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"Smash the Mirror" is the eighth episode of Season Four of ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by David H. Goodman and Jerome Schwartz, and directed by Eagle Egilsson and Ralph Hemecker. It is the seventy-fourth episode of the series overall, and premiered on November 16, 2014.
This episode is a two-hour episode, and has subsequently been split into "Smash the Mirror, Part 1" and "Smash the Mirror, Part 2".
Synopsis
In Arendelle when the Snow Queen tries to pit Elsa and Anna against each other and it proves more difficult than she anticipates, she takes drastic measures. Meanwhile, in Storybrooke Emma’s powers are out of control and her fear of hurting loved ones pushes her away from everyone she cares about. In her confusion Emma turns to Gold for help getting her powers under control. Gold tells her about a way to get rid of her powers altogether and Hook tries to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, Regina struggles with her plan to find the author of the storybook until her quest takes an unexpected turn. Robin Hood recruits Will Scarlet to assist him on a mission and Mary Margaret and David search for Emma.[2]
Recap
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Deleted Scenes
"Just Like Everyone Else"
TBA.
Cast[2]
Starring |
Guest Starring
Co-Starring
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Trivia
Title
- The title card features Emma's yellow car.[3]
- The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on September 25, 2014.[4]
- The episode is named after The Who song of the same name.[5]
Production Notes
- For the scene where the Snow Queen arrives in Boston, a section was filmed where Ingrid is seen exiting the magic door in the middle of the city.[6] This ended up being cut from the final episode.
Event Chronology
- The Arendelle flashbacks occur after "Family Business", and more than 30 years before "Fall". (For more details, see the Arendelle timeline)
- The first Enchanted Forest flashback occurs after "Family Business". The second flashback occurs 2–3 years after those events. (For more details, see the Enchanted Forest timeline)
- The Land Without Magic flashback takes place in 1982, 16 years after "Operation Mongoose Part 1" and immediately before the flashback with the Snow Queen and Madame Faustina in "Shattered Sight". (For more details, see the Land Without Magic timeline)
- The Storybrooke events take place after "The Snow Queen" and before "Fall".
Episode Connections
- The Apprentice says to Ingrid that the Sorcerer only speaks through him. The reason for this is explained in "The Price".
- Emma lost control over her powers in "The Snow Queen".
- Anna was imprisoned by Ingrid in "Family Business".
- The photograph of Emma with Mary Margaret and Happy[7] is from the welcome home party at Granny's Diner in "The Cricket Game".[8]
- Regina mentions finding Robin Hood with Tinker Bell's help; an event that occurred in "Quite a Common Fairy".
- Hans was frozen by Ingrid in "Rocky Road".
- Hook leaves a voice mail message for Emma to reveal a secret he kept from her. This refers to events in "The Apprentice".
- Anna imprisons Elsa in the urn, which was mentioned by Ingrid in "Rocky Road" and "The Snow Queen".
- Regina talks about Henry's therapy sessions from Season One, and she explains the real motif for her actions.
- Regina points out that Henry has the heart of the truest believer, which was first revealed in the episode with the same name.
- Mary Margaret talks about how she had an affair with a married man; a story line which began in "7:15 A.M." and concluded in "What Happened to Frederick".
- Mary Margaret says that Regina has literally seen her heart, as shown in "Welcome to Storybrooke".
- Emma's scarf, which is used as a locator spell, is the one she wears in "Tiny", "Manhattan", "The Queen Is Dead" and "The Miller's Daughter".
- In "Rocky Road", Elsa and Emma ask Mr. Gold how Elsa ended up inside his vault, which is revealed in this episode.
- Elsa is freed from the urn in "There's No Place Like Home".
- Arendelle is unfrozen in "Fall".
- Mr. Gold taunts Hook about his loss of Milah, which occurred in "The Crocodile".
- How Hook knows Rumplestiltskin from before he became the Dark One is shown in "The Crocodile".
- Mr. Gold's plan to free himself from the dagger is thwarted in "Heroes and Villains".
- Hook gets his heart back in "Heroes and Villains".
- The story behind the mysterious page 23 is explained in "Mother".
- In "Family Business", Emma and Mr. Gold wonder how Ingrid escaped into our world. In this episode, the Apprentice gives Ingrid a way to the Land Without Magic.
- The Apprentice says Ingrid will be reunited with her niece, which occurs in "Rocky Road". He also states she will find her third "sister". This occurrence is alluded to in "Breaking Glass" and "Family Business", and explored in "Shattered Sight".
- The Spell of Shattered Sight strikes in "Fall", and is broken in "Shattered Sight".
Biblical
- The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by Joseph Tayer and Vocabulary of the Greek Testament by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan are sitting on a shelf in the library.[9]
Disney
- This episode features Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Hans from Frozen, as well as their homeland Arendelle.
- When Anna says, "Go away Anna, go away Anna", she recites dialogue from the "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" sequence in Frozen.
- This episode contains a number of other references to Disney works. See the list of Disney references for more.
Lost
- The storybook page where young Regina is running away,[10] and the page Robin Hood finds,[11] are number XXIII (as Regina points out), a reference to the fifth Lost number, 23.
- This episode contains a number of other references to ABC's Lost. See the list of Lost references for more.
Fairytales and Folklore
- This episode features the Snow Queen from the Snow Queen fairy tale, Captain Hook from the Peter Pan story, Robin Hood from the ballad, Rumplestiltskin from the Rumplestiltskin fairytale, and the apprentice from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".
