"Once Upon A Time" Review/Recap: “Snow Drifts/There’s No Place Like Home”
Emma Doherty ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The inclusion of Elsa and Disney’s Frozen was one of the most infuriating parts of the episode. Emma (Jennifer Morrison) knows about Disney movies and the like, so wouldn’t she recognize that Elsa has been in the Disney realm for all of six months? The writers are playing it off as her being based on fairytale character The Ice Queen, but that won’t cut it. In the end, we’re faced with another villain to cause more harm than good.
Of course, what would any good story be without a villain? They move the plot along and become sources of drama and material for cliffhangers. That’s great and all, but this show is about revealing the man (or in most cases, the woman) behind the mask and discovering the good behind the evil. It now seems that this concept is lost on the writers, evident in their dropping of Zelena (Rebecca Mader) like she was day-old celebrity gossip and destroying hope of her second chance. Who’s to say Elsa won’t suffer the same fate?
The main point of the finale was for Emma to finally realize where she belongs, but couldn’t she have realized that after Henry’s devastation at discovering she’d wanted to leave? Why isn’t it enough that the family she’d been searching for now welcomes her with open arms and endless love?
Emma has been infuriating these last few episodes by constantly saying that she’s going to go away with Henry (Jared Gilmore). After Emma’s rendezvous with Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), one would assume that she would have a little more compassion for Regina. Emma realized where home was when her Mom didn’t know who she was. She finally saw how much these people have cared for her and loved her and the fact that that might not exist any longer tore her down. If anything, this should have reminded Emma what it must have been like for Regina when Henry didn’t remember her. She gave Emma everything she had while Emma continued her threats to take away her son and brought back someone that could take away the happiness she never thought she would have again.
For those of you who are not completely turned off by this finale, Once Upon a Time has been renewed for a fourth season and returns to ABC on October 23 at 8/7c.
Overall Episode Grade: F