‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4 spoilers: Watch Princess Elsa cliffhanger scene (video)
Tonight on “Once Upon a Time,” the show dropped what may arguably be its biggest surprise to date, having a beloved but also recent character in the Disney universe appear in Princess Elsa from “Frozen.”
We first talked about this surprise appearance a little bit earlier in our full review of this episode, but to us, it is pretty clear that it merits additional consideration. You can check out the video of the big moment below, which is sure to have millions of hits over the coming weeks.
So why introduce Elsa into the show now? From a business standpoint, we should go ahead and say that we understand it perfectly. She is the biggest character on the biggest movie from Disney arguably since “The Lion King” when it comes to the pop-culture zeitgeist. She’s more significant than any Pixar character at this point, and we thought the show could dip into this well at some point.
While “Frozen” is in many ways original, it does have its origins in “The Snow Queen.” Therefore, it is not completely just the show doing Disney for Disney’s sake like they did with the Mickey Mouse randomly at the start of the finale. Still, the Elsa character is probably more synonymous with the movie than almost any other character on the show is with a Disney product, and we are curious with that in mind to see how she is handled. the same can be said for what the show wants to do with the character, who seems on the surface to be a straightforward take on the character in terms of powers. We’ve seen people with magical abilities before, but not quite like this.
Also, we now turn to casting. Do you try to get Idina Menzel? She’s very busy with Broadway and other ventures, but we almost imagine a revolt if she is not at least contacted for the part. This character probably won’t be cast for a couple of months, but it is interesting to speculate about.
What is your reaction overall to Elsa’s introduction? Share below, and to get some magical TV updates from us at CarterMatt, be sure to sign up now for our newsletter.
Photo: ABC
upinout
May 12, 2014 @ 4:15 am
I’m not too excited about this. I absolutely love Frozen, but the fact that they feel they need to tap into the popularity of Frozen is just a symptom of the fact that they can’t come up with a compelling narrative based on their current stars and rely on a continuous stream of “new” characters to keep the story interesting.