A Tale of Two Sisters (Once Upon a Time)

Opening sequence

Snowflakes glide through the title card, and snow is seen littering the forest.

Event chronology

The Enchanted Forest flashback with Gerda and her husband takes place five years before Anna reaches the Enchanted Forest in "White Out". The Arendelle events take place two years after the events of Frozen, before "Rocky Road" and before Anna arrives in the Enchanted Forest in "White Out", and after the events of "The Snow Queen". The Enchanted Forest flashback with Maid Marian and the Evil Queen takes place sometime after "Lacey", and immediately before the events of "Snow Drifts". The Storybrooke events take place after "There's No Place Like Home".

In the Characters' Past

The episode begins in Arendelle with Anna (Elizabeth Lail) and Elsa's (Georgina Haig) parents sailing harsh waters, preparing for the worst; they release a message in a bottle to the water, containing the truth behind their expedition, before the ship capsizes.

Five years later (two years after the events of Frozen), Anna and Elsa prepare for Anna's wedding to Kristoff (Scott Michael Foster) when Elsa finds her mother's diary, which reveals that the reason for their "business" trip had to do with Elsa's seemingly uncontrollable ice powers. Elsa feels guilty that she may be the reason for their deaths, but Anna sets out to prove it wasn't, and meets with Grand Pabbie (John Rhys-Davies), the Troll King, to find out where their parents had gone. He reveals that they were headed to a land called Misthaven.

Later, Anna goes missing and Elsa seeks out Kristoff to help her find Anna. He reveals that she has set out to Misthaven in an effort to prove to Elsa she was not the cause of her parents demise. Kristoff reveals that there is another name for Misthaven: the Enchanted Forest.

In Storybrooke

Elsa emerges from the barn where she entered Storybrooke. Grumpy (Lee Arenberg) and Sleepy (Faustino Di Bauda) are driving down the road when they almost run into Elsa; she freezes the truck before impact.

Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) leaves the diner to apologize to Regina (Lana Parrilla) for breaking up her and Robin Hood (Sean Maguire) — whom she inadvertently reunited with his deceased wife Marian (Christie Laing) after traveling back in time in the previous episode. Angry, she leaves to her office. Robin later talks to her that although his feelings for her were (and are) real, he made a vow to his wife and intends to keep it. Regina later makes her way to the mental hospital and releases Sidney Glass (Giancarlo Esposito), who she has kept there since the first curse broke. She tasks him to help her turn back time to kill Marian. She reimprisons him within the Magic Mirror, promising to release him once she accomplishes her goal, to show her the exact moment she captured Marian, only to be given a visual reminder of herself as the Evil Queen.

Grumpy tells Emma about the incident with Sleepy; she and Killian "Hook" Jones (Colin O'Donoghue) follow a trail of ice that Elsa left which leads to a warehouse. In order to protect herself, Elsa creates a snow monster which chases them (and others) out of the area. Emma, Hook, Robin Hood, and David Nolan (Josh Dallas) try to defeat the monster in the woods, only to all got knocked unconscious. Marian also shoots an arrow at the monster, which only serves to incur its wrath. The monster then heads towards Marian, and when Regina shows up, she merely smiles when Marian asks her to help, and disappears. However, at the last second, Regina defeats the snow monster by burning it. Marian thanks Regina, with Regina welcoming her to Storybrooke. Afterwards, Regina disappears, still heartbroken, before Emma could talk to her about the recent developments. Emma uses the recent events as a way of avoiding Hook, whom she started a relationship with. Emma later tells Regina that despite her heartbreak, she will continue to make sure that everyone has a happy ending. Regina comes to a realization: everyone in Henry's book of fairytales has a happy ending except the villain(s); she then tells Sidney to find "the writer" of the book so she can make her, the villain, have the happy ending.

Elsewhere, Belle (Emilie de Ravin) and Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) prepare for their honeymoon. Mr. Gold stops by his son Neal's (Michael Raymond-James) grave to say his goodbyes. While there, he tells Neal that he plans on undoing a lie he told to Belle and secretly give her the real dagger that holds his power. The two honeymoon in an old mansion (including recreating the waltz scene from Beauty and the Beast, complete with costumes, chandelier and music), where Mr. Gold sneaks his dagger into her purse. Later that night, Mr. Gold finds a locket sitting next to Belle's purse, and retrieves his dagger to open it. The contents revealed is a sorcerer's hat.

After the snow monster is defeated, Elsa finds out about Mr. Gold's pawn shop and breaks in. She finds a necklace she remembered Anna wearing, which resurrects her plans to find Anna in Misthaven.

Production

This episode title is named after Elsa and Anna as it begins their story two years after the events of Frozen.

The Frozen plot was first introduced at the end of the third season of the series. The show's executive producers explained that Disney had not asked them to do a crossover for the original film. Rather, they fell in love with Frozen when it premiered in November, saw it three more times, then developed a story idea in February and successfully pitched it to ABC Studios, the ABC network, and then Disney brand management. The producers shared that "their writers' room was "basically a 'Frozen' appreciation room" and they would be "completely honored" if the original movie stars wanted to reprise their roles. Producer Adam Horowitz said that they were not going to "redo" the film: "We're very aware of what we think makes this character from 'Frozen' so special and we want to honor that and make sure that what we do is in the universe of [what] everyone fell in love with this past year."

