This article is about the episode from Once Upon a Time. For other episodes, see A Tale of Two.
"A Tale of Two Sisters" is the first episode of the fourth season of Once Upon a Time, and the sixty-seventh episode overall. It premiered on September 28, 2014. The backstory was that of Elsa and Anna.
Plot[]
Opening Sequence[]
Snowflakes glide through the title card, and snow is seen littering the forest.
In the Characters' Past[]
The episode begins in Arendelle with Anna and Elsa's parents sailing harsh waters, preparing for the worst; they release a message in a bottle to the water, containing the truth behind their expedition, before the ship capsizes.
Five years later, Anna and Elsa prepare for Anna's wedding to Kristoff when Elsa finds her mother's diary, which reveals that the reason for their "business" trip had to do with Elsa's seemingly uncontrollable ice powers. Elsa feels guilty that she may be the reason for their deaths, but Anna sets out to prove it wasn't, and meets with Grand Pabbie, the Troll King, to find out where their parents had gone. He reveals that they were headed to a land called Misthaven.
Later, Anna goes missing and Elsa seeks out Kristoff to help find her. He reveals that she has set out to Misthaven in an effort to cure Elsa of her powers. Kristoff reveals that there is another name for Misthaven: the Enchanted Forest.
In Storybrooke[]
Elsa emerges from the barn where she entered Storybrooke. Grumpy and Sleepy are driving down the road when they almost run into Elsa; she freezes the truck before impact.
Emma Swan leaves the diner to apologize to Regina for breaking up her and Robin Hood — whom she inadvertently reunited with his deceased wife Marian after traveling back in time. Angry, she leaves to her office. Robin later talks to her that although his feelings for her were real, he made a vow to his wife and intends to keep it. Regina later makes her way to the mental hospital and releases Sidney Glass, who she has kept there since the first curse broke. She tasks him to help her turn back time to kill Marian. She reimprisons him within the Magic Mirror, promising to release him once she accomplishes her goal, to show her the exact moment she captured Marian, only to be given a visual reminder of herself as the Evil Queen.
Grumpy tells Emma about the incident with Sleepy; she and Killian "Hook" Jones follow a trail of ice that Elsa left which leads to a warehouse. In order to protect herself, Elsa creates a snow monster which chases them out of the area. Emma, Hook, Robin Hood, and David Nolan try to defeat the monster in the woods, only to all got knocked unconscious. Marian also shoots an arrow at the monster, which only serves to incur its wrath. The monster then heads towards Marian, and when Regina shows up, she merely smiles when Marian asks her to help, and disappears. However, at the last second, Regina defeats the snow monster by burning it. Marian thanks Regina, with Regina welcoming her to Storybrooke. Afterwards, Regina disappears, still heartbroken, before Emma could talk to her about the recent developments. Emma uses the recent events as a way of avoiding Hook, whom she started a relationship with. Emma later tells Regina that despite her heartbreak, she will continue to make sure that everyone has a happy ending. Regina comes to a realization: everyone in Henry's book of fairytales has a happy ending except the villains; she then tells Sidney to find "the writer" of the book so she can make her, the villain, have the happy ending.
Elsewhere, Belle and Mr. Gold prepare for their honeymoon. Mr. Gold stops by his son, Neal's grave to say his goodbyes. While there, he tells Neal that he plans on undoing a lie he told to Belle and secretly give her the real dagger that holds his power. The two honeymoon in an old mansion, where Mr. Gold sneaks his dagger into her purse. Later that night, Mr. Gold finds a locket sitting next to Belle's purse, and retrieves his dagger to open it. The contents revealed is a sorcerer's hat.
After the snow monster is defeated, Elsa finds out about Mr. Gold's pawn shop and breaks in. She finds a necklace she remembered Anna wearing, which resurrects her plans to find Anna in Misthaven.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Elsa's iconic dress is very different than the dress seen in "There's No Place Like Home", which picks up where that episode left off on. In the previous episode, the hue was darker with gold-colored decorations and the cap was of the same hue and similar to Snow White's in the 1937 Disney film.
- References to the Frozen franchise:
- In the character's past, Elsa finds out that her and Anna's parents went to find answers about Elsa's powers, which resulted in their deaths. This storyline was then carried over to Frozen II, where it was revealed that the parents went to search for answers about Elsa's parents and then drowned.
- Anna and Kristoff are engaged, something that becomes a reality in Frozen II.
- The events of the characters past take place two years after Frozen.
- Anna's travel outfit is the same one she used to travel to The North Mountain in the first film.
- Kristoff mentions when Hans and Anna got engaged after just a day, which happened in the first film.
- Elsa's outfit is the same as the one she wore in the first film.
- How the mysterious hat works is explained in "The Apprentice".
- Season 4A is a continuation of the movie Frozen, set two years after the events of the film. It is not considered canon to the continuity of the Frozen franchise.[1]
- Emma calls Marshmallow Frosty, a reference to the Christmas story, "Frosty the Snowman".
References[]
- ↑ Marshall, Andrew (September 30, 2019). "Frozen 2: Once Upon A Time's Frozen Season Isn't Canon". Screen Rant. “"No, that’s not canon. We didn’t see it. So I kinda made a point of certain things not to see so it wouldn’t affect us that way. Frozen 1 and Frozen 2 to me are one complete story and that's really where we stay. So glad they had fun with that. I think they had a lot of fun with the characters."”
External links[]
