Categories
New Show Recap

New Show Recap: Once Upon a Time Episode 4×09, “Fall”

Hello, all! OUAT is back after a week-long break, and now we’re on episode 9, and the Snow Queen’s spell is about to take hold. So what happens, and how do our sometimes-bumbling heroes fix it?

The Snow Queen’s spell is starting to take effect, and Rumpel pays her a visit, seeking to make a deal. Rumpel wishes to leave Storybrooke with Belle and Henry before everyone in the town starts to kill each other, or else he’ll spend the rest of eternity seeking to strike the Snow Queen down.

As Emma and the gang watch the spell beginning to take shape, they decide to try and leave town. David is the guinea pig who tries to break the ice wall with a pickax. Some of the ice shatters, and Elsa finds Anna’s necklace. She takes it as a sign that they’ll win. The gang decides to separate, seeking to try and get everyone out of town as Emma and Elsa seek out Rumpel to see what answers he might have. Belle has done some research, and the spell can be undone by someone who has already been under the spell and is now immune to its effects: Anna. Emma and Elsa decide to track Anna down.

In the flashback, Ingrid’s freezing spell has broken, and Anna is determined to find the urn so that she can free Elsa. She sees that Rumpel has left some straw behind, and she deduces that he has the urn. Suddenly Hans and crew, who have been unfrozen now that Elsa is gone, enter the room, ready to arrest Anna and Kristoff for treason and to become the new king of Arendelle (don’t ask how that can happen, since I thought Elsa reneged on that in the film). Cue swordfight!

Rumpel is using Hook as a henchman. Now that the fairies are gathering at Granny’s diner to try and use their magic to cast a counter spell, Hook is supposed to use the sorcerer’s hat to harness their power so he can cleave himself from the dagger. Hook objects to this, and Rumpel basically laughs and reveals his plans in a very Petyr Baelish moment.

Regina takes Henry with her to warn Robin Hood of the approaching spell. As Henry helps the Merry Men break camp, Regina has a moment with Robin; she’s convinced as soon as the spell of Shattered Sight takes effect, Robin will begin to hate her, and she wants to remember him in that moment. Awwww!

Elsa and Emma have cast a locator spell with Anna’s necklace. In the flashback, Kristoff and Anna have escaped, Hans and his men and have taken refuge in the forest, and Anna decides to make use of the Wishing Star to get Elsa back. Blackbeard has access to it, somehow, and Anna decides to clear out the treasury and buy it from Blackbeard. Don’t ask me how Edward Teach got to Arendelle.

Elsa and Emma think they have found Anna in the mine tunnels below the town, and Elsa senses that her sister is within the caves, but they cannot reach her because of some kind of magic that is acting as a barrier.

Anna and Kristoff find Blackbeard, and he demands a price for his piece of the Wishing Star: his weight in gold. Anna and Kristoff hedge a little bit on this, and decide to go with it, only guess what — Hans.

As Regina prepares to blast through the barrier in the mine, David comes to the mine just in time to let them now that the fairies might not need Anna to cast the spell, but that they might be able to pull the mirror dust out Anna’s necklace. No one wants to sacrifice Anna. Regina reminds Snow and Charming that they’re leaders and they have to make a choice for the greater good, and that no matter what, someone will lose out: either the town or Anna. As all of this goes down, Rumpel goes to Granny’s to get Belle so she isn’t affected by the spell. Elsa takes the necklace and sneaks away so she can find her sister.

So at Granny’s, they’re casting the spell, and they found out that Elsa took the necklace. They won’t be able to cast the spell, unfortunately.

Down in the mine, Elsa is able to blast through the mine with her ice magic. They open a portal to a beach…in another land. No Anna. The necklace is still glowing. What to do?

https://twitter.com/sheolaters/status/539230976883576833

Blackbeard was in cahoots with Hans, and captures Anna and Kristoff. It looks like Blackbeard knew her parents, too, and told them about the Wishing Star…and lied to them. Now his men are ready to kill Anna and Kristoff, since Hans paid him well to do it. Blackbeard’s ship has conveyed them to the same spot where Anna’s parents’ ship sank years ago. Blackbeard is ready to put them into a trunk, so a mermaid can’t rescue them. We also find out that thirty years have passed, and that Hans now controls Arendelle and the royal navy. Anna and Kristoff make an attempt to escape the trunk, which is now at the bottom of the sea. Elsa, who is ashore, makes a wish that her sister is with her, and it turns out that Anna’s necklace was the Wishing Star. At the very last moment, the Wishing Star’s magic brings the trunk ashore, and Anna and Kristoff emerge from it. Elsa runs to embrace her sister. The four of them are ready to rush to Granny’s so Anna can help with the spell, but they find the bottle Gerda had sent years ago floating in the water.

https://twitter.com/heresy_to_go/status/539233240557432832

As always, Rumpel is only concerned with getting Belle to safety, and as he leaves, he lets Hook do the dirty work with the sorcerer’s hat. As the spell begins to take hold, Elsa and Emma rush Anna to the diner, only to find it deserted and Hook hiding behind the counter, looking pretty ashamed of himself. Rumpel casts a protection spell to keep Belle from being affected by the Spell of Shattered Sight, and Hook arrives to give him the hat. Rumpel, as cruel as he is, laughs when Hook accuses him of wanting both Belle and power, and bids Hook to run off and enjoy his last day, since Hook’s heart is part of Rumpel’s spell to free himself from the dagger.

At the sheriff station, everyone is reunited, and the Charmings lock themselves up so they won’t hurt anyone, but before that, they give her Neal. Snow is convinced Emma and Elsa will save them from the spell. Killian arrives and kisses Emma good-bye, knowing that this may well be the last time he will see her. Regina takes Henry to City Hall and seals him up in it so no one will get to him, and he has faith that Regina will somehow be able to counteract the spell. Robin intercepts Regina before she goes to seal herself in her family vault for protection, and she urges him to flee even though he insists on joining her in it.

So the spell is coming and we get all sorts of shots of the characters as the tension builds. And the spell is here. That’s all, folks.

Leave a Reply