Season 4, Episode 5:
Breaking Glass
Regina reluctantly teams up with Emma to search for the Snow Queen after Sidney, who is still 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, and 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.
Tropes
- Birds of a Feather: Emma and Lily, the girl she befriended in the flashback, until it turned out Lily lied about being an orphan and actually had an adoptive family who cared about her.
- Call-Back: It really would be in character for David to stage Will's escape to reinvigorate Mary Margaret, given his actions in the "Lost Girl" flashbacks.
- Chekhov's Gun: The video camera Lily owned. Emma kept it and it's revealed she has a video of the Snow Queen on it.
- Contrived Coincidence: Elsa happens to find photos of Emma talking to the Snow Queen in the ice-cream parlor, and then Emma happens to be reminded of events from her past that make her dig out the 15-year-old video she's never watched, which turns out to have scenes from Emma's history with the Snow Queen on it.
- Couch Gag: The title card features Elsa's ice stairway.
- The Dog Bites Back: Sidney tries to bargain the location of the Snow Queen for his freedom from the mirror. Regina threatens to put him back in the asylum. Sidney then joins the Snow Queen who promises (and gives) him his freedom, if he leads Regina into a trap.
- Foregone Conclusion: We know that Emma grew up to basically be a friendless loner prior to the start of the series, so obviously things between her and Lily weren't going to end well.
- Hypocrite: Regina scolds Sidney as a traitor, when it was she who had him betray her former husband Leopold. Even if she has changed since then, she still planned to exploit him.
- Mythology Gag: Calling back the original events of Frozen, Elsa recreates her ice bridge from "Let It Go" to cross a gorge, using the exact same hand motions and posture when running. Also, after the Snow Queen traps Elsa in her fear-manacles and Elsa demands what she's going to do, she replies, "I'm going to build a snowman."
- Pet the Dog: Not only does the Snow Queen free Sidney from the mirror, she gives him his total freedom telling him he doesn't have to be her slave/servant out of gratitude.
- The Reveal:
- The Snow Queen was Emma's foster mother.
- Also, she is assembling a Magic Mirror to somehow help her get the family and love she feels has been denied her, and for this she needs a piece of Sidney's mirror (because it was imbued with dark magic by Regina).
- Snowlem: The Snow Queen creates one; unlike Marshmallow, it looks more humanoid, and wields weapons. She also creates a convincing Snowlem that resembles Anna, in order to lure Elsa into a trap.
- Shout-Out:
- Lily mentions wanting to be special like Harry Potter.
- David jokes about a portal to Asgard. His actor Josh Dallas previously played Fandral in Thor.
- The episode's title could be considered a big one considering that the actor who plays Sidney Glass was formerly on another show all about 'breaking things' and a different kind of 'glass' entirely.
- This Is Unforgivable!:
- Young Emma couldn't forgive Lily for lying about having a family. Present day Emma wishes she had.
- Regina's reaction to Sidney's betrayal.
- Regina also invokes this when confronting Emma about having brought Marian back (crossed with a dose of This Is Reality) in that, even though she didn't mean to, it happened and it hurt her...so that not only will she never forgive her, that's just the way life is—bad things happen which can't be undone so you just have to "learn to live with it". Subverted a bit when Emma reveals she didn't want her forgiveness, just to still be her friend, and the gesture touches Regina enough to let her walls down somewhat.
- Wham Shot: Sarah Fisher's face paused in the camera of teen Emma.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Mary Margaret is convinced that her husband David has released Will (as part of a plan to give Snow a short break from watching over their newborn son, and feel more like her old self again) and absolves him of the crime in exchange for his admission. But Will really had escaped.
