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"Breaking Glass" is the fifth episode of Season Four of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by Kalinda Vazquez & Scott Nimerfro, and directed by Alrick Riley. It is the seventy-first episode of the series overall, and premiered on October 26, 2014.
Synopsis
Regina reluctantly teams up with Emma to search for the Snow Queen after Sidney, who is once again Regina's prisoner in the mirror, discovers her whereabouts and agrees to lead her to the location. With Belle babysitting baby Neal, a nervous Mary Margaret and David prepare for their first date night away from their child and find themselves on a mission to track down Will Scarlet, who has escaped from the town jail. Elsa sees Anna in the Storybrooke woods. Meanwhile, back in the past, young Emma finds herself a kindred spirit when she befriends a girl who, like her, is a runaway orphan.[2]
Recap
In Emma Swan's previous life as a teen in our world, it is 1998 in Hopkins, Minnesota, and she is shoplifting Pop Tarts. She is then saved by another girl, who uses a lie to keep store security from arresting her. Afterwards, the girl tells Emma she needs a stolen credit card to steal smarter, and when they see a man chasing after them, a van pulls up, allowing them to escape. The girl then introduces herself to Emma as Lily. Later on Lily sees Emma eating her sandwich fast, as Emma explains that bigger kids would steal food at the orphanage, and added that she ran away from Boston after Cecilia (who was previously seen driving away from the orphanage in a flashback from the previous season) found a family, while Lily admits that the person chasing them was from Social Services. The two then spot a lake that featured homes and break into one of them. After taking break from playing video games, Lily shows Emma a star on her wrist and makes her a copy. Lily then asks Emma to swear to her that they be friends for life. Emma then finds a video recorder and they make a tape of themselves.
Later that night, Emma wakes up and tells Lily that someone has shown up in the house. As Emma takes a poker from the fireplace, the person with the flashlight is revealed to be Lily's father, and Emma is stunned that Lily lied to her. It turns out Lily's parents were worried sick about her. As Emma is about to be taken into custody by Social Services, she refuses Lily's note, wipes the drawn star from her wrist and walks away.
In the forest, Ingrid has started conjuring an ice warrior in an icy lair, as she prepares to make another move on both Emma and Elsa, who are looking through files to find out more about their connection to the Snow Queen. But Elsa on the other hand is frustrated that they aren't out looking for her, thinking that the Snow Queen somehow stole their memories of her. As Hook helps the ladies by bringing in more files, a neglected Will complains they've forgotten his dinner, but instead of the bangers and mash he was demanding, Emma hands him a pop tart she's already nibbled on instead. Will is already having an issue with Hook, as he is ready to take Henry out for sailing, claiming that Hook is doing it for brownie points for Emma, only to have Hook shut Will up. After he kisses Emma and leaves, Elsa shows Emma photos of her and Henry, which Emma concludes came from Regina when she was spying on them, only to come across another photo that shows Emma with Ingrid. This prompts the women to pay a visit to Regina at her vault, where she is summoning Sidney to find Sarah, but after refusing to take no for an answer by claiming that he has not found The Snow Queen, Regina warns Sidney to make it a priority or he'll regret it, and he complies.
As Elsa and Emma arrive to the vault, Emma, still blaming herself for bringing Marian back, wants to work things out with Regina, saying she feels like they are in a bad place and wants to fix it. Elsa suggest that Emma talk to Regina alone to try and work on it. However, the rift between the two women continues to linger, even as Emma, after asking Regina about the photos and to seek out Sidney's help, offers to help Regina revive Marian, with Regina telling Emma that she'll never have her back and vice versa. As this plays out, Elsa starts seeing what looks like Anna in the cemetery calling out for help, and she gets out of the vehicle. Emma then races out and finds her missing, followed by Regina, who then opens her compact mirror to see Sidney, who informs her that he found Ingrid.
