‘Once Upon a Time’ season 4, episode 2 review: Anna, Charming’s past helps Anna’s future

The story of “Frozen” continued on “Once Upon a Time” Sunday night, but not without us asking this pertinent question: Is there almost too much of the Disney franchise on the show?

After seeing the monster ratings for the season 4 premiere, we understand the appeal. These characters are hugely popular, and that is probably why Maleficent is going to be one of the Big Bads of the second half of the season. Still, you cannot help but wonder if some of the other recurring roles are being marginalized. Where is Red, Archie, Dr. Whale, Granny, Tinker Bell, Mulan, Aurora, or someone else in Storybrooke? Heck, where was Regina tonight save for the last three minutes? Given her role, it felt weird to have her off somewhere moping for the entire hour while Mary Margaret took on the de facto Mayor duties.

Charming played a huge role tonight, as his past connection to Anna, who he knew as Joan, was integral in saving Emma from a spell that caused her to be trapped in ice. She taught him how to fight the ruthless Bo Peep and her army of men. We have to say that it is entirely unbelievable that Charming was able to be a complete champ with a sword one day after Anna started to teach her about it. Still, he managed to do it anyway.

Elsa, meanwhile, was scared, and did not know if she could help Emma, at least until a #CharmAttack (sorry, we had to) came and saved the day.

As a result of all this, we did have some pretty nice moments with Hook and Emma, and we continued to be thrown off by how much Henry has grown the past few years. Charming vowed to further assist Elsa in her search for her sister.

The big reveal in the past was that Anna was eventually guiding to Rumpelstiltskin by Charming’s mother; in the present, David used Bo Peep’s staff, and at least figured out that she was still alive. Also, Elizabeth Mitchell! She is already in Storybrooke, and has her own powers of ice and snow.

In the end, this episode was somewhat fun, but also fluffy and forgettable. For the first 55 minutes or so, we really didn’t make that much progress, and even in the past, we weren’t chomping at the bit to know who taught David his sword-fighting skills. However, the ending was pretty awesome. Grade: B-.

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Photo: ABC