Tonight on ABC their fantastical series Once Upon A Time returns with an all new Sunday October 12, season 4 episode 3, called, “Rocky Road.” On tonight’s episode, Elsa is framed for an icy spell cast on Marian. Meanwhile, Will Scarlet is caught ransacking Robin Hood’s tent; Hook suspects Mr. Gold’s [Robert Carlyle] lying about the dagger; and in the Arendelle of the past, Elsa and Kristoff try to halt Hans’ attempt to seize power.
On the last episode, while desperately trying to find her sister Anna, Elsa was startled by Emma and accidentally trapped them both inside an ice cave, with the frozen temperature placing Emma’s life in peril. Regina, depressed over her likely breakup with Robin Hood, secluded herself away from the town and Henry, which saddened her son. And with the townspeople considering Mary Margaret their leader, she faced her first leadership task in trying to re-start a generator and restore the town’s electricity after Elsa froze and damaged the power lines. Meanwhile, in the Enchanted Forest of the past, Anna tried to teach a meek David to fight Bo Peep, a brutal. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode when an icy spell is cast on Marian, which will ultimately freeze her heart and kill her, the Storybrooke residents place the blame on Elsa. But unbeknownst to anyone, a mysterious woman who runs the town’s ice cream parlor has the same powers as Elsa and is trying to frame her. Emma and David find former Merry Men member Will Scarlet rummaging through Robin Hood’s tent, Regina teams up with Henry to try and discover who the author of the fairy tale book is, Mary Margaret is having trouble balancing her duties as leader of Storybrooke and mother to young Prince Neal, and Hook begins to suspect that Mr. Gold is still in control of the dagger that calls upon him to be the Dark One. Meanwhile, in Arendelle of the past, Elsa and Kristoff set off to stop Hans from attempting to take control of the kingdom.
Tonight’s season 4 episode 3 looks like it is going to be as magical as ever so make sure that you tune in to our live coverage of Once Upon A Time at 8:00 PM EST!
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Marian, Robin and their son Roland walk through town. Robin tells her that she’ll get used to the town soon and their son asks for ice cream. Roland tells his mom Regina let him have ice cream and she agrees. The Snow Queen, aka the seemingly nice lady who owns the ice cream shop, serves Roland a scoop of his favorite chilled treat – Rocky Road. She asks to be introduced to Marian and says it’s lovely to meet her. She offers a free scoop on the house but Marian has no clue.
Robin says ice only came in mud and dirt problems in their world. Snow Queen says ice cream can solve problems and does a little magic before she hands the cone over to Marian. She tells them a happy family warms her heart. They leave smiling with their treats. The show opening intro shows the ice cream shop – Any Given Sundae – in the background of the title letting us know that it’s key to tonight’s episode.
Gold tells Elsa that he doesn’t know how he ended up with the necklace. Hook says he seems to have information when there’s something in it for him but Gold says he lost a son, gained a wife and has turned over a new leaf. He offers to let Belle use the dagger on him. He says he’s happy to give Emma the proof she wants. Belle gets the dagger and commands the Dark One to tell the truth.
Gold says the truth is just as he said – he had no idea there was someone in there and knows nothing about Else and her sister. He wishes her luck looking for her sister. Back in Arendelle, Elsa paces and complains to Kristoff that she they haven’t heard from Anna. He tells her to stay put and says the kingdom needs her more than Anna does right now. He says she’s a softie under all her bluster.
A man brings Elsa a message that Prince Hans has an army on the border. Kristoff says he knows the mountains and can scope it out but Elsa tells him to stay put and safe for her sister’s sake. She says she can handle it.
Back in Storybrooke, Mary welcomes everyone to the Mayor’s first fireside chat. She made up an agenda but everyone wants to skip to item four – the ice wall. She admits it surrounds the whole town but says it’s not a problem. Mary says Elsa made the wall and Granny reminds them that she also made the ice monster.
Mary tries to reassure the panicking citizens but then Marion freezes up into a human popsicle and Robin panics. At Granny’s, Regina brings Henry some comics. She picks up one and says it’s funny that they’re ink and paper yet his story book is real. She asks him who he thinks wrote his book. He asks what she’s up to. Regina says the stories about her show her as a villain and things never work out for the villain. She says she wants to ask the author to write her a happy ending.
Henry says it’s a great idea – he says they can find clues. He says it will be their secret operation. Regina is pleased and Henry says they need a name. They agree to call it Operation Mongoose. Robin comes in flustered and tells her something has happened to Marian and asks for her help. He brings her back to the Mayor’s office. Regina is distracted by a terrible bird painting Mary has added to the décor.
