Once Upon A Time 2.13
Feb. 11th, 2013 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSee, I knew why I wasn't writing that story. I so would have been Jossed. In a good way!
So the Emma & Gold road trip is an Emma, Henry and Gold plane trip. Emma, you are a woman after my own heart. When going through my vague road trip fic ideas, I was wondering how she'd justify leaving Henry in Storybrooke when they KNOW Cora is there and after just having come back from an involuntary journey that could have ended up with eternal separation. Answer: she doesn't. Bringing Henry along is inspired. Not least because it unsettles Rumpelstilzchen psychologically, and Henry is arguably the one person in Storybrooke he's done things without benefit for (whom he's not attracted to, that is) - I'm thinking of the walkie talkies supposedly from Graham last season, and the healing of the burn marks this season. Again, kudos, Emma! That was brilliant. Also, kudos, Charming, for turning the usual "hero threatens "if anything happens to my family..." scene around by deflating Mr. Gold's prepared sarcastic retort by instead of a threat ending that sentence with "...I'll be devastated, so please take care of them". Which was unsettling to the Dark One With The Beige Shawl as well. (And a complete counterpoint to his own "I'f anything happens to Belle, I'll kill you all" threat from the last episode.) And then, as if that's not enough, he's got to face the world outside Storybrooke. I love that the show thought things through enough not take it for granted that Rumpelstilskin would get along just fine in the outside world, just because Storybrooke has a present day US scenario. That was a limited environment in which he knew everyone and which he could control. Now there are strangers all around and it's extremely disconcerting, and that's before he discovers he can't use magic anymore.
About that: given that the shawl still works, which is also magic, we're either dealing with a plot hole (i.e. if magic only works in Storybrooke itself, then the shawl shouldn't work either), or it means Gold's inability to use magic outside of Storybrooke is psychological in nature, due to his increasing unease and worry. (Could be; Regina wasn't unable to access her magic initially at the start of s2, either, and was in a case of great distress at the time.) After all, he hasn't been powerless and surrounded by strangers for centuries, and that's before we get to the question how he's going to be received by Baelfire once they do track him down. (Actually, showing up WITHOUT magic probably will make a better impression, but I still don't think an immediate hug is in the offering.) Considering Emma noticed the unhealed hand at once, methinks she also figured out he's currently sans magic. Either way, she's in an unexpected caretaker role and so far managing it superbly. As for Henry, he's on a quest and having the time of his life. (Mind you: if Bae is indeed Neal Cassidy, then everyone's emotional condition could radically change. After all, Emma lied to Henry about his bio dad, and Emma herself is bound to have ISSUES which I don't think "Pinnoccio with a box showed me something" will immediately cure.)
As for the A-Plot: Jorge Garcia is even more endearing as Anton the littlest giant than he was in his conversation with Emma in Tallahasee, and we find out that history got indeed completely rewritten by the victors, as was hinted there. Also, Original Prince James, last seen very briefly in The Shephard, turns out to be a dastardly twin brother postumously, which I must admit cracks me up because OF COURSE he was - after all, we didn't have the evil twin trope yet. (Plus it's always fun for the good guy actors to play evil doppelgangers .) And Jack the giant killer, whose skeleton Hook and Emma stumbled across, was really Jacquelyne the amoral all giants but one killer who then got deserted for her troubles by James. While we're at it, the matter of Charming's name is also cleared up (thanks, show!), and he and Snow White continue to be the adorable couple of win which in their uncursed state they are.
State of the Regina: apparantly on Cora's side, but I still speculate on another side switch, which might be already planned. Though I have no doubt she would not have cared in the slightest if Anton had torn Charming to shreds. As I wrote before, all of Regina's efforts were Henry-directed; she's yet to make the step of acknowledging other people's rights to exist.
Long term plotting: obviously the bean seed, which makes sense on both a Doylist and Watsonian level; it's an already introduced means of crossing worlds which gives the writers the opportunity to reestablish contact to Fairy Tale Land, but not immediately (as it takes times for those beanstalks to grow, unless one of the magic users speeds things up, I presume); and Watsonian wise, it also makes sense Cora would have brought a way to get back with her (the last time she ended up trapped in another world without one, she became a Lewis Carroll character).
Speaking of beans, there is the conspiciously named Greg Mendell making overtures to amnesiac Belle, who must feel as if trapped in some Gothic plot where everyone lies to you and drugs you and declares you insane for saying the truth because, well... she kind of is. The road to hell, good intentions, etc. Ruby, you should not have lied.
