‘Once Upon a Time’: Family ties drive action in ‘Breaking Glass’

There’s a two-way mirror, ongoing reconciliation (SwanQueen mishaps) and a look back at Emma during her teen years in the “Breaking Glass” episode of “Once Upon a Time.”

A box of items from Emma Swan’s childhood brings back memories. In a ‘90s Minnesota, a rebellious 15-year-old orphaned Emma has run away from yet another unsatisfactory group home. She promptly finds herself in trouble when she’s caught shoplifting. A girl, Lilith, helps her out of the spot, and the two become fast friends. Turns out Lily also has a bad homelife situation, which Emma takes to mean Lily is homeless as well, and they bond while giggling, videotaping themselves and working out survival plans. Mostly.

Back in Storybrooke, Emma’s actual parents are going to go on a date night while Belle watches over Prince Neal. That can’t be the norm, though -- this is Storybrooke. Will Scarlet, the thief of thieves, breaks out of the town jail, and Snow and David use their date night to track down the library-squatting thief.

Meanwhile, adult Emma is trying to find two people. Sidney Glass, who she finds took some photos of her that she can’t remember. Regina says she can’t help her find Sidney -- she doesn’t know where he is. Gasp! She lied, and Emma didn’t pick up on it. Oh well, Emma’s on to the next missing person: Elsa.

Elsa thought that she could somehow face the Snow Queen by herself. Nope, not while she fears her own powers -- something that was instilled in her years ago. Ice chains keep her hostage in the forest. While Emma is looking for Elsa and the Snow Queen by foot in the forest, Regina uses Sidney Glass, the Magic Mirror, as a magical lo-jack. Though she, at first, didn’t want to help Marion, she realizes she’ll need the Snow Queen to save her.

Emma and Regina cross paths and, reluctantly for Regina, team up to find and stop the Snow Queen. Travel-sized Sidney (in Regina’s makeup compact mirror), leads them to ... an ice bridge? Sure, that looks safe to go over. Really, Regina? Winds blow, and the bridge begins to collapse. Uh-oh. It was a trap. Sidney has apparently switched sides?! He’s now working for the Snow Queen.

And that wasn’t even the strangest thing. Once Regina and Emma jump clear of the bridge, a huge ice samurai guard attacks. Regina blows parts of it up and Emma smashes it against a tree with their magic, but it reforms itself. Emma and Regina combine their attack, liquifying the ice creature.

That’s when the Snow Queen shows up. She takes Regina’s compact, and Darth Vaders the duo (holding them airborne while choking them from afar). Then she’s blasted off her feet. Elsa has gained a measure of control over her fear of her powers, and is ready to fight the Snow Queen -- but she disappears after telling them that the compact is all she really wanted anyway. After all of that, Regina teleports away before she and Emma can even have a heart-to-heart talk. Elsa tells Emma not to give up on Regina, and it rekindles a memory.

Back in the ‘90s, young Emma and her new friend Lily -- who have since been living in an abandoned house -- are found by a strange man. The man is Lily’s father, who’s been out looking for Lily. Emma feels betrayed by her friend, who actually had a family and was just lying about her homelessness. Lily wants to remain friends, but Emma walks away, leaving her fast friend in tears.

But now, in the present, Emma won’t walk away from Regina like she did Lily. She has a talk with Regina, saying that she didn’t pity her, but just wanted to be friends. Not only because of Henry, but because they’re more similar than either would’ve cared to admit. She’s right, and begins thawing out the Evil Queen’s heart. Regina doesn’t want to kill Emma anymore! Yay?

The Snow Queen, having gotten what she needed, sets Sidney free from the mirrorverse. She really only needed a sliver of the Evil Queen’s mirror to add to her own. Who knows what exactly she’s planning, but we do know it involves getting her family back together.

Her family? Seems odd, until we see a videotape, taken from Emma’s box of memories. Hook has come over to console Emma since she’s feeling down. They watch the videotape and see her friend Lily, but in a scene on the tape that Emma doesn’t remember at all, the Snow Queen appears. Looks like Emma was part of her family -- albeit a foster family (?) -- at some point in the past.