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Once Upon a Time (ABC) - 1x02 till the bitter end

Which was interesting, considering he was a pathetic, cringing coward. All it took was one redeeming quality - he loved his son unselfishly - and boom, the audience is behind him.

The same could have happened with Anakin if his love for Padme had been presented as unselfish and pure. That could have been his one and only good attribute and it could have salvaged the whole story or at least helped a lot. What killed it was the impression that his love for Padme was some yucky kind of oedipal fixation with a mommy figure. :rommie:
 
Great new episode and they really like to give every character an interesting backstory.

On an only tangentially related note: I recently saw "Bride of Frankenstein" and found it quite funny that it was directed by James Whale. But I don't think Dr. Whale in "Once..." is interested in reviving the dead...
 
Temis the Vorta said:
Which was interesting, considering he was a pathetic, cringing coward. All it took was one redeeming quality - he loved his son unselfishly - and boom, the audience is behind him.

The same could have happened with Anakin if his love for Padme had been presented as unselfish and pure. That could have been his one and only good attribute and it could have salvaged the whole story or at least helped a lot. What killed it was the impression that his love for Padme was some yucky kind of oedipal fixation with a mommy figure. :rommie:
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That, and Robert Carlyle is so far beyond Hayden Christensen in the acting and gravitas scale it's not funny.

They've done a pretty good job avoiding "Designated Protagonist Syndrome" where the "Main" character (Emma, in this case) is the least interesting. She's plenty interesting, but they still give us quite interesting other characters as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Rumple's story, like what happened to his son and why he wants kids and magic items. Since everyone knew of Rumple as the biggest threat out there during his time as "Dark One" compared to Zoso I'm guessing it won't be pretty what we see next.
 
Yeah, I just don't think the show would work without Emma's cynical, hard-edged attitude providing a balance to all the cutesy fairy tale stuff. She does a great job keeping things fairly grounded and real.

Plus it's exactly the kind of attitude most of US would have, were we deposited in that world.
 
nvek86 said:
Great new episode and they really like to give every character an interesting backstory.

On an only tangentially related note: I recently saw "Bride of Frankenstein" and found it quite funny that it was directed by James Whale. But I don't think Dr. Whale in "Once..." is interested in reviving the dead...
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Have you seen Gods and Monsters? It's a great movie about James Whale, who is played by Ian McKellan.

The real Whale also directed the original 1931 Frankenstein, as well as The Old Dark House and The Invisible Man.

But I digress . . . .
 
I thought it interesting that what Rumplestiltskin wanted to do with the power (save all the kids) seems to have gone by the wayside. He appears to have saved his Bae from the Ogre Wars, but who knows what happened now that the Duke is dead, perhaps that was actually saving the rest of the dukedom and now they all get killed. And R has effectively lost his child, his firstborn. The cause of his fixation on firstborns.

Oh, and Regina evidently does not have the dagger, or she would not have to be making deals. Is everyone who knew R's name, but Bae, dead? No one in the area called him by name, but a bunch of other names, all of which the Duke knew--but not R's real name. Bae had to say his father's name.
 
This part of the audience isn't behind Rumplestiltskin. The backstory didn't work for me as making the character into a more relatable person. The real question with this character is the running away from the battlefield. If the battle was truly lost, then running away wasn't cowardice. But how is it that no one else had any sense? And if he ran away before the situation was hopeless, he is in fact just a physical coward, and what's worse, one who does not even feel the need for redemption. And then there's the limp, which raises the question of how he was supposed to "run" away at all. As a backstory, I thought this left far, far too much hanging in the air.

The common trope in popular culture where the woman is the truly evil one is an issue here. None of Mayor Mills' behavior is explicable unless she has genuine feelings for Henry, conflicted though they may be. And the same was true of Graham, since his murder was presented as a crime of passion "provoked" by his rejection of Regina. Yet her backstory is one where, unlike the male villain, the woman has no natural feelings at all.

It would be interesting if they dare to give Swan sexual feelings, since only bad women have those.
 
I don't think that for me the backstory made Rumple instantly redeemable. Rather I credit the actor with giving a layered performance that intrigued me.

I don't see Regina as being totally soulless either. Granted her killing of her father did a lot to make me actively dislike her. However, Snow in the past has openly said that Regina had true cause to hate her. We just don't know why, what or when.

My big bone of contention with Regina is that she does things that will actively hurt Henry. For example, when she set Emma up to say that Henry's notions sounded "crazy." Who does that to their child? She has also done other things that do not seem to take Henry's feelings into consideration. I get that she is pissed that the son she raised is actively trying to build a relationship with his Bio mom. However, the kid is already in therapy. How much more damage are her actions going to cause? Her campaign to villify Emma also hurts Henry.

