Tonight on ABC their fantastical series Once Upon A Time continues with an all new Sunday October 26, season 4 episode 5, called, “Breaking Glass.” On tonight’s episode, Regina [Lana Parrilla] and Emma [Jennifer Morrison] join forces to track down the Snow Queen after Sidney locates her. Meanwhile, Mary Margaret and David look for Will Scarlet, who’s fled from jail; Elsa sees Anna in the woods; and in the past, young Emma befriends a fellow runaway orphan.
On the last episode, after Emma asked Hook out on a real first date, Hook visited Mr. Gold and asked for his hand to be reattached so that he can embrace her with both hands. But magic always comes with a price. Henry and Mary Margaret tried to offer hope to Regina when she became frustrated over not being able to find a cure to save a frozen Marian, and Will Scarlet attempted to break into the Storybrooke library to find a special book. Meanwhile, back in the Fairy Tale Land that was, Rumplestiltskin was after a magical box that the Sorcerer’s apprentice is guarding, and he may use Elsa’s sister Anna to help him get it. 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 Regina reluctantly teams up with Emma to search for the Snow Queen after Sidney, who is once again Regina’s prisoner in the mirror, discovers her whereabouts and agrees to lead her to the location. With Belle babysitting baby Neal, a nervous Mary Margaret and David prepare for their first date night away from their child and find themselves on a mission to track down Will Scarlet, who has escaped from the town jail, and Elsa sees Anna in the Storybrooke woods. Meanwhile, back in the past, young Emma finds herself a kindred spirit when she befriends a girl who, like her, is a runaway orphan.
Tonight’s season 4 episode 5 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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Once starts with an ice stairway that calls to mind the one Elsa made in Frozen. We start with Snow Queen Sarah conjuring an ice creature of some sort. Meanwhile Elsa and Emma are looking through files and Elsa is frustrated that they aren’t out looking for her. They both think she somehow stole their memories of her. Hook comes in with more files and Will complains they’ve forgotten his dinner. He wants meat and potatoes and Emma hands him a pop tart she’s already nibbled.
Hook leaves to go take Henry sailing and Will calls him out for cozying up to her son to win brownie points. Hook tells him to stow it, gives Emma a smooch and leaves. Elsa shows Emma photos of she and Henry and Emma explains that Regina was spying on her. But Emma is shocked to see a photo of herself talking to Sarah. They go to ask Regina about the photo. Regina is down in her crypt and conjures up Sidney. She has asked him to find the Snow Queen, but he hasn’t found her yet.
Regina tells him to make that the priority or he’ll be sorry. He agrees and fades from sight. Belle is playing with baby Neal but Mary doesn’t want to leave their son. David tells her to relax and go for a walk with him. She finally agrees. Elsa and Emma drive out to the crypt but Emma is upset at the reminder of when she and Regina were at odds. Emma says she feels like they are in a bad place and wants to fix it. Elsa tells her to go talk to her alone to try and work on it.
Emma is doubtful because she knows Regina feels like she screwed her over with the Marian thing. In Minnesota, 1998, Emma is shoplifting pop tarts and another girls saves her from store security with a smooth lie. The girl tells her she needs a stolen credit card to steal smarter. She tells Emma to come with her and do some shopping. The girl tells Emma to hold onto her bag and run. A man is chasing them and then a van pulls in front of him and they slip into a side street.
He passes them by and they laugh in relief. The girl introduces herself as Lily. Now, Emma comes into the crypt and Regina says she’s busy trying to save her true love’s life. Emma asks her about the photos and asks if Sidney told her why she was arguing with Sarah. Emma says she needs to talk to Sidney and asks if she’s seen him but Regina says she hasn’t. Emma asks if she’s made progress with the Marian thing and offers to combine her magic with Regina’s to thaw her.
Emma says Regina has helped her and she’s willing to have her back. Regina tells Emma that she has never had her back and she knows Emma never will. Elsa sits in the car and hears Anna calling for her, crying out for her to help. She gets out of the car and hears her sister’s voice again from the cemetery. Emma comes out and sees that Elsa is gone and panics. Regina looks at a photo of she and Robin sadly when Sidney interrupts and says he has found the Snow Queen.
He says he wants to trade the info for a relief from his mirror. She offers him a trip back to his cell at the hospital and he relents and says he’ll take her to Sarah. Mary is panicked about leaving Neal for the hike and demands that David take a walkie talkie so Belle can reach them if something happens. They are in the police station to pick it up and David notices Will has managed to break out. David wants them to chase him down like they adventured in the olden days.
