What didn’t happen on tonight’s Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 8, “Smash the Mirror?” Check out everything in our full recap!
In tonight’s 2-hour special, Once Upon a Time took a walk on the dark and deceitful side. Be sure to check out all that Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 8, “Smash the Mirror,” reveals about Ingrid and Gold’s plans for Storybrooke.
Part One:
Tonight’s episode of Once Upon a Time checked off a bunch of answers on the season 4 question chart. The Snow Queen’s time in Arendelle is torn between convincing Anna that Elsa is a threat and making Elsa see the fear inside her sister. She takes a break to venture to the Enchanted Forest, seeking the council of the Apprentice. Her life with ordinary siblings failed, so Ingrid pegs her future happiness on a life with two magical sisters. And just like that, we have eight week’s worth of “Snow Queen Agenda” theories put to rest.
The theme in this week’s episode is coming to peace with what you are dealt in life. For Emma, she struggles to find a balance between her holding onto her magic and keeping her family safe. If Henry’s love is not enough to keep her spark in check, what will?
Another mother in town is also weighing which option will bring her a happy ending. Well, as it turns out, sexy times in the vault are one step towards making sure her connection with Robin still has a spark of its own. Answer: it does. After they compose themselves, Regina explains a bit about the storybook and her prewritten life to always be a villain. The author divides the world into black and white, but Regina’s journey into the gray requires a bit of academic analysis.
Giving up power is not only plaguing Ingrid, Emma decides to take matters into whatever use of her hands she has left and pays Gold a visit. Just her presence in a store of magical objects causes the shelves to go nuts. Gold suggests a spell that will cause destruction so large that it may level a city block. Removing the power of the Savior is no easy feat, but if it means the Emma will keep her family safe, she is willing to head out to the manor on the edge of town. No one ever learns when it comes to making a deal with Gold, do they?
Regina finally catches word of Emma’s power struggle and drops by the loft to see Henry. What happens in the vault stays in the vault, but we recommend double checking your buttons before you leave. Regina arrives with a locator potion, but no one seems to be in a rush to leave. That is until a phone call from Emma regarding her plan sends Hook into a panic. Her plan reeks of crocodile and Hook barges into Gold’s shop, but finds neither Emma or Gold. He tries one last time to use his “talking phone” laying all of his cards out for Emma. From the plan to work with Gold, to his desire to do anything to be with her,the pain in saying everything aloud is nothing compared to the test of his heart is about to endure.
The Chessboard: Gold versus Ingrid. Perhaps the best duel of the Once Upon a Time series so far exists not in tests of magic, but in strategy and deceit. As they square off midway through the special, Gold shows his upper hand circling Ingrid with the dust of the urn from the opening episode of the season, that conveniently strips her of her power long enough for him to rid Emma of hers. While he marches around her claiming to be the bigger person for not planning to destroy the entire town, he does mention he will need to betray two people for his plan to work. The first is Ingrid, the second is Emma Swan.
Robin and Will team up to investigate the author of the Storybrooke. Will’s roundabout suggestion to get to the library might just help, but first Robin needs to teach him a lesson in reading posted hours. While Robin hits the books, Regina and Henry try to relax over some comics, but Henry has a bit more on his mind. Henry doubts his importance within his family, seeing himself as ordinary and helpless. But his heart, that of the truest believer, is nothing to shove aside for some sparks of light.
Mary Margaret and David are in need of a pep talk from Regina as they sit around waiting for Emma to return home, magic free. Regina, luckily, does not put that much faith in their decision making. After all they did hire the Wicked Witch as their nanny. She goes on to reveal her biggest regret; trying to convince Henry that being ordinary was better than embracing what makes you special. The team rallies to find Emma, but Elsa is one step ahead, taking the locator potion to stop Emma.
Part 2:
Welcome to hour two! We start off the second hour with a magical hologram of Ingrid actually telling the truth! However, her track record for getting under Emma’s skin only pushes Emma closer to Gold. As we enter the second hour of the show, the focus takes a more inward turn as the characters start to look within for answers.