I think the writers made Emma a tad sexual with Graham. I think she was somewhat attracted to him but repulsed by his relastionship with Regina. Her reaction when she found out what his night duty consisted of, (He was not cleaning kennels at the animal shelter.) was more than what was warranted by a pissed off coworker.
 
Here's what I think happened in the first unseen movement.

Snow saw her step mother doing something she shouldn't be doing,. like maybe the help. Snow told her father, which forced the Queens hand to kill her husband when despite her frayed resolve by Victorian standards, did actually love him in her own way.

Who said '"LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!!!!"?

cause and effect.

The queen never would have killed him yet if Snow hadn't been a dick.

A dick that deserves it's head lopped off.

The streets will run white.
 
Kosh Naranek said:
My big bone of contention with Regina is that she does things that will actively hurt Henry. For example, when she set Emma up to say that Henry's notions sounded "crazy." Who does that to their child? She has also done other things that do not seem to take Henry's feelings into consideration. I get that she is pissed that the son she raised is actively trying to build a relationship with his Bio mom. However, the kid is already in therapy. How much more damage are her actions going to cause? Her campaign to villify Emma also hurts Henry.
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Well there are a lot of bad mothers out there who emotionally abuse their kids. And considering this is the freakin Evil Queen we're talking about, it only makes sense that she'd be one of the worst.

Although, compared to some of the stories I read about in the news, Regina actually seem pretty damn tame. She doesn't beat him, and provides a really nice home to live in. Basically, she's no worse than your typical bitchy stepmother.
 
davejames said:
Well there are a lot of bad mothers out there who emotionally abuse their kids. And considering this is the freakin Evil Queen we're talking about, it only makes sense that she'd be one of the worst.

Although, compared to some of the stories I read about in the news, Regina actually seem pretty damn tame. She doesn't beat him, and provides a really nice home to live in. Basically, she's no worse than your typical bitchy stepmother.
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You don't have to beat a child to damge him for life. I'm 51 and still working against the emotional abuse I suffered at the hands of my "typical bitchy" stepmother. "A really nice home to live in" doesn't make up for being manipulated and gaslighted, either, as Regina tried to force Archie do to Henry.
 
Anwar said:
Temis the Vorta said:
Which was interesting, considering he was a pathetic, cringing coward. All it took was one redeeming quality - he loved his son unselfishly - and boom, the audience is behind him.

The same could have happened with Anakin if his love for Padme had been presented as unselfish and pure. That could have been his one and only good attribute and it could have salvaged the whole story or at least helped a lot. What killed it was the impression that his love for Padme was some yucky kind of oedipal fixation with a mommy figure. :rommie:
Click to expand...

That, and Robert Carlyle is so far beyond Hayden Christensen in the acting and gravitas scale it's not funny.
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Well yeah, that too. :D But I'm one of those folks who don't blame Christensen for everything that went wrong with the PT. A truly excellent actor given the same script and direction would have fallen on his face, too. (Then again, a really sharp actor would have taken one look at the script and run away as fast as his feet could carry him.)

davejames said:
Yeah, I just don't think the show would work without Emma's cynical, hard-edged attitude providing a balance to all the cutesy fairy tale stuff. She does a great job keeping things fairly grounded and real.

Plus it's exactly the kind of attitude most of US would have, were we deposited in that world.
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd be putting a lot more effort into figuring out how I can make money off this unique situation. :D People with magical powers? Possible access to a fairy tale world? Yeah I can do something with that.
 
Eion Bailey! I just love that man. I wonder who his character is going to be?

It was great to see Emma C. again, even as a witch that eats children.

I wonder if Henry's father will come in to play at some point? Emma was holding a clipping that read "seven year old finds baby by the side of the road." (or something of that nature)

I am still quite intrigued.
 
I think that newspaper clip was supposed to be about her and how she was found by someone.
 
I was wondering if the seven year old would turn out to be Henry's father. Though him being 7 and sleeping with Emma when she was 16, would equal statutory rape. I am probably way off base.

I wonder if next week's ep spells doom for Charming and Snow?
 
Who got a look at the comic rack?

Those were a stack of mint condition John Byrne Fantastic Four comics from the 80s, I think that Was Kazar issue 1 from about the same period, and Dazzler too... But the Ultimate Hulk written by Lost Producer Damien Liindoff(sp?) is from about 6 or 7 years ago...

That was from someones collection ,and they would have been SUPER pissed to see them on a new stand after being preserved with mania and love for the last 30 years.

Wierd.

Marvel hasn't been reprinting classic issues have they?

Are they trying to display a schism in time that some bugger has been trying to seel these comics as new, or that they are new, and that tiume is folding over itself?
 
Rat boy! Took me till the last 10 minutes to place him. He's naturally a bit older and a bit fuller, but he's aging very nicely.


"Rat boy" is what Mulder called Nicholas Lea's character--Krycheck--in X-Files. Though I think many here knew that reference.
 
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