John H. McDonald House, New Westminster, Canada

Elizabeth Mitchell and Georgina Haig in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Jennifer Morrison in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Elizabeth Mitchell in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Jennifer Morrison and Lana Parrilla in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Ginnifer Goodwin in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Nicole Muñoz and Abby Ross in Once Upon a Time (2011)

Ginnifer Goodwin

Jennifer Morrison

Lana Parrilla

Kalinda Vazquez

Scott Nimerfro

Regina reluctantly teams up with Emma to search for the Snow Queen after Sidney discovers her whereabouts, as flashbacks show a young Emma befriend a girl who, like her, is a runaway orphan.

Alrick Riley

Breaking Glass

Mirror mirror on the wall

When &apos;Once Upon a Time&apos; first started it was highly addictive and made the most of a truly great and creative premise. Really loved the idea of turning familiar fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail every time it came on and it was often a highlight of the week. Which was why it was sad when it ran out of ideas and lost its magic in the later seasons.

Season 4 had a lot to live up after Season 3 being as impressive as it was. At this early stage of the season, one can see a lot of promise, some may argue that it is capitalising on &apos;Frozen&apos;s&apos; success but there is much more to the season than that. This promise was apparent from the get go, with a great season opener in &quot;A Tale of Two Sisters&quot;. &quot;White Out&quot; and &quot;Rocky Road&quot; were good if not as good and &quot;The Apprentice&quot; was very good. 

&quot;Breaking Glass&quot; continues the very good if not quite great standard. That it focuses less on the &apos;Frozen&apos; arc and having its own story is appreciated, so far Season 4 has shown that the show is doing far more than capitalising on &apos;Frozen&apos;s&apos; success or being a marketing ploy like it could have been. 

Sure there are episodes with more richness, layers, more surprises and character and plot advancement, what happens here doesn&apos;t for examples have the richness of the Neverland and Zelena story arcs that dominated Season 3. 

However, there is so much to like about &quot;Breaking Glass&quot; and there is not an awful lot wrong. It has a good deal of momentum, the characters are still interesting and true to character, not behaving idiotically, it doesn&apos;t feel like filler, it has entertainment value, nice character moments that mean a lot and a lot of heart.

Especially good in &quot;Breaking Glass&quot; is the relationship between Emma and Regina. It was crucial for it to work for being such a big part of the story, and it is executed with a lot of tension and heart. Regina&apos;s character continues to have complexity and nuance and Emma is not passive and generally is getting stronger all the time.

All the performances are delightful, particularly from Jennifer Morrison, who (as well as the character of Emma) has come on a lot, and Lana Parrilla, a highlight of the show from the get go and doesn&apos;t disappoint. A lot happens but it doesn&apos;t feel over-stuffed or underdone.

Furthermore, &quot;Breaking Glass&quot; is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune. 

Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, no corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when &apos;Once Upon a Time&apos; first started, much more complexity and nuance. 

All in all, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

When 'Once Upon a Time' first started it was highly addictive and made the most of a truly great and creative premise. Really loved the idea of turning familiar fairy tales on their heads and putting own interpretations on them and the show early on clearly had clearly had a ball. Watched it without fail every time it came on and it was often a highlight of the week. Which was why it was sad when it ran out of ideas and lost its magic in the later seasons.

Season 4 had a lot to live up after Season 3 being as impressive as it was. At this early stage of the season, one can see a lot of promise, some may argue that it is capitalising on 'Frozen's' success but there is much more to the season than that. This promise was apparent from the get go, with a great season opener in "A Tale of Two Sisters". "White Out" and "Rocky Road" were good if not as good and "The Apprentice" was very good. 

"Breaking Glass" continues the very good if not quite great standard. That it focuses less on the 'Frozen' arc and having its own story is appreciated, so far Season 4 has shown that the show is doing far more than capitalising on 'Frozen's' success or being a marketing ploy like it could have been. 

Sure there are episodes with more richness, layers, more surprises and character and plot advancement, what happens here doesn't for examples have the richness of the Neverland and Zelena story arcs that dominated Season 3. 

However, there is so much to like about "Breaking Glass" and there is not an awful lot wrong. It has a good deal of momentum, the characters are still interesting and true to character, not behaving idiotically, it doesn't feel like filler, it has entertainment value, nice character moments that mean a lot and a lot of heart.

Especially good in "Breaking Glass" is the relationship between Emma and Regina. It was crucial for it to work for being such a big part of the story, and it is executed with a lot of tension and heart. Regina's character continues to have complexity and nuance and Emma is not passive and generally is getting stronger all the time.

All the performances are delightful, particularly from Jennifer Morrison, who (as well as the character of Emma) has come on a lot, and Lana Parrilla, a highlight of the show from the get go and doesn't disappoint. A lot happens but it doesn't feel over-stuffed or underdone.

Furthermore, "Breaking Glass" is a very handsomely mounted episode visually, the settings and costumes are both colourful and atmospheric, not too dark or garish and never cookie cutter. It is photographed beautifully too. The music is haunting, ethereal and cleverly used with a memorable theme tune. 

Writing has the right balance of humour, pathos, mystery and intrigue, no corn or cheesiness here. This aspect has come on such a long way since when 'Once Upon a Time' first started, much more complexity and nuance. 

All in all, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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