Oh, one other thing that I do think qualifies Frozen as being a shark jump (even with the “it fits!” qualifier from my first post). The arc of S4A largely focused (almost exclusively) on the Frozen gang. They were not guest stars who only appeared when the main cast needed them to, but they more or less took over the show. Almost every centric had then worked in somehow, something OUAT has never done before. Every scene with the exception of the long arching Author search was tied to Frozen and what the Frozen crew needed.
It’s like bringing on a really cute kid and making every episode about that cute kid and their antics, taking time away from the other characters. (Looking at you Cosby show, when they introduced Olivia to the character line up).
We even had flashbacks that either had no regulars or a regular only made a cameo appearance.
“A Tale of Two Sisters” – Anna, Elsa and Kristoff. None of the regular cast were involved.
“White Out” – Anna and David.
“Rocky Road” – Elsa, Kristoff, Hans and Ingrid. None of the regular cast were involved.
“The Apprentice” – Anna, Rumple and the Apprentice.
“Breaking Glass” – Emma and Lily. One of the few flashbacks not to include the Frozen characters. Ingrid does appear when Emma and Hook look through Emma’s old camcorder, but it wasn’t a part of the main flashback, and Ingrid was at least an original character to OUAT.
“Family Business” – Belle, Anna, Elsa, and Ingrid.
“The Snow Queen” – Ingrid, Gerda, Helga, and the Duke. Rumple appeared, but only for one scene, so it’s not like the flashback heavily involved him.
“Smash the Mirror” – Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Ingrid. Again Rumple appears, but only for one scene, and this was a flashback over the course of a 2 hour episode.
“Fall” – Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Hans. None of the regular cast were involved.
“Shattered Sight” – Emma and Ingrid. Another flashback not to feature the Frozen characters, at least not the ones from the movie.
“Heroes and Villains” – Rumple, Belle, and the Queens of Darkness. Another flashback not to feature the Frozen characters.
So yeah, the problem was that since almost all of the flashbacks in 4A were about the Frozen characters, that took character development away from the main cast.