On June 7, 2014, TVLine reported that Anna and Kristoff would also appear in the show alongside Elsa, casting had begun for all three characters, and that Elsa would appear in approximately nine episodes. By the first week of July, it had been confirmed that the show's producers had cast Georgina Haig as Elsa, Elizabeth Lail as Anna, and Scott Michael Foster as Kristoff. Later on July 22, TVLine announced the appearance of Hans in the third episode of this series' Season 4, and on July 28, actor Tyler Jacob Moore was announced to have been cast in this role. On the same day, John Rhys-Davies was cast as the voice of rock troll Pabbie. A first look at a Frozen scene from the show's fourth season was screened at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, which depicted a story line taking place after the animated film's events.

With regards to the ending scene where Rumplestiltskin uncovers the sorcerer's hat, Edward Kitsis said "Yes, that’s the Sorcerer’s hat from Fantasia. [...] We’re going to learn a lot more [about the hat]. That’s going to be part of something that we tell for a while, but clearly he wanted it badly enough that he was willing to go back on his pledge, because he can resist everything but temptation."

Ratings

The episode, thanks in part to the buildup around the Frozen storyline, saw its biggest numbers since the second season, as it pulled in a 3.5/11 among 18-49s with 9.47 million viewers tuning in, despite tough competition from NBC Sunday Night Football (which won the night), CBS' freshman hit Madam Secretary (which won the time period despite seeing a drop in viewers) and Fox's The Simpsons (who pulled in higher 18-49 numbers). It also saw a major increase in viewership numbers from the third season finale and surpassing the third season premiere. The show placed third in its timeslot, and sixth for the night.

In Canada, the premiere was watched by 1.606 million viewers, placing second for the night, falling behind CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This marks an increase in viewership from the previous season premiere as well, which was watched by 1.285 million viewers.

Reviews

The premiere drew mainly positive reviews from critics, with most to all complementing the new characters. Christine Petralia of Buddy TV said the premiere "picks up right where last season left off and doesn't skip a beat. Frozen fans will be pumped that it looks like Elsa and Anna are going to stick around for a while as they search for answers about their parents' death. Meanwhile, a heartbroken Regina seeks out an old friend to help her "change the book" so she can finally get her happy ending. And as usual, Rumple can't seem to shake his obsession with power."

Amy Ratcliffe of IGN rated the episode 8 out of 10, signifying positive reviews, saying "The Season 4 premiere of Once showed the addition of Anna and Elsa works for the series, but it did more than focus on the sisters. Regina and Rumple both took strides forward, and that sends the signal that the front half of the season won't be all Frozen all the time - unlike the trip to Neverland last year." Philiana NG of The Hollywood Reporter said of the premiere "Once didn't veer too much from the backstory already established in last year's blockbuster, something co-creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis were adamant about from the start. Instead of sprinkling on the Once twist, the portrayals of the Frozen characters were rather faithful, keeping true to the DNA of the Elsa [...], Anna [...], Kristoff [...], Grand Pabbie and even Sven that we knew on the big screen."

Patrick Gomez for People gave the premiere a positive review, saying "if the Season 4 premiere is any indication, Once has made it through its awkward teenage years and emerged a more nuanced and self-aware drama that just happens to be about witches and dwarfs – and, now, an ice princess from Arendelle." He then called the highlight of the episode "Lana Parrilla, who continues to pepper her Evil Queen with just the right amount of realism to make her deliciously wicked deeds seem justified, but Frozen is just the thing that has gotten Once really moving."

Brian Lowry of Variety gave the episode a generally positive review, saying "“Frozen” might not be able to glide through all the mazes that have taken “Once Upon A Time” from boundless promise to convolution, but incorporating characters from Disney’s animated smash has made the ABC series feel a whole lot cooler. The season premiere is heavily driven by the arrival of Elsa, the movie’s ice queen, in a continuing plot that will have her searching for her sister Anna. Frankly, it’s still surprising the studio would risk such a formidable asset in this manner, but the stunt should help rekindle interest in a program whose happiest days appeared well behind it."

Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the premiere a less positive review, giving it a C+ grade. She said "Unlike other seasons, which took us to places like Wonderland and Neverland and Oz, Arendelle does not have a massive, mythic past to draw from. There are no crocodiles with clocks in their stomachs, or literary silver slippers (to contrast with cinematic ruby ones), or tiny bottles that say “drink me.” Instead, basically, there is one movie. A massive, record-breaking blockbuster, to be sure, but a single screen outing does not produce a relatively rich mythology from which to pull. [...] If the season four premiere (and all the promos for it) is any indication, this season will be Frozen-centric, and story supply is already running low. They already blew up the evil snowman, for God’s sake (although I guess Elsa could just conjure up another one)."