Wasting no time tracking Elsa to the east of the toll bridge, Emma and Regina walk through the woods when Emma asks her what tracking magic she's using. However, Regina chastises Emma for not honing her magic; Emma, on the other hand, says she's learned better from Regina, telling her that helping Robin save Marian is admirable, which Regina scoffs as sucking up to her, saying she's not going to let her win her over because she ruined her life and there's no coming back from it even if Emma thinks she didn't mean to do it. She tells her to learn to live with it: "Welcome to my world," as Regina puts it mildly.
As Elsa races through the woods calling for her sister, she encounters a cliff edge and sees what she believes is Anna across the divide, and as she tells her that in coming over, Elsa conjures an ice bridge and goes racing across it, only to be stunned as she sees her sister disappear. Elsa then calls out for Anna and finds her standing in a snow field, and as expected, just as she hugs her sister and says she's glad to find her, Ingrid turns Anna into an ice block that disappears, then conjures ice chains onto Elsa and tells her that the Anna she saw was an illusion, rather than the actual Anna, much to Elsa's horror. Ingrid says she needs Elsa, telling her she should have learned to control her magic and the ice chains will go stronger with Elsa's fear, while at the same time keep her out of the picture by "building" a snowman.
As Emma and Regina reach the ice bridge, the two are held back by a wind gust, which Regina discovers was coming from Sidney, who is now under the control of The Snow Queen, and after crossing it before it crumbles, the two discover an ice warrior waiting for them, and after they fail in taking it out, both Emma and Regina combine their powers and destroy the monster. They learn that Ingrid had this trap all planned for the women; she takes the mirror from Regina, and then chokes Emma and Regina. After Elsa overcome her fears by talking her way out of the chain allowing her to break free, she comes to Emma and Regina's aid and saves them. Satisfied with her scheme, Ingrid tells Elsa that she is pleased with her overcoming her fears, but as Elsa issues a fight and Regina issues a challenge, Ingrid disappears.
Regina confesses to Emma about Sidney and her plan to kill Marian, but admits that she still doesn't want to mend fences with Emma and disappears even as Elsa tries to mediate. As Elsa tells Emma that she knows that Anna is still out there, she reminds Emma not to give up on Regina as Anna does the same with Elsa. Emma later returns to the Vault to talk to Regina about her past encounter with a friend that she pushed away because she lied to her, pointing out that she doesn't want to make that mistake and won't trying. Regina tells Emma to stop there and says despite their differences she does not want to kill Emma, to which Emma takes it as a start.
In between the scenarios, Mary Margaret asks Belle to babysit Neal for a while as she and David decide to go for a hike together, despite Mary Margaret's reluctance to leave Neal with another person but David tells her not to worry. In an effort to calm her fears, David gives Belle a walkie-talkie so they can contact her. When they arrive to the Sheriff's office David notices Will has escaped from his cell, giving him an idea to chase Will down like back in the days in The Enchanted Forest, but Mary Margaret thinks she ought to stay and take care of Neal, so David takes off after him. Moments later, Mary Margaret hears someone digging near the shore and spots Will, who was looking for a map that he had in his sack but can not find it. Mary Margaret then figures that David helped Will escape after admitting to getting drunk and breaking into the library. Mary Margaret immediately pardons Will. As David returns to find out about Neal, he learns from Mary Margaret about Will but says that Will escaped on his own, saying that Will earned the pardon.
Back at the forest, Ingrid releases Sidney from the mirror but tells him it's not him she wants, it's the mirror itself because it contains dark magic and adds that mirrors reflect mood, desire and essence, serving as the temporary receptacle for the fraction of our soul. Ingrid says she will have what has been denied to her for a long time. She refused to elaborate to Sidney any more details, and opens a portal to an ice fortress for Sidney so he can enjoy his freedom, reminding him to take a warm coat because "it's about to get cooler around here." Ingrid then takes the broken glass shard and puts it into a large mirror, which made it complete. This puts everything in motion for Ingrid to have the one thing she has desired: a family. And as Hook returns to a surprised Emma and to offer a drink, she takes out a file box and opens the contents, among them a video camera which featured Lily. Unfortunately, in a surprise twist not even Emma saw coming, the video now features a new footage of a teen Emma chasing two boys who took her camera, then hears a woman telling them to give it back to Emma. The woman is none other than Ingrid, who is revealed to be Emma's foster mother from our world.
