‘Once Upon a Time’: Season 4’s ‘Frozen’ saga begins with ‘Sisters’

After being guided through a Season 3 recap by show creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis, Season 4 of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” kicked into gear with “A Tale of Two Sisters,” the beginning of the show’s “Frozen” saga.

The show’s double epilogues from last season’s finale -- one introducing Elsa and one reintroducing the Magic Mirror and a revenge-minded Regina -- seem to have outlined the coming season. The first image we get is of Elsa’s and Anna’s parents and their mysterious disappearance aboard a boat, seemingly lost to a raging storm. They’ve sent a message home to their daughters, but we don’t know what it is.

Fast-forward five years later, in the kingdom of Arendelle, and Anna and Elsa are all grown up, and Anna is soon to be wed. The sisters mourn the loss of their parents but are excited abou the wedding. Anna has a new dress. Sven the reindeer is coming. And Elsa comes across their mother’s diary, which says that their parents left on their tragic journey because of Elsa’s powers -- guilt-inducing and vague.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma and Regina are once again at odds. With Emma bringing back Marion, the love of Robin Hood’s life, last season, what little ray of happiness Regina allowed herself to feel is snatched away once again. Emma is sorry, but not sorry. Regardless, she wants to help -- a request that is denied: “The more you try to help, the worse my life becomes.” Is evil seeping back into the queen?

Also, Elsa is now wandering Storybrooke. Her first act? She freezes an oncoming truck -- probably the first one she’s ever seen -- that happens to be driven by Sleepy and Grumpy. Powerful.

OUCH. Regina gets the reaction she expected from Robin Hood. His rejection was introduced with niceties and a hint of “maybe he’ll go with Regina,” but it turned sour quickly. He’s still married to Marion and he made a vow of “till death do us part,” so he’s going to stay with her.

Another love stolen from Regina, another plan for revenge against those around her through nefarious means: Giancarlo Esposito is taken from his holding cell, and Regina’s Magic Mirror will be used in whatever plan she has cooking. How many people/characters does she have hidden in those underground rooms? That may be an interesting place to explore one day.

After Rumpelstiltskin visits the grave of his son, Baelfire, promising to be a better man in lieu of his sacrifice -- a heartfelt speech -- he and his new wife, Belle, have probably the most ‘awww’ inducing moment that the series has seen.

They nab an uninhabited house on the outskirts of town for their honeymoon -- though even that is a little ominous, with some weird, most-likely magical artifact that catches Rumpel’s eye.

The ‘ominous’ is wiped away with four magical snaps -- lights, music, dress, suit -- and a tale as old as time comes to life. It’s complete with the original “Beauty and the Beast” theme song and costumes. Cute, but what was that box?

Back in Arendelle, Anna and Elsa figure out that maybe they can piece together exactly why their parents left, so, of course, they ask their troll friend Grandpabbie. He tells them that he doesn’t know what their reasons were for going, but he does know where they went: a place called Misthaven.

Hook notices that Emma is avoiding him. He’s right -- she’s still a bit bummed out about being a part of Regina’s broken heart. She gives Hook a kiss to calm his fears, but she’s still on a mission to help, and he has to rein it in until she’s ready. In a cool split-screen scene, she tells Regina that she’s sorry, through a locked door, but says that she’s going to fight to make sure that the queen still has a happy ending somehow. ‘Cause she’s the savior!

After Emma leaves, Regina asks the mirror to help her change fate. They need to find the person responsible for writing all of the happy endings in the “Once Upon a Time” book -- and make him/her/it change the fate of the villains.

Grumpy is thawed out, and making the most of it. He runs into town and yells, so there’s, of course, trouble. Trouble that can freeze a truck going full speed right in place. Elsa is leaving an easy, icy path, so Emma and Hook follow her. But never back a magical princess in a corner or a huge, man-eating snowman may be created to come after you. Olaf, is that you?

With nary a carrot nose to be seen, the Olaf ice creature (or Elsa’s guard?) swats the heroes around like flies. After knocking them all out, it’s Maid Marian versus the snowman. She’s about to get put ‘on ice’ when Regina steps in and destroys the creature with a fireball. Maybe she’s not as bad as you thought, Marian. Then poof, she’s gone without a word.

In Arendelle past, Anna decides to go off to this Misthaven place in search of answers about their parents’ disappearance. Elsa finds out after questioning a coy Kristoff, her future brother-in-law, and Sven the reindeer about Anna’s whereabouts. She finds out too late that Anna has gone to Misthaven, or a place better known as the Enchanted Forest.

Back in the present, Elsa has managed to stay hidden throughout the whole snowman ordeal. But she finds herself breaking into Mr. Gold’s shop after seeing a familiar object in the newspaper: a pendant she’d given to Anna. She swears to get her sister back.

Now, back to the mysterious box Rumpel found. Using the power of his dagger, Rumpel opens the weird artifact to reveal what looks to be a witch’s hat that has a view of the universe inside of it. Don’t know what this is (dimensional gate?), but it looks powerful.

And it looks like a lot of storylines were introduced in this premiere -- Regina/Mirror, Hook/Emma, Anna/Elsa and Rumpel/Belle -- with all seeming interesting in different ways, so hopefully a great season lies ahead.