Once Upon A Time S04E03 Recap: Rocky Road

Robin Hood walks around with Marian and their son. It may be odd, but he assures her that they’ll get use to it. Their young son wants some ice cream. The lady at the ice creamery knows both the orders of Robin and Ronan, but not Marian’s. There’s not exactly ice cream flavors where they’re from. She tells them to trust her, and she chooses a flavor, adding sprinkles, and a bit of magic. Heart warmed, they enjoy their treat.

Emma and Hook have brought Elsa to Gold’s shop. Gold’s never seen her though, but Emma wants to know how she came to be in his urn. Elsa doesn’t remember how she came to be trapped either. Gold points out that many items fall into his possession, and he doesn’t know the history of everything. Life has been a bit wacky, and things have turned around, he’s turned over a new leaf. Hook doesn’t believe. Gold tells Belle to use the dagger, to make him tell the truth. She does. He really doesn’t know.

Past. Anna is still missing, no word back to Elsa or Kristoff. Kristoff isn’t worried though, he knows that Anna can take care of herself. It’s up to Kristoff to stop her from going. Elsa is queen, and her people need her. Elsa is a big softy. A message arrives. Prince Hans has brought an army to Elsa’s doorway. Kristoff knows the mountains, and wishes to sneak up on Hans. Elsa refuses to let him go, asking him to trust her as Queen.

Snow warms up to the office of Mayor. She’s a natural multi-tasker, balancing motherhood and her new duty. Many people are gathered in the office, Snow wants it to be a welcoming place. The first fireside meeting comes to order, but it quickly gets out of hand, with people going off the agenda. They want to go straight for the ice wall. Snow says that its nothing to worry about. It surrounds the town, but its causing no harm at the moment. They move on to talk about Elsa. She’s a friend, now, even though she did create the wall and the ice monster that almost killed Marian. But Marian is fine, or she was. Marian passes out.

At the diner, Henry chugs hot chocolate, and Regina delivers some new comics. The muses over the comics, before turning her thoughts to Henry’s story book. She wonders if there is any clues about the author. Henry asks what her plotting is about. Regina admits that the book always painted her as the villain, but she’s ready to change her story, and get her own happy ending. Henry likes the idea, and he’s all for Operation Mongoose. Robin arrives, wanting to chat. He tells her that something happened to Marian, and he didn’t know who else to turn to.

Regina goes to see Marian, and she dislikes Snow’s change to the office. Regina finds that Marian has been afflicted with some powerful magic. Regina cannot stop it, but thinks she can slow it. Elsa, Emma and Hook arrive, to see the frosty Marian. It wasn’t Elsa’s magic that did it, but the only way to stop a freezing spell is with an act of true love. Robin drops to his knees and bestows the kiss as Regina looks away. It doesn’t work. David thinks perhaps the cold is acting as a barrier, or maybe Robin’s heart has changed. Robin turns to Regina for help again. Emma goes to look for clues, and Regina hopes that she brings back-up, being danger prone, and in need of rescue lately. Emma wants Hook to protect Elsa though, knowing that the people will be after her head once they hear of Marian’s predicament.

Kristoff disobeys Elsa, and with Sven goes to see what Hans and his brothers are up to. Hans really does have a lot of older brothers, and they aren’t nice at all to him. No wonder Hans turned out the way he did. One of his brothers tells him to stoke the fire, but Hans refuses. Hans thinks that he will be the King of Arendelle, and they all laugh, he’s sizing up the kingdom before its in hand, but he didn’t have the urn before, or the map for it.

Elsa is having a war meeting. No matter how many men Hans has, she believes that she can freeze them before they reach her castle. Kristoff tells her about the urn with the power to trap people with powers like hers, with magic. Hans plans to use it, and take her castle. She refuses to meet the soldiers head on, afraid to risk so many people. Kristoff wants to get the urn before Hans can, and Elsa will allow him to do it with her help.

Granny and the others want Elsa, they already know about Marian. They go into mob mode wanting to stop Elsa before she can harm anyone else, even if they don’t have all the fact. The Ice Cream Queen is very pleased with herself.

Kristoff and Elsa set off on their quest. Elsa always considers herself an outsider, alone, even though she has Anna. She thinks Kristoff should understand, having grown up with the rock trolls, but he points out that they’re family to him, he wasn’t alone. They come to the valley. The urn is just below them, they just need to get down there. Elsa wants to create a staircase or slide to get down, but Kristoff doesn’t want to risk Hans seeing the magic, and has a more rustic descent in mind.

Hook sneaks Elsa away, but she refuses to come with him to the sheriff’s station. She knows that there is someone else with powers like hers out there and she refuses to sit around. Hook has no intentions of sitting around or taking her to the sheriff’s station, and with a mischievous glint to his eye, she follows him.

Emma and David search for clues in the woods. They’re hoping that the person with the same powers as Elsa left a clue when they cursed her. The pair split up, and Emma finds a lone tent with someone rummaging around in it. Storybrooke just got hotter. It’s the Knave of Hearts, Will Scarlet. He doesn’t tell her who he is, but give her a merry chase. Emma trips and falls on her face, and David catches up with Will. He tells them who he is, and has a very interesting tale. As a thief, the black out was like a perfect holiday. He broke into the ice creamery, and saw the most interesting thing, the power had been out for hours, and none of the ice cream had melted.