Deleted Scenes
"The Babysitter"
This scene is included on Once Upon a Time: The Complete Fourth Season.
An extended version of the scene where Belle babysits Neal. Belle comes to Mary Margaret's loft to look after the baby. Mary Margaret asks her who she must call first if something happens, and Belle answers that first she'll call her, then David, then Emma, then Dr. Whale and then emergency services. David encourages his wife, saying that Neal will be fine with Belle. After Mary Margaret re-checks her son's diapers, David asks Belle how marriage life is going, which Belle replies that it's great. After Mary Margaret gives the crying baby to Belle's arms, he suddenly quiets, which makes David say that they need this timeout.[3]
"Friends Forever?"
This scene is included on Once Upon a Time: The Complete Fourth Season.
An extended version of the scene where Emma and Lily part ways. Emma approaches Lily's adoptive father and tries to explain that she didn't know that Lily actually had a family, but the man doesn't listen to her, rather warning Emma to never get close to Lily again. From inside the car, Lily apologizes to Emma and claims to feel as a real orphan, but the blonde ignores her and walks away.[4]
Gerda and King Arendelle
A scene with Gerda and her husband was cut from the episode. However, Pascale Hutton and Oliver Rice are still credited in the episode's press release.[2]
Cast[2]
Starring
Guest Starring
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Co-Starring
Uncredited
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Trivia
Title
- The title card features the ice staircase created by Elsa.[5]
- The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on August 23, 2014.[6]
Production Notes
- ADDED RECAP FOOTAGE: The recap video at the beginning of the episode contains an excerpt from a deleted scene from "The Apprentice," where Regina is in her office, discussing Robin Hood's commitment to his wife with Mary Margaret: "He's honor-bound to stay with her. Therefore, I have to save her.," she says.
- According to Adam Horowitz, the scene was added to "jog the memory" of viewers.[7]
- Young Emma's scenes in "Breaking Glass," "Shattered Sight,""Lily," "The Dark Swan" and "Tougher Than the Rest" take place in Minnesota because that's where Edward Kitsis is from.[8]
Event Chronology
- The Land Without Magic flashbacks take place in 1998, 3 years after "Snow Drifts," and 1 year before "Lily" and the flashbacks with Ingrid and young Emma in "Shattered Sight." (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
- Note that some of the dialogue in this episode is rather misleading: When Emma comments on why she ran away from her group home, she refers to the events of "Snow Drifts" as if they happened recently: "This little girl from my home, Cecilia, got adopted. I watched her get in this station wagon with this perfect-looking couple. That's when I realized no one was ever gonna look at me the way those parents looked at her. I'm too old. I missed my chance. There was no point in me staying another day if I was just gonna keep feeling... Invisible?" Emma's words suggest that she ran way shortly after Cecilia was adopted, but since Cecilia was adopted in 1995, Emma actually waited a few years.
- The Storybrooke events take place after "The Apprentice" and before "Family Business." (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
Episode Connections
- How Sidney was trapped in the mirror was explored in "A Tale of Two Sisters."
- Will was arrested in "The Apprentice."
- Hook takes Henry sailing, which he first did in "It's Not Easy Being Green."
- The set of photos that Sidney took of Emma and Henry first appeared in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree."
- The photographs of Emma and Henry are from scenes in "The Thing You Love Most."
- The picture of Emma and Henry leaving Archie's office[9] first appears in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree."[10]
- The picture of Emma in the Snow Queen's ice cream shop was taken during "Shattered Sight."
- The reason why Emma doesn't remember the time she spent with the Snow Queen is explained in "Shattered Sight." Emma gets her memories back in the same episode.
- Young Emma mentions a little girl from her group home, Cecilia, who was adopted, which was illustrated in "Snow Drifts."
- Young Emma states that she realized no one would ever look at her the way Cecilia's adopted parents looked at her. However, Emma did eventually get to experience this when she was reunited with her parents in "Broken."