Popular Culture
- Among the food that Elsa prepares as a welcome home meal for her sister Anna, is "chocolate julekake". Julekake, meaning "yule cake", is a traditional Norwegian Christmas fruit cake, distinguished by the pungent taste of cardamon.[12]
- Regina pretends to read[13] the trade paperback comic book Ultimate Comics: Wolverine: Legacies,[14] which was released in July 2013,[15] the year before the episode premiered. She also makes a reference to the main character's trademark adamantium claws. She also mentions "purple shorts", a reference to the Hulk, who always wears large purple shorts in the comics.
- In the library, Robin Hood picks up the children's book The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.[16]
- Other books in the library are:
- Thriving On Chaos by Tom Peters (on the far right when Will asks Robin Hood if he and Regina are still together)[17]
- Fine Art Reproductions by New York Graphic Society[9]
- Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by Joseph Tayer[9]
- Kunstgewerbeblatt[18]
- The Complete Printmaker[19]
- The Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking[19]
- Audubon Perspectives: Fight for Survival[19]
- Eyewitness to Disaster by Dan Perkes[19]
- Great Marques: Mercedes Benz[19]
- The Great Events by Famous Historians volume VI, XII and XVII[19]
- Vocabulary of the Greek Testament by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan[9]
- Cashelmara by Susan Howatch (on the bottom right corner when Robin Hood takes out The Cat in the Hat)[16]
- Regina makes a reference to Jimmy Choo shoes.
- Regina says that her happy ending "is not a Stephen King book-on-tape", a reference to the famous author.
Props Notes
- The Storybrooke map that Mr. Gold shows Emma, mentions a location called Brock Lake.[20] The map that Hook finds in the pawnshop mentions a location called Villar's Point.[21]
- Among the library shelves are books for dreams & mysteries,[22] rosicrucianism,[23] neoplatonism & gnosticism,[23] hermeticism[23] and divinatory graphology.[23]
- Rosicrucianism is a worldwide brotherhood claiming to possess esoteric wisdom handed down from ancient times. Their teachings are a combination of occultism and other religious beliefs and practices, including hermeticism, Jewish mysticism, and Christian Gnosticism.[24]
- Neoplatonism is a philosophical and religious system that arose in the third century in Alexandria. It mixes Platonic ideas and oriental mysticism.[25]
- Gnosticism is a collection of philosophical and religious movements whose adherents shunned the material world and embraced the spiritual world.
- Hermeticism is a religious and philosophical tradition based primarily upon writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Its philosophy is comprised of astrology, alchemy and theurgy.
- Graphology refers to the inference of character from a person's handwriting. The theory underlying graphology is that the way words and letters are formed can reveal traits of personality.[26]
- One of the library books that Robin takes from the shelf is called 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SL Repair Manual.[27] This is a repair manual for Regina's car, which is a 1988[28] Mercedes-Benz 560 SL [R107].[29]
- The children's pop-up book that Will opens contains a text page about the history of the British Royal Navy. It reads:
Sardinia from
Austria and
Savoy, defeating a
Spanish fleet at Cape
Passaro, and an undeclared [war](illegible)
in the 1720s, in which Spain tried
to retake Gibraltar and Minorca.
After a period of relative peace, the
Navy became engaged in the War of
Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748) against Spain,
which was dominated by a series of costly
and mostly unsuccessful attacks on Spanish
ports in the Caribbean. During the Battle of
Cartagena de Indias, the Navy deployed a huge force
- An excerpt from the fairytale of "The Golden Bird" can be seen on the back of the mysterious storybook page that Robin finds.[32]
Set Dressing
- As Elsa and Anna are skulking around the castle, Charles IV of Spain and His Family, a painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya from 1801, can be seen in one of the rooms.[33]
- The picture left of Elsa's and Anna's parents in the castle hall[34] is a portrait of British king Edward VII, from 1902.
- As Elsa follows Emma's scarf, she walks past a sign which says "Storybrooke Heritage Park".[35]
- There is a framed illustration of a ship in the library.[36] The same prop appears in Henry's apartment in the Season Seven episodes "Hyperion Heights"[37] and "A Pirate's Life".[38]
Costume Notes
- Mary Margaret is wearing[39] a Thakoon Striped Shirt[40] (no longer available).
- Regina is wearing[41] a London Leather-Trimmed Pencil Skirt from Burberry[42] (no longer available).
- Regina wore the same skirt when she was dining with Kurt and Owen in the Season Two episode "Welcome to Storybrooke".[43]
- The skirt was also worn by the character Quinn Perkins on the Scandal episode "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".[44] It was also worn in public by Brazilian actress Danielle Winits in September 2013.[45]
Filming Locations
- The scenes at the Apprentice's cottage and the Storybrooke Heritage Park were filmed in Burnaby's Central Park.[46]
- The Boston flashback was filmed on Granville Street in Vancouver.[47]
International Titles
| International Titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Language | Title | Translation |
| Finnish | "Särje peili" | "Smash the Mirror" |
| French | "La Sœur Parfaite" | "The Perfect Sister" |
| German | "Magie ist Sehnsucht, doch schnell wird sie zum Fluch" | "Magic is longing, but soon it becomes a curse" |
| Italian | "Frammenti di specchio" | "Fragments of Mirror" |
| Polish | "Roztrzaskane lustro" | "Shattered Mirror" |
| Portuguese | "Quebrar o espelho" | "To break the mirror" |
Videos
4x08 - Smash the Mirror - Promo
4x08 - Smash the Mirror - Canadian Promo
4x08 - Smash the Mirror - Sneak Peek 1
4x08 - Smash the Mirror - Sneak Peek 2
