Once Upon A Time S04E02 Recap: White Out

Elsa has found Anna’s necklace, and she plans to find her sister too. In the night, Elsa uses her powers to lock down the town, freezing everyone inside.

In the Enchanted Forest, Anna arrives at David’s home. She got his name from Kristoff in Arendelle, the only person he knows. She’s supposed to be on a secret mission, and she’s kinda blowing it. Anna says that her name is Joan, and he knows that she’s lying. He immediately deducts that she’s Kristoff’s fiancé. He ushers her into barn, Bo Peep is about to arrive, and apparently she’s bad news.

Snow puts baby Neal to sleep. Henry wonders what baby’s sleep about, while he prepares a kit to get over a broken heart for his other mother. Henry receives a message via crow. Regina doesn’t want to see him. He takes it hard. Emma tries to comfort him. Regina wants to be alone while she deals with her broken heart. She thinks she’s making things better for everyone by isolating herself. The power goes out, and Emma offers Henry a chance at a mission. Henry turns down the opportunity.

Emma and David go to check out the reason for the power outage. They discuss Henry on the way. Kids deal with things in different ways, David suggests that she give him time. They arrive to see a giant wall of ice that had to have come after the snow monster was destroyed. They get out to see how it got there, and Elsa hides.

Leroy, Granny and Sleepy come to see what Snow plans to do about the power outage. Rgina is mayor not her, she points out. But this is her curse, they helped Snow get her kingdom back, and now she needs to rule it.

Hook joins David and Emma, much to David’s chagrin. He got a distress call from Emma and he came. The wall goes across the entire city. Hook merrily thinks its to kill them all., and thinks of this as their second date. Emma tells him to wait with the ice bucket while she checks it out. David has a little chat about his intentions with his daughter, and Hook is pretty straightforward, Emma isn’t just another conquest. Emma finds Elsa. She’s agitated after finder her sister’s necklace in Gold’s shop. Emma wants to help, but she needs Elsa to spill the details.

 Back in the past, Bo Peep takes an interest in Joan for a moment. She’s come to be paid to keep their flock safe. She wants the payment by tomorrow, or she takes his farm. David wants his mother to leave this place and start over, but Bo Peep uses her Shepard’s hook to brand them magically. Anna is angered, she can’t believe that David is going to actually work the farm. David points out that Bo Peep has an army. Anna wants him to fight, to take a stand for what he believes in. She offers to help him, to show him how to fight, and he has nothing to lose except that awful hair.

The boys come to find Emma, and Elsa becomes frightened at their arrival. She obviously couldn’t handle Hook’s hotness, and the ice moves to surround her and Emma, trapping them away from David and Hook. David tries using the walkie, but gets no answer. Hook’s hook is no use against the wall. David thinks the only answer is magic to penetrate the frozen wall.

Past. David sword fights against Anna, and he’s not horrible, but Anna is much better. He throws in the towel. He’s ready to give up instantly. She went through the same thing with her sister. Her sister ran away and hid from her problems rather than facing things head on. She nearly died, but she faced the problem head on and things were better for it. David tells her that its up to him to decide what he can bear to lose. His problem is cowardice, Anna tells him. David tells her a weepy story of his alcoholic father, who drank himself silly on supply runs. On the last run his father vowed that he would not have a single drop, on the morning that he was set to arrive home the constable came instead. His father lost the fight, on the last day he spent the night drinking, and died on the road. Some battles can’t be won. Anna tells him that his father was weak. She’ll stay, help him fight, but if he chooses not to, she’ll be on her way.

Emma asks what the whole ice thing is about. Elsa wants distance. Bring her what she wants, and she’ll release her. The sound of the walkie frightens her, but she allows Emma to talk to David. Emma explains to him that Elsa is looking for her sister, that she found her necklace in Gold’s shop. Elsa warns that if she isn’t found she’ll freeze the entire town. As a villain, Elsa kind of sucks. She looks more scared than anyone else. How many episodes can we keep up this search, and not really a villain storyline?

Snow contemplates a switch at the power plant, while Sleepy, Leroy and Granny babble in the background. Snow finally snaps. Low on sleep, she tells them to suck it up. They’ve lived years without electricity, and she tells them to buy a flashlight.

Emma shivers while Elsa frets over losing the Anna’s necklace. It’s fallen into a crevice. Emma wants nothing more than to take this conversation some place warmer, and realizes that Elsa has no control over her powers. Elsa is suspicious of Emma, but Emma tells her that she too has power that she cannot control. Elsa tells her that Anna helps her to control her powers, that if she finds her sister she can get rid of all the ice. Emma tries to use her magic to warm herself, but she cannot call it forth. The cold has made her tired, and Elsa tries to keep her awake.