- Regina's anger toward Emma is explained in "There's No Place Like Home."
- Marian's affliction occurred in "Rocky Road."
- Regina is looking at a photo of herself and Robin Hood,[11] which was taken between scenes in "A Curious Thing."
- Regina makes a reference to the first time she trapped Sidney in a mirror during "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree."
- Sidney's cell at the hospital, which Regina refers to, appears in "A Land Without Magic" and "A Tale of Two Sisters."
- The Snow Queen says that she has hundreds of mirrors. Some of these mirrors appeared in her ice cream shop in "White Out" and "Rocky Road."[12]
- Lily's origin, and how she was adopted, is revealed in "Best Laid Plans."
- After going their separate ways, Emma and Lily were reunited twice, something that is explored in "Lily."
- Emma's box of keepsakes[13] first appears when she unpacks her things in "The Price of Gold."[14] In "Tougher Than the Rest," she is seen opening the same box to show August a set of pages from "The Ugly Duckling" fairy tale.[15] In "The Song in Your Heart," she opens it to look though her possessions.[16]
- Hook picks up glasses,[17] which Emma used to wear as a young adult, as established in "Tallahassee" and "There's No Place Like Home."
- The ring that Hook picks up[18] is the one that teenage Emma got when she was at the funfair with Ingrid in "Shattered Sight."[19]
- Emma picks up her baby blanket, which was knitted by Granny in "Pilot."
- The photograph of Emma and Neal[20] was taken between scenes in "Tallahassee."
- The Snow Queen's connection to Emma was first alluded to in "Rocky Road," and is explored in "Shattered Sight."
- The video recording of Emma and the Snow Queen was made during "Shattered Sight," and is seen again in "Family Business."
Disney
- This episode features Elsa and Anna from the movie Frozen.
- Elsa builds an ice staircase similar to the one she made in the movie Frozen during the song "Let It Go."
- This episode contains a number of other references to Disney works. See the list of Disney references for more.
Fairy Tales and Folklore
- This episode features the ugly duckling from the titular fairy tale, the Knave of Hearts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (who is also Will Scarlet from the Robin Hood ballads), Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story and the Snow Queen from the fairy tale of the same name.
- While in jail, Will asks for his forgotten dinner order of "bangers and mash." Emma replies "You had the water and Pop-Tart." This is a reference to a scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland where the Knave stands trial for tart burglary.
- Ingrid breaks off a piece of a compact mirror and inserts it into another mirror – the troll mirror from "The Snow Queen" fairy tale. She also states that she has hundreds of mirrors in her possession, another reference to the mirror from the fairy tale.
- In addition, Sidney Glass is featured as a reference to the mirror. He is also featured as the magic mirror from the "Snow White" fairy tale.
Popular Culture
- Lily says that she likes to think of the star imprint on her arm as a symbol, "Like Harry Potter"; a reference to the title character of the famous book series by J. K. Rowling, and the scar on his forehead. The first book of the series was released in the U.S. in 1998 (more specifically, in September),[21] which is also the year where the flashback takes place.
Props Notes
- MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS: As Regina is looking through the spell book, we see a palmistry illustration of a hand, with astrological symbols for the mounts on the palm.[22] Mounts are the bumps of flesh on the palm, which are named after planets, and which play a very important role during a palmistry reading. Four astrological symbols can be seen on the illustration:[23]
- Venus (♀), the mount by the thumb.
- Jupiter (♃) is erroneously printed on the mound between the thumb and the index finger, which is where lower Mars should be.
- Mars (♂) is erroneously printed on the mound beneath the index finger, which is actually Jupiter's mound.
- Saturn (♄), the mount under the index finger.
- Note that the mounts of Apollo (the sun) and Mercury, which are placed beneath the ring finger and the baby finger respectively, are obscured.
