Once Upon a Time - The Snow Queen - Review: "The show is afraid of its potential"

By now I’m used to OUAT being inconsistent; one week is great and the other one is subpar, then it is awesome and then it is utterly awful. Great episodes come and go just as boring episode come and go. This episode is not particularly bad- not even close to how bad OUAT has been before, like in “Brave, Selfless and True” the show’s worst episode to date -, but it is subpar. So what was the biggest sin here? I’d say that this week was boring. Not utterly boring or excruciating, just boring.

I think one of my main problems with the episode- and one of my issues with season 4 so far- is that I’m really not feeling anything for The Snow Queen. For me the best thing about her is that she is played by Elizabeth Mitchell and then that she has a past with Emma, and that’s it. There’s really nothing compelling to her character to me. Her manipulation schemes are overly complicated and borderline stupid and so far there hasn’t been much of anything to grab onto the character to make her interesting, so this episode tried to make us feel for her… with mixed results.

I appreciate what the writers are trying to do with her; her flashback ending with Ingrid killing Helga by accident is tragic and a nice breath of fresh air considering how it was executed; for most of the episode I was annoyed by how Ingrid was so set on getting rid of her magic when her sisters accepted her for who she was, but things turned for the better when Helga sided with her once the Duke tried to lie his way and then seeing Ingrid desperate as she killed her sister by accident; Mitchell just owned the scene portraying her despair and for a moment she made me feel actual sympathy for her character.

But not everything is wine and roses; to get there we had to go through countless slow paced scenes. This show is no Resurrection which can pull of slow paced scenes with slow burning intense emotions. When OUAT does slow paced scenes there is hardly anything going for them; the stakes are usually low and the character conflicts are not strong enough to justify a slow scene by itself.

For instance, when Ingrid is watching her sisters dance the show tries to portray how her powers make her feel like an outsider, but it takes more time than necessary to state that; in fact, it already showed us in a subtle way when she told her sisters to go to the dance without her, so why does the show feel this need to state the obvious? It is beyond me; it’s not something that the show always does, but when it does it really bugs me. Subtlety is an art and also a sign of faith on your audience, but there is none here.

I think one big problem with Ingrid is that she is everything but subtle; everything she does she does it loudly. Even when she was a little girl when she attacked/killed the man who tried to kidnap Gretta she immediately talked about her powerful powers which is nothing but exposition. Since then, in every scene- may it be during the flashbacks or in Storybrooke- she always says what it is going on and there is no guessing, no real showing other than just talking about what’s going on. And there’s nothing wrong with talking, but I would like for her to show what is going on with her instead of telling it every time.

Another issue I have with Ingrid’s storyline is that have she listened to her sisters nothing would have really happened, which points out that Ingrid is really, really dumb: she always says how everyone look at people with magic as a monster, but Helga never did, in fact she died because she believed in her. All her belief on how only magical people can be her family is based on what Greta did to her after she killed her sister, but she is forgetting that Helga never actually doubted her, not for a second, and that she died believing that, loving her for what she truly is.

So that means that Ingrid is either a liar or an idiot; if she is a liar then there is no enough foundation for me to care about her and if she is an idiot then she is a lame villain. It is really a troublesome position to be in; if the villain is not compelling then everything he/she does is just bothersome and one finds oneself watching at the clock waiting for the villain to be over with whatever he/she is doing.

It also really bothers me that she pushes Emma’s buttons so easily; should Emma have not boiled Neal’s bottle with magic Ingrid would have nothing on her, she wouldn’t have been able to trigger her magic because Emma would know that Ingrid is full of it; so Ingrid’s plan depended on a scene that happened a few minutes ago to work. Because that is the only moment when Emma has been actually discriminated for having magic, when every other time she has been accepted and praised for it.

Emma’s powers going out of control is about how Emma is feeling; magic is about what you feel, and once Ingrid makes her feel discriminated for her powers- which is beyond dumb considering it has happened only one time- Emma’s powers go wild, hurting even those she love. And after she accidentally hurts David, Snow yells at her leading to her breaking point and Emma does what she does best: running away.