Marian remains icy. The curse is working its way to her heart, once it reaches there, there is nothing anyone can do. Robin asks if there is anything that she can do. And there is, but he has to trust her. He does. She sends him to get Henry to retrieve something for her, she’s about to take a drastic measure.

Gold works in his shop. Hook and Elsa return, but Gold doesn’t want to speak to them, and unless Hook has something to sell he can leave. Hook has something. He knows that the dagger was a fake. He’s known Gold for a long time, and his crocodile doesn’t fool him. No one has power over him, not even someone that he loves. Gold tells him that it’s a dangerous insinuation, but he has a soft spot, and he’ll help. Elsa gives Gold some of Marian’s hair. She wants to know who cast the freezing spell. Gold reveals that the magic is similar, but not Elsa’s. If he sets it free, it’ll find the person who cast it. He blows the snowflakes back out to their owner.

Snow continues to have her hands full. She has a lot on her plate, and Dr. Hopper wonders if it’s too much for her. Hopper tells her that its okay, to not be attached at the hip to her baby, and if she “lets it go” they’ll both be better for it.

Will leads Emma and David to the ice creamery, but Emma isn’t buying his story, and Will isn’t backing down from the truth, willing to prove it. Will picks the locks, and David isn’t sure breaking in will help his case. Emma takes over the lock duties, being faster. Emma notices the lack of noise. There’s no compressor, no cooling system. Will was telling the truth. They head back and find more ice. Will makes a break for it and doesn’t leave empty handed. They don’t have time to chase Will, Marian is still in danger. Emma is doubting herself and her abilities, but David tells her to don’t stop believing.

Hook and Elsa follow the snowflakes. Hook marks the trail, so that Emma can follow them if need be. Elsa reads Hook and Emma easily. She and Emma are a lot alike. They have a hard time letting people in, even if they have her best interest in mind.

Elsa and Kristoff find the urn. Kristoff wants to destroy it, but Elsa steps in to use her magic against it. Runes appear on the urn, and although she cannot read them, she doesn’t want to destroy it. It may be her only chance to find people like her since she was the only one born in her family with magic. Elsa is adamant about not destroying the urn. Hans and his brothers arrive to take the urn. Elsa easily takes care of two of them, and Kristoff fights off another, but Hans gets the upperhand on Kristoff. He wants the urn, or he’ll kill Kristoff.

Elsa and Hook follow the snowflakes, and discover the Ice Queen. Hook makes a call to Emma though he doesn’t understand the technology. He leaves her a message where to find them. Elsa wants to have a chat, but Hook knows that looks can be deceiving.

Hans can’t believe that Anna chose Kristoff, though Kristoff points out that he never tried to kill Anna. Hans didn’t kill Anna, he left her to die. Elsa is willing to trust Kristoff and hand the urn over to Hans. Elsa releases Hans brothers. He doesn’t think that Elsa belongs in this world or any other. He opens the urn and the liquid heads towards Elsa, but doesn’t take her. It’s someone else. No one checked to see if it was empty. The Ice Queen was inside, and she heard everything that Hans, said freezing him. His brothers run off. The Ice Queen didn’t want anyone else to be trapped in the urn.

Hook has seen enough. He and Elsa go to get Emma, but the Ice Queen stops him. She and Elsa have some catching up to do. The magic of the rock trolls, they pull memories. They did the same to Anna. Some memories are too painful, eventually everyone fears them. She says that Anna put Elsa there, just the people of the town tried to turn on her. But Elsa knows that she did it and by hurting one of them she caused the fear. The Ice Queen just wanted to teach Elsa a lesson and she’s about to teach her another. She sets ice above Hook

. Emma arrives, and the Ice Queen knows her, though Emma doesn’t recognize her.

Elsa and the Ice Queen talk snowy accomplishments, as she brings her to Arendelle. They look over the painting of Elsa’s parents. She was her sister, she didn’t want to overwhelm Elsa with that news. She was trapped in the urn by people who feared her magic, and now she can’t wait to be reunited. Elsa breaks the news that her mother was lost at sea, and now Anna is lost too. The Queen will help Elsa find her sister.

The Ice Queen left no tracks, and Emma is worried about knowing the Ice Queen. David figures that everyone knows Emma by reputation. Emma isn’t so sure, but she’s sure that she doesn’t want Hook to put himself in anymore danger. Elsa doesn’t believe what the Ice Queen said about Anna, and until she can remember the past, she has nothing to go on. Emma admits that she accidently brought her from the past, but the Ice Queen was already in town, and they have no clue why. It may not have been the curse at all.

Robin tells Regina that the reason the kiss didn’t work is because he’s in love with someone else, which makes Regina’s heart soar, but he has to stay with Marian because she’s his wife. Henry finds what he’s looking for, and Regina hesitates with her drastic measure. Regina reaches in for Marian’s heart. It’s safe for now. The body will freeze, but not the heart, safe until they find the cure.

Hook doesn’t want to drink alone, and Emma is wanting to let him stew. He didn’t listen, but he tells her that she has to trust him. Its not about trust, but safety. Everyone she loves dies. Hook is a survivor though, and he’s not going anywhere as he kisses her passionately in the street.

The Ice Queen walks the woods, and the Dark one spots her. Things didn’t work out how she wanted, and he’s sorry. He asks if Emma remembered her, and she didn’t. That’s good for her, and he asks if she’s sure she doesn’t want his help. She isn’t sure to make deals with him yet. He suggests she find some shelter.