- EPISODE FRAME USED AS PICTURE: The framed photo of Regina and Robin Hood[11] is taken directly from a shot in the scene with the two of them in the diner hallway in the Season Three episode "A Curious Thing."[24]
- EPISODE FRAME USED AS PICTURE: The Polaroid of Emma and Neal[20] is taken directly from a shot in the scene where Emma volunteers to pick up the stolen watches in the Season Two episode "Tallahassee."[25]
Set Dressing
- HIDDEN DETAILS: The graffiti on a gate, which Emma and Lily pass as they run from Lily's father, has "Cora" written on it.[26]
- As the girls hide inside the alley, graffiti on the building across the road says "always valiant."[27]
- HIDDEN DETAILS: Many Storybrooke locations contain references to the Enchanted Forest (for more information, see the Set Notes trivia in the Storybrooke article). Although it is not actually in Storybrooke, the house where Emma and Lily crash for the night, follows the same pattern: There are two paintings depicting tree trunks in a forest are decorating the walls,[28] and when the girls are sleeping, the shadows against the curtains are reminiscent of leaf-covered branches and bushes in a forest.[29] This is a subtle reference to the world that Emma and Lily actually come from.
- HIDDEN DETAILS: As Elsa is running through the woods, she runs past a sign which says "Storybrooke Wilderness Park - Yarrow Lane."[30]
Costume Notes
- BRAND INFO: Young Emma is wearing[31] a TNA Canvas Maverick Bomber Jacket[32] (no longer available). She wears it again in flashbacks from "Shattered Sight."[33]
- The same jacket is worn by another famous "Swan" character: Bella Swan, in the 2010 romantic fantasy movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.[34]
- It is also worn by Andy McNally on an episode of the police drama television series Rookie Blue[35] and Olivia Dunham on an episode of the science fiction television series Fringe.[36]
- BRAND INFO: Lily is wearing[37] an Aritzia Talula Edo Jacket.[38] She wears it again in flashbacks in "Lily."[39]
- BRAND INFO: Belle is wearing[40] a RED Valentino Ruffled Placket Stripe Poplin Blouse[41] (no longer available).
- USE IT AGAIN: It is seen more clearly when Belle wears it again in "Unforgiven."[42]
- Elsa's purple cape was used in this episode for technical reasons because her scenes were filmed on a green background screen, and because she wore a blue dress, which is too similar of a color to the background screen, that would have made her body completely invisible on the special-effects camera.[43]
- BRAND INFO: Mary Margaret is wearing[44] Lafayette 148 New York Women's Bi-Stretch McKenna Topper jacket[45] and a Band of Outsiders Panel Top With Leather Collar[46] (no longer available).
- USE IT AGAIN: Mary Margaret wears the same top in "Poor Unfortunate Soul."[47]
Filming Locations
- The scenes in the Storybrooke graveyard was filmed in a real graveyard, located in North Vancouver.[48]
- Donald's Market at 2332 E Hastings Street in Vancouver, British Columbia doubles as the convenience store where Emma meets Lily. The alley way behind Donald's Market doubles as the alley way Emma and Lily use to evade Lily's father.[49]
- Deerholme at 6110 Price Street in Burnaby, British Columbia, doubles the interior of James Page's summer home.[50] It is a a historic building located on the north shore of Burnaby's Deer Lake Park and was built as the retirement estate of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Owen Townley and his wife in 1913.[51]
- Deerholme also doubles as the exterior of Johanna's house in the Season Two episode "The Queen Is Dead."[52]
- The same house also doubles as the Marsden house in The X-Files episode "Fire,"[53][54] William Keith's mansion in the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Turncoat,"[54] Rachel Rosso's home in The Flash episode "There Will Be Blood"[55] and Andrew Kim's house in various episodes of The Exorcist.[54]
International Titles
| International Titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language | Title | Translation |
| Finnish | "Peili" | "The Mirror" |
| French | "Le Reflet du Miroir" | "The Reflection of the Mirror" |
| German | "Ein Splitter des Zauberspiegels" | "A Sliver of Magic Mirror" |
| Italian | "Lo specchio rotto" | "The Broken Mirror" |
| Portuguese | "Espelho Quebrado" | "Broken Mirror" |
| Spanish | "Cristales Rotos" | "Shattered Glasses" |
Videos
References
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