Regina is in the woods with Sidney in a mirror compact. He tells her where to go in the woods and Emma is there too chasing down Elsa. Regina says she’s looking for Sarah too and says she’s East of the toll bridge. Emma asks how she knows and Regina says she has no time to explain her magic to her. We see Emma and her friend Lily back in the day and Emma gulping down a sandwich. Lily asks why she eats so fast and she says bigger kids would steal your food at the orphanage.
She says she ran away when she realized she was too old to ever be adopted. She says no prospective parents ever looked at her so she felt invisible. Lily says she’s felt invisible too. Emma asks if the guy chasing her was from social services and she says – yeah. She shows Emma some houses on the river and says they’re vacant in the fall and winter and says she’s going to crash there for a while. She asks Emma to go with her and says they’ll be better off together.
Now, Elsa races through the woods calling for her sister. She comes to cliff edge and sees her sister across the divide. She conjures an ice bridge and tells her sister she’ll be right there. She goes racing across the bridge to see her sister disappear as if she’s yanked backward by an invisible hand. Elsa is stunned.
Mary tells David she shouldn’t be out chasing Will, she should be home with the baby. He tells her to head home and he’ll continue on. She turns and then hears the sound of digging and sees someone out on the shore near the water with a shovel. She goes to investigate. Emma and Regina walk through the woods and Emma asks her what tracking magic she’s using. Regina chastises her for not honing her magic and Emma says she’s learned better from Regina.
Emma tells her that her helping Robin save Marian is admirable and Regina scoffs and asks why she’s sucking up to her. She says she’s not going to let her win her over. She tells Emma she ruined her life and there’s no coming back from it even if Emma thinks she didn’t mean to do it. She tells her to learn to live with it and says – welcome to my world.
Back in the day, Emma and Lily break into a posh house and sit playing video games and laughing. Emma hasn’t ever played a game before and she notices a star shaped scar on Lily’s wrist. She says she’s always had this and liked to pretend it was like Harry Potter and she’s special too. Lily draws one on Emma’s wrist and says she’s special too. They find a video camera and record themselves laughing. Lily asks her to promise to stay friends no matter what and Emma agrees.
Now, Elsa calls out for her sister and finds her standing in a snow field. She hugs her sister and says she’s glad to find her. Sarah is there and turns Anna into an ice block that disappears. She then conjures ice manacles onto Elsa and tells her that Anna wasn’t really there – she says she’s an illusion. Sarah says she needs her and Elsa asks what she wants her for. Sarah tells her she should have learned to control her magic and says the ice chains will go stronger with Elsa’s fear.
Sarah says she just needs Elsa out of her way and tells her that she can’t promise that she won’t hurt her and that everything will be okay because she needs her scared and worried. Elsa asks what she’s going to do and Sarah says she’s going to build a snowman and leaves Elsa trapped there. Mary walks up on Will digging in the sand and cursing. Mary asks what he’s looking for and says he should have made a map. He says he has a map but it’s in his sack which he buried and now can’t find.
He blames it on the drink and he asks why she cares since she’s not Sheriff. She says she’s married to the sheriff and he thinks Emma but she explains that’s his daughter. She realizes that he didn’t escape, David let him out. Will explains he got drunk and broke into the library. She tells him to fess up and that she can pardon him and says she’s the mayor. He immediately tells her David did it.
Emma and Regina find the snow bridge and start to trek over it. Emma isn’t sure about walking across it. A chill wind blows up and Emma says this isn’t Elsa. Regina says this is Sidney as the wind blows against them forcing them to crouch on the bed. Back in the past, Emma and Lily sleep on the sofa when Emma hears a noise. She wakes Lily and tells her someone is in the house. A man comes in with a flashlight calling for Lilith.
Emma tells him to stay back and says he’s not taking them back into the system. The man asks what she’s been telling her and he tells Emma that he’s Lily’s dad and that her mom is worried sick. Emma is shocked that she has a family and says she thought she was like here. Now, Regina reveals to Emma she has Sidney in the mirror and she calls him a traitor for working with the Snow Queen. He tells her to look in the mirror and says the Snow Queen has a well-deserved present for her.
The ice bridge starts to crumble and they go running. They leap and barely make it to the cliff’s edge. Elsa tries to talk herself out of being afraid and as she does, the snow chains break. Emma and Regina get to their feet and they are shocked to see a giant, armored ice warrior waiting for them. Regina says they have a bigger problem.