In conclusion: my first real time episode! I continue to love the show.
So the Emma & Gold road trip is an Emma, Henry and Gold plane trip. Emma, you are a woman after my own heart. When going through my vague road trip fic ideas, I was wondering how she'd justify leaving Henry in Storybrooke when they KNOW Cora is there and after just having come back from an involuntary journey that could have ended up with eternal separation. Answer: she doesn't. Bringing Henry along is inspired. Not least because it unsettles Rumpelstilzchen psychologically, and Henry is arguably the one person in Storybrooke he's done things without benefit for (whom he's not attracted to, that is) - I'm thinking of the walkie talkies supposedly from Graham last season, and the healing of the burn marks this season. Again, kudos, Emma! That was brilliant. Also, kudos, Charming, for turning the usual "hero threatens "if anything happens to my family..." scene around by deflating Mr. Gold's prepared sarcastic retort by instead of a threat ending that sentence with "...I'll be devastated, so please take care of them". Which was unsettling to the Dark One With The Beige Shawl as well. (And a complete counterpoint to his own "I'f anything happens to Belle, I'll kill you all" threat from the last episode.) And then, as if that's not enough, he's got to face the world outside Storybrooke. I love that the show thought things through enough not take it for granted that Rumpelstilskin would get along just fine in the outside world, just because Storybrooke has a present day US scenario. That was a limited environment in which he knew everyone and which he could control. Now there are strangers all around and it's extremely disconcerting, and that's before he discovers he can't use magic anymore.
About that: given that the shawl still works, which is also magic, we're either dealing with a plot hole (i.e. if magic only works in Storybrooke itself, then the shawl shouldn't work either), or it means Gold's inability to use magic outside of Storybrooke is psychological in nature, due to his increasing unease and worry. (Could be; Regina wasn't unable to access her magic initially at the start of s2, either, and was in a case of great distress at the time.) After all, he hasn't been powerless and surrounded by strangers for centuries, and that's before we get to the question how he's going to be received by Baelfire once they do track him down. (Actually, showing up WITHOUT magic probably will make a better impression, but I still don't think an immediate hug is in the offering.) Considering Emma noticed the unhealed hand at once, methinks she also figured out he's currently sans magic. Either way, she's in an unexpected caretaker role and so far managing it superbly. As for Henry, he's on a quest and having the time of his life. (Mind you: if Bae is indeed Neal Cassidy, then everyone's emotional condition could radically change. After all, Emma lied to Henry about his bio dad, and Emma herself is bound to have ISSUES which I don't think "Pinnoccio with a box showed me something" will immediately cure.)
As for the A-Plot: Jorge Garcia is even more endearing as Anton the littlest giant than he was in his conversation with Emma in Tallahasee, and we find out that history got indeed completely rewritten by the victors, as was hinted there. Also, Original Prince James, last seen very briefly in The Shephard, turns out to be a dastardly twin brother postumously, which I must admit cracks me up because OF COURSE he was - after all, we didn't have the evil twin trope yet. (Plus it's always fun for the good guy actors to play evil doppelgangers .) And Jack the giant killer, whose skeleton Hook and Emma stumbled across, was really Jacquelyne the amoral all giants but one killer who then got deserted for her troubles by James. While we're at it, the matter of Charming's name is also cleared up (thanks, show!), and he and Snow White continue to be the adorable couple of win which in their uncursed state they are.
State of the Regina: apparantly on Cora's side, but I still speculate on another side switch, which might be already planned. Though I have no doubt she would not have cared in the slightest if Anton had torn Charming to shreds. As I wrote before, all of Regina's efforts were Henry-directed; she's yet to make the step of acknowledging other people's rights to exist.
Long term plotting: obviously the bean seed, which makes sense on both a Doylist and Watsonian level; it's an already introduced means of crossing worlds which gives the writers the opportunity to reestablish contact to Fairy Tale Land, but not immediately (as it takes times for those beanstalks to grow, unless one of the magic users speeds things up, I presume); and Watsonian wise, it also makes sense Cora would have brought a way to get back with her (the last time she ended up trapped in another world without one, she became a Lewis Carroll character).
Speaking of beans, there is the conspiciously named Greg Mendell making overtures to amnesiac Belle, who must feel as if trapped in some Gothic plot where everyone lies to you and drugs you and declares you insane for saying the truth because, well... she kind of is. The road to hell, good intentions, etc. Ruby, you should not have lied.
In conclusion: my first real time episode! I continue to love the show.