Regina says it’s strong magic and says she can’t stop it, but may be able to slow it down. Emma, Hook and Elsa come in and Elsa says it’s not her magic. Elsa says only an act of true love will stop it. Robin kneels to administer a true love’s kiss. He kisses his wife but she doesn’t wake. He asks why he’s not working. David says he saw this with Frederick when he turned to Gold.
Emma says she’s going to go find out who did this and Regina says the savior needs saving these days. She says she’ll be fine. Emma tells Hook to take Elsa to the police station and keep her safe there. He wants to help her but she demands he do as she says.
Back in Arendelle, Kristoff and Sven disobey Elsa’s orders and sneaks up on Hans to see what’s going on. Hans is reading but his big brothers order him about. He tells them they should be nicer to the future king of Arendelle and they laugh at him and ask if he remembers what happened last time. He holds out a scroll that has some sort of urn on it.
Kristoff bursts into Elsa’s meeting with her advisors and says he went to spy on Hans. He says there is an urn hidden in a cave that has the power to trap someone like her. He says Hans can trap her and then take over Arendelle. Kristoff asks her to send soldiers with him to destroy the urn. She proposes that the two of them go take care of it.
Grumpy gets the townfolk riled up against Elsa and they agree she has to be stopped before she hurts someone else. The Snow Queen hears them and smiles at the trouble she’s caused. Back in Arendelle, Kristoff tells Elsa he didn’t overhear a lot about the urn. She theorizes that the presence of this object means there are likely more people like her out there.
They almost tumble over a cliff’s edge and he says the cave is about 100 feet straight down. She asks if he wants a spiral staircase or a slide but Kristoff says no magic because it may alert Hans. He has a rope and says they have to do it the old fashioned way.
Hook tries to sneak Elsa to the sheriff’s station and she says she can’t hide out. He says he never planned to take her there. He says with any luck, he’s taking her toward danger. She’s game and follows the pirate. David and Emma are in the woods looking for evidence of someone else with freezing power. They decide to split up.
Emma hears a noise in one of the tents and pulls her gun and tells the person to come out. A guy comes out and she asks who the hell he is. He asks who’s asking and she says the sheriff. He says he doesn’t like sheriffs. He takes off running and Emma gives chase. She trips and falls and he gets a wider lead on her. But David comes from the other side and knocks him down.
The guy says his name is Will Scarlett and says he was a Merry Man until he and Robin had a falling out. He says he may have help. He says he broke into the ice cream parlor during the black out (because he’s a thief and was taking advantage of the dark) and noticed that all the ice cream was in good shape and wasn’t melting. He says he thought it was odd.
Regina tells Robin that the spell is heading for Marian’s heart and that once it reaches it, it will be too late. She says there may be something she can do but says Robin has to trust her completely. She says she’ll send Henry to her vault to get what she needs. He asks what she’s going to do and she says something drastic.
Hook and Elsa show back up at Gold’s. Hook offers Gold his silence in exchange for help. He says he knows Belle has a fake dagger. Hook says he hunted him a long time and knows he would never let anyone have power over him, not even Belle. Gold says he has no proof and he says he can tell Belle to try and summon him to show proof. Gold tells him he hopes Emma is worth it.
Elsa hands Gold a hair form Marian’s head and says they need to know who cast the freezing spell. He says they will return it to its natural state. He waves his hand over the hair and it turns to snow. He says it’s magic similar to hers, but not the same. Gold says if he sets it free, it will find its way home, back to the person that cast it. He waves and the snowflake spell flies up into the air.
Mary is struggling to get her stroller out of the car when Doc Hopper offers assistance. He says it must be hard with all her new responsibilities. He says it’s a lot to take on, even for her. She says she doesn’t want to miss a moment and Hopper says like she did with Emma. Mary says she didn’t schedule a therapy session. Hopper says she can relax and let a few things go and says it will be better.
Emma, David and Will peek in the windows of the ice cream shop. He tries to pick the lock of the shop but is struggling. Emma takes over and they have it easily. They head inside and Emma shushes them and says there is no cooling system. Will tells them to check the back. They go into the kitchen and sees the whole thing is frozen solid. David says they owe Will an apology but he took off when their backs were turned.
David tells her to let him go and says he’s not the priority right now. She says Regina was right and says she’s almost an anti-savior right now. Hook and Elsa follow the snowflakes through the forest and he marks a trail so they can find their way back. He says he’s used to running from not to magic. She reminds him that Emma has magic. Elsa says it’s about Emma, not him.
She says she and Emma are a lot alike and says when you have the weight of the world on you, it can be hard to let people in. Back in the caves, Elsa and Kristoff are in the cave and find the urn. She asks if she can destroy the urn with her magic. He tells her to have at it. She picks up the urn and letters form. She says it’s ancient runs but she can’t read it.
