ONCE UPON A TIME – “Family Business”

Previously on Once Upon a Time… Emma reveals a piece of the Snow Queen’s deep and mysterious past.

As Emma’s past life was revealed in how she fell in and out of the foster system, we come to realize through a video recording that Ingrid, aka the Snow Queen, had been her foster mother for 6 months, without Emma ever having a recollection of it.

With all of these questions surrounding Emma’s connection to the Snow Queen, Emma feels as motivated as ever to find out her true intentions to both herself and the city as a whole.

Click ahead for our recap and review of this weeks latest episode of “Once Upon A Time”

With so many clues left behind by the Snow Queen, just how far will Elsa go to find her sister, Anna, and when will Anna’s fate be revealed.

It was revealed that the Snow Queen’s intention is to create a family. How had she lost her original family? How has she been fighting to reclaim one ever since lost her family? Is the truth to Snow Queen’s contention that Anna and Elsa are her nieces? Tune in to find out Belle’s story on how she met the Dark One and what the Snow Queen intends to do to turn Storybrooke on it’s head.

Continue reading the review if you’d like to know the history between Belle and the royal sister’s  of Arendelle, Anna and Elsa. What compelled Belle to the door step of the Dark One? What does the Snow Queens evil plan entail? In modern day Storybrooke, Belle is helping Elsa search for clues inside of the library about the whereabouts of Anna, which triggers an internal struggle for Belle about what it means to be a hero. For Belle, we further explore what her familial roots are, and just how deep she is willing to go to stay in touch with them. Lastly, we realize that the Snow Queen’s reemergence in Arendelle and by extension Storybrooke served Ingrid, aka the Snow Queen’s, larger goal.

At the beginning of the episode, Henry suggested that everyone seek out the ice cream truck that Ingrid used because there might be some clues there. Once they came upon the truck, Emma, Robin Hood, Hook, and Regina, realized that the Snow Queen had been tracing Emma since her arrival in our realm so many years ago. As to what her intent was in seeking her out was, only over the course of the episode, through Belle’s story, would we come to realize her agenda. In this episode, we find out what led to Belle’s transformation from sheltered princess, to iconic hero.

Belle and Emma seek out answers for their unresolved familial for those that lost so much.

Once upon a time, Belle’s parents castle was under attack as the Troll War waged on. As Belle and her mother looked for items to take before escaping, they reminisced on how Belle’s mother’s reading to her at an early age, lit the fire that became Belle’s passion for reading. As the castle was under attack, one of the trolls found Belle and her mother, and in an instant Belle blacked out, only to awaken to find her mother dead. Their were so many questions about her death left unanswered by her father. With that, Belle went on a quest to find Grand Papi, and in the process found Anna who sought many answers of her own. Namely, who was this lady claiming to be her aunt, and what was her intent in returning to Arendelle.

Upon returning to Arendelle with the news that Anna and Elsa’s parents were trying to eliminate Elsa’s powers, Anna didn’t know how to approach her sister.  So while feeling threatened at the prospect of her new “aunt” Anna sought some answers from the Rock Trolls. After crossing paths with Belle, Belle was able to get a rock from Grand Papi that given the right spell would reveal what happened to Belle’s mom. Also Grand Papi made some startling revelations about the royal family of Arendelle, that Elsa’s mother, Gerda, did have two older sisters, the oldest was Ingrid and the middle sister was Helga. Grand Papi, although sworn to secrecy, revealed to Anna that Helga and Ingrid vanished in the royal garden never to be seen or heard of again.

As Ingrid the Snow Queen saw Anna as a liability in reshaping the royal family, she sought to take matters in her own hand by removing her power.

Upon hearing that troublesome news, the two ventured back to their homes, only to be ambushed by the Snow Queen and all of her power. Sadly for Anna, Belle had to decide to either reclaim the rock that would give her some clarity on her mother’s passing, or pull Anna up from the mountain. As Anna hits the ground far beneath the mountain, the Snow Queen took her hostage, and the Sorcerer’s Hat with it, and locked her up. As the struggle between Anna and Ingrid intensifies, it is revealed that the Snow Queen desires the chance to be a family again. But at what cost?

Let’s further analyze Belle’s familial roots, and how far she’ll go to reclaim her lineage. After returning home feeling devastated without the rock to show her the answer about her mother, her father the king, feels as though he has no choice and tells her the queen’s final act. Belle’s father tells her that while the castle was under attack, Belle’s mother stepped in between an ogre and Belle, and sacrificed herself for the good of her daughter. Having returned home, and with very little hope of defeating the ogres in their ongoing onslaught, Belle proposes to go to the Dark One, but her father cautions her saying that, “Magic comes at a cost.” How far will Belle be willing to go to follow in her mother’s footsteps, to protect her kingdom?Tune in next week to find out.

Will Belle realize the fear that is still alive and well in Rumplestiltskin’s heart or will he rectify the situation so that he can address his concerns.

Belle’s guilt materialized itself as she commanded Rumple to take her to the Snow Queen. Once she entered her lair, she saw the all powerful mirror that Ingrid, the Snow Queen, created that had Belle question all of her internal grievances. Rumple broke the curse, and came to realize that the Snow Queen would use the mirror against the entire city, with the exception of Elsa and Emma. Why one might ask? In order to recreate the sisterhood and family that Ingrid once had, and to follow through on a prophecy that was created about Emma, otherwise known as the Savior. Next week though how far will the Snow Queen go in turning Emma against her community and more significantly her own family members due to their lack of magic. Tune in next week to find out Emma’s resolution or how the Snow Queen will influence her behavior.