belle!

'No! It's my turn to talk! Do you remember the first time you saved me? You traded for me. I thought I saw something in you! Something good! Well, I found that gauntlet today and that's when I finally realized that all the signs I've been seeing are correct. You never give up power for me, Rumple! You never have! You never will! You told me that gauntlet could lead you to someone's weakness. To the thing they loved the most! Well, you know where it led me Rumple? To the real dagger! Your true love is your power!' Thank you Belle for telling EVERYTHING like it is!

Yeah, 'oh shit' is a massive understatement to describe his face now that he's been caught out!

'I like the power! But there's nothing wrong with power! Not when it means that I- that we can have it all!' 'I just wanted you! I wanted to be chosen! I tried to be EVERYTHING for you, Rumple! But I wasn't and I lost my way trying to help you find yourself! But not anymore!' God, hearing her say this is so heartbreaking but he deserves to hear all of it!

Rumple, crying & making promises you obviously don't intend to keep just for pity is not going to work!

'Rumplestiltskin. I command you to leave Storybrooke!' OK, I did NOT expect this!

'I don't want to lose you!' 'You already have!' 'Belle, please! I'm afraid!' One part of me feels sorry for him cos Robert's acting is so so heartbreaking yet the other feels like he got what he deserved cos he bought this on himself & she has every right to be angry at him...anyone else feel like that?

N'aww!

Aww, she looks lovely!

Wow! Scary how much Georgina looks like Elsa wearing that dress! I know, she already looked like Elsa in her blue dress & braid, but this time round, it just makes it clearer how much she really looks like her!

'What is that amazing smell?' 'Chocolate!' Nice final blatant Frozen reference to end on! At least it wasn't a Let It Go pun!

Aww! Nice parallel to the very first camera shot of them in 4x01! Sad we didn't get to see the wedding after all the build up though...

Of course everything is fine for them...ugh (hey, just cos Rumbelle have broken up for now, it doesn't mean I'm gonna shift to CaptainSwan or I'm gonna change my mind about them)