I liked what we got with Maleificent too. I wouldn't seeing her come back in some flashbacks, but I don't see any need to retcon anything. I enjoyed this episode. I like Hook, and I enjoyed what they did with him here. I know it annoys some people when they turn make a more villainous character like him into a good guy, but I don't mind it and I think they've done it well here.
I howled at Emma's comment upon learning her grandmother's hand in Cora's abandonment of baby Zelina. "I thought we were the good guys." I really liked the rapprochement we got tonight between Snow and Regina. "I was a brat." and later, "Regina I know you, you love with your whole being your whole soul, not just your heart." And I loved what Regina did with THAT bit of advice. You GO girl!
Kudos to Adam and Eddy for once again adding new dimensions to what we thought we knew about certain events and characters. With the revelations in tonight's episode, events as depicted in The Stable Boy, The Miller's Daughter, and The Queen is Dead take on an entirely new context.
Is everything really in a new context? I mean, even if it was partly out of jealousy Ava still did the right thing exposing Cora's lies like that. Cora still came off as power-hungry, and now all this does is explain why Ava was mean to Cora by tripping her (she remembered the liar who tried to con Leopold) which actually made it LESS petty. Heck, Regina still hasn't admitted that she blamed an innocent defenseless kid for something her Mom did (killing Daniel) and her reasons for doing so: She blamed Snow because she knew she could get away with harming her, whereas she knew she could never beat Cora in a fair fight.
^ Yes. This episode tells us that A) Eva knew exactly who Cora was when she tripped her B) Cora and Leopold recognized one another when Cora offered him Regina's hand in marriage C) Cora deliberately orchestrated not only Eva's death and Regina's rescue of Snow, but manipulated Leopold for the second time as well by playing on his grief over losing the woman he chose over her
I'm confused. Did they retcon Cora's character? Last time we saw her, she was married to a king who thought she could spin straw into gold, but not without Rumple's help. If this episode was a continuation of Cora's past, then this had to have happened before she met Rumple. Again, I was confused by the earlier suggestion that Rumple was Zelena's biological father when this episode made it clear that a fake prince took advantage of a young Cora and got her pregnant. Prince Leopold, Snow's father, had obviously met Cora before; in fact, he was going to marry her when Princess Eva, Snow's mother, exposed Cora's secret to the future king. I liked the dynamic between Regina and Snow, especially when Cora's ghost tried to attack Snow and Regina protected her. They realized their pasts were more complicated than they thought. I did like how Regina mustered up the courage to finally kiss Robin Hood. Who could resist that hunky bandit?!
What's confusing is the timeline and everyone's respective ages. How soon after their initial meeting did Leopold & Ava marry? Didn't it seem at Cora & Ava's "next" meeting (where she also meets Rumpel) that Ava wasn't married "yet"? Its possible that even a year after meeting Cora briefly, the young lady simply didn't recognize Cora in that other castle. Snow was 9-10ish when she met Regina and Regina was 18ish. Zelina was born & abandoned 7 months after Cora met Leopold. IF Cora didn't marry the boring prince (Rumple/straw/gold ep) until at least a year after her encounter with "Prince Jonathan" in the tavern that means Regina saves Snow's life (at the minimum) nearly 19 years after the 2 days Cora met Leopold, got engaged and then broke up. If so, then it's more than possible that Leopold simply didn't recognize Cora when he met her again during his proposal visit to Regina. Despite Ava's hand in exposing Cora's deceit, Zelina's life is still a direct result of Cora's choices. She chose to lie to Prince Leopold about NOT being pregnant rather than tell him about the gardener who played her false then abandoned her. She chose to abandon the child to the elements where she was wisked away by a green tornado and found by parents of whom only one knew how to give her love. I found it interesting that Cora chose Snow to impart this info to, rather than Regina. Was it because she enjoyed bringing Snow's mother down a peg or two in Snow's estimation? Or was it because she couldn't bear bringing down Regina's opinion even further about Cora? It was very interesting that Regina and Snow couldn't figure out what "turned" spiteful Ava into the loving Queen that Snow and the kingdom remembers so fondly. The same thing that helped Regina to change, the love of a child. The one thing Cora never "felt" because she gave Zelina away when she HAD a heart and she had Regina after she ripped her own heart from her chest. The dying Cora only understood the magnitude of her error with Regina when she could feel in that heart the power that love truly possessed.
