Good episode overall, but two questions. Was Hook really the entirety of the "package" Greg kept going on about last episode? I mean, I expected something... more, like Hook was just a bonus to the actual thing. Don't get me wrong, I love Hook, he's so smarmy, but... really? So, isn't Red/Ruby supposed to be a main character on this show this season? I mean, I see Megan Ory's (Ohry?) name every week, but it feels like it's been awhile since she did anything more than cameo, if even. Actually, since her little chat with Whale/Frankenstein I think. Did those two run off into the woods or something after making a "connection?" Same for Hopper/Jiminy Cricket too, come to think of it, but I feel like we knew Raphael Sbarge's role was being cut/downgraded.
Meghan Ory has been filming a pilot so I think that's part of the reason why she hasn't been seen much lately.
I'm really ticked-off and disgusted right now by the way I was treated on another forum and have chosen to voluntarily cut myself off from discussion there for a while, but wanted to talk about what last night's ep offered in terms of two ships that I am a fan of: Rumbelle and SwanThief. I loved the little nod/reference that Jane Espenson slipped into the ep where Rumple mentioned his 'promising maid', not only because it was a clear reference to Belle, but also because she was the one responsible for establishing the Rumbelle relationship in the first place back in Skin Deep. I also got a kick out of the callback to Neal and Emma's 'modern-day Bonnie and Clyde' relationship, as I mentioned in my review.
I liked the episode and I love it when Regina is in full on Evil Queen mode. My one issue is the scene between her and Henry, it seemed so bizarre and out of place. They may as well have had her turn to the camera and say, "Hello audience, this is my evil plan." I can only assume that at some point the magic will fail and Henry will remember what she told him, but it seemed a clumsy way to do it. And it's always a pleasure to see badass Snow.
Plus the showrunners really don't know how to give screen time to any of the regulars outside of the core. Look how rarely Belle has been popping up as a regular this season, or Cricket last season.
Regina came off as not just evil, but either insane or a bit stupid in this one-- thinking that the people will love her despite her mass murders, just as soon as Snow is dead. The magic-nullifier is an interesting twist. I can't wait to see how they pulled that off. Or what they're real goal is.
Don't really like the idea of a scientific magic-nullifier. It kind of means magic stops being unknown if you have a scientific way to block it. It's kind of like giving magic the midichlorian "force" treatment.
I did kind of like how it tied back to Rumplestiltskin's bet with Dr. Whale/Frankenstein over whether magic or science was more powerful, earlier this season. Makes that bit a nice piece of foreshadowing. I wonder if Whale will play a role in countering the advanced science of Tamara and Owen.
^^ That's exactly what I was thinking. Well, they have magic, but it's a scientific universe. And we don't know what kind of a workaround they came up with. Maybe it's some kind of magnet that disrupts her nervous system or something.
Rumplestiltskin is madly badass but Regina is just a bitch. Ruthless oppression of villagers is pretty much the job description for mediaeval monarchs. Snow's image of her monarchy seems false too, and the happy serfs smiles seem forced. King George is the norm.
They can't live in a castle without thousands of peasants toiling and paying taxes under threat of execution. Of course that's all our governments do too, but it seems different on such a smaller scale.
One episode left, and we still don't know who Cora really killed. And since the good doctor re-appeared on the boat, they seem to have completely forgotten about that dead body in his form.
^She killed one of the nobody villagers. Not a plot point to be worried about. You're asking about a red shirt.
I always thought the series would end when Henry taught Regina that love was the most potent force in the universe. Then I wondered if it would be Snow who had to teach that to Regina, since Snow was instrumental in tearing Regina's life apart. Now, watching how Regina wants to believe in her own innate goodness SINCE pre-massacre Snow believes in it... an watch it crumble without Snow's belief, watching the same thing happen with Mr. Gold and Belle/Lacey... now I wonder if these two will only reform when THEY want to do so, now when Henry, or Snow, or Belle, or Bae want them to do so. The problem is... they are making these two so vile that one wonders if TPTB will ever / can ever let these two reform. If so, are TPTB telling us don't bother to change, its impossible?
Rumplestiltskin will be reformed, sort of, he'll always be bad ass. His bad turn now is strictly due to Regina hexing up Lacey. But Regina has to leave Snow, Charming, Emma, Baelfire and Henry to their happy ever after. The only way she can be redeemed is through death.
She doesn't have to be redeemed, and she doesn't have to die, why can't she just muddle through? Regina is not theoretically evil anymore, you know giant plots, bloodlines and pageantry, this woman sends thugs into little villages to murders everyone like it was Cambodia in the 70s. Who knows how many hundreds of serfs she executed every month? If you put your step daughter into a coma with a poison apple, some one rings social services, but if you're tyrannical warlord with the blood of tens of thousands on your hands, someone calls the A-Team. George died in 1994. That was a while back.
I honestly think that what the audience sees as the writers giving Regina a chance at redemption is in fact merely the writers making it clear that, despite this show being about fairytale characters, there's no 'black and white' good or evil. IOW, they're portraying good characters as having the potential to do bad things and evil characters like Regina as having the potential to do good things.