Can 'Once Upon A Time' Break Its Latest Spell?

If I had a dollar for every time Storybrooke fell under a life-threatening, evil spell — I'd probably be able to afford a lot of ice cream cones from The Snow Queen's shop. After weeks of The Snow Queen talking about her "family" and threatening the lives of everyone in Storybrooke, during Sunday night's episode, "Fall," the Spell of Shattered Sight hit Storybrooke. And, apparently, not even sharing the same heart makes you immune to its effects. Are you still wondering what exactly the Spell of Shattered Sight is and why some of your favorite characters — including the recently found Anna and Kristoff (yay!) — are immune while most are not? Well, here's your cheat sheet to the spell and how OUAT can break the Spell of Shattered Sight.

For the first time in forever — OK, it only feels like forever because there was no OUAT last Sunday — the ABC series gave us some answers and some evil action. First, Elsa got Anna back because, as usual, the solution was hiding in plain sight (damn you, OUAT). But most importantly, OUAT set itself up for its remaining two episodes in 2014 by having The Snow Queen finally cast the most atrocious spell we've ever seen. So, what exactly is it?

The Spell of Shattered Sight

Basically, everyone is seeing the worst in the people they love and, eventually, they will try to kill them. Why does The Snow Queen want this? Well, it'd free up Storybrooke to be her own little world where she can live with Emma and Elsa in all of their blonde-haired glory.

Why Are Some Characters Immune?

You probably noticed that David and Mary Margaret locked themselves in jail cells and gave up Neal and that Belle, Regina, and Henry have all been sealed away by magic (not sure if this worked or not). It was a battening down of the hatches to top even the craziest natural disaster — so, why did Emma, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Rumple not go under cover? Well, Elsa and Emma are immune because they've got those fancy yellow ribbons and because The Snow Queen wants them, Anna and Kristoff are immune because of the wishing star's magic, and Rumple is immune because he's Rumple and he does whatever he wants (apparently).

How Can OUAT Break The Spell?

In the past, the series has relied on just letting these spells take their course — for example, last season with Zelena's evil plan. But, OUAT can't possibly ride this one out without losing most of its characters, so they're going to have to do something. And, I have a sinking feeling that it'll be Rumplestiltskin to the rescue this time. Elsa and Anna will obviously put up the good fight against The Snow Queen, but while they wear those yellow ribbons, they're essentially screwed. Once Rumple realizes that he can't run away with Henry and Belle (because Regina protected Henry with magic), he's going to have to kill The Snow Queen or use the magic in the hat to break the spell (Hook's collected enough of it by now). Now, if only someone can convince him to come back to right side of things and to stop being so damn selfish.

Image: Jack Rowand/ABC