ABC’s ONCE UPON A TIME – “The Apprentice” Season 4 Episode 4 (T.V. Review)

What became of Anna? How far will Elsa go? Read below to find out...

What became of Anna? How far will Elsa go? Read below to find out…

Previously on Once Upon a Time… Anna of Arendelle seeks to find new answers about where her parents went, and she comes to realize that they were looking for a way to control her sister, Elsa, and her hidden magic. On the surface Elsa appeared to be just like every royal princess, but deep inside her magical powers compelled her parents to protect both themselves and her from her magic. Meanwhile Regina, the once cruel and self righteous queen, sought the help of her son Henry in finding the author of the Once Upon a Time book, in order to write herself a happy ending. But at what cost to everyone else? Lastly, and most prominently in this episode, Hook reveals his knowledge about the dagger Belle has as being a fake.

Continue reading below if you want to see what becomes of the sisters Anna and Elsa and the bond of love that compels them to see the good in each other. Also, now that Operation Mongoose is in effect, what will Henry and Regina discover in Regina’s vault, and how will they start to reveal the true identity of the author of the Once Upon a Time book. Lastly, with Emma and Hook coming to terms with the risks that are involved in them being a couple, what will Hook demand of Rumple now that he can black mail him to Belle.

This week we’ll delve deep into the Once Upon a Time universe, and see the highlights of this weeks chapter. We see some conflicts and how they have some short term implications and long term ramifications. We’ll also consider the stories that were planted this week and what they may mean towards the story as a hold. Lastly, what might be in treat for us over the course of the rest of the season.

Rumplestiltskin stares into his all powerful Sorcerer's Apprentice hat, which can be used to eliminated magic, what kind of a world would there be without it?

Rumplestiltskin stares into his all powerful Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat, which can be used to eliminated magic, what kind of a world would there be without it?

The strongest element of this show this week, being the Disney fan that I am, was when the Fantasia episode of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice came to the fore front and Sorcerer’s Mickey’s hat made an appearance. With that appearance they started to unveil the driving factor behind the new season, which is the power that the sorcerer’s hat embodies. The great thing was that the hat was used in the initial scene to show the history behind the previous Dark Ones who had tried to get a pandora’s box of sorts in order to take the hat.

Rumplestilskin revealed by the end of the episode that the power of the sorcerer’s hat and that was to take away magic from others, and with it out of the hands of it’s protector that nothing would stand in his way. To what ends, one could only imagine how far the Dark One would go. This throwback to the early days of Walt Disney Animation Studios, really made me appreciate Adam and Eddy’s ingenuity in bringing something new to each season. How this hat will be used in future conflicts is something worth exploring further.

With his Hook removed and his hand left intact what will the transformation spell for Killian's relationship with Emma.

With his Hook removed and his hand left intact what will the transformation spell for Killian’s relationship with Emma.

The main conflict in this episode was Captain Hook coming to terms with his inner bad boy, or swash buckling matey of sorts, in order to become the man he believes Ms. Emma Swan longs for him to be. At the beginning of the episode, Hook revealed that he wanted to have the sweet sensation of touch by his love interest, Emma. So since Hook knew about Rumple lying to Belle about the fact that she didn’t have the real dagger, Hook convinced Rumple to give him this hand back.

With that though he planted the seed that with his hand, his alter ego as the rugged commanding pirate would prevail, and that Emma would see Killian aka Captain Hook for whom he actually was. Over the course of the episode Killian’s violent and impulsive streak did come out, and although he ended up giving his hand back to Rumple, it was revealed that the hand had no magical properties and that Captain Hook’s inner dark side had started to come out, despite his attempts to be Emma’s dream man he soon became beholden to Rumple rekindling their bitter rivalry and the conflict with it.

One of the stories that they planted this week was the opening of the Operation Mongoose storyline, and how Regina will seek to redeem her name, to what ends or with what her intent is in writing herself a happy ending only time will tell, but it is clear the Henry and Regina’s familial relationship will play a role. This week Regina made it preeminently clear that she “didn’t have anything that could cure Maid Marion’s curse”. Yet it was only a matter of time before Henry “came to the decision” that he should befriend Mr. Gold, his biological grandfather, and start gathering intelligence around his grandfather’s pawn store. This will have long term implications to Henry’s relationship to Emma his biological mother because Regina may rewrite Henry’s relationship with Emma entirely. In terms of the Snow Queen who knows how this book, or it’s author, may be used against the Snow Queen, Elsa, or the citizenry of Storybrooke as a whole.

One of the long term dynamics that they created in this episode was the relationship between Anna and Rumplestiltskin and how far he will go to use his contract that she signed with him towards his own ends. As we continue to look back into time and make sense of where Anna is or what happened to her after Elsa had last saw her, the founding of the relationship between the Dark One and Anna seemed to have some true intensity as Anna broke down feeling completely helpless as Rumple pushed her to her breaking point as he sought to gain control of the pandora’s box that controlled the Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s hat. When Anna finally makes her appearance in Storybrooke, we will see how the binding relationship between Anna and Rumplestiltskin will impact her upon her return into Elsa’s life.

Next week the Snow Queen's motives and means will come to the fore as she shares an intense conversation with Elsa.

Next week the Snow Queen’s motives and means will come to the fore as she shares an intense conversation with Elsa.

Looking forward into the Halloween themed episode it seems like there is nothing but all of the subconscious coming to the fore as Emma and Regina’s relationship comes into question. Lastly, the most haunting thing was that the Snow Queen told Elsa that “she was going to build a snowman” alluding to the popular song “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?”, demonstrating the wickedness of the Snow Queen. Finally the only big reveal from this week was that the Snow Queen had come to our realm before the curse was first cast.  How was that possible considering the Fairytale Characters had never even heard of our realm. Tune in next week to find out more about Emma’s connection to the Snow Queen, and what came of Elsa’s sister Anna.

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