The Snow Queen (Episode)

"The Snow Queen" is the seventh episode of Season Four of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, and directed by Billy Gierhart. It is the seventy-third episode of the series overall, and premiered on November 9, 2014.

Synopsis
Emma captures the Snow Queen and interrogates her at the sheriff’s station. But the Snow Queen uses her prior knowledge of Emma to try to persuade her into thinking that they are more alike than she could possibly imagine. Regina and Robin Hood’s relationship grows increasingly complex as they struggle to find a way to save his dying wife, Emma begins to see what she missed out on by not growing up and being a family with Snow and Charming when she sees how involved Mary Margaret is in baby Neal’s life, and Henry begins his after school job in Gold’s shop while trying to help Regina find a clue to the identity of the author of the storybook. Meanwhile, in Arendelle of the past, we learn about the origin of the Snow Queen and her familial connection to Elsa and Anna as we see her discover her spectacular yet deadly ice powers.

Starring

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan
 * Lana Parrilla as Regina Mills
 * Josh Dallas as David Nolan
 * Emilie de Ravin as Belle French
 * Colin O'Donoghue as Hook
 * Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
 * Michael Socha as Will Scarlet
 * Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold

Guest Starring

 * Sarah Bolger as Aurora
 * Georgina Haig as Elsa
 * Sean Maguire as Robin Hood
 * Elizabeth Mitchell as Snow Queen
 * Sally Pressman as Helga
 * Jessy Schram as Ashley Boyd
 * Pascale Hutton as Gerda
 * John Rhys-Davies as Grand Pabbie (Voice)
 * Jonathan Runyon as Duke
 * Brighton Sharbino as young Ingrid

Co-Starring

 * Ryan Booth as man
 * Bailey Herbert as young Helga
 * Ava Marie Telek as young Gerda
 * Greg Webb as King

Uncredited

 * Unknown baby as Alexandra Herman
 * Unknown baby as Neal Nolan
 * Unknown baby as Phillip

Quotes
Will Scarlet: If you love someone enough to ruin your entire life for, it's always worth it.

Mr. Gold: I'm going to give you a potion that possesses the power to transform something old into something new.

Henry Mills: What kind of potion's that?

Mr. Gold: Furniture polish.

Trivia
Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features the Arendelle princesses' kite.
 * At the sheriff's station, when Emma gives Elsa the spell book, you can, for a brief second, see two papers on the desk. One of them contains a set of handwritten notes, and is dated August 19. 1994. The other is transcript of an interview with a man called Cyril Keep, a former teacher who lives in a homeless shelter, accused of abducting a boy who was playing in a park. According to himself, he has a problem with "something in himself" when he sleeps, "a dream".
 * The language in the spell book that Emma and Elsa are reading is not actually Elvish. It contains an excerpt from The Book of Lost Tales by J. R. R. Tolkien written in Anglo-Saxon Futhorc Runes. The excerpt is from the chapter about "The Tale of Tinúviel". The text transliterates as:

Then was there much eagerness alight and Eriol told them of his first wanderings about the western havens, of the comrades he made and the ports he knew, of how he was one time wrecked upon far western islands and there upon a lonely eyot found an an [sic] ancient mariner who dwelt for ever solitary in a cabin on the shore that he had fash ioned [sic] of the timbers of his boat. more wise was he, said Eriol, in all matters of the sea than any other i have met, and much of wizardry was there in his lore. Strange things he told me, of regions far beyond the western sea, of the magic isles, and that most lonely

one that lies beyond. Once long ago he said he had sighted it glimmering afar off, and after had he sought it many a day in vain.


 * Much of the text is repeated on both pages.


 * An excerpt from the fairy tale of "The Golden Bird" can be seen when Regina flips through the storybook.
 * The accompanying illustration is "The Meeting of Oberon and Titiania", a 1905 artwork by the famous English book illustrator Arthur Rackham, depicting a scene from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
 * An artwork by the French engraver Bernard Picart, Pygmalion is Enamored with a Statue He Had Made (1733), can be seen in Regina's study.
 * Henry's tie is the same one that Mr. Gold was wearing at the sheriff's station in "Desperate Souls".
 * In Rumplestiltskin's castle, the runic symbols Fehu and Eihwaz are engraved on a hammer which resembles Thor's Mjölnir.
 * The label on Mr. Gold's furniture polish says Black Cat.


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The Arendelle events take place many years before "A Tale of Two Sisters".
 * The Enchanted Forest events take place after Geppetto's parents are turned into marionettes in "That Still Small Voice" (the marionettes can be seen in Rumplestiltskin's castle), and many years before Anna visits the Enchanted Forest in "White Out".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Family Business" and before "Smash the Mirror".

Episode Connections

 * Robin Hood stops Will Scarlet from leaving Granny's by throwing a dart at the door to get his attention in the same way Graham did to Emma in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter".
 * Emma learns how to control her magic in "Smash the Mirror".
 * What the Snow Queen whispered to Mr. Gold is revealed in "Smash the Mirror".


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * This episode features Elsa, the queen and the Duke of Weselton from Frozen as well as their homeland Arendelle.
 * The Duke's dances in a similar manner as in the Frozen movie.
 * Helga pronounces his title name as "Weasletown" instead of Weselton, and she intends to stop the trading business between their kingdoms.
 * One of the babies is wearing a Mickey Mouse outfit.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode is a rendition of "The Snow Queen" fairytale, focusing on the Snow Queen and Gerda. Also featured is Rumplestiltskin from the fairytale of the same name, Aurora from the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty" and Captain Hook from the "Peter Pan" story.
 * According to Emma, the language which Belle translated for her is Elvish, a fictional language invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
 * Ashley says to Emma that if she can't get Neal to sleep, she can just tell him he's going to turn into a pumpkin by midnight; a reference to the Cinderella fairytale.

Lost

 * Robin Hood's darts hit the wall near the numbers 8 and 15, two of the Lost numbers.

Popular Culture

 * Emma remarks that she hasn't seen The Lord of the Rings movies, which also features Once Upon a Time actors John Rhys-Davies as Gimli and Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue.


 * -|Goofs=

Goofs

 * The baby playing Alexandra Herman is the wrong age and gender.