Look, I get it, the point of the episode was that once people see that once’s power can actually hurt them they reveal the fear that they have had all along. But the episode stages that in the clunkiest way possible; Ingrid got to see Greta being a prey of fear after she accidentally killed her sister, but can we blame Greta? She just saw Helga murdered!
Then Emma’s trouble with magic was staged on this episode only so that it could make sense with what Ingrid is saying, it was made as a plot device to make this story spinning.

Instead of accepting what has been done so far and approaching it using an alternative route the writers become so set on the idea of Ingrid manipulating Emma that they went as far as fabricating something that should have never happened in the first place; Snow knows that Emma would never hurt baby Neal, magic or not, so her reluctance to hand him over is only for plot purposes, and Emma listening to Ingrid is the same.

Truth to be told, I’m mad at the episode, but that doesn’t mean the episode on itself is terrible; there are plenty of scenes going for it.
I’m going to sound like a broken record mentioning how Regina’s growth made the episode for me and how I’m liking how her relationship with Robin Hood is developing.


I’m glad that Robin Hood is showing to be conflicted; OUAT heroes aren’t usually as conflicted as the villain and they tend to be cartoonish, but this season has done a commendable effort to make the heroes more complex, and Robin’s moral dilemma pitches on interest when he chooses Regina effectively screwing Marian’s chances for survival.

Characters like David, Belle and now Robin Hood have all been more grounded which is something OUAT has rarely done in the past; the peak of complexity with hero characters came in season 2 when Snow killed Cora, but since then it was shut down for a lot of the show’s run until this season when it was decided that heroes needed to be revitalized; the show’s weight can’t be carried only by conflicted villains, it also needs heroes that face moral dilemmas and that actually makes mistakes so they look more human than their previous cartoonish personas.

Also worth mentioning is that Rumple’s interaction with Ingrid makes for an interesting insight of Rumple himself; he has his true love Belle and he could have a happy life on Storybrooke with his family, but he wants more, he wants to break free of the daggers control. That crave for power is bringing some of the worst of the character in a very interesting way; as human beings it’s normal that we desire power in a way or another, but Rumple is actually craving and he puts an act in front of everyone, which is what Belle sees on him deep down as we came to know last week.

Add to that OUAT’s funny bits with Emma’s constant reference to pop culture- this week’s guest Lord of The Rings- or Henry getting all dressed for work, and then getting pumped about dealing with magic only to be disappointed with a menial task makes the episode all the more passable.

OUAT can make many, many mistakes, but it always has something going for it. I’ve watched some really dreadful episodes of the show, but it never makes me want to tune out because I know it’s only an off week and that the show can deliver a great and satisfying episode at any moment. In fact, as far as this season has gone, there’s only been 2 episodes I disliked, while I found every single other episode highly entertaining and insightful. It’s just that I wish that this show could be more consistent, you know?

4 seasons in and the show is highly entertaining, but one thing that really frustrate me is that it can be more; I’ve learned to enjoy OUAT for what it is, a really fun fantasy family drama to watch, but this could easily be a prestige fantasy drama about conflicted and more human version of fairytale characters. So why does the show settle for less when it could be so much better? That’s something I’ll never understand.

Grade: C

Stray Observations:

-I must mention that before season 4 started I played a game called “The Wolf Among Us” which has a very similar premise to the one this show has: fairytale characters living in our world. Now, the game is very dark and sometimes even gore and OUAT shouldn’t be like that, but it should have the same character insight and treatment. On “The Wolf Among Us” there is no such thing as a cartoonish or dumb character, whereas on OUAT sometimes they rely heavily on such things.
Having fairytale characters is no excuse for dumb logic or dumb characters, “The Wolf Among Us” is proof of that.

-Poor Snow White has been reduced to nursery plots ever since Neal was born. Remember when she was shooting arrow at people? Those days seem to be over.

-Will Scarlet mini subplot of the week: a pep talk with Robin Hood. The writers really need to figure out what they want to do with his character.

-The fake capture of The Snow Queen was lame, but I really liked when Elsa hugged Emma; there is a part of me that really enjoy that these two are friends.

-Ingrid after Emma destroyed the wall: “This is who you are! And you are beautiful!”
I really felt this was cringe worthy.

-So yeah, I’m really bitter about this episode, but hey! “Smash The Mirror” is coming and hopefully it will be a good palate cleanser.

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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