Once Upon a Time: Frozen

This may contain spoilers for the the season 4 premiere of Once Upon a Time.

I have watched Once Upon A Time (OUAT) on and off since the first season. I tended to drop in and out of love with the show as storylines shift. I was not a fan of the Neverland storyline last season, but the Wicked storyline was okay. 

Once Upon A Time Cast Promo Poster. Airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC

Like many people, I loved Disney’s animated movie Frozen. Therefore, I went into OUAT’s season 4 premiere partly skeptical and partly excited. At the end of the episode, I still had the same feelings.

First, I would like to say, I thought the actresses and actor of Elsa (Georgina Haig), Anna (Elizabeth Lail), and Kristoff (Scott Michael Foster) were perfect for the parts.

I also loved seeing the returning characters. The traditionally “evil” characters have always been my favorites on the show. Therefore, I was excited by how much the premiere focused on Regina/the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla). Throughout the episode, she yo-yoed back and forth between good and evil. I think her newest journey to reclaim the happiness that Emma (Jennifer Morrison) inadvertently stole from her, and her internal struggle between good and evil will be a staple of this season. 

I also liked watching Mr. Gold/Rumple (Robert Carlyle) experience a similar back and forth with the desire to control the dagger and the power it holds. Regina and Gold have been two of my favorites characters since the beginning of the show, so I’m excited to see what is next for them this season.

After the first episode, I am still a bit skeptical about the combination of Frozen and OUAT. I think it is still too soon since Frozen came out. It’s been a little less than a year since the movie debuted in theatres. Most of the stories integrated into OUAT have been around for more than a decade. For me, part of the charm of the show is the reworking of fairytales I grew up with. I’m not saying that I won’t like the shows inclusion of Frozen, it’s still a bit too early to tell, but I feel as though it’s too soon. I was also not impressed with the rock trolls in this episode. While OUAT has always had cheesy moments, the trolls went too far for me.

I do think that once Elsa starts interacting with the residents of Storybrooke the storyline will improve. This episode, she was mostly just running around town hiding, but I think when everyone meets it will make an interesting dynamic, especially for Regina and Elsa. They are both women who were once considered monsters, but have since redeemed themselves to varying extents.

 It will also be interesting to see how the town takes to Elsa, whose magical powers seem to be nearly equal to Regina’s. (And yes, I know Emma has magic too, but look at what her magic did to the snowman compared to Regina’s. There’s no competition between Regina and Emma in terms of magic… at least not yet.)

As an ending note, I loved the scenes between Gold and Belle, especially the Beauty and the Beast ballroom scene. I also loved Killian’s scenes with Emma. Those are my two favorite ships in the show.

Overall, I’m excited to see what they do with the characters and storyline but also a bit apprehensive. Really though, it doesn’t matter what they do, I’m too invested in the OUAT universe and characters to stop watching, but I hope that this season enthralls me more than last.