David and Hook head to Gold’s shop. The Honeymoon is over. The men tell him that Elsa has frozen the town, Hook demands that the Dark one does something. Rumple can’t melt the ice without destroying the women inside it. David explains that she’s looking for her sister, after finding her necklace in his shop. Belle finds the details of said necklace, and he knows who Anna is.

David prepares to have “Joan” leave before Bo Peep arrives, but its too late. Bo Peep is already there. She took Anna, and even if she didn’t she’s been branded. Now all that’s left is for David to pay the price, or hand over the farm.

Elsa asks Emma about Henry, anything to keep her awake.

David goes to see Bo Peep, who is no longer a shepardess warlord, but a butcher, which is really the same thing without the cool costume and henchmen. She doesn’t want to speak with David, but her minions aren’t there. Before she can use her cleaver against him, Hook stops her. David holds Bo Peep, and Hook grabs her Shepard’s hook. Bo Peep puts up a little bit of a fight, with plenty of venom in her words. Elsa calls over the walkie warning that Emma has passed out and that she’s freezing to death.

Bo Peep dons her new necklace. David has arrived without her money, still waring his awful hair. Bo Peep warns him that he cannot win, before she sends her two henchmen after him. David fights the pair, taking them both down. Bo Peep takes up one of the fallen swords and duels with David, and gets the upperhand, but it’s short lived. David takes Bo Peep from behind, and ties her up in her own ribbons, but she won’t tell him “Joan’s” location. David doesn’t need her help, only her hook. David finds where Anna is hidden, and goes in to rescue her. Anna takes David out, mistaking him for Bo Peep’s men. She asks him what changed his mind, what made him fight. She did. She made him realize that he could survive, or he could live. He chose to embrace life, and chose the life he wishes to live. He prepares to send her off to continue her quest.

David and Hook arrive back at the icy barricade with Bo Peep’s Hook. They call to Elsa, they haven’t found Anna, but they have a way to find her. Elsa cannot control her powers. David tells her that she has to do this, she has to fight this battle, she can win. David reveals that he knew Anna, and that she helped him too. Anna wouldn’t want her to live alone in an ice cave, and he tells her to take control of her life. After that pep talk Elsa moves to break the ice. She cuts a small hole and carries Emma to safety. Emma leaps into Hooks arms, and he carries her to safety. David is thankful for Elsa saving Emma. Elsa also endangered her, she tells him that he owe her nothing. David was telling the truth that Anna saved him in the past, and he’s going to help Elsa save Anna now.

Snow still can’t read Japanese, but she’s sure she can get the power back on. Baby Neal cries, hungry, and Snow realizes something. They need fuel. She never turned on the gas. She gets the power back up and running.

They try to warm up Emma as the power comes back on. Henry goes to make hot cocoa, but Emma hugs him first. He was worried about her. Elsa is further saddened. First she lost her sister, and now her necklace. David has a plan to look for her.

David’s mother thanks Anna for what she did to change David. Anna tells her that she didn’t change David, he always had it in him. She asks Ruth about Bo Peep’s staff, if there was anyone that knew magic. Ruth knows one, but doesn’t want to say his name. David brings out his horse and gives it to Anna. It was his father’s and now he’s ready to let it go. Ruth gives Anna the name Rumpelstiltskin, and he watches her in his magic ball.

Elsa sees nothing in the hook. Hook wonders if its broken, and Elsa worries if something happened to her. Emma hears a sound, and the others hear it too. It’s a heartbeat. Anna is still alive. Snow arrives, and meets Elsa. David tells Elsa that they find people, because they really really don’t like giving up.

Henry isn’t ready to give up either. He knocks at Regina’s door. He refuses to leave, threatening to come back every day because its his house too. He misses his room he hollers, and she opens the door.

Emma looks at Elsa’s handiwork. It’s kind of cool she tells her, very unique. Cool or not, there’s no need for it any longer. Elsa tries to bring down the barrier, but finds that she can’t. She’s the only one with the power, so she should be able to reverse it.

Leroy gets some ice cream. He wonders if the power outage was a nightmare for the lady at the ice creamery. She tells him that it wasn’t an issue. He leaves and she turns a vat of cream into ice cream. Looks like there’s more than one Ice Queen in town, and this one has control of her powers.