There is a lot of time to kill on the walk to the manor, and Mary Margaret is desperate for more details on Robin getting into Regina’s shirt. But the conversation takes a turn into exploring the good versus evil extremes. As Mary Margaret points out, Regina knows everything about her selfish and shallow past. Regina is the only one who has held Snow’s heart and seen the darkness. No matter how much hope and good Mary Margaret put into the world and got back, Regina still does not see an example of anyone resting comfortably in the gray area of the spectrum. She still believes the book seals her fate.
Robin is not taking the idea that one person can control everyone’s fate too well, after all who gives an author the right to decide that a cat needs a hat? The answer though, magically appears in his satchel. An alternate page 23 from the book shows Regina and Robin meeting at the pub. To Robin it proves the meeting they never had proves that fate can go many different ways. It is up to Regina to figure out where hers will lead.
No magic comes without risk, and taking that magic away holds even greater risk. When Emma asks Gold what he would do, he says that there is nothing in the world that would make him enter that room. He is selfish, he makes the wrong choices. Nothing, not his heroism in saving Storybrooke, his persistence to get Neal back, nor his love for Belle, can save him from the darkness that draws him to power. The choice, however, is ultimately up to her.
Arriving a few seconds too late, Hook never makes it inside the manor. Gold and Ingrid may be well matched, but he is lightyears ahead of Hook. Taking Emma’s phone away to remove Hook’s message, he reveals another part of his betrayal that comes at the cost of Emma Swan. With Emma and her magic out of the way, Gold can focus on gaining the last piece of the puzzle to rid himself of the dagger; the heart of someone who knew him before he was the Dark One. There are some friends you just wish you didn’t meet, right? Gold takes Hook’s heart, finally getting the control he needs over the pirate and his own fate.
Back in Arendelle, Anna is the first test subject for Ingrid’s shattered sight spell that causes her to see only the worst in people. Anna is unleashed to confront Elsa about the collection of closed doors and years of solitude. She may not call her a monster, but Anna does use the urn against Elsa much to Ingrid’s dismay. Kristoff sees the event unfold, but Ingrid, tired of avoiding the inevitable, embraces her inner monster. She freezes Anna, Kristoff, and the entire castle as she realizes she just lost the first branch of her new family tree.
Elsa arrive presenting a different view of her otherwise helpless situation. It is not true love from an outsider that will keep her from losing control; it is the love she has for herself. Once she accepts that she is magical and embraces that part of her identity, her magic become controllable. This scene finally fills in why Elsa can control her magic so well without Anna in her life. But don’t worry, Elsa was also in the dark about why her magic finally worked at her will until tonight as well! Emma gets a grip on her magic and takes Elsa’s hand.
Hook arrives to do Gold’s bidding, but even without his heart in his body he is desperate to make sure that Emma is alright. (And to burn every one of her features into his brain.) After he sends her off to meet up with the rest of her family and send some fireworks, in Hypable colors, to the sky, he grabs the hat.
As the special comes to a close, the remainder of the Frozen arc is set in motion. Ingrid is free from her dusty confines long enough to cast the ribbons out and onto Emma and Elsa’s wrists. Gold, knowing that he failed on his end, is unaware how much of an advantage Emma’s salvation grants Ingrid. She was not able to use the ribbons until all the girls embraced their powers. Now that their magic is funneled together, it is enough to smash the mirror and send out the splintery cloud to turn Storybrooke against itself.
Ingrid’s past welcomes back the Apprentice who presents her with a door in exchange for the hat. Her patience is of paramount importance if she desires to achieve the trifecta of sisterly magic, for the third sister is not yet born. With Elsa locked in an urn, Ingrid steps into another world. In a scene not unlike Enchanted, Ingrid looks around a bustling city in 1982.
The scenes between Gold and Ingrid, as well as this week’s honorable mention between Gold and Emma, are perhaps the saving grace of tonight’s 2-hour special. There were plenty of reveals, but they felt more like confirmations; something to check off the speculation list. There is still plenty to come now that the agenda of Ingrid is finally set into action and the shattered mirror makes its way to town in two weeks!
Once Upon a Time season 4, episode 9, “Fall,” on Sunday, November 30 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.