Once Upon A Time 4×04 – The Apprentice

Review by Panda
What annoyed me most about this one was how circumstantial all the planning was. Looking back though I think that’s something that’s always plagued Once.

All of the plotting, be it to get a curse in motion or trick a naive princess into doing your dirty work, comes with a lot of skepticism on the viewers part. I usually find that sort of thing easy to overlook and enjoy what this show does best, but in ‘The Apprentice’ it got on my nerves a little.

Rumple has a keen sense of what motivates people and he’s always known what they would do in certain situations given the right encouragement, but his tricking Anna felt a little false and her not seeing through his manipulating made me like her a little less. It was so obvious what he was up to when he coaxed her into killing him, and we all knew that she wouldn’t do it. It got the story to where it needed to go, but I couldn’t ignore how contrived the whole encounter was.

Now that Anna’s trip to the enchanted forest is over, I’m really confused as to how their story forced Elsa into Rumple’s trap. My assumption was that Anna got both of them in trouble leading to Elsa being locked in that magic urn but now I’m not sure what to think, other than knowing the Snow Queen was involved in it all.

Regina’s quest to uncover the author is different than I thought it would be. I took from the premiere that it would involve a lot of bloodshed and dark magic, but I’m relieved that it’s something that’s a lot less sinister, and that it’s bringing her and Henry back together. I still haven’t forgotten about Sidney being locked in the mirror though (he is still there, right?).

Emma and Hook’s date was as I expected it to be but Hook falling for Rumple’s lies about his reattached hand was painfully predictable. As much as I enjoy watching Emma and Hook cozy up to one another, I hope it isn’t all going to fall apart and push Hook back into his pillaging and plundering ways. He was so quick to use the hand as an excuse to act like a douchebag, but it does seem like he wants to change. Please can we have a happy medium? I wouldn’t want him to lose his edge either.

Plus

What’s the connection between Emma and the Snow Queen?

Snow and David were even more pointless this week, but the show still runs just fine without them getting in the way.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland spoilers below!

Will broke into the library and stole a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and he had a torn page with the Red Queen in his pocket. What happened to him that he ended up in Storybrooke without Ana? Maybe he got ripped away from her during the second curse…

Conclusion
Focusing on characters like Emma, Hook and Regina gave us a bit of a breather from Frozen this week, but Anna popping up in the flashbacks kept the story moving forward, I just wish that things were a little less flimsy when it came to getting us to the next stage of the story.

Panda Rating
C

Previously posted on PandaTV.