The Apprentice (Episode)

"The Apprentice" is the fourth episode of Season Four of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Andrew Chambliss & Dana Horgan, and directed by Ralph Hemecker. It is the seventieth episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 19, 2014.

Synopsis
After Emma asks Hook out on a real first date, Hook visits Mr. Gold and asks for his hand to be reattached so that he can embrace her with both hands. But magic always comes with a price. Henry and Mary Margaret try to offer hope to Regina when she becomes frustrated over not being able to find a cure to save a frozen Marian, and Will Scarlet attempts to break into the Storybrooke library to find a special book. Meanwhile, back in the Fairy Tale Land that was, Rumplestiltskin is after a magical box that the Sorcerer’s apprentice is guarding, and he may use Elsa’s sister Anna to help him get it.

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

 * Brad Dourif as Zoso
 * Scott Michael Foster as Kristoff
 * Georgina Haig as Elsa
 * Elizabeth Lail as Anna
 * Elizabeth Mitchell as Snow Queen
 * Timothy Webber as the Apprentice

Co-Starring

 * Catherine Bogdanova as Spaghetti Lady
 * Emanuel Fappas as Bartender
 * Garry Garneau as Spaghetti Man

Uncredited

 * Jack as Sven
 * Mark Goldman as Sven (Voice)
 * Unknown baby as Neal Nolan

Trivia
Production Notes=

Production Notes

 * The title card features an enchanted broom.
 * When Mr. Gold transforms the hat in the backroom of his pawnshop, there is an open book lying on his desk in the bottom left corner. Two alchemical symbols—Grades of Fire and Fire of Circulation 1 —are printed on the page, inside the illustration of a circle.
 * The rest of the symbols are characters from the reconstruction of the mysterious Emerald Tablet, one of the pillars of Western alchemy, and said to be inscribed with the secrets of the universe. One interpretation suggests that the inscription describes seven stages of alchemical transformation—calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation and coagulation.
 * This episode reveals that Gold has kept Captain Hook's hand in his pawnshop. A severed hand was sitting on a shelf in the pawnshop in "The Outsider" while Mr. Gold conversed with Belle on the phone.
 * A severed hand was also on a pedestal in Rumplestiltskin's castle in "Skin Deep". It is even mentioned in the episode script, where a "withered hand" is listed among the many objects in the Dark Castle. The hand is most noticeable when Belle walks away from the cupboard after she takes out the vase.
 * Josh Dallas and Georgina Haig wrote a story whilst filming one scene.
 * The Snow Queen's adopted alias in Storybrooke is Sarah Fisher. During the first curse, there was a Storybrooke business called "Sara's Ice Cream", which happened to be located right next to Mr. Gold's pawnshop. It was still present when the curse was undone, and during the second curse. Yet, this other ice cream shop did not belong to the Snow Queen.
 * Hook and Emma's dinner date was filmed at the Tapenade Bistro restaurant in Steveston Village, which doubles as the town of Storybrooke on Once Upon a Time. This restaurant can also be spotted when David, Mary Margaret and Leroy are running from the giant in the Season Two episode "Tiny".


 * -|Episode Connections=

Event Chronology

 * The opening scene in the Enchanted Forest events takes place "a long time ago", at an unspecified time before "Desperate Souls".
 * The rest of the Enchanted Forest events take place after "White Out" and before "Family Business".
 * The Arendelle events take place after "Rocky Road" and before "Family Business".
 * The Storybrooke events take place after "Rocky Road" and before "Breaking Glass".

Episode Connections

 * Mr. Gold was first shown to be capable of reattaching severed limbs/appendages in "The Doctor".
 * Zoso's future fate is explained in "Desperate Souls".
 * The hand in the jar, which Hook wanted back, is the hand he lost in "The Crocodile".
 * Geppetto's parents's puppets are seen in the background in Rumplestiltskin's castle. How they became puppets is explained in "That Still Small Voice".
 * Hook and Emma talk about what happened during Emma's date with Walsh in "New York City Serenade".
 * The crystal ball Rumplestiltskin uses to spy on the Apprentice, was brought from Oz by Jefferson in "The Doctor". It was also used to find Snow White in "Snow Drifts", and to spy on Anna in "White Out". It was also used by Neal to locate Emma in "The Heart of the Truest Believer".
 * When stabbed by Hook's hooked hand, Mr. Gold comments on the first time the pirate stabbed him in the same way; referring to events in "The Crocodile".
 * Rumplestiltskin uses tears to perform magic, which he also did in "Second Star to the Right".
 * The Apprentice is freed from the Sorcerer's Hat in "Operation Mongoose Part 1".
 * This is not the first time Mr. Gold uses magic to alter a security tape; he also did so after he killed Zelena, as seen in "Snow Drifts".
 * Mr. Gold refers to Belle as "the only light in my life"; echoing a similar comment he made in "A Land Without Magic".
 * Emma discovers an image featuring the Red Queen, who is Will's lover. Their backstory was explored on the Once Upon a Time spinoff, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * This episode features Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Sven from the movie Frozen as well as their homeland Arendelle.
 * The Sorcerer's Hat is from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" scene from Disney's Fantasia. However, the Apprentice being turned into a mouse is a reference to Mickey Mouse, who portrayed the Apprentice in the Disney film. Also the broomstick that the Apprentice and Mr. Gold used looks very similar to the one Mickey Moused enchanted and used.
 * The man and woman eating spaghetti at the restaurant is a reference to the famous scene from Lady and the Tramp. The waiters are dressed like Tony from the same movie. The candles in a bottle are similar in appearance to the candle in the famous movie scene.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * This episode features Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story as well as the Snow Queen from the fairytale of the same name. It also features the Apprentice and the magical broomstick from the poem, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".
 * When Rumplestiltskin says he needs one of Anna's tears, it is a reference to the fairytale "The Snow Queen", in which the titular character also needs a tear; one of Gerda's.
 * Emma found the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll beside Will in the library.
 * After Emma's car skids on the ice, the car radio host takes a request from Rip van Winkle, who is looking for a classic song to wake up to. This is a reference to the American story of the same name. Rip van Winkle previously appeared in a deleted scene in "Nasty Habits".

Lost

 * When Will tries to break into the library, and when Belle finds him the next morning, he's holding a bottle of MacCutcheon Scotch Whiskey. This is a fictional brand featured on Lost.