Kristoff says his guess is that it says – dangerous urn. Elsa wants to know if there are others like her but Kristoff says she needs to destroy it. He asks her to trust him and she snatches it from him. Hans and his brothers are there and demand that she hands the urn over. She conjures ice spikes to trap some of them but Hans has a sword at Kristoff’s neck and says he’ll kill her sister’s fiance if she doesn’t hand it over.
Out in the woods, Hook and Elsa continue to follow the snow flakes and they see them land on a stump and they see a woman. They hide and watch the woman work a snow spell. Hook calls Emma but gets her voice mail. He is annoyed that she doesn’t answer. He leaves a message and tells her where they are and that they found who froze Marian. Elsa wants to go talk to the woman but he stops her.
Hans renews his threat to kill Kristoff but he tells Elsa not to hand over the urn. She agrees and tells Kristoff she should have destroyed it when she had the chance. She tells him to find Anna and save Arendelle if she’s trapped. She hands it to Hans. He smiles and holds it out to his brothers and ask if they want to make fun of him now.
Hans tells Elsa she doesn’t belong in this world or anywhere else and says he’s going to put her somewhere that will make it like she never existed. He opens the urn and pours it out and says the people of Arendelle deserve a real ruler, not a monster like her. The liquid forms up into a person. Turns out the Snow Queen was already in the urn and he let her go.
The Snow Queen blasts Hans into ice and the brothers run away. She tells Elsa that no one deserves to be trapped in there particularly someone as special as her. Hook is ready to go find Emma and he and Elsa go to walk away but the Snow Queen freezes his feet. She tells Elsa that she can’t remember her because the rock trolls pulled her memories out of her.
She says they also took Anna’s memory. The Snow Queen tells her that Anna trapped her in the urn. Elsa says she’s lying and the Snow Queen says she’s not. Elsa accuses her of hurting people to make them turn on Elsa. The Snow Queen says she was trying to teach Elsa a lesson that everyone can turn on you. She conjures up ice daggers above Hook and says everyone will blame Elsa for his death.
Elsa tries to stop her but the Snow Queen says she neutralized her magic. Emma and David show up and Emma calls her Dairy Queen. Emma thinks the Snow Queen recognizes her but the woman plays it off. The Snow Queen asks Emma if she thinks her magic is a match for her – Emma blasts her. David breaks up the ice at Hook’s feet and pulls him out of the way just before the daggers crash down. They save Hook, but the Snow Queen got away.
Back in Arendelle, Elsa brings the Snow Queen home with her. The Queen looks at a painting on the wall and the Snow Queen says her mother is her sister. She says she didn’t want to overwhelm her. Elsa says her mom never told her she had a sister. Snow Queen says she was trapped in the urn by people who fear magic a long time ago. She asks where her sister is and Elsa says her mother was lost at sea.
The Snow Queen asks if she’s lonely and Elsa says she has her sister but she’s gone missing as well. She tells Elsa that she’ll help her find her sister and says that’s what family is for. Emma tells David she’s sure that the Snow Queen knew her. She says it sounded familiar when she said her name. David tells her she did a good job today.
Hook is ready to continue the search but Emma tells him she wants him safe at the sheriff’s station. Elsa tells Emma she’s sure the Snow Queen lied about her sister putting her in the urn. Emma says she thinks there’s something more to this. Emma says she was the one who brought Elsa to their land but says the Snow Queen was already there with them.
Robin comes back to Regina and tells her that the reason the kiss didn’t save Marian is because he’s in love with her. Regina tears up and she says she knows he has to be with his wife. He tells her he’s sorry he dragged her into this. Henry comes back from the vault and Regina asks Robin if he’s sure. He says he is. She forces her hand into Marian’s chest and pulls out her heart.
She says the ice hasn’t touched it yet so they can keep her alive. She puts the heart in a box. She tells Robin she’ll be in an ice coma until they find a cure then promises him she’ll find a cure. Hook chases down Emma and tells her she has to trust him. She tells him she does trust him. He asks why she’s pulling away from her and she says everyone she loved is dead. She says she can’t lose him too.
Hook tells her she doesn’t have to worry about him – he says the one thing he’s good at is surviving. He kisses her. In the woods, the Snow Queen walks among the trees. She comes to the road and finds Gold there. He tells her not to worry that it’s only him. He tells her he’s sorry things didn’t work out the way she wanted but she says they will. Gold says they’ll see. He asks if Emma remembered her and she says no. Gold tells her that’s good for her and says it could happen and she wouldn’t want that.
Gold asks if she wants his help and she says she’ll come to him when she’s ready to make a deal. He says he eagerly awaits that moment. He tells her she needs to find shelter since it’s getting quite frosty. He walks away.
THE END!
