OhRightTheConscienceThing

Loved the Hook Emma scene at the end. Endearing and moving.
First time all season I've enjoyed a Hook Emma scene. I like Hook with Emma when he's much more subtle and quiet, and less brash, I guess. But it really was a wonderful, tender, loving scene.

Elsa was amazing. Both against The Snow Queen and as an encouraging friend to Emma.

Snow and Charming were wonderful, delightful, happy. Finally some kissing action! Yum.
Snow and Will -- nice sweet comedy. It is so endearing how Snow thought a mission was a plot by her husband to boost her self esteem and confidence level.

Regina and Emma -- really have missed these two leading ladies go mash up. Wonderful scenes. Loved their episode-long conversation. Glad to see their emerging friendship on a positive path once again, and very happy Regina uses "Emma" by episode's end.

Emma's background story was heart-breaking and painful to watch. Kudos for the young actresses in flashback.

Lucas4Brooke

Loved tonight's episode. It's amazing how far Regina & Emma have come since S1. This is character development from both sides! However weird it si these ladies care about each other. So, The Snow Queen was infact Emma's foster or adoptive mother as revealed per the tape. What I don't get is why would she erase Emma's memories if all she wanted was a family? Guess we'll find out.
P.s next week looks intense! can't wait!

DigificWriter

Sarah Fisher/the Snow Queen did not adopt Emma. She was either a foster parent or the matron of a group home (it's not made clear).

Sadie_DK

I agree. I don't think you're reaching because I share the same viewpoint that this show's originality and surprising plot lines have slightly diminished but with three seasons of curses, lost memories, villains, family, love, etc., I guess it's bound to happen. They may change the complexion of false, suppressed or missing memories, it's all the same "lost memories" to serve this season's purpose. It is a factor in both Frozen and Snow Queen's stories but I thought the creators always have their own twist.

Anyway, it's to early in the season and I'm hoping to still have surprising twists by mid- or end of season.

There's still a lot of things I loved in the episode. First and foremost, Hook and Emma's scenes that were soft and intimate as well as Snow and Chaming's adorableness!!

Actually, I am most curious about Will and what the heck he's looking for and doing in Storybrooke. Didn't they say he has a connection with someone in the past? Apart from Robin, could it be Emma and the Snow Queen? He's the one who pointed Charming and a Emma to the Dairy Queen in the 2nd episode.

DigificWriter

Just as an FYI, I wouldn't be expecting to see Lily again because the actress who played her, Nicole Munoz, has a major recurring role on SyFy's Defiance, where she plays the character of Christie Tarr (nee McCawley).

freifraufischer

I don't think Nicole Munoz is like likely to appear again, but I think it's entirely possible we will see adult Lilly again. Compare her to how we saw Neal in season 2. We saw him in Tallahassee in flashback in the first part of the season, and than didn't meet him again until the second half of the season.

My bet is that she's relevant to the 4B story line.

DigificWriter

In the original casting call for the character, she was specifically described as a young teen with "a charming, take-no-prisoners punk exterior and the heart of a secretive, insecure opportunist", and TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovitch had it confirmed to him backstage at New York Comic Con that said casting call - despite speculation that the role was that of a love interest for Henry - was for this episode.

freifraufischer

I'm not disagreeing, I'm just pointing out that the actress' status on Defiance doesn't mean we wont see the character again. After all she is playing to young Emma played by a different actress than Jennifer Morrison. No reason to think if we run into adult Lilly that she will be played by the same actress.

Also the once casting calls often include misleading information.

DigificWriter

This one didn't; as I noted, Matt Webb Mitovitch of TVLine had it confirmed to him by Adam and Eddy that the casting call that went out a little while back and that people were speculating might be for a love interest for Henry was in fact put out specifically for this episode.

Lily was most likely a one-shot character.

freifraufischer

I think we got too much specific information about her backstory. A star birthmark, an orphan adopted into a family who doesn't feel like she belongs. It's just too much time in that flashback just to be a reflection of Emma and Regina and to give us a 15 second video featuring the Ice Queen.

DR76

It was an okay episode, but it didn't rock my boat. It confirmed what many had suspected that the Snow Queen knew Emma when the latter was in an orphanage. I find it odd that Regina was able to destroy the Snow Queen's last monster, Emma was able to knock the latter on her butt in past episodes, but they couldn't destroy the Snow Queen's latest monster separately? Or the fact that she was able to get the best of them so easily? Right now, I'm confused over who is more powerful than whom?

What are they going to do with Sydney now that he is free? Is he going to get revenge on Regina? How will Snow White feel if or when she learns that he was the one who actually killed her father? Will she easily forgive him? She didn't easily forgive Regina, who was also responsible.

I was disappointed that the writers allowed Regina to finally forgive Emma. I think they're allowing Emma to get away with the mess she made in the Season 3 finale. They're "justifying" her act of changing the timeline, something which should have been a major no-no. In Emma's eyes, it was not okay for past Rumpelstiltskin to change the timeline in order to save Neal's life. Yet, it was okay for her to save the life of a woman who had died in the past? Emma has to acknowledge that she made a major mistake in changing the timeline . . . and that it is something she should have never done in the first place. And I'm not talking about how her actions affected Regina's love life. If the writers don't acknowledge this, then I will never regard Emma's character development seriously again. She will just become a joke to me . . . one that I would not find funny at all.


I found the flashbacks about Emma's adolescent with Lily rather lame. I found the ties between the flashbacks and the status of her relationship with Regina rather lame, as well. Horowitz and Kitsis could have done better than this.

DigificWriter

I disagree.

At any rate, let's move on.

freifraufischer

Regina destroyed Elsa's snow monster in 4.01 not the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen clearly has more power and control than Elsa.

DigificWriter

I'm not sure how many people would realize this, but the reference to Harry Potter goes a long way towards helping us figure out when in 1998 the flashbacks from tonight took place, because the first novel in the HP series wasn't released in the U.S. until September of that year, meaning that Emma is most likely now 15 (or really close to turning 15) by the time they take place.

Also, I mentioned this in the Emma appreciation thread, but I wonder if she got sent back to Boston at the end of the episode or if she was 'absorbed' into the Minnesota foster care system.

freifraufischer

I think it's a good question. In real life I think she'd be sent back to Massachusetts because the State of Minnesota wouldn't want to take on a burden from another state. She's a ward of the commonwealth of MA.

But given how shady they've always been on this show about adoptions and the foster system I wouldn't count on them being realistic.