It might not have been PHYSICALLY apparent due to practical realities, but according to Adam, Eva and Leopold did clearly recognize Cora when they encountered her later on, and she certainly remembered them.
I enjoyed this one. I enjoyed getting to learn more about Cora, and I liked the relationship we got between Snow and Regina. I really like what they've been doing with Regina lately. I like villain-to-hero stories, and her's has been pretty good so far.
I just want to see Snow lapse for a second and call Regina "Mommy" (Snowwhite's grandson is her brother?) and then watch Regina lose her shit.
I agree with the villain to hero thing & the changing relationship between Snow & Regina. I also like the relationship that has been developing between Emma and Regina. I fear what will happen, however, when Regina learns of Emma's plans to take Henry back to NYC, especially before they find a way to recall his memories. I wonder why the WWOTW can't kill Emma, and if Emma is so powerful why that power isn't transferred in some way to Henry.
Last week, JD mentioned... We got that again this week in spades! I thought Regina was going to break down when Snow and Charming said their goodbyes and then again when Snow asked her to take her heart and split it in two for the both of them. When Snow let herself fall into Regina's embrace, it made me think of the 10 year old who loved her step mother, and the young woman who saved an unknown child from certain death. My only nitpick with TPTB is why split the heart? Why not place it whole within Charming. We know Graham / the Huntsman functioned "well" in Storybrook with his heart locked away in Regina's vault. At least TPTB didn't turn "Storybrook" Charming into another Zelena avatar like Ariel a couple weeks ago. Speaking about TPTB... I'm glad they went this route with Regina, specifically having the STEPMOTHER's kiss break the curse this time. All those stepmoms out there can stop feeling persecuted by the OUaT storyline. "So, who was that guy you were kissing?" Now that's a line Regina didn't expect to deal with this week. You GO Girl! And Neal... Still looking out for Emma, even after you're "gone". You're a good man, Charlie Brown. As for next week... Lets just say, the WWotW's worst nightmare comes to Storybrook. And she's ARMED!
That is what was said, yes, although in light of the fact that this episode nullified other things they have said or tried to imply, I'm inclined to treat that as either misdirection or only being applicable outside of flashbacks, which is perfectly fine and really shouldn't be held against them. Tonight's episode was really revelatory on a number of different fronts, which I thought was awesome, and also helped clarify several things: 1) Zel sent Walsh to NYC as a result of this episode's flashbacks, and probably either shortly before or after drinking the memory potion and leaving Rumple's presence 2) Everyone had been in Storybrooke for three months before Emma returned 3) Hook wasn't being intentionally misleading even though, without all the details, it may have seemed that way to others The episode also further confirmed for me something that I think may have gotten 'lost in translation' insofar as how some of the fandom views the series' narrative formula, which is that there's a far different purpose for the kind of 'dual-time storytelling' that has defined the show from the very beginning in Season 3 than there was for it in Season 1, and than there was in Season 2. Season 1's 'dual-time' storytelling was used primarily to establish the characters and mythology for the series and to help facilitate the progression of Emma's 'hero's journey';Season 2 used the formula to flesh out certain established characters that the fans wanted to know more about and tell/set up a storyline that was meant to last into the first part of Season 3 rather than being resolved in the course of 22 episodes; and Season 3 has used the formula to tell two largely self-contained story arcs that are only linked to one another in that the consequences of one bleed into and lead to the events of the other.
I've grown to like Regina this past couple of years. She's not the villain anymore, but she's stil a badass with a lot of fire. Snow: It's happening again. I'm pregnant and an evil sorceress is threatening my baby. Regina: To be fair, I was threatening you. The rest was just collateral damage.
Great episode. Regina was the one who broke the memory curse by kissing Henry. Neal was able to send a message and the memory potion to Hook so that he could find Emma. Charming was going to make the ultimate sacrifice by making Snow cast the dark curse to return to Storybrooke. Snow's cleverness and her devotion to Charming preserved his life by having Regina split her heart into two. I didn't realize until recently the actor who plays Robin Hood was the same hunk who played Leonidas in Meet the Spartans.