Once Upon a Time - White Out - Review: "From Fables To Human Beings"

So this episode is very, very good, even almost great. OUAT avoided a slump on its second episode and gathered even more momentum than before by focusing on the characters above all else. Not a lot of things happened plot wise; we don’t know how Regina is doing with the whole quest to find the writer, Anna is still missing, Emma still doesn’t control her magic, and we just barely got to see Elizabeth Mitchel by the end of the episode. And still, even though we didn’t have that much plot for the whole arc- and most of what happened was pretty much trouble of the week 101-, it did something amazingly well: it grounded our characters.

It’s not a secret that I’m not David/Charming’s number 1 fan, but I do like Anna a lot; I liked her on Frozen and I like her right now on the show, and it was really surprising to see how strong her relationship with David was, and it certainly helped him look like a real human being. My main issue with him is that he always acted too nobly to the point that his character looked a cartoony, but by having a glimpse to his beginnings with Anna it finally feels like he is an actual human being rather than just a mere fairy tale character.

Anna stopping by David’s house brought a lot of goodwill to the show; though the flashback started a bit slow I appreciated how fast it helped grounding David’s character- especially with his father's backstory. He wasn’t always the brave one, there were fights he wouldn’t pick out of a survival instinct, but that was just cowardice, and Anna helps him realize that- and she also teaches him swordfighting in the way, how cool is that? (Cool is Pun Intended).

Last week I said that I wished that Elsa and Anna were presented with some more humanity since they seemed to be only their Frozen personas instead of human characters on the show, but this week I have no trouble with Anna just being her because it helped bringing some goodwill out of David, a feat I deemed almost impossible before. I still want to see more to Anna than what the movie Frozen presented, but during this week’s episode it just works.

I like how everything is being tied up: the whole Bo Peep magical shepherd was obviously a plot device to tell David’s story and it was so over the top- and her entire fight scene was dreadful- that I really couldn’t connect with it, but I’m willing to let it slide since it did manage to bring us the interesting- and surprisingly powerful- dynamic of Anna and David.

Meanwhile in Storybrooke, Elsa is desperate to find Anna so she locks up everyone on the town- even though no one would probably leave anyway, but she couldn’t know that- inside ice walls. So Emma, David and Hook are up to investigate what’s going on since the ice wall Elsa created cut the power in the town. There are some entertaining chit chat on the way, but- as mentioned before- the plot isn’t really progressing.

And so Emma and Elsa meet and Elsa locks the two of them inside the ice wall. We get to see some really interesting interactions between the two of them; Emma manages to get through Elsa and they bond over their troubles of controlling their magic. But what I really like about this whole thing- aside from seeing Georgina Haigg and Jennifer Morrison’s performances, which are great- is that OUAT tackles an important theme Frozen left behind along the way: you have to confront your fears.

Fighting a battle that seems impossible is just a way for the show to represent those fears that shackles everyone; just like they shackled David on the past, they are shackling Elsa now, and while she hasn’t mastered her powers just yet she has the chance to stand up for herself without Anna and undo the harm she brought upon Emma. That’s a very important and huge step since the movie didn’t really allow Elsa to confront her fears, so it feels like a huge deal to see her doing so- or starting to do so- in the show.

And while all of this is taking place, Henry is growing up: he receives a message from Regina saying that she doesn’t want to see him right now and so he just shut downs for a while before realizing he has a say on the matter and he is not just on the sidelines.
That’s a big deal for the show. While he could still be the kid we knew back in season 1- whom didn’t change much during season 2 and 3- it’s starting to become noticeable that he is actually becoming a teenager and that he is changing. And that’s good.

Thankfully Jared S. Glimore’s performance has been constantly improving- peaking when he did the whole Peter Pan body switch- and I’m glad to see that he is more and more able to build a believable performance as he grows up in the show. His scene with Regina at the end of the episode was very heartwarming, and though he still needs to improve on his acting, so far things are looking much better than in the previous seasons.

So yeah; the show is still introducing us with the whole Frozen arc and while a tad slow, I’m very pleased with the way the characters have been presented thus far, and not just Elsa and Anna, but our main cast members seem to be benefitting from their introduction to; it’s like they have a chance to re-examine themselves and along the way they found something that has been somewhat missing on OUAT lately: their humanity.

Grade: B+

Stray Observations:

-Grumpy: “Look at the baby…”
Snow: “Thanks!”
Grumpy: “It’s what I would say if I could see the baby, but I can’t because it’s dark.”

-David: “I think it’s time we have a little talk about your intentions with my daughter.”
Hook: “That’s old-fashion even for my standards, and I still pay with doubloons.”

-Snow: “STOP SAYING LETTERS!”
That whole scene cracked me up.

-Ema: “Are you cold? I am freezing.”
Elsa: “Never bothered me.”
At least she didn’t sing it.

-Emma: “This is kinda… cool. Pun intended.”

-Signs of OUAT being a bit over crowded with its cast: main cast members such as Belle, Gold and Regina merely stopped by the episode, while Henry and Snow had just some moments of fair screen time.

-Elizabeth Mitchel is in town people! And she does ice creams! She must be the coolest evilist ice cream maker of all time.
Oh boy, I’m so going to enjoy this season of OUAT.

About the Author - Pablo

I'm currently studying Psychology while also writing fantasy books (one already published in my home country, Chile, you can check it out on the facebook icon). I watch many different types of shows, including my favorites Revenge, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and about 23 more. Currently writing reviews for Once Upon a Time, The 100, Community and Marry Me

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