In the past, we see the police at the house and Lily in her dad’s car calling to Emma. She tells her not to worry about her dad. She says he’s just mad she took his credit card. She tells Emma to come find her and says they can run away together but Emma says she tricked her. Lily says she has a home but feels invisible there. She says she was an orphan that was adopted and they don’t care about her. She reminds Emma she said friends forever but Emma walks away and smudges off the star mark from her wrist. Lily calls out to hear with tears in her eyes as Emma is loaded into a van by social services.
Now, the ice warrior comes for them and Regina throws fire at it. The creature isn’t fazed. Emma throws her power and knocks it down but it recovers and conjures and ice sword out of his arm. They combine their magic and assault the creature. It melts and then is gone, nothing more than a puddle. Sarah is there and thanks them for bringing what she needed and she takes away the compact with Sidney in it. She chokes both of them with her power but then Elsa blows her back.
Elsa tells her to fight her instead. Sarah says she’s happy her fear is leaving her. Sarah magics away as Regina issues a challenge. Emma asks why she didn’t tell her about Sidney and says that would have saved them a lot of trouble. Regina admits she put Sidney in the mirror to help her kill Marian. Elsa says they need to put aside their differences or Storybrooke doesn’t stand a chance. Regina says she doesn’t want to mend fences with Emma and magics away in a puff of smoke.
Sarah releases Sidney from the mirror and he asks what she wishes of him and calls her Queen. She says she needs nothing from him and says it wasn’t him she wanted. She says she wanted the mirror itself. She says mirrors reflect mood, desire and essence. She says they are a temporary receptacle for a fraction of our soul. She says she has other mirrors, but none so important as this one. She says the mirror is imbued with dark magic from Regina.
She says she will have what’s been denied her for too long. He asks what that is and she says that’s between her and her reflection and won’t tell him. She opens a door in her ice fortress and tells him to enjoy his freedom but tells him to get a warm coat because it’s going to get cooler around here. She cracks the compact mirror and then magics a larger mirror that has been cracked. She takes a piece from the broken compact and puts it into the larger mirror making it whole.
She says soon she will have the family that loves her. Emma and Elsa talk and Elsa says she heard Anna calling to her. She also tells Emma she shouldn’t give up on Regina. She says you never give up on someone that’s important to you even if they say hurtful things or send a giant snow monster after you. Emma shows up to the crypt to talk to Regina. She tells her that she had a friend when she was a child that she pushed away who had lied to her.
She tells Regina she doesn’t want to make that mistake. She says she loves Henry and her parents but says no one but Regina understands what it’s like to be alone and rejected. She says that makes them unique, alike and special. She says she just wants Regina to be friends with her. She says she knows it sounds crazy but thought it was possible. She tells Regina she won’t stop trying even if she wants to kill her. Regina tells her to stop and says she doesn’t want to kill her. Emma says that’s a start.
David kisses Mary and they swap I love you’s after he comes home. He asks how Neal did with Belle and she says it was great and tells him she caught the thief. He says that’s amazing and she says she pardoned him and says that he told her that he set him free. She says she knows his tricks and says his plan worked and she feels more like herself. He says he’s happy she enjoyed herself but says he wasn’t the one that let Will go.
He says he really escaped and she really pardoned him. Mary asks what they do know and he says they hope he doesn’t pass out in another library. He says if it helped her peace if mind, Will earned that pardon. Emma sits in her office and gets out a file box. She hears footsteps and it’s Hook. He says she seems vexed and offers her a drink. She says that’s putting it lightly. He asks what the box is and she says it’s what’s left of her childhood. He asks if he can have the honor and she shows him the box.
He asks if she’s okay and she says she thinks so. She hands him a cigar box and he opens it and sees glasses, a mood ring and a photo of her and Neal from a long time ago. She is stricken and then pulls out the video camera. She goes to the TV and says she hasn’t watched it since she recorded it but something made her think of it today. He takes her hand and says to show it to him and he’d like to know more about her.
He asks who the girl is and she says it’s just an old friend. She puts his arm around her and cuddles close. The video ends and then we see another video starts. She says she thinks it may have been from her next foster home but she doesn’t remember any of it. Then the Snow Queen is there and chastising the boys and tells them to give it back, the camera is Emma’s. Holy cow! Sarah was Emma’s foster mom when she was a kid!! Whoa. So I wonder if Emma and Henry are the family she wants back.
THE END!
